[condor]

.

Originally Posted by woodcrawler

I was thinking if I could find a tyre with the treads like the Bridgestone Dueller D689 might be a tad more grippy

IMO, No, again. I have used Dueller 689's for 78k km's. I have once had one wheel stuck in mud, and struggled to get out - even though the mud wasnt deep.

Tyres suitable for mud (like what off-roaders use) are a part of the overall off-roading set up that includes the 4x4 etc. Using such tyres (like what off-roaders use) will affect regular handling more than it will help you in these rare situations.

Just please continue with the tyres you have, and be careful when you get into such muddy places.

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by Rocky_Balboa

Hi Folks,

A friend of mine rear-ended a sumo in peak hour traffic, and had the headlamps, grills misaligned apart from ~3 inch dents in the hood and bumper.
.......

Thanks,
Rocky.

What about insurance? For anything exceeding Rs.30000/-( I am assuming that for your description, that is the minimum damage to expect) it makes better sense to go for insurance. Even though the visible damage might look very negligible, the bumpers in the Duster are mounted on collapsible bakelite type plastics. Any impact at speeds greater than 20 KMPH is bound to damage all these mountings. I had a small dent( the size of a football) on my rear door just below the number plate.Went to company and got the work done. No components were replaced. Just tinkering and painting cost me Rs. 8156/-(not that I paid - The insurance did).

Originally Posted by woodcrawler

............. I got stuck well and good in wet mud with the stock MRF and had to be towed out. .....

At the expense of sounding really annoying, any snaps of the stuck Duster? I have just now completed 33000 kms on the ODO and the tyres look good for another 15000 kms at least.So planning to upgrade after I cross 45000 kms. Please share at least the thread left on your existing tyres so that We can see if it was due to tyre wear or any other reason.During rainy seasons/monsoons slushy roads and muddy roads always are a risk to the Duster. I cant say for sure if All Terrain tyres will solve your problem of not getting stuck, but I can say for sure that your existing ride comfort and your highway handling manners will be severely compromised by going for All Terrain tyres.Plus the speed index rating of LTX A/T2 is far lesser than the company recommended rating.

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Though part of the rate may be due to the 'European brand' thing. Usually repair / maintenance of European brands are due to higher cost of spare parts. Here I feel the labour charge for this repair is way too high (13K).

Most of the parts seems repaired (Hood, bumper painted) then what was the parts replaced for Rs:53329 ?

0

Labour charge is high across brands, once for replacement of the rear wiper stalk (cost Rs. 120.00) on my Scorpio, Mahindra's labour charge for fitting (Tightening of one screw) was Rs. 125.00

[Waxeloquent]

Originally Posted by m_upreti

0

Labour charge is high across brands, once for replacement of the rear wiper stalk (cost Rs. 120.00) on my Scorpio, Mahindra's labour charge for fitting (Tightening of one screw) was Rs. 125.00

I agree. For my last Verna after 3 years seeing the number of scratches which were not looking good in the rear bumper
I asked for a Hyundai quote. The bumper replacement with painting and labor charges was around Rs8K. This was 2, 2 1/2
years back. As I felt this was too high, I asked them to touch with paint the scratches. Mind you there was no dent
correction etc. With increase in service tax and dollar at Rs60 and Euro Rs90, we have no prospects of lower costs
on service and accident or otw repairs. Cheers

[haryan]

My Brother in Law bought a Base 85 Bhp Duster two weeks ago .. Within a Week Wipers were not working. When he took it to service centre for rectification he was told that Wiper Motor has packed up and also was informed that its a Common problem in Duster. The Service manager told that Wiper Motor will replaced but was out of stock and that they placed an Order and will be available within 5 days. But it is now more than 10 days and there is no sign of the Wiper Motor. Whenever we call the Service centre we get the same Standard Reply that the Order has been placed and it will arrive in couple of days.
It is really a sad Service backup that Renault has for its customers. Wonder how long they will continue like this with indifferent attitude.

[woodcrawler]

Originally Posted by condor

.IMO, No, again. I have used Dueller 689's for 78k km's. I have once had one wheel stuck in mud, and struggled to get out - even though the mud wasnt deep ......Just please continue with the tyres you have, and be careful when you get into such muddy places.

