Renault Duster [2012-2015] User Reviews

Like everyone else I was also eagerly waiting for the Duster launch. I was looking to change to a bigger vehicle having used Corolla for quite some time. However, when the prices came out, I was a bit put off to see the top end (without Automatic version or without 4x4) going to 13.25L on-road Pune.

Exterior How the vehicle looks, is a subjective matter. I found it to be quite acceptable especially in White. The wheel arches make it look wider than it is. The door handle quality is really really pathetic. I have seen such poor quality plastic in any indian car including M800, Nano, Indica.

I dont know why the designers screw-up the back of the SUVs e.g. XUV and Duster. It really looks yucks 😦 from behind...almost like a military vehicle.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Interiors are very economical. Quality of plastic is just about average. The model in which you get rear AC is the most stupidest thing I have seen in any car. They just fit is a cheap quality plastic box in between front 2 seats. It actually take away the leg space of the passenger inthe rear seat. It not only looks funny but ugly also.

I wouldnt call the interior spacious because I personally found it to average. This car is not as big on the inside as it looks on the outside.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Duster has a 1.5 dCi engine which is tried and tested all over the world. They use the same engine in Micra/Pulse, Sunny etc. The 85 PS engine begs for power whic 110 PS has some punch in it; albeit with an annoying lag. Well, it doesnt have a turbo so lag is understandable. I am sure the vehicle will give good mileage. I am expecting 14-16 in city and 18 on highway.

Ride Quality & Handling The suspension are stiff, as it would be on any SUV. However, they are not very uncomfortable. I have seen stiffer suspension on an BMW 3 series. Duster take potholes very easily and you even if you jump on one of those holes at 40kmpl it doesnt feel as if you have broken anything. The car height is very impressive do the underbody would be safe in the toughest terrains.

Final Words At 13+ Lakh, all I wanted is better interiors and atleast automatic version. I cannot justify not buying an Innova at that price. Just cant. The Renault showroom in Pune us worse than a bicycle mart. The owner is stubborn, the sales staff is LOST and clueless and nobody knows about the delivery schedule. The location of the renault showroom in Pune is laughable. It is the busiest road in Pune where it is difficult to put the car in 3rd gear. To add to these worries, I am told that their servicing is equally pathetic. This is the problem with foreign brands who want to "try" out India.

Areas of improvement Ahh!!!

Plastic Quality. Turbo charged engine. Replacement for rear-AC, better showroom owners and better locations. Get the price down atleast by a lakh rupees; Come-on you are offering and engine that is in you 6 lakh rupee car!!! I am not buying a Duster anymore. I will wait for automatic version. But that too costs 15-16 lakh, XUV makes better sense.

Road presence, Sturdy body, Proven engine, Mileage,Read AC module, poor plastic (door handle), no Automatic, no 4x4, average Sales and Service network

Exterior

If you will decide to buy a car from external looks, DUSTER will make you stop and think for sure. The nice looking rear with chrome DUSTER written, the classy wavy alloy wheels and the front grills, from all angles, DUSTER looks good, if not great. The only thing I didnt like is the door handles, which are silver in colour and feels cheap. Also, having driven some very well built european cars, the door thud wasnt impressive enough for me. However, overall, the build quality didnt look that bad, but I expected another 100-150 kgs of meat in the SUV. Very nice ground clearnace, great looking alloys and also the side view of the cars gives youa nice cute feel for this SUV. The rear view mirros are too small for a better view, could have been bigger

