[mooza]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

Here, the pricing of Duster is premium and hence we expect premium quality, in all aspects. This is here the Duster falls below expectations, because of it's cheap feel vis a vis the amount that we are paying. Ride quality alone really does not warrant this price if you procure from third quality vendors under the guise of cost cutting. What is the use of good design with poor implementation.

Whoa, those are some hard hitting comments there, which have got me worried as I embark on a test drive followed by booking tomorrow !

@Neil Roy, apart from your tyre burst experience, how has your ownership experience been thus far ? A quick update from you will help me here

Edit: Just found your ownership thread, will go through it !

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by raul

Guys what's happening?
Don't you guys love your cars? Where are the detailed pics, the various updates and perspectives that only an owner can give. Are these guys too busy driving around the country with their new suvs'?

@ Raul. Not around the country. Only my state. Finished 6000 Kms and loving every bit of it. Planning to fit seat covers and then post pics on my ownership review.

Originally Posted by mooza

Whoa, those are some hard hitting comments there, which have got me worried as I embark on a test drive followed by booking tomorrow !

I'm just venting my frustration on paying so much and not getting my penny's worth in terms of fit, finish and of course vendor related issues. Having said that, Duster is a perfect upgrade from any Mahindra product barring the XUV, if you are looking for a 5 seater. Personally I will choose the Duster over XUV despite my frustration, because the fundamentals of the international Duster are not compromised in any way(I hope).

@suchit23, just one word."wow". Very neatly done Duster. Those alloys look real cool. Do I see seat covers? What else have you done? Just a preview will suffice till you come up with your ownership report.
Done and Dusted for the weekend. Ciao

[Ulpian]

I beg to differ. I was the victim of tyre burst. I shudder to think what might have happenedif the tyre had been front instead of rear. Agree with you that tyre failure can happen to any car brand. However, the overall costcutting efforts that are glaringly visible makes me suspicious if this exercise was extended to the choice of tyres too. If that is the case, it implies that renault is more concerned about it's profit than the customer's safety.

I don't know what make of tyres Renault fits in India, but I'd be surprised if they were budget ones. And all tyres have to comply with international safety regulations. I have just had to have two front tyres replaced at my car's annual safety test (MOT) because there were bulges in the carcass. Now these were expensive tyres, and they were only a couple of years old, having spent their first year at the back - new tyres should always be fitted to the rear axle - and the tyre shop couldn't be certain what had happened. But our feeling was that the damage was probably caused by hitting a long trench/pothole in the road at speed, or a speed bump. People are losing tyres, and wheels, all the time here like this. I have now fitted two budget tyres and they are driving very well.

They should have taken the damaged tyre off your car and looked at it very carefully to discover what the problem was.

I know the Duster is designed as a budget car, but that means using tried and tested parts, the manufacturing costs of which have been amortised, and which are proven not to cause trouble. The Duster must cost a lot less in India than Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover and even Kia and Ford products. I'm sorry, but I have no knowledge of the Indian competition other than what I have read on-line. But I do note that Indian customers like bling and outward show, and gadgets, and even comment on the impact their cars make on other road users. Of course, there are many people here like that too, but there are more and more who just want simple, reliable, and clever wheels, and that is why Dacia/Renault has taken off so well in Europe, just as it has in the rest of the world. Nobody here is expecting the cars to be quite as refined as the more expensive competition, but that isn't a measure of quality necessarily.

I have some old friends who ten years ago bought a new Mercedes E Class estate. The car was nothing but trouble from the start. It broke down twice, including when the chief technician at the dealership took it home to check its performance, and it had to have three catlaysts replaced, an engine rebuild, new suspension bushes all round at 30,000 miles, and it was resprayed for rust three times. There was more of course, and by the time they sold it the speedometer was only reading intermittently and various sensors had packed up. It had done 90,000 miles (c. 120,00km)! They hated that car; and it was always serviced regularly at the main dealer, no short cuts.

So you get my point about reliability and simplicity becoming an attractive propositon here.