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

..... At the expense of sounding really annoying, any snaps of the stuck Duster? .... Please share at least the thread left on your existing tyres so that We can see if it was due to tyre wear or any other reason.During rainy seasons/monsoons slushy roads and muddy roads always are a risk to the Duster. I cant say for sure if All Terrain tyres will solve your problem of not getting stuck, but I can say for sure that your existing ride comfort and your highway handling manners will be severely compromised by going for All Terrain tyres.Plus the speed index rating of LTX A/T2 is far lesser than the company recommended rating.

Thank you Condor. I am usually very cautious but on that particular day I dropped my guard. I had been going to this very reservoir every week for birding. This spot was just a few meters from our previous week's 'safe zone'. That it had rained a couple of days before slipped my mind completely .

Thanks Neil. Your request is not annoying at all. I have few pics of that day, taken with my son's cell phone camera. My car has done under 7000 kms so far, and if you remember, part of the reason was it had been 'off road' due to my infamous leakage problem. Besides the pictures, i'm also attaching a

link to a video of my drive in Anamudi Shola. Between the 18th and 21st seconds you can see the wheel spin even on dust and gravel. After these two experiences, I've lost a bit of that bravado.

I got the Duster as a replacement for my Punto. Punto's ground clearance was restricting our travel to places similar to Anamudi Shola. Now I'm a little wary, that is why I was wondering if a tyre change would improve things a bit. I'm aware if things have to really change I have to wait for a 4x4 version of the Duster to arrive.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by woodcrawler

Besides the pictures, i'm also attaching a link to a video of my drive in Anamudi Shola. Between the 18th and 21st seconds you can see the wheel spin even on dust and gravel. After these two experiences, I've lost a bit of that bravado.

woodcrawler, I don't see any issues in the car. The wheels spun because you stalled the car on the worst possible stretch. The idea would have been to keep the momentum on that stretch.

I guess you just need to get the basics of offroading and you should be fine.

[woodcrawler]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

woodcrawler, I don't see any issues in the car. The wheels spun because you stalled the car on the worst possible stretch. The idea would have been to keep the momentum on that stretch.

I guess you just need to get the basics of offroading and you should be fine.

You are right Vid6639, I did stall the car there and I'm a novice when it comes to taking my vehicle off road. I had just graduated from a Punto to the Duster and one reason I opted for the car I chose was this pristine bit of shola where you need a car with a good clearance, though a 4WD is not really necessary. I'm still learning from my errors but I somehow can't seem to regain confidence in the MRF Wanderers after getting bogged down.

[amitk26]

The video of stuck duster reminded me of the test drive of 110 ps top end duster I took. I think there is a genuine problem may be the first gear is too tall car like or may be it lacks enough low end torque.

Pros:
1. Car like handling
2. Stiff suspension.
3. Less body roll compared to others.

Cons:
1. Less grunt though the vehicle is very light and bhp per ton is higher then others I did not feel the pulling power.

2. Fails my road divider/obsticle test. If you take a 6 inch of obstacle between wheels and then stop the vehicle it refuses to take off even in first gear.

I always do this test to check if vehicle will get stuck in difficult conditions or not.

Other 2wd suvs that is Scorpio and safari in similar or lower price point do pass this test.

3. It has six gears but I did not feel enough pull in 3 and 4 th and could not test 6 th gear enough in City traffic.

Overall good vehicle for city driving and paved highways, drive like a car and don't push your self in difficult terrine.
At 15.16 on road Bangalore it looks bit overpriced to me.

[condor]

Originally Posted by amitk26

.. I think there is a genuine problem may be the first gear is too tall ...

Can the first gear be "too" tall ?
If it is too tall, you cant move into second soon & will have to continue in first for just that lil bit more. And the available power /troque will depend on the rpm you are at.

Originally Posted by amitk26

2. Fails my road divider/obsticle test. If you take a 6 inch of obstacle between wheels and then stop the vehicle it refuses to take off even in first gear.

Can you explain this more ?
and in a practical scenario, the chances of the obstacle being exactly 6" or less is as good as the obstacle being more than 6" ..

btw, the I think Duster has as much or more GC than the Safari / Scorp.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by condor

Can the first gear be "too" tall ?
If it is too tall, you cant move into second soon & will have to continue in first for just that lil bit more. And the available power /troque will depend on the rpm you are at.

Well may be my terminology is not correct but "short " first gear means when it delivers initial pull better and you need to change to 2nd gear quickly as in various Jeeps so in this context Duster 1st gear seems tall to me.
In case I have mixed up tall and short read it other way round.
In Duster the initial pull is lot less then what I expected for lightweight 110PS SUV.