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort

Its  a let down. Suddenly, from a classy EUROPEAN, CUTE yet mean SUV from exterior, you sink into an average to say the least interior quality. Even the leather seats are a big compromise. Barring the centre console which houses the CD plater, USB port and radio, the overall dash borad is of cheap plastic. The power window switches are also just average. However, I liked the wood finish door handles and the chrome used in the interior. I am surprised to see the ORVM's control switch put just below the hand brakes, which are a big pain to operate when the hand brakes are down. The steering has no telescopic function. The driving position is GOOD, but the height adjustment of the driver's seat is very ODD, as you have to get up to adjust the height. There is no arm rest and the rear AC vent feels of very poor quality. The glove box has a light to fish things at night, but no cooler inside. Also the sun visors are just average. The rear seats have good space, and I felt its strictly for 4 adults and 1 child. This is because the centre passenger has a big discomfort of sitting in the centre, as not only the HUMP on the floor will bother him but also the rear AV vent unit is too much bulged into the rear passnger side. So centre passenger will have to keep one leg each side of the AC vent unit, which in my opinion is ODD. Boot space is good with a cover tray. The tail gate opens to the top and is intergrated to the central locking of the car. The Key unit is also pretty sleek with keyless entry option. Also, to menion, the central locking switch is oddly placed near the centre console but, its better placed than the ORVM mirror control switch. No climate control AC and no digital control. It should have been a MUST for a SUV which will cost 14 lacs on road Mumbai.

 Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

The 110 horse DCi engine is refined. PERIOD. I even asked once to the guy taking me around, if this a DIESEL engine. The gear shift couldnt have been better. The gear ratios are fairly placed and doesnt feel rubbery at all. The steering response is very good. The seating postiion is also failry OK. The leather wrapped steering wheel feel is kind of OK. No steering control for any of the controls, but the head light controls are given like the paddle shift given in some of the automatic cars. The second grear, after few revvs, pulls and feels very refined. The engine is adequate in my opinion. Any more power is welcome and needed more for drag racers. At times, in the low revvs, the second gear feels suggish, till it gathers enough torque to pull. When it does, it does well. On low speed, the engnie behaves very well. Overall, I was fairly satisfied with the adequate engine

Ride Quality & Handling

The car's suspension is very well adjusted keeping Indian roads in mind. The care rode very well and drove like a small car. Even reversing and parking the car was very smooth. I took the car on some of the real pot holed laden roads of Mumbai and a strech of 500 meters. The SUV didnt give a feel of anything below the car being on the pot holed laden roads. It passed that test with flying colours. High ground clearnace and 215 profile tyres gives it a good ride quality. Overall, the handling was superb and the ride was quite good. Didnt see te high speed stability, as didnt get the channce to drive beyond 100kmph, but get a  feeling that, the car will behave fairly well

Final Words

Its a GOOD LOOKING SUV, which rides and handles very well. Its 2 X 4, hence its practical for city and highway drive. It has adequate power and if the claimed mileage is achieved, then its FUEL EFFICIENT as well. If you can live with the interiors and scaled down features like no climate control AC, no steering control and things like that, and dont want to spend beyond 14 lacs, this can be your first off roader.

Areas of improvement  

GIve me 4 X 4, give me better interiors, give me driver arm rest, give me steering control and climate control AC. GIve me cruise control and give me digital controls....still I wont be satisfired, but will surely live with it!

 

External Looks, Engine Power (Just adequate), Interior Space, Drive FeelPlastic Quality, Some switches oddly placed, No Arm Rest, Pool Quality Leather upholstry

Exterior It looks beautiful to me. 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Depends which variant you are buying- the basic models don't have abs, airbag, ebd etc, space is reasonable, quite comfortable in the test drive.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Performance & gearbox was GOOD. Just took test drive today 12-07-2012 so economy? but they claim 20kmpl.

Ride Quality & Handling Reasonable grip on the road, easy handling, as it was a new car so riding was as it should be. but overall it was comfortable.

Final Words I have booked 85 ps diesel Duster today after test drive so thats make my final point very clear. As per renault people this car is basically the extended version of a mid-size class car, so i saw it that way.

I would like to add one thing- when we reach the renault showroom, we all know the main reason is price (which is quite reasonable for this segment) but still we crib for interiors and more & more features. I Believe everything has its price and when you want more features you should be ready to spend more. Go for bmw-x1, crv, endeavour, pajero or....

