[wheelguy]

Renault launches BS-VI compliant Duster SUV, price starts at Rs 8.49 lakh - Link

New Delhi: Renault India has launched the BS-VI compliant Duster SUV on Monday, at a starting price of Rs 8.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Pricing of the SUV goes up to Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Available with a petrol engine, the BS-VI compliant Renault Duster has three trim options on offer, which are RXE, RXS and RXZ.

The SUV gets power from a BS-VI 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The engine churns out 106 PS of power at 5,600 rpm and 142 Nm of torque. No CVT petrol option is available for the SUV as of now.

Based on the facelifted variant that was launched in July 2019, the updated Duster comes with a revised grille, updated headlamp cluster. Inside the cabin, it gets a couple of updates at the dashboard.

Meanwhile, the French auto manufacturer is readying a 1.3-litre turbo petrol-powered variant of the Duster SUV, that was showcased at the Auto Expo 2020. The 1.3-litre engine is capable of churning out 155 PS of power and 250 Nm of torque.

Originally Posted by fordperfect

The Renault website lists prices for the petrol duster, and one of the pages:
https://www.renault.co.in/vehicles/p...rformance.html
says the 1.5L petrol engine is BS6 compliant.

I assume this is not true?

It's true, they did a silent launch. 1.3L petrol may arrive at the later stages.

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Renault launches BS-VI compliant Duster SUV, price starts at Rs 8.49 lakh - Link

It's true, they did a silent launch. 1.3L petrol may arrive at the later stages.

Disappointing that the 1.3L Turbo petrol was not launched now. Without it, this is such a Ho-hum launch. Not even an 1.5L CVT version, so no automatic at all at launch!

Least they could have done is announce the 1.3 CVT version and the prices and indicate it will be available a few months down the line.

[stormdRider]

There are some carmakers who stepped into BS6 with a bang whereas some just walked right past us without much significant updates. With the BS6 dates announced much earlier in advance Renault could have at least prepared to surprise us with the 1.3 Turbo Petrol shown at the Auto Expo to bridge the gap of missing the all time favorite AWD. But since it did not happen, now let's hope that they are working well enough to launch the perfect Duster for India as they did eight years ago.

[A M]

Even though there's no automatic or turbo petrol option as of now, the top end pricing undercuts the Brezza by around 50,000/-. And this is not a sub 4m car.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by A M

Even though there's no automatic or turbo petrol option as of now, the top end pricing undercuts the Brezza by around 50,000/-. And this is not a sub 4m car.

But Brezza is also not enjoying the sub-4m tax benefit as it uses the 1.5L Petrol engine.

[Roadster17]

Renault is not learning! The launch was a disappointment. The much hyped turbo is not to be seen anywhere. Even if they provide the 250nm turbo petrol today, I would advise people to stay away from it till the time their NCAP score improves at least to 3 stars from current 0.

No point driving a car with good power and torque when you know you are not safe inside.

Time to rethink. Move ahead from the decade old Dacia to a safer, fun to drive car and you might see "Gangs of duster" sprouting again..

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by Roadster17

Time to rethink. Move ahead from the decade old Dacia to a safer, fun to drive car and you might see "Gangs of duster" sprouting again..

Problem is, there are no fun powerful compact SUVs available south of Rs. 15 lakhs. We have the Ecosport which is fairly good to drive, but does not have a good Turbo Petrol. The Venue has a modern turbo petrol, but it is too small and just about adequate in power. The WRV is still carrying on with the age old 1.2 NA engine from Honda. The Maruti Brezza, looks downright ugly and is under-powered. Seltos/New Creta are good, but too pricey for the 1.4 GDI with DCT combination.

VW/Skoda MQB-A0-IN Twins are the only answer on the horizon - if they get launched with the 1.5 TSI Engine at a reasonable price point - so that one can get a decently featured mid-spec Auto at 15 lakhs on road, but this is doubtful. Barring this, and the Duster 1.3 Turbo with CVT, I don't feel excited about driving any of the others.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by Roadster17

I would advise people to stay away from it till the time their NCAP score improves at least to 3 stars from current 0.

No point driving a car with good power and torque when you know you are not safe inside.

Renault did get a 3star adult protection rating. The first test was done in the base variant with no Airbags that scored 0 star in GNCAP. But a variant with the driver side airbag scored 3star in adult protection (this is where they were caught with their pants down when GNCAP noticed that the size of the airbag was smaller than the Duster sold in Latin America).

All details (crash test report, video etc for both variants) can be found here http://www.globalncap.org/renault-du...basic-version/

[Roadster17]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Renault did get a 3star adult protection rating.

It is not always about adult protection. Even Child protection is equally important where it just scored 2 stars. So, overall I think it is still a very poor performance in terms of safety. I am not even going into the details of using smaller airbags..
May be they have improved the structure, added few metal roll cages and now if they test they will get a better score. If they have done anything on the vehicle post the GNCAP test, they should publicize it.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by Roadster17

It is not always about adult protection. Even Child protection is equally important where it just scored 2 stars. So, overall I think it is still a very poor performance in terms of safety. I am not even going into the details of using smaller airbags..
May be they have improved the structure, added few metal roll cages and now if they test they will get a better score. If they have done anything on the vehicle post the GNCAP test, they should publicize it.

Agreed that Duster needs to be made more safe. Atleast inline with their LATIN Ncap models.

My response was just to let you know that it has got 3 stars in GNCAP (not 0 star since that variant is no longer in production).

Most of the times I have seen the general public even Team Bhp members who don't understand what the 0 star means.

[firstdrive]

Renault should consider getting in the latest duster platform in India now. Globally the new platform which was skipped in India has also received an update recently.

Renault duster petrol will have a hard time in India, even if it’s a turbo petrol.
They should think of Diesel engines asap!

Mind you have seen a lot many duster sales in my area this month, probably taking advantage of BSVI norms discounts.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing! Moving post to a new thread.

It's going to be R.I.P. Duster soon. The Duster was selling just 500 - 600 cars a month, a majority of which were for the workhorse 1.5L diesel variant. Those are gone. Also, this petrol engine is rather lame and completely outclassed by the competition which offers superb turbo-petrols, fun 3-cylinder 1.5s (EcoSport) etc.

Dead on arrival. Renault has been caught with its pants down. Why the heck isn't the 1.3L Turbo ready, when they had ample advance notice about the BS6 deadline? Shows a complete lack of preparedness & homework.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by GTO

[b]
Dead on arrival. Renault has been caught with its pants down. Why the heck isn't the 1.3L Turbo ready, when they had ample advance notice about the BS6 deadline? Shows a complete lack of preparedness & homework.

This is seriously lame. Renault should not have bothered with this petrol NA option at all.

At the Auto Expo the Renault guys assured us that the 1.3L Turbo production had commenced and they were ready for BS6 launch.

They are just killing the product themselves. It's already on ventilator and by doing this it's like pulling the plug.

[SuhairZain]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Problem is, there are no fun powerful compact SUVs available south of Rs. 15 lakhs.

What did you think about the XUV300? When I was in the market for a safe compact SUV a few months ago, I felt it was the most fun to drive I've ever test driven.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

No K9K diesel engine.
No AWD
No CVT automatic.
The same old lame petrol engine!

Why does Renault even have a 'register your interest' button on their website for this 8-year old product, which they have now stripped bare of all its selling points?