Dacia makes decent cars that are always going to be limited by their price, as well as other factors. Not many people know this, but outside the European Union's tight grip on emissions, you can find an exciting Dacia model wearing Renault Sport (RS) badges.
We're talking about Brazil, where the local Renault division made a hot hatch to our liking, the Sandero RS. This looks almost like any other 5-door but is powered by a 2-liter naturally aspirated engine. How old-school!
Hot hatch makers used to love 2-liter engines. Around 2004, Ford was selling its first Fiesta ST, which had lots of fun to offer yet cheaper than today's Fiesta EcoBoost base model. Renault, meanwhile, offered a slightly more expensive Clio RS, and it was a blast to drive, probably one of the best small cars ever made.
Around 2010 or so, all the fun stopped. Renault had to kill the Twingo RS and downsized the Clio RS to a 1.6 turbo. It was barely any faster, yet lost a lot of its earlier character. Brazil still allows its drivers to have some fun, and in 2015, the Sandero RS came out.
Apparently, 75 engineers and millions of kilometers of testing were required for its development. Sadly, there's no Logan RS sedan, but we found a video of a cool one-off. It's got the same engine, suspension, gearbox and body kit, but with a bigger trunk.
From what we understand, it makes 145 horsepower and can get to 100 km/h in 8.4 seconds on its way to a top speed of around 200 km/h. This isn't about the speed, but about the joy of changing gears and hearing the engine work. Man and cheap machine working together. Like most Brazilian models, it can also run on Ethanol, in which case the output goes up slightly, to 150 hp and 195 Nm (144 lb-ft) of torque.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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