Talk about timing the TD. It rained for 3 days in Bangalore and the roads were at their best to hold on to as much water as possible. The pot holes and the unpaved road were competing in front of the Renault Showroom for the best off track as possible. I went in with a friend (TBhip-an for sure!) to see the new car in town.
The Duster will define mobility hence forth. There is no comparison to anything else that will come close to what the the Duster, or rather should I say what “you” can do with the Duster.
When the lady at the counter asked us to wait for the TD car, we waited to see a shinning new car waiting to be shown off, but when the TD car came it was fully covered in mud up to the brim! Whoa, that my first impression of the abuse the car was taking and how it still stood ground. I purposefully sat in the rear bench and was lost with the room and comfort in the rear seat. If you are looking for a 4 seater then the rear bench guys will enjoy the drive as much as the guy behind the wheels.
My friend started the car and I saw the car move backwards without any signs of the engine coming to life, I asked to break hard to prevent it from slipping further and he asked me surprised, “what is the matter, I am just reversing!”. I was just shocked, and asked the sales rep if I was in a the Diesel 110 bhp version and smiled back at me. The refinement of the engine in simply out of league in India. Mind it this is coming from a guy who drives the ANHC. Renault knows how to make diesel engines and how to mate it with a good car, no doubts. Then the car was taken out of parking and the sales rep asked us to keep on the service road as the outer ring road was chocked with traffic. I remembered a similar situation with my City, when I was deciding on it, the sales rep had asked to keep to the ring road to check on how the City can free rev on the open road, here I am sitting in the Duster, where the sales rep is asking me to keep to the non existent service road. Worlds apart!
If you want a car that can challenge a tractor then you can safely bet with the Duster. My friend started to drive and all I could see was a pool of muddy water and no road, we asked the sales rep where should be turn, he looked as us and said,”sir, please drive straight, that is the only road where TD is allowed on weekdays!”. TD on a mud road with water whose depth we were not sure? Well, for the first few ditches my friend was very slow, as if he is doing the car a favor by slowing slipping into the counters, but then in less than 1 minute, I could see the devil desire in his eyes. He looked at me and all I could say was “lets kill the road”, and the road we killed! That road was a land mine for my Honda City. In the next 200 years I would not even dream of taking my City there, but the Duster seem to enjoy the drive. Mud and water splashed around, but my drive in the rear seat was so stable I felt I am looking out my window into a TV where the car is doing a off roading.
The rear seat comfort is miles ahead of the City. Many may say that the rear blower is a sore, but I found it very functional. I was sitting on a car with a cool breeze of air, driven around in a Martian surface, with no vibration from the engine, no body roll (yes there was not body roll that I could feel, there might have been technically or theoretically), and I my heart was not in my mouth on the next ditch where the belly would be hurt.
I have been in my cousin's Safari, but then it was like sitting in a bus and not in a car. The lesser said about the Scoprio the better.
Now at the end of the onward journey of the TD, me and my friend swapped places. To do that he had to reverse the car, as we had hit a dead end with pipeline being laid. Normally, you would look around first for the road, stones, pavements etc before you reverse, but my friend did not even seem to bother where he was reversing (there were no other vehicles so that was not an issue). This is what strikes me. This is a car that will define how you drive, not where you drive.
I slipped behind the wheel, rather walked behind the wheel, easy cake. Adjusted the seat and the steering, its not hard to find a comfortable position. When I looked back at the road that we had come in, I was seriously in doubt if that was the road we had actually taken. For a moment I felt this was not happening, it was too good to be true.
For the first few meters I was very careful with the car, there were only ditches where we were going and since I drive a City I am used to praying to god, every time I have to negotiate and unknown ditch or hump. But then the reality stuck me, I just pushed the car into every piece of water that was visible. In a moment I felt guilty and looked at the sales rep, but he seemed to be engrossed taking to his colleague about some delivery details for some customer, not swat of him for testing it so hard.
