The Dacia Sandero, a medium-sized hatchback, is the first vehicle introduced by Renault in any place other than Europe. First country to see it was Brazil, under the Renault brand.

Dacia Sandero is a five door hatch based on the Logan.  It has a shorter wheelbase, if compared to the 4-door saloon version. It was first produced in Brazil and then exported to European markets too. The European version has most of the Brazilian characteristics, apart from the engines and front part. The European version is being produced in Romania at the Mioveni factory, in Pitesti. At the Euro NCAP tests, Dacia Sandero scored 4 out of 5 stars. The scores for the safety pack were 31 for adults and 38 for children occupants.

The engine versions for the European versions are a bit different but still three: a 1.4-engine delivering 75 cv, a 1.6-litre engine, and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The Brazilian versions don’t have diesel engines because that is not allowed in their country.

The size of both cars, European and Brazilian, are: 4.02 m in length, 2.59 m in wheelbase, 2 m in width. The height is 1, 53 m in both cases. The boot holds 320 l. The Brazilian roads and streets are as demanding as the European ones so European cars have to be higher to be safe and durable.

The Dacia Sandero is sold allover Turkey, Turkey and Maghreb and started in June 2008. In 2009, it will also be sold in South Africa. The prices will almost remain the same, just like other Logans. Ans speaking about price, in Brazil, an entry level Dacia Sandero costs R$ 29,900. This sum is about 11,700 euros. But don’t worry. The price is just in Brazil. On European grounds the price is less than that.

Produced at Pitesti factory in Romania, the Dacia Logan Van is the first model launched within Renault Commitment 2009′s commercial vehicle range renewal plan.  It is also the third vehicle of the X90 Program and it goes under the Dacia brand in Romania and Bulgaria.

The program for developing and producing Logan MCV has a total outlay of €154 million and the new model is a mix of commercial vehicle robustness with passenger car equipment levels.

The Dacia Logan Van, Dacia brand’s first ever small van represents the modernization of Dacia’s commercial vehicle portfolio and its expansion to bigger and more competitive international markets. It will be on sale in Romania and Bulgaria in February 2007 and the primary market is the traders, small business owners, and medium-sized fleets.

The factory in Pitesti, Romania, also produces Logan MCV and Logan Saloon and the capacity is for 200 Dacia Logan Van each day. Because the Dacia Logan Van is derived from Logan MCV, the costs for producing it will be much lower and just like other car from the Logan family, it’s been designed for use in varied and extreme conditions. It is a robust, simple and powerful car.

The available engines are two petrol engines – the 1.4 MPI 55kW and the 1.6 MPI 64kW – and a diesel engine – the 1.5 dCi 50kW diesel engine. They have, of course, the Renault brand and technology.

About the car’s design, we can say that its lines and volume is similar to Logan MCV. The rear doors provide easy and wide access to the cargo area from the left- and right-hand sides. Other cars from the same segment don’t offer this. In the back of the car there are also 1/3-2/3 split asymmetric upright doors.

The standard payload is 800kg and this shoots the Dacia Logan Van at the top of the of the small van category.

This car can be described as a reliable car with technical specification design to embody simplicity. The dashboard is one-piece and the door panels are also made from a single piece. The other materials used in creating Logan Saloon were chosen to give away the idea of quality.

The body shell has a protective treatment including for the steel panels. In the production process, wax was injected and a big amount of mastic sealants were used.  This car has also an underbody powertrain guard and a new solution designed to completely seal the transmissions and also the gear box from any dust penetration. And let’s not forget that the creators used broader door protective moldings to reinforce the car and bring out its beautiful lines.

A number of features were shown on the Logan Steppe Concept show car. Besides this, to make the car even stronger and safer, even the inside mechanicals are cleverly armored from the outside aggression factors.

This Logan has a high ground clearance of 155mm, more than the European regulations. This, along with the long suspension travel makes it a taught car to go on rough roads. 