I'm looking to get a Duster, or maybe the Sandero Stepway, when the cars arrive here in the new year. I have driven a lot of more exensive cars and I am always disappointed. Because of the national economic situation car sales are down here and manufacturers are trying every trick in the book to sell them. I'm not in a hurry, but the Duster and its sibling are very attractive, as much for what they don't have as for what they do. And of course the price here is very competitive.

I wouldn't expect any new car not to have to go back to the dealer for a few small things, but if that is all I'd call it a good deal.

Now enjoy your car. We don't get red here, or that brown, just a grey and a silver, and a couple of rather odd blues. And white. White looks good to me, and it's cheaper. I like cheaper

Motoring is becoming very expensive and the price of fuel can only rise, because the discovery of new oil worldwide simply cannot keep up with demand (See "The Oil Drum" if you want to read about energy and the implications of demand and supply). This energy stressing is in large part the reason the world's economies are flatlining. So if you have a car just enjoy it because in a few years none of us may be able to afford one.

India has traditionally subsidised oil, but now the costs of doing this are unsupportable and the price of fuel is having to go up. The relatively economical Duster will probably prove to be worth a lot more money in a couple of years, when punters find the cost of filling up the big SUVs just becomes unsupportable.

You made a very wise decision, notwithstanding the niggles

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Ulpian

ooking to get a Duster, or maybe the Sandero Stepway, when the cars arrive here in the new year. I have driven a lot of more exensive cars and I am always disappointed. Because of the national economic situation car sales are down here and manufacturers are trying every trick in the book to sell them. I'm not in a hurry, but the Duster and its sibling are very attractive, as much for what they don't have as for what they do. And of course the price here is very competitive.

. We don't get red here, or that brown, just a grey and a silver, and a couple of rather odd blues. And white. White looks good to me, and it's cheaper. I like cheaper

Motoring is becoming very expensive and the price of fuel can only rise, because the discovery of new oil worldwide simply cannot keep up with demand (See "The Oil Drum" if you want to read about energy and the implications of demand and supply). This energy stressing is in large part the reason the world's economies are flatlining. So if you have a car just enjoy it because in a few years none of us may be able to afford one.

India has traditionally subsidised oil, but now the costs of doing this are unsupportable and the price of fuel is having to go up. The relatively economical Duster will probably prove to be worth a lot more money in a couple of years, when punters find the cost of filling up the big SUVs just becomes unsupportable.

You made a very wise decision, notwithstanding the niggles

A good, informative post. Thank you.
Just a query. Have you or would you consider a Skoda Yeti at all?
I ask because I was in the market for the Duster but did not buy one because I would have had to wait too long for it to be launched. Also, I was reliably informed at that time that there would be no 4WD variant. Hence I went straight for the Yeti which ticked all the boxes for me and over the last ten months has proven itself to me as a supremely competent vehicle.
What is your take on the Yeti?

[acroback]

Test Drove a Duster for the sake of it.
I was looking for a sedan but now I am a convert, shall book one tomorrow.

Positives :-
(+) Fundamentals are top notch.
(+) Very good suspension.
(+) Very good handling
(+) Loved the steering, gazillion times better than that of Vento's.
(+) Seating position was perfect.
(+) NVH was seriously less.
(+) No turbo lag ( for 85ps Diesel variant ).
(+) Refined engine with a insulated cabin was a big plus for me.

Negatives :
(-) Plastic quality was horrible at places.
(-) Rear leg room might not be roomy for some but for me it felt adequate.
(-) No ACC
(-) Budget quality evident in lot of places.
(-) Plastics side plates useless and interfere with egress.
(-) Cheap looking handles.

Shall be booking a RxL(O) Diesel tomorrow. Need airbags and ABS no matter what!

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by acroback

Shall be booking a RxL(O) Diesel tomorrow

What are the quoted waiting times for Bangalore now? Last time I called they were chanting 6 months!

[urajkumar]

Guess i must be the first one in this Forum to book the Renault Duster! Before everyone beats me up on this, let me complete. I must be the first one to book the Petrol Version.

For all those shaking your heads with pity or wondering if i am insane, let me give you my side of the story.

