[pareyshaan]

Hope it will be better than Safari and Xylo ;-)

[srishiva]

Looks roomy. The seats are wide which might make the rear seats seem cramped. The side slab design especially looks similar to the Xterra. Maybe Nissan had more to do with this?
They should re-design the horn and door pull handle

[BUXX]

^^ In some videos , I have definitely seen the horn signage on the steering wheel itself.
I am not sure, whether that is only for models in specific Geos..

[shankar.balan]

Nice tough looker. The Silver looks particularly nice.

This horn on the stalks thingy - in the early M&M International Jeeps and CJ 500 Jeeps thats where the horn button used to be positioned - atleast the Jeeps my dad had while I was growing up had this arrangement. It is not a bad idea when one thinks of it - can use one's fingers to press the horn button if need be instead of taking one's hand off the wheel and bashing the centrepiece on the steering wheel.

My guess is that the Duster will come in several variants and span price points from about 9 Lacs-10 Lacs On Road for the base variant to 14 Lacs On Road for the top spec which might have 4x4 too. However, they may not release the 4x4 version immediately.

Originally Posted by designersf

Lots of interesting stuff from the video. Thanks!

These bits were particularly profound -

• Horn on the left hand side stalks. Should definitely annoy Indian drivers!
• Neatly finished dashboard and interiors. Massive boot!
• Fit and finish - shut lines on the interiors and exteriors look impressive
• attention to detail - the button that activates the parking lights are backlit and glow intermittently
• rather noisy petrol engine
• RENAULT - Please price it from 7L!!

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Nice tough looker. The Silver looks particularly nice.

This horn on the stalks thingy - in the early M&M International Jeeps and CJ 500 Jeeps thats where the horn button used to be positioned - atleast the Jeeps my dad had while I was growing up had this arrangement. It is not a bad idea when one thinks of it - can use one's fingers to press the horn button if need be instead of taking one's hand off the wheel and bashing the centrepiece on the steering wheel.

My guess is that the Duster will come in several variants and span price points from about 9 Lacs-10 Lacs On Road for the base variant to 14 Lacs On Road for the top spec which might have 4x4 too. However, they may not release the 4x4 version immediately.

That was the old old time arrangement in jeeps, my dad's jeep had it as the centerpiece and when it became defunct a button was added to the dash .

However, in current scenario one need not press the center piece, there are at lease 2 switches on either end on the centerpiece and just the thumb is enough to press the horn.

As far as the grapevine on the launch is there it is 5 varients (2 petrol & 3 diesel)

[designersf]

Originally Posted by BUXX

@designersf : glad someone noticed the horn placement!! Highly archaic design element. I think this is how it is also placed in Sumos/buses/trucks?

Another major pain point from that video is the rear seat space. Very very cramped. They should really cut down on the boot space and give more room in the rear seat.

Plus no rear AC vents. That is just not acceptable in India. Oh come on now.. !
AC cooling should be decent though.. after all it is sold in Morocco..

From a finish & refinement point of view, the Duster seems to disappoint. a noisy Petrol engine?? Diesel, I can understand..
I can barely hear/feel the engine purring in my 9 year old Alto !!

Otherwise , it still remains a strong product. Nissan should also consider launching its own clone of the Duster..

oh btw.. the Video seems to be of a used car rather than a new one..see the scratch on the front passenger side

The engine was noisy possibly due to the fact that it was a new engine and the bonnet was open. The engine was quite silent when the guy was inside.

From what I read, the Duster has good rear seat comfort

[ayushSRV]

I visited a Renault workshop in my area to get my Pulse repaired, today. Some French guys had dropped in today from some kind of audit at the workshop and left about 15mins before I got there.
Anyway, the Service Manager/ Workshop Manager showed me a glimpse of the presentation that the French had showed them.
According to what was mentioned on that page of the presentation:

'Duster is going to change the way India looks at SUVs.
Then there was a pic of the top-end model with some features mentioned below the pic, such as ABS, EBD, parking sensors, keyless entry and Start / Stop and etc.

