Team-BHP - Renault Duster : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorhead1981 (Post 3061888)

Hi all

I am just back from a 1200 km trip from Coimbatore -chennai-Thanjavur-Coimbatore. My 110 PS behaved really well. I got hella 3003 & roots viber sonic installed in Chennai. I will post the new butch looks soon. Driving involved around 70% of pure 4 lane bliss & a fair bit of driving amongst non existent roads when I visited my village. I got an average of 16.1 KMPL during the entire trip with AC on 100% of time.

Cheers

Hi. Was nice meeting you at Chennai. Were you happy with the installation of the lamps?

Just came back from a 600 Kms round trip (My first long one, 8 hours of driving in a day !):
Delhi-Saharanpur (Shakumbhari Devi)-Paonta Sahib-Dehradun-Hardiwar-Delhi.

The Duster rocks !!
Mine is a 85RxL(Opt) , you never feel the lack of power. Although, more is always better! Enough torque to overtake, 3rd gear is a pleasure to drive in and the Gearshift though a little "tak-tak" ; is very sure-slotted.
Pros: The suspension works great on bad/non-existent roads (and this route had lots of it- for ~60kms we drove on No-roads) Body roll is non-existent and the ride is very comfortable. 70-80kms(each way) of the drive was on excellent roads (Meerut-Haridwar Bypass) The most scenic route was the Herbertpur-Dehradun section , passing through a Wildlife park.
I did my first hilly drive in this trip ! Though it was the starter edition of the "Hill driving for Dummies" : Very gently slopes and not much taxi traffic.

Mileage according to the MID was 18+ kmpl.

Cons:
1. The hard Hornpad and the hard clutch takes its tool while driving for long.
My thumb was literally sore after the drive!
2. I have done 4300Kms , but the reversed indicator stalks still feel counter-intuitive and giving the dipper is a royal pain ! (As a workaround , I just had my headlights on low beam, the entire day)
This is not just a pain, but a real safety issue as well. At least for the Right handed drivers. It IS much more easy to give the dipper and the turn signal for them when they are placed the "normal" way.
3. The AC is poor. There is no two opinion about it.
Its barely turning into summer here and I am sure it cant handle the full blown NCR summer heat. This is surprising since the Duster was initially launched in the middle-east countries and one would assume that the AC would have been designed to be strong.
4. An annoying rattle has developed that I first noticed after the first service at 2K Kms. Sounds just like the window glass rattle of buses !
Much more pronounced on rough roads, but is still present on smooth tarmac.
Initially it came on occasionally, but is almost present continuously now.
looks to be coming from the passenger side window...

@BUXX, the comfort on bad roads is definitely good. Regarding the other points you have mentioned:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUXX (Post 3063425)

Cons:
1. The hard Hornpad and the hard clutch takes its tool while driving for long.
My thumb was literally sore after the drive!
2. .. , but the reversed indicator stalks still feel counter-intuitive and giving the dipper is a royal pain !
This is not just a pain, but a real safety issue as well. At least for the Right handed drivers. It IS much more easy to give the dipper and the turn signal for them when they are placed the "normal" way.
3. The AC is poor. There is no two opinion about it.

1. Hornpad - do you have an after-market steering wheel wrap/cover ?

2. Light switch /controls - you will get used to it. I drive a Ford & a Tata and can switch between the two without any problems.

3. A/c is sufficient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUXX (Post 3063425)

Cons:
1. The hard Hornpad and the hard clutch takes its tool while driving for long.
My thumb was literally sore after the drive!
2. I have done 4300Kms , but the reversed indicator stalks still feel counter-intuitive and giving the dipper is a royal pain ! (As a workaround , I just had my headlights on low beam, the entire day)
This is not just a pain, but a real safety issue as well. At least for the Right handed drivers. It IS much more easy to give the dipper and the turn signal for them when they are placed the "normal" way.

1. I definitely agree to this point. Hard clutch, I've become used to, but the hornpad is irritating

2. It is just about getting used to it:). I manage to switch to the left and right modes inadvertently when I drive different cars. No problems at all.

I have a 110 RXL and I am struggling to get a mileage of 13 in the city. During highway drives, the maximum mileage shown on the MID is 15.1 kmpl. How do the other 110 owners fare in mileage?

@condor: Yes, I do have one after-market cover, but thats a recent addition. It was hard earlier as well.
I get your point about it having increased the steering thickness and resulting in higher than normal pressure. But still... And the clutch.. I have Santro as well, and now the clutch on it seems like feather touch.. !
@addyhemmige: The way I look at it mileage is: If you drive sensibly aiming only at increased mileage, you will end up not using the Turbo a lot and THAT will not be good for the Turbo. (a much expensive part) so enjoy the turbo rush and forget about the mileage !
On the highways/X-ways, I give the accelerator a good thwack: redlining in all gears , until the rev-limiter kicked in !

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUXX (Post 3063776)

On the highways/X-ways, I give the accelerator a good thwack: redlining in all gears , until the rev-limiter kicked in !

Pardon me for interrupting, but redlining on a regular basis is bad for the engine, if you care about longevity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 1815060)

Redlining a diesel is second (after prolonged oil changes) on the list of "The worst thing you can do to your diesel engine".

