[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by asdon

This is frustating as the same information is available in their website too, what do they think, someone who can take their mail id or toll free no from the website can not read it from there?

Expect it to be launched by July '12

[Fusion2006]

Originally Posted by kartik.virmani

...
Steering mounted Audio & phone control
...

At least they are not writing 'satellite audio' anymore!

[shankar.balan]

As per your own thought process you would do well to wait and watch for a bit instead of jumping the gun in a hurry.

The Duster is bound to be a good vehicle because it has been tried and tested outside of India for a while now - unfortunately there is no 4x4 here which indeed was important from my perspective. Hence it went out of my consideration set -also because of the delay in launch etc.

Since you are anyway not in a hurry, if you can wait until say the year end or even the beginning of next year, the vehicle would have had a chance to bed down a bit in our conditions and more importantly Renault would have been able to open up a few more service centres.

I think that is a better way to go unlike this mad rush business like what happened with the XUV on account of its price vs features & bling value proposition!

Originally Posted by ampere

The way people are looking at:

1. If books start by mass, after the vehicle is launched, many hope, the story would be same as XUV. Those who want to buy will have to wait for a long time.
2. I predict same would be the story with Ecosport as well.
3. Hence many are OK to pay the booking, which is anyway refundable.
4. But people dont want to take the risk of getting drowned in the deluge of bookings once it starts.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I think that is a better way to go unlike this mad rush business like what happened with the XUV on account of its price vs features & bling value proposition!

I am not all in a hurry. Would rather wait to see the dust settle on these UVs, before
I decide. Hopefully by next year, one of these guys (at least Duster) should have decision made in terms of how it does.

[Rigid Rotor]

+1 to that. We really need to wait a bit and see as to how the Duster shapes out.
On the maintainability front - the Renault workshop network is still very sparse. Appears to be just one dealer-cum-workshop listed for the whole of Bangalore! A similar situation exists for Delhi - as someone had also pointed out a few posts earlier.
There was a press release some time back regarding Renault's intentions of increasing their dealer & workshop network significantly. Doesn't seem to have translated into anything yet on the ground, however.

[dadu]

Originally Posted by Rigid Rotor

+1 to that. We really need to wait a bit and see as to how the Duster shapes out.
On the maintainability front - the Renault workshop network is still very sparse. Appears to be just one dealer-cum-workshop listed for the whole of Bangalore! A similar situation exists for Delhi - as someone had also pointed out a few posts earlier.
There was a press release some time back regarding Renault's intentions of increasing their dealer & workshop network significantly. Doesn't seem to have translated into anything yet on the ground, however.

That will be completed by August 2012.

An extensive distribution network through the country will be completed before August 2012. A minimum of 35 cities will be covered (14 were opened as of May 2011). In addition, a Sales & Marketing team was organized within Renault India.

Source

Just FYI, the current duster is 4.31m length attracting 22% tax, if they can shed 0.31m they can further save 12% tax to 10% for below 4m but since its a Global product, I am not sure if they will be inclined to change the specs initially for India.

[swiftnfurious]

IAB uploads some new pics of the duster. I am surprised that this is a much smaller car than I expected. Just the height of a autorickshaw! the driver sits at almost the same height as the rick driver.



See how wide the car is! I don't think it's a skewed image since the Alto in front looks alright! Guess there will be enough shoulder room and also the car should be really stable owing to less height and great width!



More pics here: Renault Duster testing in Chennai - a set on Flickr

Detailed report here: Renault Duster testing in Chennai with camouflage

Edit:: I feel there could be a difficulty parking this in right spots due to the width! Are we seeing alloy wheels in these pics?

[asdon]

I am ok with height till the time they don't touch the GC, looking at the picture I think this SUV will have very less body roll and stable at high speeds.

[sumeshmani]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

More pics here: Renault Duster testing in Chennai - a set on Flickr

Detailed report here: Renault Duster testing in Chennai with camouflage

Thanks for the link. These are useful photos, gves us a bit more understanding on the cars relative dimensions.
None of the photos give away any clues about the SUV being 4x4 or 4x2. I know, like many members commented, chance of a 4x4 is slim. Just wishful thinking on my part .

[liferocks]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

IAB uploads some new pics of the duster. I am surprised that this is a much smaller car than I expected. Just the height of a autorickshaw! the driver sits at almost the same height as the rick driver.

Edit:: I feel there could be a difficulty parking this in right spots due to the width! Are we seeing alloy wheels in these pics?

Seems like a lower trim. no body colored bumpers or OVRM

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by liferocks

Seems like a lower trim. no body colored bumpers or OVRM

The bumpers are body colored, though they have been camouflaged.

Are they doing it the Figo way? Body colored bumpers on all the models?

I am still waiting to see it in flesh. Renault, at atleast bring it to showrooms!

[man_and_machine]

how far is usually a car from its launch from road testing?

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

how far is usually a car from its launch from road testing?

I think it depends on the manufacturer. For example, Mahindra usually tests their cars for a minimum of six months before official launch. Tata has been testing the Strome for I don't know how many months, or maybe years.

What I have read and understand is, usually companies keep a target mileage which they cover on the products (KM per per day or likes of it) before any official word.

Though I stand corrected, if anyone has better insight, please do share. Even I had this question for sometime now.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

I think it depends on the manufacturer. For example, Mahindra usually tests their cars for a minimum of six months before official launch. Tata has been testing the Strome for I don't know how many months, or maybe years.

What I have read and understand is, usually companies keep a target mileage which they cover on the products (KM per per day or likes of it) before any official word.

Though I stand corrected, if anyone has better insight, please do share. Even I had this question for sometime now.

Indian Manufacturers test the products at the time of development stage, so it takes longer for them to put the car in production. It normally takes years.

On the other side Foreign Manufacturers mostly have the car ready and it only needs to be adapted for our conditions so it may not require rigorous testing.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Indian Manufacturers test the products at the time of development stage, so it takes longer for them to put the car in production. It normally takes years.

On the other side Foreign Manufacturers mostly have the car ready and it only needs to be adapted for our conditions so it may not require rigorous testing.

Thanks! But then why is the Duster being tested for so long? Not sure of other brands because I have never really followed any of the new launches so very closely.