Dacia Sandero hatchback – Practicality & boot space

Despite being one of the cheapest new cars on sale in Britain, the first Dacia Sandero impressed by offering five doors and more space than some other superminis, putting other cheap city cars in the shade. The new platform has only made things better, giving the Sandero more space inside for people and their luggage.

Dacia Sandero interior space & storage

The latest Sandero is larger than before, and the most noticeable area of improvement is for rear-seat passengers. There's now 42mm of extra legroom, which is not only great news for adult passengers, but also for parents fitting a bulky child car seat in the back. Its extra width means it's also feasible for three people to squeeze into the back without falling out and there’s excellent foot space under the seats. Headroom is good enough for adults, and while the middle rear seat is reasonably soft, it’s pretty narrow, so won’t be suitable for long trips.

There's also 21 litres of interior storage distributed between cubbies and pockets, including a space between the central armrest, cup holders and a fairly large glovebox. Well-thought-out touches include a fold-out bag hook in the passenger footwell, with four more in the boot. Rear passengers also get a 12-volt socket rather than a USB plug, and very small door bins. There are 60/40 split and fold rear seats in the Comfort model, but this is a simple car, so there aren't quite as many clever features as the more expensive Skoda Fabia.

Boot space

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Just like the Renault Clio, the Sandero has a fairly tall loading lip to lift items over, but once you do it has a very generous 328 litres of luggage space. That's not far off the class best, and only a fraction smaller than some cars in the family hatchback class.

Considering its budget billing, we were also impressed the boot has a height-adjustable floor, helping smooth out the loading area if you decide to fold the back seats down.