Dave gets some new boots

Having worked in the tyre industry for many years I know the importance of having as much tread as possible, particularly with the approach of winter and the heavy rain, yeah I know, in England we get the rain all year around.

Those of you that have read my blog from the beginning will know that at the first service Dave had to have his tracking adjusted and they swapped the fronts and rears around. I'd also developed a slow puncture on the off side rear, which has needed weekly top ups of a couple of psi.

With all that in mind I decided it was time to replace the rears and rotate them with the fronts, I checked the depth and they were on 3mm, some would say that's too early and I've thrown away a few thousand miles motoring but at 3mm the water displacement is reduced substantially, the fronts that are now on the back have around 4.5mm so I'd expect another 10,000 off of those. In case you didn't know the rear wear on a front wheel drive car is very slow.

For many years I've purchased my tyres through Blackcircles.com who not only offer some amazing prices, but also bonus 'clubcard' points that have financial value. You can also have them fitted at a choice of local tyre fitting centres, I chose Kidlington Tyre and Exhaust who over the years have provided me with excellent quality service on both MOTs and tyre fitting.

I ordered a pair of Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance which costed less than £110 fitted, I've been so happy with them as they were fitted as original equipment and covered over 30,000 miles, I have noticed however that they have changed the design slightly and they don't have such high side wall edges and therefore look less rugged than they used to.

A nice drive out.....and last nights journey home.

I've had Dave now for just over 18 months and still enjoy driving him every day. He's become a great daily workhorse and he's not really been having much in the way of adventures recently.

However he does get out and about loads and gets some chances for some posing occasionally.

Yesterday when we were out with the family my father in law asked if we could find this pub as one of his bowling buddies had told him all about it. Unfortunately we got there just after they finished lunch, but we had a quick drink (soft for me) and we're definitely going back for a meal as the menu looks amazing.

Last nights journey home though clocked up another Dave milestone.....30,000 miles.

What an amazing little car he is.

Now that's a T-shirt.

I saw this photo online, I couldn't agree more.

Dave gets a prickly reception

Today I spent a wonderful day at Staverton Airport for their family open day and fund raising for the fabulous Fly2Help charity.

Some of you will remember that he had a little 'discussion' with a Range Rover Evoque last year, well while I was inside it appears Dave might have been up to his old tricks again.....

Dave : 'What are you?'
Citroen : 'I'm a Cactus'
Dave : 'Well you look like your owners forgot to unwrap you'
Citroen : 'They are part of my styling'
Dave : 'What? It looks like bubble wrap! what's it for?'
Citroen : 'It's to protect me'
Dave : 'From what?
Citroen : 'Knocks and bumps'
Dave : 'I've got little strips to protect me, not an airbed glued on my doors!'
Citroen : 'But it makes me look good'
Dave : 'Look mate, I'll break it to you gently, as I feel kind of sorry for you and I've always been told looks aren't everything, but they look like something Blue Peter would make with old egg boxes'

Stepway invasion!

As if further proof was needed of the number of Stepways I have seen in and around Swansea this morning I had to pop into the local minor injuries unit. When I came out I found these two parked next to each other. So Dave decided to photobomb the picture!

Is Swansea the Stepway capital of the UK?

So we headed of at the weekend on our annual pilgrimage to The Mumbles, near Swansea in South Wales. This time I managed to take the right turning and we enjoyed a lovely drive through the valleys rather than the hell that is the M4!

Having just got Dave back from his second service he felt smoother than ever and despite being fully loaded returned 58 mpg on the journey.

As always the first stop after collecting the keys to our apartment was to visit The Pilot and sample a local beer or cider, the later it was this time and we discovered Black Dragon, a very tasty but viciously strong, will need to walk down during the week to enjoy properly.

Lewy and Albert outside The Pilot

So having been here 48 hours now we have been in and out of Swansea a couple of times, so far I've counted a couple of Logans, a couple of Sanderos and six or seven Dusters, but I've seen over twenty Stepways! A handful of blues, the odd black and silver, but mainly white. Even Lewy has started spotting them.

