The Dacia Solenza is a 5-door liftback from Dacia, built from 2003 to 2005, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Under the bonnet: 1.4 L Renault Energy engine#ExJ.
How it came about
The Dacia Solenza is a subcompact/supermini liftback automobile produced by Romanian auto manufacturer Dacia from March 2003 to July 2005. It was the last model on Dacia's own platform, but was one of the first models to benefit from Dacia's takeover by the French company Renault.
The hardware
Power comes from 1.4 L Renault Energy engine#ExJ; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1035 kg. It shifts through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2476 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Dacia SupeRNova; its successor was the Dacia Sandero / Dacia Logan; assembly was at Mioveni. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mazda RX-8, the Mazda Mazda3, the Bentley Continental GT — show what else the money bought that year. Its Dacia stablemates include the Dacia 1100 and the Dacia 1210.