Inside the vehicle, all the passengers benefit from thermal comfort due to optimized air-vents. And all the passengers are safe because this Logan version is equipped with four airbags. In case of impact, there’s also a system that controls the amount of pressure inside the cushion. 
No matter what the version is, the Dacia Logan MCV also has three-point seatbelts with headrests for all seats.

The motor versions of the Dacia Logan MCV are from the Renault range: three petrol engines (the 1.4 MPI, the 1.6 MPI and the 1.6 16V) and the benchmark 1.5 dCi diesel.

The Logan has replaced in Romania the production of the old Romanian Dacia 1310 series of Renault 12-based cars.

The story of the Logan starts in 1998 when Renault bought Dacia factory in Romania. But before that, the French President Jacques Chirac, during a visit in Russia, saw that the Lada (costing €6,000) were selling very well and the Renaults (costing €12,000) were not doing so well.  He said that Renault should find a way to make a really good car but at a lower price, around €6,000. The goal became later on to make a car for €5,000. It is true that now the Logan’s cheapest version is €6,000, but with different equipment and customizations it can go to around €10,700. Either way, simplified features keep costs low.

The car was launched in 2004 and it was an unexpected success. People wanted a cheap car they could repair themselves. It was also sold in India in June 2007 in collaboration with Mahindra. There, the Logan had an instant success and the sales were impressive. It quickly became the best sold car in India. A New Logan, a face lifted version was announced on the 1st of July 2008.

The Logan has a B platform used by the third generation Renault Clio and Nissan Micra. Because it has a limited number of electronic devices and has fewer parts than a high-end Renault, it is easier to fix and much cheaper. The suspensions are strong and can handle really tough roads. The engine is prepared to handle lower quality fuel and the air-conditioning system can deal with the extreme temperatures in countries from Middle East.

Back in 1967, the 1750 Spider Veloce replaced the original Duetto model.

Only after 1 year, the manufacturer released the Spider 1300 Junior model also known as “Osso di Sepia” running on a 1290 cc engine delivering 89 hp.

The exterior design was changed in 1970 with the Spider Veloce and the elongated round tail was replaced by the “Kamm tail”. In time the car changed all its specs and the name was once again changed into the 2000 Spider Veloce while the 1600 model became the new 1300 and was discontinued in 1977.

In 1986 the Quadrifoglio Verde (Green Fourleaf Clover) came to life and was mechanically identical to the Veloce model.

For the next 3 years Alfa Romeo added a center high mount stop lamp (CHMSL) for North American models, new paint colors and new turn signal levers.

The Spider presented on the market the first generation of vehicles with automatic transmission in 1990 for Europe and in 1991 for North America.

The original Spider ended its production in 1993 and only a year after the new model hit the streets.

In the last few years the Alfa Romeo GT was much appreciated for its beautiful design and according to some people it resembles to the great-looking 1980 Sprint.

Under the hood the car hides a 240 PS (237 hp/177 kW) 3.2-litre V6 engine considered to be unique compared to the rest of Alfa Romeo engines. The old 2.0L petrol unit implemented on the Alfa 156 was upgraded to a new 2.0L petrol engine with direct injection and better fuel consumption.

The 1.9 direct injection diesel engine is considered to be very popular and its high torque output offers more power at low revs than the 2.0 litre petrol which needs higher revs in order to provide maximum power output. Also the fuel economy played an important role in this equation attracting more and more people each year.

Alfa Romeo GT is a true GT car with a 6 speed gearbox and a range of 600 miles (970 km) per tank at motorway speeds.

Back in 2002, the Brera was presented at the Geneva Motor Show only as a concept designed by Italdesign Giugiaro and Giorgetto Giurgiaro. The visitors loved its looks and its Maserati V8 engine and that’s why Alfa Romeo set the official release date for 2005. 

The production model kept the same exterior appearance but on a smaller scale and became a mid-size coupe on the GM/Fiat Premium platform. After the coupe, a new Brera Spider version was announced on the market for 2006 in order to replace the existing GTV Spider.

