Dacia gets the vote for value

Sports utility vehicles, or SUVs as we have come to know them, can clean out your bank account.

The bigger, brasher, most technically advanced ones carry price tags approaching the six-figure mark and beyond.

But you don’t have to pay through the teeth for a smart, capable and attractive-looking crossover model, as the Dacia Sandero Stepway underlines.

From a starting point of £8,395 you can drive off in a car that does the job adequately and with some style – even a fully kitted out range-topper like the tested Laureate version will only set you back £10,995.

Dacia – pronounced datch-ya – is a Romanian car company that’s wholly owned by Renault and which has only been operating over here since the summer of 2012.

The brand describes its offerings as being ‘shockingly affordable’ and while its first model, the Sandero, at £5,995 remains the cheapest new car on the UK market, its bigger brother is very much a cool crossover for supermini prices.

Beam end beauty – the Dacia Sandero Stepway

Designed to have its own personality, the Stepway has a 40mm higher ground clearance plus bodywork features like front and rear skidplates, two-tone bumpers and radiator grille, fog lights, wide wheel arches with protectors and satin roof bars.

There’s also a family-friendly boot of 320 litres which, with the 60/40 split-folding rear seats dropped, extends to 1,200 litres. In real money that means there’s not much you can’t fit in there.

But what really strikes you about the Stepway is that it doesn’t look or feel like a cheap car. Certainly, there are a few brittle plastics around and the dash and fascia are fairly basic, otherwise the Dacia feels of sound quality.

Inside, there’s a height adjustable steering wheel and driver’s seat, leather steering wheel and gearknob and seven-function trip computer, while the two-tone seats look smart and there’s room for three across the back.

Simple but effective – inside the Dacia cabin

Two engines are up for grabs in the shape of a 898cc TCe 90 three-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit returning 52.3 mpg and low CO₂emissions of 124g/km, and Renault’s 74mpg 1.6 dCi 90 diesel. Trim grades are Ambiance and Laureate.

Don’t expect a fantastically sporty drive because the Stepway is a bit wallowy and doesn’t boast the most positive of manual gearshifts, but it’s an adequate, economical and eye-catching vehicle.

You also get an ECO button, which by limiting engine torque improves fuel consumption by ten per cent.

Even with that engaged there’s still a fair degree of power for motorway driving, just don’t expect any instant kick for overtaking.

While entry to the Stepway range is the Ambiance TCe 90, including the likes of Bluetooth, metallic paint and a radio/CD system with fingertip controls, at £8,395 there is the scope to spend more lolly on extras.

The beauty, though, is that even stuff like a Comfort Pack (£100), Touring Pack (£245) and dark carbon leather upholstery (£600) shouldn’t leave you penniless.

And you can extend the warranty to five years/60,000 miles for £395.