I’m an ambassador for Porsche but I’m NEVER going to get rid of my £5k Dacia Sandero, says tennis ace Emma Raducanu

I’D like to be the head of marketing at Dacia right now.

Because when he reads this, he’ll be able to put his feet up and relax for the next 12 months.

We see brands like Mercedes and Land Rover spend a fortune dishing out free cars to “celebrity brand ambassadors”.

But Emma Raducanu, the hottest ticket in the UK at the moment, didn’t need a penny to promote budget-brand Dacia.

I had a sit-down chat with Raducanu — arranged by Porsche — and she was adamant she’d never sell her first car, a £5k Sandero.

For those of you who don’t know or have forgotten, Dacia is a Romanian brand owned by Renault and the Sandero was once Britain’s cheapest new car.

The latest Sandero is basically a cut-price Clio sharing many parts

Raducanu said: “My dad is Romanian and a Dacia was his first car. So, yeah, I have a white Dacia Sandero.

‘Like taking off in a UFO’

“It was funny, I passed my test three days before the first lockdown and we sort of knew it was going into lockdown, so we needed to buy a car ASAP. I bought it second-hand for £5k. I take care of her. I’m never going to get rid of it.”

Good decision.

Raducanu has earned squillions as the face of Vodafone, HSBC, Evian, Dior and more since her stunning US Open triumph in 2021.

But the best deal of the lot has to be Porsche, particularly for a young petrolhead who tried karting and motocross as a kid.

Her dream motor is a 918 Spyder “but there’s no way they would let me near one”.

So would Raducanu go 911 or Taycan?

She said: “Any 911. I’m there. It doesn’t matter.

“I definitely have a better respect for electric cars after driving a Taycan.

“The acceleration is so smooth, it’s almost like you are taking off in a UFO. And obviously it’s great for the planet. But, for me, nothing can really beat the organic smell and sound of a car.”

Like the classic 911 she tried at Silverstone recently. Raducanu said: “It was actually amazing. It was a shoot day and I was thinking, ‘I really want to drive it’, and at the end of the day they let me have a go.

“Going from the automatic 911 that I was driving, the modern one, then going to a Sixties manual, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to forget how to drive manual’. I didn’t want to scratch it.

“The gears were in completely different places, the clutch was like, y’know, just to find the biting point, so it took some adjusting. But it was a really fun experience.

 “Just being on the track and experiencing that speed and adrenalin is something that I really love.

“It is similar to what I do in a way. You get the same adrenalin, nerves.

“But the difference is, you get it slightly wrong when you’re racing and you could end up in the wall. Whereas in tennis, you hit it slightly wrong, what’s the worst? You lose a match.”

Raducanu also loves her F1 but refused point-blank to say who she thinks is the cutest driver.

She said: “If I say it, it is just going to go everywhere, so I’m not saying!”

Fair enough. But she’ll always love a Sandero.

Game, set, Dacia.