1990 Dacia 1310 TX review from Romania

Too many to list; here's some:

- water pumps: four of them

- leaking gearbox

- leaking sump (still)

- rust: the jack went through the floor one time because of this even if it was correctly installed under the "reinforced" lifting point.

- lower right suspension ball joint totally wasted

- rusted exhaust

- electrical problems due to oxidized contacts/wires

- speedometer failed at 55000. Won't replace until rev meter fails too.

- clutch failed in 1995 while in Turkey. Replaced with original Renault part, still going strong.

- many other things loose/failing/rattling/etc inside and outside.

Despite the general opinion that it's a s**t car, it holds together pretty well considering it has been involved in about five crashes, on pretty serious.

The main enemy of this car is not wear & tear, but time as it is quite prone to rusting. Therefore it is best kept in a garage & out of rain/snow.

It is quite solid considering the numerous craters (quite common on the roads here), curbs and other road hazards it has run in/over (dogs and sheep among others).

Spare parts are cheap and easy to find.

The seats are very comfortable.

It handles like a boat on water: soft suspension, ample roll in curves. But once you get used to it it's fun and the tricks you can pull with it are limited only by imagination and how much money you want to spend on repairs afterward.

Since gas is quite expensive (for a Romanian student anyway), it isn't very cheap to run. It does about 10 l/100 km in the city and about 7 @ 90 kph on the road.

With heightened suspension it is amazing what this front wheel traction car can do off-road.

With only one person on board (me) it can be quite fast (90 mph, downhill of course).

It is light enough (900 kilos) to prevent serious injury when it falls on you while you're underside fixing it.

Finally it's like a girlfriend or a wife: it may have a big mouth, it may require constant attention, it isn't very good looking or good in bed, but it's mine.