I came to know that Duster's top variant is approx 60000 cheaper than xuv's basic variant (it has its own features). I never took test drive of XUV because my pocket was not allowing me, but duster is in my range & i pray it should be a good machine.

As far as service part is concerned i am little stressed but as they have reached 10000 booking in 8-9 days (as per renault staff) i feel the company will be planning for more sales & SUPPORT outlets.

THIS IS PURILY MY OPINION, PLZ GO AND SEE YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO BUY ONE.

Sorry for anything hurting.

Areas of improvement Service network, music system, fog light and few small things in basic model, boot space could have been converted into fully collapsible two more seats.

THANKS

Own a SUV at lesser price, Good mileage, No engine noise even in diesel, smooth gear shifts & pickupBoot is much bigger, 5 seater, simple interior, hard door closing

Exterior I booked my Duster on 8th of Aug with an assurance that I shall get thisdelived on 3rd Oct, after doing multile followup on 4th I got a call from Renault head office that my car would be delived after Feb 2013. 7 months after the booking.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) This is extremly disapointing. They took the booking money in advance and not even returning the booking amount.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox The performace is okay since I drove 110 BHP amd booked 85 , do not knw how 85 BHP engine is.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality was okay, not very comfortable though.

Final Words Please have people in your company who knows what customer service is and how to live upto to the commitments, I wonder if the pre sales experience is this bad how would be post sale. All user please treat this as a word of cautious.

Areas of improvement Kindly work on the above mention thing , you have not only lost custsomer but also trust and faith as an company.

NothingSales team is Pathetic

Hello Friends,

It was really tough to find Petrol variant user/experts reviews on Internet. I surely found some & helped alot in making my wishlist. Due to this I made my mind to post my personal HONEST review comments after I run 1000km in my new car. I do not like deseal sound noise inside or outside car + initial amount which is required to pay to buy deseal car. I decided to buy Petrol variant of Ecosport and was on verge of getting delivery, few things changed my mind

1. One of my friend told me FORD's claim mileage is usually not met in real world scenario.

2. Real Mileage review of Ecosport Ambient variant by one of the real time user whom i just asked mileage casually and he said less than 12km, which made me worried.

I started thinking - Is it really worth paying close to 7.5L for Ambient variant base version, as space is as good as i20 not much difference? OR Wait for new options to come, as Duster Petrol was costing 9+ i.e. difference of around 1.5L which was huge was me, as I was looking for entry level SUV, as I like driving. Thankfully I got a very good offer from one of well known dealer of Pune because of Gudi Padwa + Year End + Govt Change in Policies (however not applicable to Duster) and difference in Ecosport & Duster price came down drastically, It appears as if everything is falling into place just to change my mind & meet budget, Only concern was - Duster claim 13.24 Mileage petrol much lower than Ecosports (15.7), how much it will give in real world? Salesperson was saying 9-10, dealer headperson was saying 11 in real world. You cannot get everything in one deal, so I decided to go for Duster Petrol over Ecosport Ambient Petrol after calculating all aspects, mentioned below

1. Roughly I have to Pay 1 L  more in either car for deseal variant, If I have buy petrol variant, I can save 1L and can save interest which i have to pay to loan company i.e. roughly 12000 Per Annum.

2. I have to pay roughly 6000 per annum for deasel maintanence.

3. After few years deseal car ki jaan nikal jati hai, I drove petrol car for over 7 years and still pickup is good enough and you can even think of long drives.

Moreover you never know what price differene deseal/petrol will have in coming days, Overall It will take 5 years to recover 1L which I am gonna pay more, assuming 15000km drive per year.

Exterior

Simple and Sober. Will have good road presence and sooth your eyes even after few years.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

Basic, It fulfils all needs which required in car.

Engine Performance - Very good, handling is awesome, I tested speed 120 km and It was enjoyable.