The Manager said that the Duster will be available with the K9K 1.5l engine with different power outputs. One at a higher state of tune and larger turbocharger with 110bhp ( same as the updated Fluence's) with a 4x4, and the other at 86bhp with a 4x2 drive.
He said that the base would be priced at around 8lacs and the Top-end at 12lacs. I forgot to ask about the number of variants.

Anyway, let's hope this is true. I'll get more info on Tuesday when I'll go to the workshop, again, to bring my car back.

PS- I hope this is not stale news :-p

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by ayushSRV

The Manager said that the Duster will be available with the K9K 1.5l engine with different power outputs. One at a higher state of tune and larger turbocharger with 110bhp ( same as the updated Fluence's) with a 4x4, and the other at 86bhp with a 4x2 drive.
He said that the base would be priced at around 8lacs and the Top-end at 12lacs. I forgot to ask about the number of variants.

I feel the pricing is realistic. Any news on when is the launch date? And will the 4x4 version be available from the day of launch or will it be delayed?

[ayushSRV]

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

I feel the pricing is realistic. Any news on when is the launch date? And will the 4x4 version be available from the day of launch or will it be delayed?

Sorry, I don't have any clue about that, but I can ask the Manager on Tuesday.

[Axe77]

Will there be a Nissan badged version of the Duster as well? Does anyone know this? Someone intuitively I'm more comfortable with putting my money on Nissan than Renault if I were to ever be in that position. I'm very unimpressed with every launch Renault has made so far. They've royally messed up branding and / or pricing of the fluence as well as Koleos. Nissan on the other hand with its fledging dealership has hit the bulls eye with positioning the Sunny. The micra isnt doing too badly either (although Teena and X trail admittedly are not well priced or launched appropriately)

[asdon]

Originally Posted by ayushSRV

One at a higher state of tune and larger turbocharger with 110bhp ( same as the updated Fluence's) with a 4x4, and the other at 86bhp with a 4x2 drive.
He said that the base would be priced at around 8lacs and the Top-end at 12lacs. I forgot to ask about the number of variants.

Hope the 4X2 version is not too much trim from the 4x4 one, other than 4WD, a fully loaded 4x2 at 10 Lac is not a bad deal, but 86 BHP? thats too less for a vehicle in size of Duster.

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by ayushSRV

'Duster is going to change the way India looks at SUVs.
Then there was a pic of the top-end model with some features mentioned below the pic, such as ABS, EBD, parking sensors, keyless entry and Start / Stop and etc.

The Manager said that the Duster will be available with the K9K 1.5l engine with different power outputs. One at a higher state of tune and larger turbocharger with 110bhp ( same as the updated Fluence's) with a 4x4, and the other at 86bhp with a 4x2 drive.
He said that the base would be priced at around 8lacs and the Top-end at 12lacs. I forgot to ask about the number of variants.

Anyway, let's hope this is true. I'll get more info on Tuesday when I'll go to the workshop, again, to bring my car back.

PS- I hope this is not stale news :-p

Lets hope they come up soon as the suspense is killing now. 86 BHP would be too low for any kind of SUV, 110 BHP seems more practical with both adequate power and fuel efficiency

[Sathya_sc]

86BHP is a serious deal breaker. Hope they give the 110HP one in the fully loaded 4*2 and 4*4 version. 11L On road for a fully loaded 4*2 and 12 for a fully loaded 4*4 sounds reasonable.But if the 110HP comes only in a 4*4, its really a disappointment.

[Harshavarthan]

Renault is testing it's Duster with beige interiors . I was expecting black .

Here is the link
Renault Duster spied with beige interior

[shankar.balan]

The beige madness has got to stop sometime and I hope it does soon.
Wish we could atleast get the option of black

These manufacturers are fools to do this "one size/ colour fits all" concept!

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

Renault is testing it's Duster with beige interiors . I was expecting black .

Here is the link
Renault Duster spied with beige interior