2013+ Dacia Logan MCV

What's that you say? You want a wagon built in Morocco or Romania? Here you go!

He seems unhappy about something.

Not terribly exciting, I know.

Designed by Renault and sold rebadged as the Renault Symbol, you may be wondering what "MCV" is an acronym for on the station wagon variant of the oh-so-lovely Dacia Logan. In this generation, it stands for Maximum Capacity Vehicle. Hilariously, it previously meant Multi Convivial Vehicle. When was the last time you used Convivial in a sentence? With the Dacia Logan, you could! Well, the previous gen could, at least.

And so, with some of the fun word play opportunities removed, the upgraded Logan was based on the Dacia M0 platform, better known as the Nissan B0 with slight variations. That platform underpins a huge variety of vehicles, from the Cube, Leaf and Juke to the Renault Clio.

Not bad. Really. I'm sure the materials are nothing to write home about, tho.

Not familiar with Dacia? As you may have known already, the company is a subsidiary of Renault since 1999. Its roots go back to 1966, when they began producing licensed copies of the Renault 8. Back then, the company was known as UAP (Uzina de Autoturisme PiteSti). So keep an eye out for them on the stock exchange.

Engines in the sedan range from a .9 liter 3-cylinder turbo with 90 hp and 100 torques all the way up to a 1.6 four-banger. There are several gasoline motors inbetween and a 1.5 diesel, too. In the MCV, there seems to be just one engine; a 73 hp 1.2 four that gets fantastic mileage around 38/57 mpg while racing snails from 0-60 in 14.5 seconds. Watch the video at the bottom for specs on another motor, but I didn't see that listed on the UK site. Transmissions are a 5-speed manual and an automatic enticingly dubbed Easy-R.

I must be doing something wrong, because I calculated that the MCV weighs under 2300 pounds. That must be wrong. Seems extremely light. MSRP is also very enticing, at around $10.3K US.

With seating for five only, there is no third seat option unless you take the old school bungie cord and duct tape route. Maximum cargo is 53.6 cubic feet.

Could this be a Yugo wagon replacement here in the States? With a super cheap asking price and all the basics covered except a motor acceptable to Americans, could this be rebadged as a Nissan and sit next to new Versas on dealer lots? Yeah...probably not.