Fuel Economy - 11 KMP/L after first 1000KM in a months time, Expecting it will give me 12 after first/second service. I drive 60% on highway & 40 City drive.

Gearbox - Good, Initially it took time to understand it, but now its good.

Ride Quality & Handling - Awesome. I feel like yeh road kabhi khatam naa ho, chalte jaye :)

Final Words

1. Amazing SUV, must have if budget is < 10L, I had test drive of Deseal as well, I like that as well but I mentioned points for choosing petrol over deseal.

2. Much better than Ecosport in terms of Space, Drive Handling, Driving Experience. Only place Ecosport wins is pickup @ 1-2 gear and may be you will get 1 etc LM/L mileage.

3. Feel free to ask for Comparision in Eco / Duster.

Areas of improvement  

Improve Mileage, It sometimes hurt to pay monthly petrol bills, Overall worth buying Duster.

Drive, Handling, Pickup @ 3-4 gear, SPACESimple Interior

Exterior Looks  are cool catchy. Very nice to see from outside. Looks masculine.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Why the hell designers not thought of rear seat members. why is so much space for luggage. Just push the rear seat six inches behind it will do the wonder. What do we do with the AC between our legs. Locate it on the roof or sides.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Quiet OK to handle.

Ride Quality & Handling is realy nice. Good to drive on and off road.

Final Words It will be an excellent SUV provided the interiors are improved. The persons at Design might have constrated only on exterior, of course it is good. But why haven't they thought of interior comforts. Please ask them to see Indica vista a hatch back, or Tyota Etios, Tata manza the sedans. You just dont match them. Thnks for designing that crampy space for rear seaters and the AC vent at the centre sounds realy stupid.

Areas of improvement  space,  space and space.  AC vents. Seats N Plastics used. May compromise with boot space and provide breathing space to rear seat partners.

Is a SUV to show off !!!!!! . Of course, It attracts passerbys eye. Good road clearance,This car is made for only two. Rear seats good enouch to carry luggage no person can sit comfortably

Exteriors Duster looks quite aggressive from front, okish from sides & submissive from rear. Tail lights need a makeover. Overall its exteriors are new & refreshing. Double beam front head-lights look great & original bulbs are adequate in terms of distance illumination.

Interiors (Features, Space & Comfort) Front passengers are fine for leg room, but rear leg room is cramped. Rear AC vent - what's this all about, looks like a weird plastic fitment post purchase, only exists in RxZ variant. Base 2 variants are completely devoid of all safety features like ABS, EPS, airbags, etc. Interior designing team needs a kick for following:

1. Boot is seriously huge, & rear leg room is cramped.

2. Rear AC vent is obnoxious.

3. Media controls are placed, where they can't be accessed at all.

4. Side mirror controls also can't be accessed when hand-brake is down.

5. ICE is quite out-dated & looks sad. Buttons are not easy to use & press, & give that awkward 'tik-tik' sound, that one doesn't want to hear.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy & Gearbox From Indian Automobile Market point of view, fuel economy is PERFECT. City mileage with AC is 15-16 kmpl & 18-19 on highways. Gearbox & gear shifts are smooth & aptly placed (even for female drivers). Engine performance, 85 PS (200 Nm) is under-powered, but 110 PS (248 Nm) rectifies it. Both variants do suffer from a lag till about 1500 rpm, post that, power & pick up seems fine. Both diesel engine variants seem fine for city driving & non-power & non-turbo enthusiasts. You definitely need a turbo & a 4 x 4 if you have some mountaineering to do.

Ride Quality & Handling Overwhelming ride quality. I took it over pot-holes, speed brakers, off-road, etc. & its suspension worked decently, with very little / no bumps felt. Handling is good, steering wheel is quite exact & tyre movements are well synchronised. Obviously, Duster isn't as precise as a Honda Civic.