1) I am a petrol head. period. The thought of driving the noisy, Polluting(more than petrol), clattering diesel engine is something i have a mind block about (i know these engines are no longer like earlier engines and much better now but still cant lose that mind block).
2) I didn't take a test drive of the Petrol since its not available. Honestly speaking i feel It never might be available. I have been patiently waiting and waiting but after a point decided if so many could book the 85 PS option without taking a test drive initially, i am not any more foolish then them. Its Renault and so keeping fingers crossed about its petrol engine (Saw a discouraging comment earlier but still keeping my fingers crossed)
3) My drive is only about 10 KM per day and we sell the cars every 3 years once before it touches 30000 KM (Sold my Swift @ 27000 KM). So the logic of paying more (including interest on the loan) would only be recovered if we use them for 40000 KM minimum which seems impossible anyway for me. So why spend the extra money?
4) I was extremely agitated about Petrol not having ABS, Airbags etc but looking at customer response looks like Renault is having the last laugh. Anyway we have a Innova and Skoda Superb in the family (Joint family) which we will use on high ways and this will be predominantly in the City.
5) The sales guy was trying to convince me for Diesel stating good resale value etc till he threw the bomb shell. They have stopped taking bookings for Diesel RXE model and so difference would now be more than 2 lakhs which i was not prepared to pay.
6) Booked the RXE since the next version does not have anything justifying the extra lakh. After looking at feedback, i am convinced that i will use the saved money for getting good accessories.
7) At one stage considered waiting for the Ford eco-sport but some how I was not excited looking at pictures & the Autocar review. it looks like a hatchback on Stilts. Duster pulled my heart strings and Ecosport made me sleep. Besides its less than 4 meters and bound to be more cramped than Duster.
8) Planning to get side skirts, front bumper, Music system with Rear Camera fitted in, Alloys & finally thinking of meatier Tyres (I want to upsize the tyres, any reason if i should or should not?)
9) My wife feels the boot is going to be wasted and Rear is very cramped (all of us are tall in the family). Is there a way i can push back the seats (or) make the entire rear seats slideable? Does someone know who can do that?

So anyway the Excitement has started now and I know i have a long wait ahead of me (He told me Nov but i feel its Jan 2013). Will keep you guys posted.

[Ulpian]

A good, informative post. Thank you.
Just a query. Have you or would you consider a Skoda Yeti at all?
I ask because I was in the market for the Duster but did not buy one because I would have had to wait too long for it to be launched. Also, I was reliably informed at that time that there would be no 4WD variant. Hence I went straight for the Yeti which ticked all the boxes for me and over the last ten months has proven itself to me as a supremely competent vehicle.
What is your take on the Yeti?

Thanks. Just my take on cars and life.

The Yeti is a very good car. I have never read a poor revew and it is undoubtedly well built. It is also more expensive than the Duster. The most basic model lacks a few things the top model Duster has, notably Bluetooth, but it has ESP as standard. That sounds good, and ESP is a real safety aid, very occasionally - maybe. However, as cars get older ESP can go wrong and produce huge bills to fix. If you change your car every three years all well and good, but otherwise

Also, the base Yeti is not as quick as the Duster and comes into a higher tax bracket. And the Duster has higer (slighty) ground clearance and a better ride, and a bigger boot. It is also better off road, if this matters.

The difference in price starts at about £2000 between the most expensive Duster and the cheapest Yeti, and for a Yeti with roughly similar performance to the Duster you would be paying about £6000 more. And the Duster is a more comfortable place to sit, for me.

But the Yeti is a more lavishly built car and if you want to spend more money it is vertainly not wasted. You have an excellent car. In Britain it has superb residuals too. The Duster's are also predicted to be good but only time will tell.

My priorities are a very comfortable ride, a good drive, excellent ground clearance, and an inexpensive buy. The Dacias look interesting on all these points, so I'm looking forward to driving them.

[acroback]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What are the quoted waiting times for Bangalore now? Last time I called they were chanting 6 months!

5 Months is what I have been told.
Expecting delivery around Feburary.

[suchit23]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

@suchit23, just one word."wow". Very neatly done Duster. Those alloys look real cool. Do I see seat covers? What else have you done? Just a preview will suffice till you come up with your ownership report.
Done and Dusted for the weekend. Ciao

Originally Posted by raul

Suchit23 - thanks for the pics and congrats on your Duster! I think there is a bit of a mystery here, how come all Duster owners on the forum are cribbing on these threads about delivery nearly daily and as soon as they get the cars they make themselves scarce.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Congrats for the new SUV. You get a good choice of the alloys, add to your car's stance .

