[Shandy1981]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

More details please. How was the body pain, driver fatigue and passenger comfort after the drive?

Neil, it was about 3 of us on the trip, the ride was very comfortable. There wasn't much driver fatigue or body pain other than some soreness considering the duration of the drive and no sleep. The suspension just rocks!, thanks to no lights or illumination of speed breakers, hit a mini hill at 100, thought its gonna break the axle, guess what, the passenger in the back seat who was sleeping didn't even wake up . Not a squeak from the vehicle even after this harsh hit.

Top notch drive in the ghats, its only limited by if you have the nerve to take those hairpins at high speed cause the duster will take them.

Biggest pain was the number of diversions between Ambur and Bangalore. Collecting toll for Hosur - Bangalore is just robbery. Bangalore to Hubli was pretty good with minimal diversions, atleast there were 3 lanes to overtake those idiotic trucks occupying both the right lanes.

[biplav]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Those using their vehicles in the city will do fine with HT or normal highway tyres.

The Duster is 2WD, agreed, but it has excellent ground clearance and begs to go off tarmac. It certainly won't go everywhere a 4x4 will go, but can go to some places you can't take a sedan to.

Actually, I have a Safari 4x2, on which I have Michelin's Latitude Cross fitted... That does fine, I had an Innova as a co-car on my trip to Ladakh.... it did make thru. However, I also did Lahaul Spiti (Keylong-Kaza)where I felt that the tyres stood me in good stead, guess a AT tyre would be suited on those terrains where the roads were practically non existent...

I would have wanted to graduate to a 4x4 Storme (but for the TATA brand and TASC), Renault DUSTER has almost everything, other than a 4x4 and a good AT tyres. Any market intel (anyone ) when the 4x4 is going to hit Indian mainland ??

[himadrimondal]

Door noise and rattles, please check my link here.
Very small adjustments, the company could have done these too.
Its absolutely soundless now.

[jaibir]

I have been thinking of the 85bhp Duster for a few weeks and went for a TD at Whitefield Renault this weekend (85bhp RXL variant, without ABS etc). Key observations:
- Great headroom but legroom is a little tight (I'm 5'11'' and find the back seat in a lot of new sedans short on headroom)
- Interiors are basic, as widely discussed. Not something I mind though
- Driving position was very uncomfortable for me due to a lack of seat height adjustment. Apparently, that is only available in the RXZ variant (110bhp)
- Found the clutch hard. My leg was hurting a bit after a 20 minute drive. My current car is a Swift Diesel (2008 model) so not a petrol to diesel issue. The sales guy said something about it needing service but I had a similar experience with a TD last year in Mumbai
- Somewhat car-like to drive but nowhere close to the Swift on handling, acceleration
- Brakes were just about adequate. Not very confidence inspiring
- Ride quality on bad patches of road was quite good - miles ahead of the Swift on this

Overall, while I like the space and ride quality, the poor driving position and hard clutch are a dealbreaker.

[srameshdelhi]

Originally Posted by jaibir

I have been thinking of the 85bhp Duster for a few weeks and went for a TD at Whitefield Renault this weekend (85bhp RXL variant, without ABS etc). Key observations:
- Great headroom but legroom is a little tight (I'm 5'11'' and find the back seat in a lot of new sedans short on headroom)
- Interiors are basic, as widely discussed. Not something I mind though
- Driving position was very uncomfortable for me due to a lack of seat height adjustment. Apparently, that is only available in the RXZ variant (110bhp)
- Found the clutch hard. My leg was hurting a bit after a 20 minute drive. My current car is a Swift Diesel (2008 model) so not a petrol to diesel issue. The sales guy said something about it needing service but I had a similar experience with a TD last year in Mumbai
- Somewhat car-like to drive but nowhere close to the Swift on handling, acceleration
- Brakes were just about adequate. Not very confidence inspiring
- Ride quality on bad patches of road was quite good - miles ahead of the Swift on this

Overall, while I like the space and ride quality, the poor driving position and hard clutch are a dealbreaker.

Surprised to note that you said "Driving position was very comfortable" and later say that it is a Deal Breaker. Possibly a "not" is missing next to "was".

Talking about driving position, since you are 5' 11" probably you should have got the Steering Position and leg space fully adjusted to the maximum before the TD (Or the Sales Guy should have done this for you).

Though I am 5'8", and have adjusted to check and found that it is good enough to accomadate tall people. Remember this car is exported to UK where average englishmen height is taller than Indians.

I suggest you to try it again, but of-course if you are ok with other considerations.

Ramesh

[jaibir]

Originally Posted by srameshdelhi

Surprised to note that you said "Driving position was very comfortable" and later say that it is a Deal Breaker. Possibly a "not" is missing next to "was".

Talking about driving position, since you are 5' 11" probably you should have got the Steering Position and leg space fully adjusted to the maximum before the TD (Or the Sales Guy should have done this for you).

I said the driving position was very uncomfortable. I think you misread it.

I had checked the steering tilt adjustment (fully raised) and adjusted the seat before the drive. I guess either the export version is different or my driving posture just doesn't suit this car.

I wouldnt really rely on sales people to know much about the vehicle. The guy who accompanied me for the TD was new and had just joined from a stint at Good Earth!

[srameshdelhi]

Originally Posted by jaibir

I said the driving position was very uncomfortable. I think you misread it.

I had checked the steering tilt adjustment (fully raised) and adjusted the seat before the drive. I guess either the export version is different or my driving posture just doesn't suit this car.