Final Words Well, Renault Duster is first car in this price segment & this Mini-SUV segment, & is doing quite well too. Value For Money is what I must say. 110 PS engine is good but then it’s a little more expensive as well. The 85 PS Diesel Engine RxL variant makes max sense.

Areas of improvement

1. Bookings -- Renault is currently very unprofessional with their bookings of Duster. All dates / time lines are overshot. Renault currently is not capable enough of producing number of Dusters already booked, & sticking to time given to their customers.

2. Engine point of view - more power, a 4 x 4, a turbo-charged engine required.

3. Interior quality of plastics need to be improved.

4. Rear AC vent should be removed / placed above, along with roof.

5. Media controls & ORVM (outside-rear-view-mirrors) controls should be placed appropriately.

6. Rear passenger leg room should be increased & boot space could be reduced a little, some tuning over there is most definitely required.

7. ICE console should be replaced with a one that is more innovative & up-market.

8. Rs. 40,000/- was increased on Duster & other Renault cars did not see a price increase. Renault's one car starts selling well, that doesn't mean they can take their customers for a jolly ride.

9. More number of service stations should be opened & at appropriate locations.

10. RENAULT & NISSAN should stop fooling Indian Automobile buyers & have different diesel engines for different cars. Currently, Nissan Micra, Nissan Sunny, Renault Pulse, Renault Scala, Renault Fluence & Renault DUSTER are all powered by same diesel 1461 cc engine, which is frankly quite annoying. If Renault can power 4 teams (8 cars) for Formula-1 races, I think they can definitely have different engines for different cars. Nissan & Renault have same manufacturing unit in Chennai, & they are even using same platform for their cars. For example, Nissan Sunny, Renault Scala & Renault Duster share same base platform.

Front exteriors, ride quality, shock absorbers, fuel economy, ground clearance, handling, boot spaceBookings for one, rear exteriors, rear AC vent, rear seat leg-room, media controls, plastic quality

I have been waiting for this car to happen. This was THE SUV as written by various reviews.

First look were great! Though the car has almost same height and space as Ertiga, it has the looks. Internal plastics did not look that bad and dashboard look much better as compared to other SUV. Back sheet space is an issue. Overall tyre gives it a bigger shape, the vehicle doesn’t look that Big.

Now where this car absolutely lack is pricing. The basic safety features like ABS, Airbag are not at all available in Petrol Model!!

In diesel model, RxL with options is the models which have these features. The cost for RxL with Option is 10Lakh ex-showroom in Delhi. Add another 1.2Lakh (as told by salesperson since they did not have on road price) for On Road. This comes to 11.2Lakh for basic car!

At 9.2Lakh you get aVerna with all of these features plus more! If you are fan of something different, look into it otherwise old choices will still make sense.

looks, designless spacious, price

It is my utter despair to mention that extremely bad service of Renault that haunted me last 04 months after I bought a Duster with a good faith and trust in the company, but it resulted in an unprecedented nightmare finally compels me to write about the vehicle.

I bought a Renault Duster RXL 85PS (NAV) on 14/04/2014 from adealer in Gurgaon. My first interaction with the nightmare began when I found that after AC is on for quite some time all the water is coming in which wets all the mats in the car.

Being perplexed with the happening, I decided to continue and after a couple of weeks whole AC kit was replaced by the service people.

After their repairs also same thing got repeated only after 03 days.

This problem was also declared as an unique problem by their service engineers which was just a eye wash. Came to know that it is the problem evryone has to face later or sooner. 

The rest has been even more disastrous spare parts of the same are not available. For each single part you have to wait for atleast 07 days.

I went from pillar to post to get the vehicle checked but in vain which created  a strong opinion that I have been cheated with an inferior quality product or could be even with a dubious parts. I resolve to seek legal opinion on the subject that how Renault had start selling Duster without proper testing in India and its climate conditions. Are we Indians fool that anybody can come and sell their products to us.

Beaware!!!!

ONLY STYLEI dont like anything in the car now. It is in my Garage now and I am back to my old Santro Car.