Renault Sandero Spares
Two different Sanderos have been sold in South Africa and they were not even built in the same country. The original B90 cars were assembled at Nissan’s Rosslyn plant north of Pretoria. The cars sold from March 2014 until stock ran dry early in 2022 were imported from Romania, and those are simple: one 898 cm³ turbopetrol, one five-speed manual, no automatic and no diesel.
Local engines: 0.9 turbopetrol 3-cylinder, 898 cm³ (second generation).
Renault Sandero engine
Petrol engines
- 0.9 turbopetrol 3-cylinder, 898 cm³ (second generation)
Sandero Spares: the things that actually decide fitment
There is no single Sandero for parts purposes — two quite separate cars, the B90 built at Nissan’s Rosslyn plant in South Africa and the Romanian-built second generation sold here from March 2014 until stock ran dry early in 2022 have all been sold here.
The whole South African second-generation run used one engine and one gearbox
The whole South African second-generation run used one engine and one gearbox, which makes it the most straightforward car on this site to quote for once we know it is the Romanian-built car and not the older one.
What the cars.co.za buyer’s guide flags instead are the wear items, and they are worth knowing before you spend: worn or outright failed timing chains on the 0.9, a plastic thermostat housing that warps over time and then leaks coolant, numerous local instances of starter-motor failure, and a fuel sensor unit that gives up.
The guide’s own advice to used buyers is to listen for a rattling timing chain and to insist on evidence of regular servicing, which is a fair summary of where the money goes on this car — though it also notes, interestingly, that the chain trouble turned up more often on the Clio IV than on the Sandero.
Two things South Africa never got
Two things South Africa never got are worth stating outright, because listings from elsewhere will offer you both: the 1.5 dCi turbodiesel sold in Europe, and the 2.0-litre Sandero RS sold in South America. Neither was ever part of the local range, so neither is a part for your car.
The body side has its own timeline
The body side has its own timeline. Renault launched here in March 2014 with the Expression and the Dynamique, added the Stepway a couple of months later, facelifted the range in March 2017, replaced the Stepway Dynamique with the Stepway Plus in May 2018, and put the Stepway Techroad at the top from August 2020.
Stepway parts are not always standard Sandero parts — the raised body kit, the bumpers and the roof bars are the obvious places that differ — so the derivative matters as much as the year.
- 1
Track down the generation code for your Sandero. It is on the VIN plate, and it is on the original registration paperwork if you still have it.
- 2
Nail down the engine. This market got 0.9 turbopetrol 3-cylinder, 898 cm³ (second generation) in the Sandero.
- 3
Send us both, along with the spares you need and the engine code off the plate, or the VIN if you cannot find it. The matching happens before we quote.
Sourcing note: the Sandero has a South African relative in the Nissan NP200, though the link is narrower than it looks and it is worth being exact about. cars.co.za describes the NP200 as effectively a single-cab bakkie version of the first-generation Dacia Logan, built at Nissan’s Rosslyn plant from 2008 until March 2024 — sixteen years, and a far larger local parc than any Renault on this site. That is a platform relationship and it belongs to the first-generation car.
It does not reach the engine, and the engine is what people actually ask about. The NP200 ran 1.6 petrols and a 1.5 dCi; every second-generation Sandero sold here had the 0.9 turbopetrol and nothing else. Because effectively the whole local Sandero parc is that second-generation car, “an NP200 engine will fit my Sandero” is wrong for very nearly every Sandero you will meet, and we would rather say so than let you buy one.
Where the NP200 is genuinely worth a look is the older B90 car, and there it is worth a look, which widens the net when local stock runs thin.
Locally, the Sandero is mostly a cheap-to-run hatch or Stepway that has usually done serious mileage before anyone goes looking for a part for it. It went off sale here in early 2022, so every one on the road is now out of warranty and past the point where a dealer is keen to help, which is exactly why the enquiries arrive with a fair amount of frustration behind them.
That is the wear pattern we source against, and it is why we ask what the car does rather than only what it is.
What we source for the Sandero
If you are not certain which Sandero you have, send the VIN off your licence disc and we will work it out.