I wouldnt really rely on sales people to know much about the vehicle. The guy who accompanied me for the TD was new and had just joined from a stint at Good Earth!

You are right, I misread.

But I can reconfirm you that there is sufficiant space for tall person to sit in the driving seat comfortably.

Just Check it out once again.

Ramesh

[jaibir]

Originally Posted by srameshdelhi

But I can reconfirm you that there is sufficiant space for tall person to sit in the driving seat comfortably.

You are right about sitting comfortably. Its just that while driving, the gap between my knee and the steering wheel is too narrow and there is limited room to move the leg while using the pedals. This is a problem I usually have with smaller cars. Rare to find it in a vehicle with tilt adjust for the steering.

I'll try it out once more nonetheless. Don't need a test drive for that - a demo in a standing vehicle should be enough.

[volkman10]

Impressive sales of Duster in March 2013 - sells6313 units This is the best ever figure for Duster in India and the very potent compact SUV has been on a roll ever since it was launched.

Source: Renault

[amitdan]

Originally Posted by himadrimondal

Door noise and rattles, please check my link here.
Very small adjustments, the company could have done these too.
Its absolutely soundless now.

Absolutely blown away by the work you have got done. Also surprising is the fact that the company has hammering the lock as a way to fix the door rattle problem. I personally have little faith in Renault as a company....although I have bought the Duster. My viewpoint is that, most/ nearly all new cars ate built well, with little reason for one to follow up with the company or the dealer. This I believe is true for the Duster as well. If for some reason one has to follow up, I would not trust Renault...mentally believe that the Toyotas and the Hondas will do a better job.

Also, the service station supervisors also do not seem keen to resolve the issues. Infact my car came back with a set of door rattles post the first service. The mechanics wanted to try hammering the door lock when I told them about the rattle. I asked to not to touch it, as I was pretty sure it can only worsen the situation. The door plug solution sounds like the right way.

Now need to figure out a way to get it done in Hyderabad, without visiting the dealer.

Regarding whether the company would have done it, I go back to my point on trusting the company. The dealer gets away with it because the company does not impose customer friendly conditions. Although the Duster is a pretty decent package, but the general impression it gives is that it has been just thrown to the market with little effort/follow up.

[BUXX]

^^ I would wholeheartedly agree with this viewpoint.

Duster,as a product, has just fallen into Renault's lap.Buyers are looking at the car because a lot of them are already aware that this is an established product and not because they recognize/respect the Renault name
Renault NEEDS to step up the game in the A$$ and PRO-ACTIVELY seek out resolution to identified issues. They can hardly afford to be lax in this ONE area where THEY can actually make a difference to the end-buyer.
Tightening A$$ does not need money, just good systems/processes and effective monitoring.

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[engrohit]

Originally Posted by jaibir

You are right about sitting comfortably. Its just that while driving, the gap between my knee and the steering wheel is too narrow and there is limited room to move the leg while using the pedals. This is a problem I usually have with smaller cars. Rare to find it in a vehicle with tilt adjust for the steering.

I'll try it out once more nonetheless. Don't need a test drive for that - a demo in a standing vehicle should be enough.

You are right to a large extent Jaibir. I own a duster and I am 6'.1", my left knee does touch the steering when starting to depress the clutch. I have kind of adjusted my sitting posture with legs kept a little apart and also i sit with driver seat slided back considerably, so that also helps.

[h.s.r]

Originally Posted by jaibir

- Great headroom but legroom is a little tight (I'm 5'11'' and find the back seat in a lot of new sedans short on headroom)
- Interiors are basic, as widely discussed. Not something I mind though
- Driving position was very uncomfortable for me due to a lack of seat height adjustment.
Overall, while I like the space and ride quality, the poor driving position and hard clutch are a dealbreaker.

One of my friend who is 6'3'' tall had no problem what so ever in driving duster.
This comes from a man whose daily ride is Endeavour.
I am 5'10'' & i find legroom and headroom way better than swift.
Actually finding comfortable driving position is a bit tricky in Duster.
I have driven close to 5k mark,even now sometimes i find it hard to be get desired position.
One more test drive for you would be better.

[srameshdelhi]

Originally Posted by BUXX

^^ I would wholeheartedly agree with this viewpoint.

Duster,as a product, has just fallen into Renault's lap.Buyers are looking at the car because a lot of them are already aware that this is an established product and not because they recognize/respect the Renault name
Renault NEEDS to step up the game in the A$$ and PRO-ACTIVELY seek out resolution to identified issues. They can hardly afford to be lax in this ONE area where THEY can actually make a difference to the end-buyer.
Tightening A$$ does not need money, just good systems/processes and effective monitoring.

Move your A$$ Renault !!

In my opinion Renault is just waiting for the dust of duster to get settled down after arrival of Ecosport so that the actual/practical numbers can be arrived at in order to invest in ASS. As I understand the technical infrastructure and know-how has to be brought to India by Renault themselves, which will cost them something. They will do this investment only when they come to know whether they sell 3 to 4 K cars a month or 8 to 10 K cars a month. The numbers are not going to be this good for Renault after the launch of Ecosport, Alpha and Taigun.

One may call it conservative thinking and bring the value down by the time it happens. But it is investment which is done in a calcuative way only. Besides, these are tough times for Europe and they don't have enough money to meet their own expenses. Where is the money for agressive decisions? Every manufacturer does it. Skoda, VW, Audi, BMW, you name anyone. The story repeats itself.

Ramesh

[jkdas]

Duster is getting into my next upgrade list. Let's see.

Check this work by Pete's !

More pix at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ars-india.html