Team-BHP - Renault Duster : Official Review

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Originally Posted by swiftnfurious (Post 3029992)

What's the time that you are looking to be away. I have read reports of people keeping the car locked for atleast 2 weeks and having no problems.

If you are not comfortable, why don't you disconnect the battery? It should NOT be a problem right? Or worst case, you just need to buy a jumper cable, connect it to another car in your apartments and jump start it.

I was gone for 10 days and came back to a nearly dead battery but started the car after a few attempts at push starting. I have noticed that the dome light in front has a little bit of quiescent current running through it when the switch is set to operate the light on door opening ( i replaced the lights with LEDs and these glow ever so slightly when the lights are supposed to have been switched off after door closure) . If going for a long duration, it might be wise to set the dome lights to the off position to prevent battery drainage from this source.

Completed a 1100km road trip over the last weekend (Kochi-Bangalore-Kochi). Myself and my colleague wanted to travel to Bangalore to attend a function and we decided to drive. The duster proved to be a capable long distance cruiser in this trip. We have completed the whole trip in less than 36 hrs and came back with no fatigue.

We have maintained a steady 100-110kmph throughout the trip and the car returned an average FE of 18.8 :)

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Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3641609)

We have completed the whole trip in less than 36 hrs and came back with no fatigue.

Thats the USP of the car. Fatigue free long hauls! I would recommend you get good quality leather seats; Karlsson for example. Will make it even better as the seating gets bolstered.

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We have maintained a steady 100-110kmph throughout the trip and the car returned an average FE of 18.8 :)

Again thats in the range. There is no need to go beyond that speed. Cruise seems effortless with a handsome returns in terms of FE.

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Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3641619)

Thats the USP of the car. Fatigue free long hauls! I would recommend you get good quality leather seats; Karlsson for example. Will make it even better as the seating gets bolstered.

Again thats in the range. There is no need to go beyond that speed. Cruise seems effortless with a handsome returns in terms of FE.

I already got seat cover fitted from Autoform and have put additional padding for the driver seat which resulted in slightly higher and comfortable seating position. Far more comfortable than the OEM fabric cover.

100-110kmph is very comfortable and FE friendly. The 85ps has decent acceleration too till this point. But the progress beyond this is really slow.

I think the FE would have been 20+ if we maintain 80-90 :)

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Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3641673)

Thats true. The OEM fabric on the 85 RXL (O) was not very great. I got Karlsson two years back and its been holding great!

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100-110kmph is very comfortable and FE friendly. The 85ps has decent acceleration too till this point. But the progress beyond this is really slow.
I think the FE would have been 20+ if we maintain 80-90 :)

+1. The 85 accelerates well till 100-110 and beyond thats its not that great. But anyway this range is ideal for cruising. And surely if you cruise at 80-90, FE would go higher. My odometer reads at 50K. I have been getting an average FE of 17.3 right through out these times, with a daily commute of about 55-60km. I track FE and odometer reading through an Android App and have logs and graphs right from the day I filled up for the first time.

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Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3641673)

You are 100% correct.I too had a trip to Banguluru recently on my 85 ps duster.It was an absolute fun drive with no fatigue added.
I have owned two swift diesels .Despite its size,Duster handles almost like a Swift when it comes to handling and acceleration, well planted to road.clap:

@ampere,can you please share the name of the android app? I use my car daily for 50 kms.But my fuel efficiency is stuck at 12.9. I drive mostly in hilly terrain and townships.

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Originally Posted by HillMan (Post 3636008)

In 17500kms this is only second time I had to get to the wheels. First time after the 10k service for a picture. The nuts were pretty tight. I had to stand on the spanner with my 85kg load and jump a bit to loosen the nuts. The OEM spanner is a double sided spanner, pipe. The Chevy Spark spanner is a solid steel single sided one. I didn't go with a cross spanner for risk of breaking at its wield.

For a car like Duster which sees a mechanic once a year, a solid spanner would do. You don't want to be stranded at a lonely unknown location.

Well said,that is the reason I am having a long steel rod,few wooden blocks,one can of WD 40 and a hydraulic jack in my car's boot.Now I think ,I will have to keep an extra spanner too,just in case.
The iron rod is the most useful item,it gives you enough torque.

