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 small family car segment and utilize the same 4-door sedan 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 Chery-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 118hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 107hp engine designed by Renault.

The fact that the Dacia got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, isn't really an advantage, taken the poor 3-star rating it received. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the Chinese car offers a potentially life-saving difference of 33% more metal.

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Chery with an average rating of 4.6, and models under the Dacia badge with 4.1 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Tengo as average reliability-wise, and Logan is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the Chinese car rank it on average as 4.8, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.8 out of 5.

Dacia is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.3 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 183 kilometers per hour, 7km/h less than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Romanian car, averaging around 7.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (40 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 15% difference compared to the Chinese car.

Chery 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 Chinese car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Dacia offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the 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. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.