[TejasKinger]

Autocar India has published a first drive video of the Renault Duster Petrol CVT here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eArK-1kHSIo

[roy_libran]

I test drove this car, with two other fellow BHP-ians around a month back in Noida. Only for context - I have an Ecosport P-AT for almost 5 years now, and my friends have the original Punto and the original Linea T-Jet respectively; hopefully this helps establish our respective points of reference.

Here are the key take-aways that we all agreed upon:
- Despite all the panning for it's rather barebones interiors and spec, we found it acceptable. It's not plush, but not barren either.
- It's VERY comfortable. More than any of our respective cars. A good vehicle for 5 adults and long trips.
- The dynamics of the car are sorted. The suspension retains the old Duster charm and provides the right balance of comfort and control.
- The engine is good - in the sense that it has the potential to deliver good response in the city. It can be coaxed into making quick overtakes or engine braking.
- The CVT is a huge let down. All 3 of us agreed, that if either of us, picked this car, we would almost entirely need to drive it in Manual mode. Lethargic isn't even an apt description - it will put you to sleep on the wheel. In automatic mode, there was no way, either of us could extract acceptable performance from the car, despite our fellow Punto owner being an extremely sedate and safe driver!
- Having said that, the response, action and feedback of using that gear shifter to manually change gears (pre-defined points) is quite nice actually. If not having a clutch, suffices for someone's use-case, it isn't a bad option, given that the manual gear control is brilliant.
- The build quality of the Duster 'appears' way inferior than any of our respective cars - but then that was something that we were expecting.
- Won't comment much on the AC, because most of the time I was sitting in the front, and it felt adequate, plus I am not as sensitive. However, my friends did moan about that a lot.

Summary -
For Buyers - If you don't mind changing gears manually and need Petrol, space and comfort, this is a good option on the market.
For Renault - You have an AWD setup for the Duster in your Armoury, and you have this CVT. Why don't you pair the two and create practically the ONLY (and reasonably capable) AWD-Petrol offering in the market at this price point? Plus - If you don't get greedy at this, you can actually make Duster see great volumes again (especially now that Captur is almost history)!

[KMT]

A close relative has one and she is very happy with the comfort and autobox.
I have driven it quite a few times. All good feedback from me too except that highway overtaking has to be planned as it is pretty sluggish.
Apart from this drawback, it ticks a lot of the boxes for someone looking for a reasonably priced Automatic 'SUV'.

[Ford5]

Drove one with it clocked 10k Kms recently.

If you can forget about the essential bits, or pretend you don't know about them, this is the car for bumper to bumper stress free driving and also enjoying an open road with moderate foot work without having to fiddle with the step tronic.

Drove the Ecosport 1.5 Automatic before this, and it really put me off. 3 Cylinder clearly audible outside even at crawling speeds, and the feel of body roll and lack of taking in potholes as gloriously as the duster plus a light steering makes it a no no for me. Dashboard quality seems pleasing until you tap it. Tinny sounding at best.

Drove the jazz 1.2 new cvt after the duster and it felt as if it's working too hard with an aggressive foot. Wasn't the case with the 1.5 Duster's Torque filling in the gaps just where they need to be filled in bad traffic. Steering on the duster is an added bonus, feels meaty to hold and good feedback. Plastics have been improved, and are more durable here despite the lack of a decent look, for e.g. take a key and scratch the dash, you do not see any mark, on the jazz and ford there was a line instantly.

Manual mode too seemed more engaging because the step tronic ratios fill in perfectly for a timed take over unlike the lethargic 1.5 torque converter on the Ford, where upshifts happened too quickly even in sport mode and the absolute lack of sound deadening on the Jazz always making you feel through the your right foot and hands of how hard the little 1.2 is revving to keep pace with demands for instant shove.

Bigger boot space and lack of body roll during lane changes at decent speeds, plus all conquering ride quality makes me feel this is the default option in the 10-12 Lakh OTR petrol cvt. I totally agree that a better interior, i.e. Jazz or more features, i.e. Ecosport would be suited better for someone is who is a sedate driver.

[nikipedia87]

Originally Posted by Ford5

Drove one with it clocked 10k Kms recently.

What was the mileage recorded on this one over the 10k kms?

Originally Posted by roy_libran

Why don't you pair the two and create practically the ONLY (and reasonably capable) AWD-Petrol offering in the market at this price point? Plus - If you don't get greedy at this, you can actually make Duster see great volumes again (especially now that Captur is almost history)!

I guess a petrol AWD automatic will see dismal fuel efficiency figures, and hence they have not given that option. Renault is anyway not the best at reading the customer's pulse; otherwise, they would have launched the next gen Duster by now instead of continuing with the dead-on-arrival Captur!

Originally Posted by KMT

A close relative has one and she is very happy with the comfort and autobox.
I have driven it quite a few times. All good feedback from me too except that highway overtaking has to be planned as it is pretty sluggish.
Apart from this drawback, it ticks a lot of the boxes for someone looking for a reasonably priced Automatic 'SUV'.

The Duster was always a 'take-me-anywhere', rugged-looking monocoque SUV. The ride quality and space just about makes up for its lack of features.

My biggest qualm with it, though, is the LHD configuration of the steering wheel. Having driven RHD configured cars all along, I'm sure I will give the wipers a dry run every time I want to switch on the headlights .

