[Rigid Rotor]

Originally Posted by raul

1290km update. ..
External odours continue to creep in, I have played around with the re-circulation switch, it needs to be locked on each setting, but not much of a difference.

Will share the feedback with the service folk at 2K. Apparently Dusters abroad come with a cabin filter (missing in the India version) the manual mentions it. Maybe this will help with the odours.

The Indian Duster does have a cabin AC filter. During the 1st servicing a few days ago, I remember asking them to clean both filters (due to driving in Bangalore's semi-broken roads with the usual haze of dust kicked up by vehicles). The SA gave me the feedback, that the AC filter was pretty dirty and required cleaning. He also mentioned that on the other hand, the engine filter (surprisingly) had not picked up so much dirt.

I don't have a problem with external odours when the switch is set to re-circulation mode - you need to get that checked out in the first servicing.

Mileage - In my case, during a recent drive the highway mileage dropped to about 14.3 km/l when consistently driving at 120 km/h for about 550+ km on NH-7 (Tirunelvelli to Bangalore)

[raul]

RigidRotor - that's good feedback. A lot of folks are reporting cabin odour creepin, you are first who is not facing this issue. Incase its a one off it means its fixable.

The cabin pollen filter is separate from the ac filter and engine filter, I read somewhere it is not included in India but can be installed.

http://www.shopdacia.com/pollen-filter-cabin-2.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dacia-Duster...ges/B0055RL638

[Rigid Rotor]

Originally Posted by raul

RigidRotor - that's good feedback. A lot of folks are reporting cabin odour creepin, you are first who is not facing this issue. Incase its a one off it means its fixable.

The cabin pollen filter is separate from the ac filter and engine filter, I read somewhere it is not included in India but can be installed...

In my vehicle the recirc knob has a very definite push-feel at the end of its travel to lock it in recirculation mode position. It appears to be cable operated and perhaps in your vehicle , it needs adjustment to take up the cable slack to close the shutter completely.

- I suppose the pollen filter accessory fits in as a replacement to the regular cabin AC filter.

Originally Posted by raul

Wind noise was again not an issue. Nor was engine noise, no engine boom or anything, the engine didn't sound or feel stressed. The MRF tyres also did wonderfully, grip was good and tyre noise minimal. The brakes of the Duster stand out, they are better than excellent, extremely crisp and effective.

One odd thing I noticed on this trip was steering push back was surprisingly reduced. It was on strong on my previous trips, this time on long curves, shorter cuves it was nearly absent. Strange.

Nice writeup Raul. Congratulations on your new car.
Regarding the FE, try checking the air pressure once and do update us. Also, why dont you visit ASC and report the same. If they know anything that needs to be done to fix it, it would be done.

Duster falls under SUV category, and its nice to hear that the car handles well at high speeds.

Regarding the Steering pushback, You are doing high speeds in your car and i believe this is the reason why the pushback is less. Try checking it at low speeds and do update here.

[raul]

1850km update, will be going in for the first service on my next Pune trip which is a couple of days later. The engine has loosened up considerably, first at around 1150km and now at around 1820km.

Its now much more responsive, nearly 'fluid' in response which is a far cry from the laggy test drive vehicle. I can now confirm for those still in doubt the lag is not an issue. the car is pulling in 1,2,3 gears from as low as 1000 rpm with no hesitation. (It usually idles at around 600rpm) Even the slight sub-second hesitation that usually showed up with a cold engine seems to have gone.

The car has been washed twice since I bought it, once at my Pune house and once at 3M. I recently discovered the Jopasu duster and man is it effective, takes 2-3 min and the car is suitably clean. I love these kind of easy fixes. I am cutting down and don't smoke in the car so its smelling nice too

I am maintaining a tyre pressure of 30psi, for mainly single and 2 person driving. The sticker on the door mentions 29 so I may go to that. What are other Duster users using?

The pet peeve so far is also somewhat dimished. The recirculate switch really needs to be pushed and locked. I haven't been getting outside odours as much lately.

Gemi - the speeds for the testing were fairly similar, the push back has diminished, will check again on this trip.

I haven't yet found time to get the ICE done, most of the folks on the western suburbs including milan subway don't have much stuff, mainly pushing Focal or Fosgate. Will head to Opera house sometime this week, for the time being thinking of going for a Hertz co-ax ECX 6.5 or 5.5in depending on which fits for the fronts. May look at comps - Rainbow-Image Dynamics-Morel, but not planing anything extreme. I like crisp sound so still to decide.

I also briefly thought about HID Projectors to improve night vision, then gave up after reading up here and at hidplanet. Halogens may be better for night driving, especially compared to aftermarket projectors. There is a pretty well informed guy in Kerala who can fix it, recommended Hella EVO-X or FXR projectors but pricey - 20-25k. The thing is it's way too complicated to get done by amateurs. There is a real danger you will get worse lights than before for highway driving, waste money and piss other road users off, if not end up causing an accident.

[BUXX]

Hey Raul, thanks for the update!
I have a 85RxL (O) and have driven about 600kms but still there is a lag in the 2nd gear.
I hope it improves with time.

Have you thought about getting a Gear lock and/or a GPS/GPRS vehicle tracker?

[raul]

Buxx - not thought much about security honestly. The 85 has no lag at all so surprising to hear about this. Is this on a cold engine, then its ok. Are you getting a a prolonged lag or slight hesitation? It does loosen up after 1000km so it could resolve itself.

The other thing is there is/maybe an issue with second gear on Renault diesel cars, I remember reading about second gear lag, loss of power and stall on Renault online forums in Russia, Romania and France.

