Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the city car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Stellantis-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 70hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 65hp engine designed by Nissan.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Dacia being a slightly better choice apparently. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars.

Reliability

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that FIAT does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of FIAT with an average rating of 4.3, and models under the Dacia badge with 4.1 out of 5. The same official information place Panda 22% above average, and Sandero those same 22% below the first one. We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the Italian car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

There's not enough data for me to elaborate on the subject, I'm affraid.

Verdict

FIAT appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Romanian car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. When it comes to performance, both vehicles provide similar experience, so I wouldn't point any of them out. Fuel consumption is more or less the same. It's really tough to make a final decision here, but if I'd need to, I'd say Dacia. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.