[Punatic]

Originally Posted by raamki

I will try and sum up my 6 month ownership experience with the CVT so far if its going to help potential buyers make a decision

Thanks for your comments raamki! I think I've read every word you've written on these pages about your Duster CVT Request you to do a one-year ownership post if possible, since yours seems to be one of the rare specimens of this species amongst bhpians and your perspective will really help a prospective buyer or two

[krinpit]

Requesting existing owners of Duster CVT to share their long term ownership report. Unable to find any detailed reviews of this model.
Thanks in advance.

[S.Shyam]

I heard from renault showroom at Bangalore that 1.3 L turbo petrol CVT is likely to be launched by Feb end or March 2020 with Bs6 compliant engines.

Compared to current CVT that should be much better in performance albeit with poor FE figures.

Does anybody have additional info on that?

I value drive quality and performance, NVH and handling more than features so held back on purchase of Seltos automatic IVT .. also creta 2020 seems like a good package worth waiting for...

[FunCar]

Over 3 months of wait after the paying almost the entire amount, delayed paperwork (with some mistakes) and locked money (and continued EMIs with interest to the bank) along with uncertainties about the car condition had led to huge frustration. Add to that I had to sell my previous car a lot cheaper (thanks again to the lockdown and pending duplicate RC for over 8 months from RTO! )! I almost decided to cancel the purchase of the new car or sell it back to the dealer (or anyone) without even taking it home!
But finally, after long chats and discussions with the sales team of dealership in Thane and in the family and friends, the car came home on 15th June 2020.
It was a sweet deal due to the BS IV outgoing discount in March 2020. However, the delay almost spoilt the fun and excitement that comes with a car purchase... Gudhi Padwa, wedding anniversary, daughter's birthday- all passed waiting for the car.
Car is a dream-come-true. A statement of style! A joy that one shares with pride! But the lockdown-imposed hard times of health and financial worries, a car remains neither a priority nor a need. Not something one would want to flaunt either!
But finally when it finally arrived and I drove it out of my parking to work... It reassured me of its value and quality! Came back to me the enthusiasm!! It was almost as if car said to me that it would stand by me in my difficult times, too!

One week drive-experience:
Together the highway and city drive combined; I drove about 400 kms in the first week; that included a day-trip to our Nashik from Thane on a rainy day. This being my first automatic purchase I was looking for comfort and didn’t want to miss the fun of driving either! (This is the 10th car owned by me; the last three were: XUV500, Honda Mobilio and Honda City.)
What I liked:
1. Very smooth auto-transmission no jerks or lags (like in turbo engine cars)
2. Suspension is the best in the cars driven so far
3. Ground clearance is quite good; clears all potholes and bumps (and even road-dividers at times) with ease
4. Much less body roll than expected from a SUV
5. Steering feedback good
6. Seating position and visibility is excellent
7. Cornering, braking, stopping: all perfect
8. The looks are great even though it's an old design now thanks also to the bright orange colour, blackened roof, front chrome grill and daytime running LEDs.
Downsides:
1. Driving is a little sedate. Slow pick-up. Overtaking needs some planning. Initially I felt as if it would not go above 100 kmph. I did manage 110-120 a few times later, but the car seems contented at 100 (also keeps beeping above 80 and 100 due to the safety speed alarms).
2. Auto AC/climate control is needed (Honda City and XUV500 had it). For the car in this segment with all specifications that it has, it is a miss, big time.
3. Interior of the car apart from the centre console is too basic. I keep thinking about how to upgrade it. I have fitted new seat covers and a steering wheel cover in dual tone. (May be floor lamination in Tan or some wooden treatment could help but need more ideas here to make the interiors more attractive.)
Overall, still consider it a great buy for its price. Also, build quality appears long lasting. Hope it gets more engaging as it ages. The size and space inside are adequate; neither a sub-four meter compromise nor too long).
Lastly, my daughter who turned 18 recently and earned a driving licence shortly after, is the one for whom I transitioned from the manual to an automatic vehicle. She enjoys driving this, too!
(Special thanks to "blackwasp": a TEAM-BHPian friend for all the help in buying the car.)
FunCar

[daredevil]

Originally Posted by FunCar

Over 3 months of wait after the paying almost the entire amount, delayed paperwork (with some mistakes) and locked money

Congratulations FunCar. It does look nice in dual tone color.

I came back from UK in March this year and was seriously considering CVT variant. But lock down happened. I called dealership to check if they have any BS IV left to be sold. But they didn't have any. I didn't know that they would stop making CVT with NA petrol engine post BSVI era. Since I had no car at my disposal, I had to buy a car and did not want to wait for long time. There was a news that CVT would be only with turbo (that means it would go out of my budget) and uncertain situations like this, I dropped the plan of buying a new car altogether. I bought used Honda city CVT instead.

May we know what was the discount given?

[FunCar]

Congratulations on your Honda City CVT, daredevil! I had owned 2 Hondas (manual) and must say they both drove very well!

I possibly bought the last model and deprived you of it! This was a display/demo car that had run less than 3K kms. With warranty extension by 1 year, 1 service (10k free) and reverse camera in the package I paid 10.35 L and another 22k for black roof, seat and steering covers. I guess I saved between 1.5-2 L.

I wanted a good automatic and was considering Rapid and Yaris as options. But first, they didn't look or feel any superior to my Honda City (except in transmission) and were more expensive!

Frankly, after I test-drove it, I didn't look beyond as it was ticking most boxes.

[daredevil]

Thanks for sharing the details, FunCar. That's a pretty good discount, i believe.

I could not get to TD Duster CVT so not sure about the performance if I were to compare with my Honda City CVT.

Anyway, do keep us updated on your car performance and mileage.