Dacia Logan and Citroën C-Elysée diesel km0: when they're worth it and when they're not

Dacia Logan or Citroën C-Elysée: 11,500 euros for a km0 they're not giving away

Eleven thousand five hundred euros for a diesel Dacia Logan or Citroën C-Elysée, registered and with the needle almost at zero, is not a bargain, as one poster sums up: it's the market price. And yet the question splits in two anyone trying to answer it. The buyer who opens the thread has a tight budget, a child and two specific demands: a decent boot and fifteen years ahead without leaving him stranded. What he gets in return is material more useful than any dealership brochure.

There, owners with ten-year-old Logans and 81,000 kilometres coexist with drivers who have rented a C-Elysée and come away burned, and a question nobody fully settles. Why are they so cheap?

Why a new car costs less than 12,000 euros

According to the thread, the price cut is not magic or a one-off promotion. Both models rely on platforms and components amortised years ago. The dashboard, seats and instruments are borrowed from other cars, and the engine —a thoroughly proven block— barely requires new development. It's the classic low-cost recipe, and it explains why the price holds below the 12,000 barrier without the dealer giving anything away.

A second lever rarely seen in the showroom adds to that: manufacturing cost. Some point out that the Dacia is assembled in Romania, where labour is cheaper than in the rest of the European Union. It's not contempt for the product. It's industrial arithmetic: a car that costs less to build can be sold more cheaply without giving up margin.

What's unsettling is not the engine but what surrounds it. The doubt hanging over the whole package is the car's age —fit, rattles, insulation— rather than the mechanicals. And there each owner tells a different story.

Two owners, two verdicts on the same segment

A Logan owner sums up ten years of living together without dramatising: 81,000 kilometres, exterior paint intact, interior unpeeled except for the steering wheel. Another, with a current-generation Sandero Stepway, cannot find a single rattle and describes it as very quiet. Against them, someone who drove a Logan on a long alucinación speaks of little refinement, noise and vibrations, though he concedes it was a ten-year-old car.

The C-Elysée carries its own legend. Some defend that it has improved a lot inside and maintain that many taxis use that model, although another forum member notes that the Logan is on a par in that area and that fleets buy with steep discounts. The other half doesn't forgive: whoever rented one describes it as uncomfortable, slow and thirsty. A former Citroën owner says he got rid of his practically new at a loss and swears he wouldn't repeat even if one were given to him.

It's the trap of asking about reliability at any bar. One person's experience is worth as much as another's, and neither proves anything about the car that will leave the dealership.

Is it worth buying a diesel km0 in 2017?

Here appears the argument that should weigh most and that almost nobody puts at the centre. The doubt is not whether the engine lasts, but whether you'll be able to use it. It is argued that a diesel may be banned from driving not because of breakdowns or safety, but because of environmental rules restricting access to cities within a decade. If annual mileage is not intensive, the recommendation is to look at petrol, which also saves a few hundred euros on purchase.

The buyer who opens the thread does not detail how many kilometres he does a year, which is the fact that decides the matter.

What a km0 is and why it sometimes costs 800 euros more

A km0 car is, by definition, registered. You pay the transfer and the rest is included in the advertised price. The nuance matters because there are ads for unregistered km0 with 7 kilometres on the clock, a figure that looks more like a brand-new car than a real km0.

The difference shows up in the bill. In the case put on the table: a new car for 10,000 euros versus another already registered for 10,800. Adding taxes and interest if financed, the gap narrows until it almost disappears, and in exchange you get a brand-new vehicle. Paying the registration the dealer has already paid is the hidden extra cost of the km0 label.

Fiat Tipo, Kia Cee'd or Hyundai i20: the budget alternatives

With the cap set near 13,000 euros, the range opens up. A Kia Cee'd ex-management car with few kilometres falls in that range, although its provenance —rental, test car— generates reasonable distrust. A Fiat Tipo 1.6 diesel with 120 hp, a well-equipped Lounge version with a four-year warranty, is offered for 15,600 euros, according to the person with that firm offer: it sits above the limit and drags along the old prejudice about the brand's breakdowns, which other forum members dispute. And an 85 hp petrol Hyundai i20 with 200 kilometres appears for 10,800 euros, a car from January 2015 whose age with so few kilometres the buyer himself cannot explain.

That last case raises the most questions. A car with a new-car label and the calendar against it forces you to check warranty, battery, tyres and fluids before signing.

The verdict nobody signs

With these pieces, the most honest prediction is uncomfortable. Anyone looking for a tool car and racking up road miles will probably end up satisfied with either, as long as they accept they are buying transport, not an experience. Anyone driving daily through the centre of a large city may find themselves in a few years with a car in perfect condition and no permission to use it. And the brand each side defends today will keep generating the same division. No fact closes the discussion. Only owners with different luck.