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Congratulations on getting your Duster. Good move to go for the 110 RXL for faster delivery. Moreover you get increased power, torque & an additional gear. The choice of alloys is excellent, the hyper finish alloys look awesome on the red Duster.

Looking forward to more pictures & a detailed ownership review.

Thank you very much everyone. Glad you liked it. To answer Neil's question I got:

1. Alloys which you figured already - Rs 26K
2. Seat covers, Autoform, slip on types, fit not quite like OE but works for me, my daughter messes them real quick so want to change often and dont want to invest a lot there - Rs 6.5K
3. Reverse Parking assist - Steel Mate - Rs 5.5K
4. Universal 3D Mats - not branded I think - Rs 1.4K

Adding a pic of the seat covers which I have handy now.

[desidino]

I am another one of the crazy few who have booked the Petrol RXE. Reasons for the madness:

- Running would be very low. Much less than 1000 km per month. Most probably around 500 km per month.
- No plans of selling it ever. So resale value is of no importance. Also, hopefully maintaining Petrol should be easier and probably cheaper than Diesel.
- We are on a budget. My parent's budget was max 4 lacs and we were considering Ritz and even a used Jazz on team-bhp classifieds (it was sold by the time we contacted the seller). For reasons mentioned later, I wanted them to go with Duster. But, call it middle class mentality, they balked at the prospect of spending so much on a vehicle. Finally, somehow managed to convince them, and I would be pitching in with a loan for remaining 4 lacs. Even with me contributing with the loan, they were adamant that 8 lacs is the max we would spend. 10 lacs barrier is too much to contemplate.
- Dad always dreamed of having a nice ride once he retired. He had even booked the Fortuner once ! And Vento later. Both times the bookings had to be canceled due to pressing monetary requirements elsewhere.
- Its for my parents who are retired. So, ride quality is paramount especially over bad roads.
- Would be used for Haridwar Delhi roundtrip once a month. While the road from Delhi till Muzaffarnagar has become phenomenal of late, the stretch from Muzaffarnagar till Haridwar is punishing. During the rainy season its a nightmare. A recent trip on our modest Spark was scary to say the least, particularly since it was at night. I dont want my folks to constantly worry about invisible potholes and speed bumpers.
- Occasional trips to the Himalayas with once a year trip to Badrinath.
- High ground clearance is a must. Poor Spark scrapes at least 3-4 times on the Delhi Haridwar trips. I feel sorry for how the poor workhorse has been mistreated.

As for the booking experience:

- Had gone with dad and brother to Dee Dee cars at Dehradun towards the end of August. They are planning to open another showroom in Roorkee in a few months.
- Duster on display was Woodland Brown and all 3 of us loved the color.
- The showroom was practically empty. But still couldnt get the test drive. The sales executive promised that he would bring the Duster over to our house in Haridwar for test drive. It sounded too good to be true. And it was. Despite repeated calls the duster never arrived.
- So after a week we went back to Dehradun after confirming that the duster would be available for the test drive. This time the SE kept his promise and we were able to test drive straightaway. As expected Petrol was not available for TD and I drove the 85 diesel.
- The SE guided us towards race course road which is flat as a billiards table. I asked him if we could go on bad roads and he agreed. We were happy with the excellent ride over bad roads which had been washed out due to rain and bricks had been placed on the road as a makeshift arrangement.
- On our way back we came across an intersection and the duster was able to sail through it despite the bad roads. Suddenly we were scraped from the side by a Zen. Its possible that the guy in the Zen expected us to come a slower speed due to bad roads. But i wasnt speeding by a long shot. Probably 20 kmph. Maybe he was expecting us to come at crawling speed. The lower part of front left and back left door were scraped. Exactly where the side cladding is positioned. Am definitely getting the side cladding.
- I felt that the gear shift wasnt as clean as I am used to on the Spark. Somehow slotting the gear in the right slot wasnt smooth. But its not a deal breaker.
- I am 5'6" , dad 5'8" , brother 5'10". We thought that the legroom on back row was adequate. Somehow the duster felt very spacious inside. Especially when it looks quite small from inside.
- We all loved the looks of duster. There is something about its curvy simplicity that we find very appealing. Had previously shown the pics of Ecosport to dad and he thought it was too tacky for a retired paramilitary officer. I agree with him. Ecosport would look good on people below 40.
- Satisfied with the ride quality, we booked the Petrol RXE Woodland Brown.
- Expected delivery in January which suited us as it gives us time to arrange for the finances to keep the loan component at the minimum.
- SE readily agreed that we could do a PDI at stockyard. He also agreed that we could do PDI at showroom before making the final payment.
- He also readily agreed that we could get insurance from outside. But we will stick with the dealer insurance as i dont want my parents to get into any hassles during insurance claim as i wont be there to do the running around.
- Currently the dealer doesnt have the facility to register the vehicle in Haridwar RTO, so we will have to get it done ourselves.
- We paid 50k for the booking. However, as the accounts person was not available, we could not get the cash receipt straightaway. SE promised that he would email us the scanned copy the same day. That promise too wasnt kept. Finally my dad went to the dealer 2 weeks later to collect the receipt.
- Mud flaps and floor mats would be provided free. For accessories we would go for side cladding, car cover and 1 DIN music system. Any suggestions on 1 DIN?

Now waiting for January 2013.

[Rigid Rotor]

Originally Posted by suchit23

Got delivery of 110 BHP RXL ....

Hey Suchit23, CONGRATS on your shiny new Red Duster!
Just a few Qs - When did you book your Duster? what's with the Red coloured rear view mirrors? Did you get them painted before you collected the vehicle or are these factory finished in body colour? I was under the impression that the rear view mirrors were in Silver finish for all variants.

[suchit23]

Originally Posted by Rigid Rotor

Hey Suchit23, CONGRATS on your shiny new Red Duster!
Just a few Qs - When did you book your Duster? what's with the Red coloured rear view mirrors? Did you get them painted before you collected the vehicle or are these factory finished in body colour? I was under the impression that the rear view mirrors were in Silver finish for all variants.

Thank you. I originally booked the 85 RXL(O) on July 9th. But I didnt get the feeling it was coming anytime before November so took the option when dealer offered me 110 RXL.

All the RXLs have body colored mirrors only the RXZs have silver. Yet another reason I never liked the RXZ.

[sharninder]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

I beg to differ. I was the victim of tyre burst. I shudder to think what might have happenedif the tyre had been front instead of rear. Agree with you that tyre failure can happen to any car brand. However, the overall costcutting efforts that are glaringly visible makes me suspicious if this exercise was extended to the choice of tyres too. If that is the case, it implies that renault is more concerned about it's profit than the customer's safety.
As of now, no one even called me to find out how the tyre burst.Here, the pricing of Duster is premium and hence we expect premium quality, in all aspects. This is here the Duster falls below expectations, because of it's cheap feel vis a vis the amount that we are paying.
Ride quality alone really does not warrant this price if you procure from third quality vendors under the guise of cost cutting. What is the use of good design with poor implementation.

I absolutely agree with what you're saying. The tyres are MRF wanderers right? Are the tyres bad quality or are they custom made for Renault? There must be others using these same tyres right? What is everyone else's opinion on them?

I agree the Duster feels premium to us Indians but then almost every car is a premium car here if we just look at the price. There is still no car which gives us this kinda package at this price. Maybe we Indians are being taken for a ride by the manufacturers or the government in terms o taxes, we'll never know.

[raul]

Most of the reviews of the MRF tyres have been overwhelmingly positive, great ride, not too much tyre noise, good grip levels.

Most folks at least on this board would be typically compelled to head straight to the tyre shop to upgrade from MRF to quieter better performance tyres like Michelin, Conti etc but the reviews have been so positive that few will bother.

However the issue with the burst of a new tyre now raises some doubts, more ownership threads with experiences under varied driving conditions, speed etc would help. And folks have had issues with Michelin and Conti too.