It's been a lovely weekend, enjoyed a bit of culture Saturday evening when we saw the Gwalia Singers male voice choir and by contrast yesterday thousands turned out for the local RNLI charity raft race along Mumbles seafront.

Long term review

Dacia Sandero Stepway Laureate 1.5 DCi

I have had 'Dave' for over twelve months now and covered 22,000 miles so thought it was time to give an honest long term owners review of the car, I intend to do this in a similar way to the motoring press and break it down into categories.

Introduction

Before I start, let's clarify a point very early on, the Dacia Sandero Stepway is a BUDGET car, it is not a high end luxury car, and because many of the press reviews are written are by journalists who are used to driving high end marques, I felt that many were unjustly critical of some aspects of the car.

Styling

With the 40mm raised suspension over the standard Sandero, the larger 16 inch wheels, roof rails and plastic sills / wheel arch extensions the car has a great cross-over look, I personally chose a white one as I found the contrast of black and white really emphasised the style.

I have further enhanced this by fitting the Automotiva door rubbing strips, great for protecting against inconsiderate drivers in car parks, and the RGA rear bumper protector, which prevents those annoying scuffs and scratches that happen occasionally, although neither are essential, they are both practical and look good.

Driving

With it's raised ride height the Stepway gives you a great view in traffic, the Laureate has the added advantage of a height adjustable seat, albeit basic and limited to three settings.

Controls are mainly perfectly located with wipers and lights on stalks, cruise control on the wheel and media centre controls on the steering column also. Now for my first few gripes, firstly the horn button is on the end of the indicator stalk, why it can't be on the centre of the steering wheel as with most cars nowadays, it is a frustration when you're natural instinct is to hit the centre of the wheel when someone needs a warning. Secondly the location of the electric window switches, the front ones are on the centre of the lower dash and the rears are at the back of the centre console, meaning the driver has to reach back and down if you want to drop the back windows. This would be made even harder if you had the factory fitted centre armrest (which I don't). It would be better to have the switches on the door armrests. Thirdly the heater controls are very basic and I find the temperature is either hot or cold and very hard to get a comfortable in between.

Now to the driving itself, the raised suspension helps absorb most road bumps but increases the amount of body roll in cornering, that said the car remains very grippy and once you are used to it you can throw the Stepway around surprisingly well, again remember it's not a Rangie Sport or an X5.

While I mention those, remember that the Stepway is only 2WD, so despite the increased ground clearance, this is NOT an off roader, having said that Dave has been over a number of fields, tracks and green lanes when they were dry and has driven well on them.

Back to road driving, the Stepway is as happy around town as it is on country lanes, dual carriageways and motorways, the ride is comfortable and untroubled. It does suffer in crosswinds but no more than any other vehicle of a similar height. However I find road noise to be a bit of a nuisance on motorways, particularly if trying to use the handsfree, a combination of a lack of soundproofing and the poor microphone location and quality. I intend to invest in some upgraded aftermarket soundproofing at some stage, which I understand makes the world of difference.

Comfort and practicality

The cabin is light and spacious with plenty of room in the front and enough in the back for 3 adults, the boot is a good size with 320 litre capacity, for you and I that's a couple of large suitcases, hand luggage bags and laptop cases. Drop the back seats and it becomes cavernous in the back.

The seats are comfortable, even on those long runs, I know as I drove from Oxford to Knockhill circuit in Scotland and back in one day.

Time for another little moan. The rear tailgate can only be opened by the cabin handle or by using the key, there is no push button or handle on the tailgate to open it, made even more frustrating as European models do have this, it may seem a small thing but it would be nice if once you unlocked the car you could just open the boot. I've known a number of people lock their keys in the boot when they have accidently dropped them.

All the toys

So right at the beginning I said remember it's a budget brand, it may well be but the spec on it is brilliant, reversing sensors, cruise control (which I use regularly), speed limiter, all round electric windows, HEATED electric mirrors (a must for me in the winter), air conditioning and media unit.

The media unit is very good, a brilliant sat nav, though I do argue with 'Doris' sometimes. I don't normally use them as I prefer to pre plan a route myself first, but have found it very good when coming off a motorway due to hold ups and hitting the 'exclude motorways' button.