[BUXX]

1st and 2nd gear both are terrible..
from the vehicles that I had TDed.. the 85 did not have any lag.. behaved like a Petrol actually... Maybe after run-in, things will improve !
Thanks for responding !

[Rigid Rotor]

Originally Posted by BUXX

1st and 2nd gear both are terrible..
from the vehicles that I had TDed.. the 85 did not have any lag..

BUXX - you may wish to check out another 85 variant (even the dealer TD vehicle) and if the problem seems to be specific to your vehicle then its worth a visit to the Service Centre sooner than later, rather than waiting for the first servicing.

[raul]

2080km update. I travelled in an off day to Pune so things were a lot more relaxed on the expressway and I had room for even more testing.

I reset the trip computer before the start and after around 230km the mileage is showing 16.1. Around 170km is highway.

In 6th gear this is how it pans out, 120kph is 2400rpm. 140 is around 3000rpm and 160 is 3500rpm. The car is stable and drama free at 160, completely unstressed and felt like it can cruise at these speeds all day long. For the first time I took long curves at 140 and again no pushback and the car felt stable.

I think the suspension setup is excellent. It's planted. My OHC started getting floaty at around 150-160. That was the limit for the car. I think the Duster's limit will be 170-180. Its punchy through the gears right till 6th and even 6th is punchy. After 3500 rpm I suspect it will hit a limit at 4000 rpm which should be 180kph, and progress after 3700 rpm will be slow.

There were some misses from 5th to 6th, the gearbox is smooth but sometimes 5th to 6th is fussy. The 0-100 by autocar at 11.8sec is probably accurate. Since the engine feels more free flowing now after 1700km you do feel the torque and it feels fast. As opposed to the OHC you need to press down on the accelerator. The OHC just needed a feather touch.

I must single out the tyres. The MRF's are surprisingly quiet and grippy, the car hugs the road and loses speed rapidly when required. Brakes are very very good.

[raul]

Just got the first service check done at 2116km. It takes barely an hour but I had stuff to do and left it for longer. The total cost was zero!

The service head is highly impressive; educated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I told them about the handbrake and the odour creepin. Handbrake is resolved. A lot of folks are reporting the odour creepin and there is no fix yet. The BT echo update is not yet available.

No oil topup done, I was expecting some topup as the engine is supposed to use more oil during breakin but was told they checked and it was not required. They scanned it, no errors so washed and returned. All in all a pleasant outing.

[raul]

5000KM Update - Many Pune trips! Mileage has been stable around 12.6-13kmpl in heavy city traffic, and around 14-15kmpl on highways. Heavy acceleration drops it to around 13.5 on the highway.

In sixth gear, acceleration seems to get 'stuck' at 3500rpm, it doesn't budge much after that, feels like a limiter but most likely near the limit of the engine.

I am pretty satisfied with the tyres, they have have held up well under all sorts of conditions - reasonably quiet, comfortable and plenty of grip. Not something we usually associate with MRF, so good job by them and Renault. UK is getting Continental Cross Contact so will be interesting to compare performance.

The chattiness of the steering on hard curves remains a mild irritant. I am beginning to feel there is tyre movement and vibration causing this chattiness, and not just the steering. This is unsettling. Also road and lane division unevenness in bends at speeds causes it to unsettle even more.

I am also beginning to find the steering a bit vague on hard bends and cornering. There is some amount of 'looseness' which should not be there. Could this be a wheel balancing issue? But would that show up only on hard curves? There is no handling issue on long sweeping curves at high speeds.

There is a lot of interest in the Duster, and it would be helpful if one of our reviewers adept at high speed handling on tight curves does a review on just that aspect to try to figure what is happening.

I have still not managed to locate Hertz ECX. The Mumbai and Pune audio scene seems to be dead for choice - everyone seems to be pushing JBL, Fosgate, Focal - nothing against those brands. There are some choices like Morel for 6.5 components, but not much choice at 5.25 both components and co-axials.

Interest from random passers-by remains strong. They ask the price and get surprised, even mildly shocked. The perception is 8-9 lakhs. I tell them there are 3 engine options and 8 variants.

[raul]

Just got back to Bbay from another Pune trip, and I can definitely confirm its wheel shake at tight bends when pushed hard, causing a chatty steering and pushback, I find this disconcerting.

One normally expects oversteer or understeer but not wheel vibration. This needs investigation, hopefully we can hear from other Duster owners.

I also had a clangy sound from the rear right shock for the last few weeks , so finally took to the Renault service folks. During their testing there was no noise - why does this happen?

Eventually the Renault engineer after testing it on all sorts of bad broken roads took it to a dirt track and attempted to rip it before I had to stop and tell him even if there is no suspension noise, with this kind of test it will get it.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by raul

Just got back to Bbay from another Pune trip, and I can definitely confirm its wheel shake at tight bends when pushed hard, causing a chatty steering and pushback, I find this disconcerting.

One normally expects oversteer or understeer but not wheel vibration. This needs investigation, hopefully we can hear from other Duster owners...

Have you checked the alignment & balancing? Usually wheel wobbling / vibration is associated with balancing problems. If NOT done, please do this as the first step.

[raul]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Have you checked the alignment & balancing? Usually wheel wobbling / vibration is associated with balancing problems. If NOT done, please do this as the first step.

That's the first thing that occurred to me, but wheel balancing issues would show up on straights and long curves too, no issues there.

This is the pushback that a lot of reviewers have reported, all dusters have this, at that time folks thought nothing of it but a chatty steering.

I now feel it's the wheel vibration that is causing this pushback and chattiness, but we need an expert to push it on the curves to understand what's happening.