For the European market, Alfa Romeo Brera was equipped with a pair of petrol engines: the 210 PS (207 hp/154 kW) 2.4-litre JTD turbodiesel and the 185 PS (182 hp/136 kW) 2.2-litre JTS and 260 PS (256 hp/191 kW) 3.2-litre V6. The vehicles running on 2.2 petrol and diesel are front-wheel drive while the V6-powered ones will use a Torsen four-wheel drive system.

The Alfa Romeo Brera / Spider 2008 has new mechanics and a stylish interior with front wheel drive and four wheel drive systems available for the 3.2 litre V6 engine. All models will include electronic Q2 limited slip differential while the body kit will be 45 kilograms (99 lbs) lighter than before thanks to the aluminum parts.

The spring of 2008 unveiled the Brera ‘S’ Special Edition designed by British engineering specialists Prodrive that also worked on the Mazda RX-8.

Even when it was only a concept, the Brera was voted "Best of Show" by Autoweek magazine, "Best of Show" in the prototype category at the Villa d’Este Concorso D’Eleganze and won two Challenge Bibendum 2002 awards and "the Most Fascinating Car" award at the Super Car Rally 2002.

The list continued with the European Automotive Design Award 2006, Best Coupe – Croatian Car of the Year Awards 2006, Best Design Award 2006 by Autocar Magazine (UK), European Automotive Design Award 2006 and the European Car of the Year 2007 award in Japan. 

Alfa Romeo 159 is available in two versions: four and front-wheel drive. First in line comes the Q4 four-wheel drive system sporting a front and center differential also known as the Torsen type C twin differential and running on the 2.4 liter diesel and 3.2 liter petrol engines. Most models use a six-speed manual gearbox while the 3.2 petrol, 2.4 diesel and 1.9 diesel configurations mate with a six-speed automatic Q-Tronic gearbox. In some countries the Salespeed gearbox is being sold with a 2.2 petrol engine.

Back in 2006 at the Geneva Motor Show Alfa Romeo presented the Sportwagon model next to an automatic gearbox variant for the 2.4 JTDM diesel model. After only one year the manufacturer unveiled the four wheel drive diesel model and increased the power output for the 2.4-liter diesel engines to 210 PS (207 hp/154 kW).

In 2008 the 3.2 liter V6 configuration became available delivered 250 kilometers per hour (160 mph) top speed with a front wheel drive configuration.

Now, all Alfa Romeo models come equipped with an electronic Q2 limited slip differential and thanks to a newly introduced aluminum components are 45 kilograms (99 lb) lighter than before.

Last but not least, when it comes to the awards received by this vehicle, in 2006 the 159 received the Auto Build Design Award, at the 2006 Fleet World Honours received the Design Award and one year later it won the award for Die Besten Autos 2007 Import category.

The 147 replaced the old 145 / 146 hatchbacks and hides under the hood a 1.9-liter diesel engine and 1.6- and 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder petrol engines.

Time has passed and this small family car is still very successful on the European markets.

The delicate design is signed by Wolfgang Egger and Walter de’Silva and won a few important styling awards in the last few years. Since 2004, the Alfa Romeo 147 changed its exterior styling looking more and more like the 159 and Brera models. The redesigned car received new front grille, new rear lights new headlights and new interior (for all models except for the GTA one).

The powerful 147 GTA hit the market in 2002 running on a 3.2 V6 engine that can reach a 246 km/h (153 mph) top speed. It’s an amazing car that will bravely challenge the successful BMW 130i, Audi S3, Renault Megane RS and Volkswagen Golf R32 models.

In the last 8 years, Alfa Romeo 147 won no less than 27 awards including: Carro Importado do Ano no Brasil – (Brazil Import car of the year) in 2002, The European Car of the Year in 2001, Trophées du design (Automobile Magazine – France) in 2000, Das Goldene Lenkrad ("The golden steering wheel", BILD am SONNTAG – Germany) in 2000 and Auto Europa 1 (Panel of engineers, drivers and journalists headed by Auto Bild – Germany) in 2001.

Despite the car’s incredible reviews, Alfa Romeo has a new ace up their sleeves. According to some new announcement they will release the new and improved Alfa 149 in 2009.