The music player gives you a choice of a number of inputs, bluetooth, 3.5mm jack or USB. The later acts well if you connect a flash drive however I found it brilliant for connecting my iPod via the USB and allows full music controls.

My only gripe as mentioned earlier is the volumes on the bluetooth handsfree.

Running Costs

Road tax for the 1.5DCi costs £20 per annum.

I'm paying £220 per year fully comprehensive insurance, 47 y/o with full NCB.

Servicing costs are just under £200 every 12,000 miles.

Extended warranty 5 years / 100,000 miles cost £850, well worth it if you do the mileage that I do.

I'm averaging 56 MPG with a mixture of dual carriageway, town, and countryside driving.

On a decent run I've managed mid 60s and found if I cruise at 58 (I know not practical on most roads) I have hit 70 MPG!

Problems

So far I have been mainly singing the cars praises, and many will think another fanboy. So to keep things balanced I will include details of a couple of problems I have had with the car in this report.

The first was noticed at the first service, slightly uneven wear pattern on the front tyres. The tracking was found to be slightly out. It was adjusted and front and rear tyres switched around and all seems fine now.

The second issue involved a paint problem. Now before I go any further with this I must emphasise that this was completely unrelated to any of the issues that have been reported on the Indian built Dusters. The problem I had was a very small area approximately 4mm by 2mm on the rear edge of the drivers door that had very thin paint. I contacted Dacia Customer Services who arranged with my local dealers to take the car in, examined and the repair was carried out under warranty by their body shop. Brilliant service by Jaybee Motors at Banbury.

Conclusion

The Dacia Sandero Stepway is a brilliant, not so little, small crossover. Very practical and great fun to drive. Would I recommend it? Yes without a doubt.

The adventures today are brought to you by the letter B

Bank Holiday

Woke up to a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday, fantastic blue skies interspersed with fluffy white clouds, a perfect day for a.................

Bike Ride

Loaded Dave up with the bikes, have to say I'm so glad I upgraded my bike rack to a Mont Blanc sit on one, so much quicker and easier to load, and we headed off to..............

Black Park

Over 500 acres of woodland, heathland and open space located 5 minutes from the M25 in Buckinghamshire, with over 10 miles of hard surface cycling and at least the same again with tracks through the woodland, it is rarely we go and not find a new route to try and of course Albert our Cairn Terrier cross runs with us throughout the ride.

The Western edge of the park borders Pinewood studios and they regularly film in the park and actually built a complete castle for the recent remake of Cinderella, but today there were no princesses, but what I did see inside one of the compounds was.............

B.A Baracus' Van!

I wonder if they are making A-Team 2, despite all the claims that Bradley Cooper refused to do a sequel.

And on the way back from the bike ride what could possibly be better than a.............

Beer Festival

One of our local, and favourite pubs, The Royal Standard at Wooburn Common, was hosting it's first festival of the year, obviously I had to be good as I was driving, so limited myself to a couple of halves. Discovered a lovely new ale, which if you like a nice dark pint like me, I would highly recommend. Wolf Ale, from the Wolf Brewery in Norfolk.

So that was our B day.

Except for one more B, in true British Bank Holiday tradition, after the day started so gloriously, it ended.................


BUCKETING DOWN!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dave

What a huge day today for Dave.

First we went down to the Jubilee River near Maidenhead for a bike ride and to give Albert a good long run.

Then we went for a drive down to Runnymeade where some of you will remember I stopped with Dave for a photo on the day I collected him. This time though we had a slightly different theme to the day.

After we finished there it was time for a little visit to another of our day 1 locations, White Waltham Airfield.

And finally as we got home another major landmark!

So a BIG happy birthday Dave, I hope we have many more annual celebrations.

Dave's Easter present......

Well this is a bit of a special weekend for Dave as you will find out in tomorrow's entry. In the meantime I thought it would be nice to buy him a Easter present, was trying to decide what to get him when I was told of a discount code for extended warranties. So Dave is now the proud owner of an extended 7 year / 100,000 mile warranty. Though I think the miles will be up long before the time!

Now that's what I call value for money.