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhanushs (Post 2482722)

But, if you consider wear and tear at similar redline for a diesel and a similar capacity petrol, IMO, the diesel will have more wear and tear. Reasons being: Heavier crankshaft, pistons and rods.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUXX (Post 3063425)

the reversed indicator stalks still feel counter-intuitive and giving the dipper is a royal pain ! (As a workaround , I just had my headlights on low beam, the entire day)
This is not just a pain, but a real safety issue as well. At least for the Right handed drivers. It IS much more easy to give the dipper and the turn signal for them when they are placed the "normal" way.

I am surprised that you have not got used to this reversed arrangement even after 4000 odd kms.

Even thought both my cars are from Ford; the Fiesta has the reversed indicator & HB-LB stalk arrangement; the Endeavour has the regular arrangement, I have not made a single mistake yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Regarding mileage, I have got an average of about 15 overall till now in my 110PS. I have done 7500 Kms, it's been highway- city 80:20 split. The best I get on highway is 16.5 KMPL, this is when I make sure that the revs never go be beyond 2200. Average drops considerably if you cruise over 110 kmph. On a pure city drive basis I get around 12-13 KMPL.

Regards

@thoma: Thanks for that info, I was not aware of it. The operative word seems to be regular.
But in my defense: in the entire 4300kms that I have driven this car-only once have I redlined the engine until the rev-limiter kicked in ( on the Yamuna X-way). Where else can you do it safely, anyways?! and only a couple of times (<5, once a month or lesser) where I have given the lower gears a good thwack.
Is that also bad for the engine life? I used to do the same for my earlier petrol cars. Give some spirited driving, once a month or so...Supposed to be good in getting rid of the carbon deposits.

@MAS: Even I have never made that mistake.
But it just feels so damn counter-intuitive for Right handed folks. Atleast for me, it does.
And the issue with HB/LB is different: for using the HB, the stalk needs to click into position (both LB, HB get engaged simultaneously)
therefore, using a quick "dipper" is not that easy on the Duster and its on the non-dominant hand side for Righties like me. even more tougher ! Its a play in dexterity !

So got my first service done today. The service station is Hyderabad is nearly 40 km away, in one end of the city. Was actually surprised to see the size of the workshop. Pretty small for the only workshop in the twin cities. also was surprised to see so many Dusters in the lot....god everybody has bought a duster.

Now for the servicing - I am not sure why they even do it. Seemed to be only top ups of oil and other fluids, with a very average wash job. On top of that now the boot is making a noise, which was a noiseless car before. Also makes me wonder the concept/need for a run in period till the first servicing if nothing is being changed. The servicing was completed without even taking the car into the workshop, while it was waiting in line to enter the shop floor. Not very impressed, but I generally have low expectations from these places.

Was chatting with the floor manager, and he mentioned that a common problem being reported is the door noise( not rattle), but rather a rubbing noise of the beading on the body door, and the company has not sent a bulletin/ info on how to resolve. The only guidance from the company is on the door locks, which need to be hammered in to remove the rattle.

I have had experience with tata workshops earlier and they were generally above average....after seeing the workshop today, it seems Renault has a long way to go.

Was also surprised to see at least three dusters with considerable accident damage and body work underway. On top of that the service staff rubbed a Fluence against a Duster. Was watching the drama from the office, and I don't think either of the owners were there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUXX (Post 3063947)

Is that also bad for the engine life? I used to do the same for my earlier petrol cars. Give some spirited driving, once a month or so...Supposed to be good in getting rid of the carbon deposits.

Going by the limited knowledge I have, most of them gathered over the net including the forum, I really don't buy in to the advice of redlining for removing carbon deposits. A spirited highway drive (keeping the RPM below red-line) for a good 30 kms could do the job than a redlining.

@amitdan: you have pretty much summed up my first service experience too.
They just topped up with the windscreen wash fluid and supposedly cleaned the air filter.
Gave a good wash which actually has resulted in a new noise which is very persistent and annoying nowadays. And this took 4-5 hrs (excluding the 4 hour travel time to the workshop)

Renault has really got to tighten the screws at the dealer end.
Regular, frequent auditing should be a step they need to take immediately.
Without a half-decent A$$ network, the Duster will be done and dusted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by addyhemmige (Post 3063551)

I have a 110 RXL and I am struggling to get a mileage of 13 in the city. During highway drives, the maximum mileage shown on the MID is 15.1 kmpl. How do the other 110 owners fare in mileage?

13 in a metro city is really a very good mileage with bumper to bumper traffic. I get maximum between 11-11.5 KMPL in city.
Highway driving can be categorised as follows.
80-90km/hr speeds return mileage greater than 17KMPL
90-100km/hr speeds return mileage between16 to 17KMPL
100-120km/hr speeds return mileage of 15-15.5 KMPL
120-150 km/hr speeds return mileage of 12.3 KMPL
I usually shift gears after touching 2000-2400RPM depending upon traffic conditions.The mileage variation has to do more with the wind resistance than the RPM factor. At speeds above 120 km/hr wind howling noise is enormous. I usually drive between 95-120km/hr on highways and the Duster feels planted and sedate at such speeds. It also reduces driver fatigue as you need less effort to drive and more time to enjoy the ride itself.