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Originally Posted by anilntny (Post 3641773)

@ampere,can you please share the name of the android app? I use my car daily for 50 kms. But my fuel efficiency is stuck at 12.9. I drive mostly in hilly terrain and townships.

I use Fuel Log Pro. Its a paid app. The pro version allows you to export the data to a CSV so that it can be read in Excel. I also use it to back it up on r PC/cloud. Many people also use MyCars app. I found Fuel Log to be very simple and have been using it right from day one. The exported data can also be imported back to your phone, in case your phone gets reset, or you change your phone.

See the attached graph.

Renault Duster : Official Review-duster_fe.jpg

- This is auto-generated by a simple excel macro run on the exported CSV.
- So every time I fill-up, all I have to do is to export a CSV to the mobile cloud storage client (Google Drive/Dropbox etc) and it gets backed on cloud and also is accessible on PC for all analysis.
- First order slope of the cumulative odometer graph gives an average distance covered per day
- You can see some peaks on the FE line. But that is because, some times during long drives you can have your fuel-filling regimen go out of sync compared to where you fill it regularly.
- Even with that, the average seems to be quite consistent.
- I see a constant 17.5

My 85ps RXL Plus went past 2000kms this month. It returned a best of 20.4kmpl during my trip to Pondicherry. The worst was 17.8kmpl.

My observations during my short ownership period so far:

Pros:

- Very comfortable for long journeys, takes the bad roads as if nothing
- Good fuel economy
- Though no AC vents in the rear, the front ones are good enough for all
- Good visibility from the rear window while backing up
- Enormous boot space
- Rear seat very comfortable for 3 healthy adults
- Very stable even at high speeds
- Heavy doors close with a feel good thud sound

Cons:

- Takes a while to accelerate after you downshift to 2nd gear, you can see all other cars overtaking you during this. It does come back strong after a few seconds though
- Braking is insufficient at high speeds
- Clutch feels a little hard in city traffic when you have to shift gears during short intervals
- Good if you are driving in the 80-120kmph range. Struggles after the 120 mark
- Headlight bulbs and horn are not up to the mark and need to be upgraded

All in all, I would say this is a no-nonsense, ideal, family SUV for some sedate driving, cruising along at 100-120kmph on the highways.

First free Service done at 2250kms:

Complaints/Service:
- I was hearing a flute like noise at high rpms. I was told this was due to AC gas pipe rubbing against something and they have fixed this. There is still some noise but was told it is from the chrome exhaust tip. I have to test this after removing the fitment.
- Brake bleeding was done to improve the braking
- Engine lacquering
- Right side indicator on the fender was popping out on it's own for a while now. Not sure how this happened. I was told the locking mechanism inside was broken. They fixed this.

Total bill - INR 1,000/-

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Originally Posted by Falcon_blr (Post 3641863)

- Though no AC vents in the rear, the front ones are good enough for all

I would disagree on the above part. The AC at best just manages to deliver. In peak summers if you are on the highway you have to really crank it to up to higher blower positions. Compared to Ford for example, it does not stand anywhere. That is my only disappointment with the car. Else, as what you said is what I echo too.

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Originally Posted by Waxeloquent (Post 3642073)

Ampere hi. What's the Android app if I may ask? Thanks n cheers

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Its there in my previous post. Quoted for your reference. Its Fuel Log Pro.

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Originally Posted by HillMan (Post 3641620)

One of the reasons we like our Duster.
Notice the suspension. Parked on a roadside, uneven surface with no load, empty boot and no passengers.

No tilting :)
Attachment 1338391

I think it more because of the angle of the shot than any thing else. I have this opinion as the suspension does come into play in dynamic state only and when the vehicle is moving.

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Originally Posted by Seran Manian (Post 3642097)

I think it more because of the angle of the shot than any thing else. I have this opinion as the suspension does come into play in dynamic state only and when the vehicle is moving.

I disagree, think it perfectly displays the amazing articulation of the Duster's suspension.

I have closely observed Dusters taking potholes and uneven patches at various speeds without yawing and uncomfortable perpendicular movements. On the same uneven roads, IMHO Scorpios, Safaris and XUVs really suffer!