Renault Duster RXZ AWD - "The Grey Goose"
On a pleasant November evening, I was handed over my 'Grey Goose' - Duster RXD AWD. Pics in the end.
Now on to a brief note about zeroing in on this car, purchase formalities, delivery and preliminary usage report. What you are about to read here is just my journey of experience with my feelings and thoughts. This is not to hurt anyone' sentiments, beliefs and practices.
At the outset, I need to thank this group - an absolutely honest bunch of opinion givers and always ready to help when someone is looking for answers. I think we should now proudly claim this group as THE DEFINITIVE CAR SELF HELP GROUP.
It has been more than a year that I was looking for a car change from my Getz which is about 7 years old at the time of this swap. Getz is a great small car with excellent road manners and have been a pet for my family without any hiccup during the long or short journeys. As all good things come to an end with the change around us that compel us to take the next step, it is a multitude of options that I had to wade through to arrive at what I really wanted.
I have been through a journey of evaluating Jetta, Innova, XUV, Rexton, Linea T-jet, Honda City , Duster 2WD and the mind kind of fixated on Rexton initially. The desire of always wanting a high rise platform moved me closer to Rexton, but then the dealership never arranged for a test drive in time and with that the interest waned on the car. At another point in time, it was innova that ruled the mind and the test drive happened and went to the point of negotiations and stopped.
After a period of lull in exploring options, there came this review about AWD being a better all round product output than the 2WD avatar. The 2WD was tested earlier and not convinced about the hard clutch and suspension as reported in test drives. In addition the cost appeared a notch higher than what it offered as features. But the ride in this car is great as many shared.
I have a friend who has this excellent ability to analyze thread bare, the features and performance of a car. A lot of times it usually be a great discussion over a coffee that really start to bring out a car's advantages or its lack of, ends in a sort of 'cut to the bone' manner. I think I must confess the outcome of such long analysis can really delay the process of booking a car as one is looking for 'THE JEWEL' of a car. In my long long wait to come to a decision, it is certain there is no car which is all perfect and every car has its share of issues . Here we go, some philosophy for the soul.
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Now, this new car review of the Duster AWD appears in team-bhp , which spurs my mind again to run to the nearest dealer and test drive. As I complete the test drive, basically a short one, I am getting more convinced about the car and some bells start to ring in my mind that this is the car to own. AWD addresses the key short comings of 2WD, near SUV like and at the same time car-like to drive, satisfies the needs from ICE compared to Getz and finally an AWESOME ride quality experience equally confirmed by my family co-passengers in the front and back seat. Now more closer to the decision, I once again do a TD which the dealership happily obliges. Now the SE who accompanies me, gives more good points - such as esp, abs, ability to crawl in slow moving traffic without the need of gear changes (due to short throws), hill start assist and this further reinforces my thinking to go with this car.
On a Sunday, I go to the dealership and book it with advance for a silver color. Now my older one who has an excellent read of colors, presses me to change my mind to the grey. There were no models available for ready reference, but the android helped to browse the images in the net. To me (us), the grey appeared very cool in Duster, has this ability to be stealth and not announcing its arrival.
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After adjusting the shortfalls with loan from SBI ( who are great in some of the terms like no pre-closure penalties) and with selling the Getz (went for a pittance) , we managed to complete all the pre-delivery formalities.
PDI for Duster could not be completed, with a dealer who has his stockyard almost outside Bangalore, but got the VIN and once again this site helped decode it easily for me and for the SE in that branch.
The date of delivery approached and we were eager to get the car as early as possible. But thanks to murphy's law, the dealer never got the car in time for an early delivery. Finally when the car was ready to be delivered late in the evening, there were only one or two people in the dealership office who were eager to complete the handover formalities to leave. The explanation of features were good and covered all the important areas such as warranty, service, ICE etc. The only grouse is that the dealer could have planned it better or anticipated the challenges better.
After the delivery of my 'grey goose' and the first thought after riding few meters is that the car and me were so connected and I did not make much mistakes. With very little diesel (hardly 2L left) we went to the nearest bunk and filled to the brim. With family in toe, suddenly the hunger started to rear its head and headed to a great dinner with the new car as the first drive.
The next day took my car to the nearest temple for pooja and off to a ride again in the heaviest traffic times of Bangalore. Felt uncomfortable with the ABS breaks for the initial few times - I never got a real good feedback when ever I pressed the break like Getz and felt the car is moving in spite of pressing the break pedal. But the car did behave greatly on the road with stability and smooth acceleration.
Now completed 280 kms and trying to stay in the limits below 2.5K RPM but very difficult to control the senses when a free stretch appears in front of the eyes.
From this short ride experience, the car has a great ride quality, no fear of pot holes anymore, offers good view of the road (could be better), nice navigational features (very precise and voice assisted) which retires the google maps while driving, a very precise steering experience, gear and clutch levers are smooth, short throws enhance the ride and keeps you relaxed during heavy traffic, good seating comfort including the rear which IMO, offers better thigh support than a lot of cars and hence the reduced space (but not cramped).
The car is giving about 10.5 KMs with full AC on and other MID displays are helpful especially the temp, KMs to empty etc. The space in the rear is going to be a boon for my family going forward as they love packing to the brim and eagerly looking forward to my long drives with this car.
More to come...
Nanri, meendum santhipom (thanks, until we meet again)