With a price tag undercutting the next cheapest car in this year’s test by more than £4000, the Dacia Logan MCV is an absolute bargain.

Don’t forget our Lauréate spec car is the top of the Logan MCV range, so you can buy much the same car for an even lower price if you don’t mind less standard equipment. For less than £11,000, the Lauréate has heated and electrically adjustable door mirrors, alloy wheels, electric front windows, air conditioning and stability control.

It’s worth noting that the towing limit of 1150kg drops to just 810kg if the car is loaded to the Gross Vehicle Weight. So the Logan MCV is a suitable match for trailers rather than full-sized caravans, but what it can tow it tows well. Through the lane-change test it needed serious provocation to shake the Logan off course, and at speed the Logan felt in control.

Performance from the 1.5-litre diesel was acceptable, pulling from 30-60mph in 19.7 seconds. But you choose a car like this for its economy, not its pace. We put the Dacia’s fuel-efficiency to the test with What Car?’s True MPG team, and achieved 34.3mpg towing on A-roads and motorways.

Our practicality judges marked the Logan down for sitting very low at the rear with a loaded boot, but the Dacia scored for having such a large luggage capacity and a full-size spare wheel.