In my 2.2 VTT Safari I am able to clear same obstacle by just slotting the first gear and leaving clutch.

Originally Posted by condor

Can you explain this more ?
and in a practical scenario, the chances of the obstacle being exactly 6" or less is as good as the obstacle being more than 6" ..

This was a very practical scenario. If you are familiar with Bangalore whitefield - ORR area we drove on "Goshala Road" from Graphite India to Outer ring road. Here at one particular curve all the sedans and hatch have to squeeze at one side near to this obstacle coupled with pothole on each side and they create long slow moving traffic jam.
Whenever I pass from this area they curse and honk in frustration when they see SUV going over in jiffy .

Interior short-cut roads in Bangalore have many such situations where you need minor off-roading.

The test conducted was to stall with a sharp hump in between the wheels and start again , no amount of accelerator press could pull it over.
I see the same situation in the video posted in this thread by woodcrawler.

However I would say duster has better road manners then all tallboys including Innova, So I would say buy it with right expectations that is to drive like a car with high GC.

Originally Posted by condor

btw, the I think Duster has as much or more GC than the Safari / Scorp.

The issue is not of ground clearance at all , Duster and Safari has 205 mm and Scorpio is little less at 180mm .

However let me tell you usable GC is much more in Scorpio then in duster
just look at the conture under the body. In duster this 205mm is from lowest point under engine sump.

[sumeshmani]

I have a query for all the 85PS Duster owners. Does the gear slotting improve with use?

Sometimes, the combination of a heavy clutch and two step slotting of the gear, catches me out in traffic.

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by amitk26

....However let me tell you usable GC is much more in Scorpio then in duster
just look at the conture under the body. In duster this 205mm is from lowest point under engine sump.

My previous ride was a bolero slx, which had leaf spring suspension on the rear. I had upsized the OE tyres of 215/75 R15 to 235/70 R15 michelins AT increasing the Bolero GC to 195mm. Still, during my regular trips which involves off-roading by necessity, the bolero oil sump always scrapes against the ground. Trust me, the bolero has more useful GC than a scorpio and still scraped the bottom. Not once has it happened with my Duster in my regular monthly trips. What has happened is lack of grip or bite on tyres in slushy/grassy areas in rainy seasons. Maybe it is because of the front wheel drive or tyre pattern.
As our friend wood crawler desperately wants to believe that it is the tyres, so do I. If that were the case I can change the tyres to get grip(really high hope).Unfortunately, it is the lack of AWD or 4WD.Check out youtube on duster off-roading. It is very informative. Off-roading is in Duster's genes.Only thing lacking is 4WD. Driving styles and techniques can take us only so far. Monsoons and rainy seasons are times when lack of 4WD becomes glaringly visible in the Duster.
However, in city pot hole filled roads, if you get stuck or scrape your bottom with a Duster, get a good driver

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

Not once has it happened with my Duster in my regular monthly trips.

So how is the miracle possible ? detailed explanation will be helpful
I think in RWD the lowest point is differential casing so still useful GC should be higher

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

However, in city pot hole filled roads, if you get stuck or scrape your bottom with a Duster, get a good driver

That is one of my standard test for all SUVs these days as my friend is trying them out for his purchase.
Of-course if there is 4WD then there is no match to any 2WD vehicle but still
I feel duster in it's 2WD avatar does not measure up to other RWD 2WD psudo-SUVs

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by amitk26

........So how is the miracle possible ? detailed explanation will be helpful........

Maybe because it is a better engineered product? I am uploading a photo below which I had posted previously in this thread itself.

I did not even think about doing this on my bolero because the front bumper itself will hamper my attempt at such steep inclines. Trust me, your should try it to believe it.
This is the link to the real experience that our fellow forum member himadri had regarding the Duster's ability to go over rough terrain.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2927592

His ownership report is the best in our forum for Duster and it covers all the essentials of owning a Duster.
This is the easier part of the terrain that I travel every month.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2966244

I have posted further photos of Duster in inhospitable terrains in my ownership report. My point is Front wheel drive in a Duster is not doing justice to it's inherent ability to attempt mild off-roading, but still it is way ahead of it's indian counterparts. As you rightly said, "duster in it's 2WD avatar does not measure up to other RWD 2WD pseudo-SUVs" but only on the traction department. In all other parameters, the Duster is miles ahead.