I got Dave's Road Fund Licence renewal through at the weekend.

Having paid £200+ for the last few years before getting Dave, this was a pleasant reminder of the value of Dacia.

It also means we are getting close to Dave's first birthday.

A morning of mixed emotions

What a beautiful morning here in Daveland, gave me a chance to give Dave his first deep clean of the year rather than the rinse offs he has had over winter.

So afterwards I decided we should go for a little drive, Spring is definately springing, lots of daffodils, snowdrops and even and handful of bunnies running around the hedgerows. Looks like one of my favourite seasons is just around the corner.

So poodling about I found a lovely little brook and farm track, so time for a few pics.

Now the downside to what was a lovely morning, about six inches from the front of the drivers door and between the lower crease and the bottom of the door I noticed this!

A small dent and very strange looking too, perfectly circular, if I didn't know better it almost looks like a sunken rivet (about the same size too).

Where it is means it couldn't have been done by someone opening their door on Dave and it's so far forward on the door I would have noticed opening the door such a short distance and catching something, so I'm at a bit of a loss on where it has appeared from.

Also found a stone chip on one of the front wings and a small one on the front bumper, but I guess after 18,000 miles I should expect some marks.

Just how big do you think I am?

Last weekend saw us heading down to Bournemouth to celebrate a friends 50th birthday, before the evening fun we all went for walk to Old Harry Rocks, an amazing view a chance to try out a new gadget that I got for my birthday.

The journey took as through Sandbanks and although he was looking out Dave didn't manage to find a single Evoque to wind up, however while waiting in the queue for the Studland ferry, someone in a very large and very blinged Range Rover Vogue did try and bully his way in. It became a bit of a battle of nerve between a jack russell and an oversized pitbull, but guess what, that jack russell won and the big nasty pitbull had to give in.

Dave 2 - Range Rovers 0

If you have never been on it the Studland Ferry is a chain driven ferry from Sandbanks to Studland, it takes about 10 minutes to cross.

Can you guess what my latest gadget is?

So after we had finished our walk it was time for the non drivers to have a few beers, I was on the lime and sodas, before we headed back again.

I wonder is it a sign of success or celebrity status when you get photo bombed?

I'm pretty sure this was the first time it happened to Dave, but I'm sure as he becomes more famous it will happen more often!

So now for the journey back, the ferry is very pleasant, however it's big downside are the queues.

You know the ones, that appear to go on forever, and as you get closer and closer to the front your excitement grows, sometimes though it's not about the excitement, it's about the 'We're running really late and we need to get there ASAP'.

So we are edging forward, one car at a time, loading onto the ferry, 4 cars infront of us, 3 cars, 2 cars, 1 car.......YES and there is space......STOP!

STOP!!!!!

Just how big do you think I am?

I could definately fit behind silver Puma.

And Dave is now left sat on the slipway.

However the view down here is fabulous, and watching all the boats coming out from Poole harbour is fantastic.

The other advantage is when the ferry comes back, I'm at the front of the queue to get on and I had worked out which lane would unload first at the other side.

And the award for stating the obvious goes to the person who put this sign on the ferry, why would anyone not have their brakes on?

Oh and incase anyone follows football, one of those houses on the left belongs to Harry Redknapp, he wanted a photograph taken with Dave, but as we were in such a rush we had to decline his request.

Another great day out, thanks to Dave for getting us there and back. It's now eleven months since I collected him and he is still as much fun to drive as that first day.

Oh yeah and have you guessed what the new gadget is then?

Yep a selfie stick!

Found some mud and hopefully some off roading

Had an early start this morning just driving around before taking Albert for a walk.

We stumbled across a Public Right of Way so decided to give Dave a little run along it, was an easy drive with a couple of slippery bits that he coped with very well, now have to give him another wash tomorrow.

While we were walking Albert along the Chiltern Way we came across what appeared to be a disused cross country horse trial, but around the whole area were some decent 'tracks' that had clearly been driven around. I suspect they were only the farmer's / gamekeeper's vehicle but hoping with a bit of digging around I may be able to find a contact.

This won't be for others to use, just for me to take some action photos of Dave and possible mount the GoPro and make a video.