Then the unbelievable happened, I saw a cement covered manhole in the mud road, its one of the dreaded things that you do not wish existed, and my heart was all wanting to conquer it, finally. I felt I had a car that would summit it. I was careful, I asked the sales rep in a joking mood, “you know, I think that manhole is that kind of thing that will stop being a hindrance to a car like the Duster, I wish I could actually test it”. He looked and me and said “sir, you have to be convinced with your drive, you do not have to ask me every time you want to test the car for something”. Was he off head? I mean, It was now really me and the manhole, I steered the car towards it, adrenaline racing and for a moment I felt I was being really stupid, I just wanted to back out, it was too much to test. But before I made my mind the right wheel was over the manhole, killed the manhole's ego, showed who the boss was and was humbly back on the mud road looking devilishly as the next ditch, prompting me to take it there.
That was a matrix moment for me, where Neo meets the Architect! For a guy who drives a Honda City this was too much to swallow in one test drive. I looked back at my friend in the rear seat and asked him how he felt on the conquest of the man hole. He moved his eyes from his mobile, and asked me what I was talking about, heck! Was he in coma when I did the conquest of my life? No, he had no clue what the car had done a few seconds ago. I immediately imagined how my little baby would be in the rear seat! (a big grin on my face).
Now many cars can boast of this experience? At that moment I remembered a Tbhp thread on what to do when you hit a speed breaker. I looked at the sales rep and he did not seem to be bothered with my test at all. He looked at me and said, “Sir, its sad to sit for TD s where people take the car onto the ring road, stop at a couples of signals, do a trun or two and seem happy about the car. They really do not know how many worries the Duster solves unless they drive on this non existent service road”. That was an honest man and an honest humble car.
There was a 100 meter straight paved stretch and I was able to push it to 60 just within that stretch, it behaved as composed as it was on the pothole filled road, heck, Dr. Jackile and Mr. Hyde!
After I got down from the car at the end of the TD, I was still coming to terms with what mobility, go anywhere meant. It's not about off roading, its about being tension free driving with the city, not caring every time if I would scarp the bottom, or break the front fender, or damage the rear, or paying a huge money just to buy a big guy.
The drive is very car like, its not like an SUV. You will still feel you are in a car and not a bus.
The interiors are very functional, I listed what my City has that the Duster is missing – NONE. There is no more equipment but then it does not miss anything. So, what would I really miss, only those that I do not have already?
The rear seat is great, I am 6 feet tall and I had no issues. But its for 4 only, strictly.
Why could you buy it:
- Go anywhere car
- Go anywhere without having to worry what will hurt your car, and indirectly your pocket
- If you want a car, but not a car in the “just a car” category
- If you are looking at smooth diesel engine mated to a good car
- If you have 4 people to ferry around and you do not travel light
- If you and your family both want to enjoy the car
- If km/l matter to you, but you do not want to sacrifice your mobility for that
- If you want to get out of the constraints that hatches and sedans impose on you
- If you like a car that does not cry each time you ask it to do what you want
- If you do not want to spend Lakhs of hard earned money on costly cars that have to make a statement, but you do not wish to push a 20L car over a manhole!
- Long high way drive is as a breeze as a Shiradi Ghat drive
Why you might not buy it:
- Renault? Who?
- Real estate is more important than drive quality
- You have cash to burn
- You need a real 5 seater
- You would rather choose a car that has auto climate control rather than take on bad roads
- I love the sedan shape I want my car to look 3 boxes
There have been comparisons to the Yeti, but I would like to differentiate it clearly. Yeti is your Tuxedo that you wear to a party, the Duster is you favorite pair of jeans and T shirt that you would wear over a picnic.
Would I buy the Duster now?
No!
I will wait for the 4X4 Duster, 4X4 it will have to be and wait till Renault hears me on on this, no doubt. The current Duster is like Ronaldo, but without his spike shoes.
If you can't wait for the 4X4, its nevertheless an experience that will change your vision of where to go and how to go!
The interiors are not great etc, lets not miss a thrilling move, because it does not have songs in them!
PS: I found the brakes, especially high speed to grind halt a bit spongy. This needs to be verified again.