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-   -   Renault Duster AWD : An owner's point of view (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/202700-renault-duster-awd-owners-point-view-4.html)

Yup. I had followed your thread as well and noted all the good and bad experiences you've had with the Duster. Good to hear that its been trouble free ever since.

This car does have something special. In-spite of these small niggles, i still started loving this car! Yes, it do connect with the driver! :)

Finally installed a dash cam. Got it from Aliexpress on 11/11 sale. Its a YI smart dash cam.

I have not concealed the wiring. Just kept the wire hanging from the cam and attached it to the 12v socket. Have tied the extra cable and its resting on the front storage space in front of the gear lever. The wire management is not looking very neat but it looks decent. As of now, will keep it like this.







Do Renault have any explanation for this? Why this rubber chip to support the front windshield is popping out like this in one side (left side) and on the other side its neatly tucked in!



My bad, i missed it during the PDI & even after that but what kind of PDI do Renault do?

Just dug out a pic from my PDI day and found the same in that pic.



Thanks to Bhpian Scorpio25 for clicking this awesome pic of my Duster, last month at Puri. clap:

Great to hear that, yes it did take me a while too, to connect with the Duster after around , 15,000 KM's somewhere near bad roads and climb at Rishob in Kalimpong but that connect was a solid one.
Don't worry about the protruding rubber , I have, somehow managed to crack Dusters windshield 4 times in 2 years (all on nh16 and once on nh65) and replaced under insurance starting with SainGobain at stock and AIS after that at windshield experts.

Hope to see your duster (aka LalMohon) nail some epic trails while you engage in some wonderful pictures very soon.

5,000 km update

Completed the 5,000km mark a couple of weeks back. Since then the car is sitting idle as i used the Etios for the last two weeks. Hope to take the Duster out from this weekend again.

No niggle's or problems to be reported as of now.

Did an approximately 400 km day trip last month. Due to a speed limit of 80 km/hr on the NH and being winter the A/c was mostly off & Duster returned an amazing mileage of 20-22 km/L on the highway and for the overall trip it was around 18km/L. Mileage dropped in the town traffic and in some drive inside the jungle trails. Using the cruise control do save fuel!



Few pics from the trip -







Used the 4wd lock 3-4 times till now & almost every time the Duster managed to come out. Till now it seems to be a capable off-roader. Though it's not a hardcore off-roader as it lacks a low range but still its quite good to take you out from tricky situation's where a 2wd will be in trouble.

@Samba. You got a lovely capable ride here. Though I could not congratulate you 5000 km earlier, CONGRATULATIONS now. That ride which accompanied me to one of the deadliest trails was a Duster AWD and did make it through finally. Indicates the capability of the machine (thought I cannot comment upon the ASS).
Your ride is bound to be equally capable, no doubt.
Wish you many exciting miles ahead on this beautiful machine.

6,000 km Update

Its running more or less niggle free, the fuel gauge sometimes act funny though.

After 5,000 km it seems like the car has opened up a bit. The fuel efficiency increased, feels more smooth and the in gear acceleration improved too.

In nutshell what can one expect from a Duster AWD-

Easy to drive in city.

Fun to drive on highways with sorted handling.

Can take you to offbeat places where a 2wd wont reach.

Fuel efficient.

Dam comfortable.

What could have been better-

The gear shift is not very smooth or sleek.

Sometimes the brake feels a bit spongy but at the end it does it's work well.

Niggles!

Few pics clicked after the last update-

When Duster met Harrier! A dash of orange and red!





Yellow and red looks colorful too!



Thanks a lot.

Duster completes 6 months with 7,000 km on the odo with a trip to Darjeeling

The link of the travelogue-
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...-snowfall.html

The car performed brilliantly in the hills. clap:
The short gearing combined with the peak torque available between 1700-2200 Rpm was a real boon. On steep inclines, the Duster climbs up at around 1800-1900 Rpm effortlessly.

Steep inclines? No problem
Broken road ? No problem
Snow/Ice ? No problem

After the Duster's maiden trip to the hills, i started loving this car much more.

On the plain land i got a mileage of 20.6 km/L. I was driving steadily at around 80km/hr. Thanks to the speed cams.

The overall mileage for the trip was 18.7 km/L, which is actually great.

On the trip to Tiger hill, mine was the only car which reached till the top. No other vehicle could reach till the top, as the 2wd vehicles were skidding a lot. So this car definitely takes you to places where a 2wd wont reach!

So what to expect from a Duster?

Comfortable? Yes
Fast? Yes
Fuel Efficient? Yes
Capable of off-roading? Yes
Good handling on the corners? Yes
Niggles? Yes !:uncontrol

Lets come to the niggles -

The fuel meter is still acting funny. During my 2nd service, i will get the fuel meter sensor changed. Even with nearly full tank of diesel, sometimes the fuel meter shows low fuel and the low fuel warning lamp glows.

I again noticed the RPM fluctuation in idling for quite a few times. Let's see if Renault can find any solution for this during the service.

Apart from these two, there's nothing wrong.

Few pics from the trip-





















And a video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaTLR5GZW4

After the trip, i got the vehicle thoroughly washed. Refrained from putting it on a lift as it might damage the multi-link suspension in the rear and avoided spraying water in the engine bay as specified in the owners manual. So found out a place where they wash on a cemented ramp.



Attachment 1856905

Can you please provide a bit more insight on this? I do get my car/SUV washed where there is a lift facility, will that damage the suspension, heard this for the first time, so has made me ask you and other BHPians.

Cars and suv's which do not have multi-link suspension setup in the rear wont face any problem.

The lift at Renault is like this-

From the picture, we can make out that, the multi-link setup is not touching anywhere.



Whereas if we put up a Duster Awd in a lift like this, the multi-link setup may get damaged.



So finding a lift which Renault use's in a roadside washing place would be difficult. That's why i found out a place where they have an old school cemented ramp.

Great initial ownership report Samba, and the accompanying photologues are very expressive too. This really answers most questions that a prospective buyer would think off and should help my neighbour in making up his mind!

8,000 km update

Completed 8,000 km after a 741 km weekend trip to Purulia, Ayodhya Hills.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post4565095

The trip was totally unplanned & we were running short of time. Had to do some high speed non stop runs to gobble up the distance faster. For a good amount of time the RPM was above 3,000, so at the end the overall mileage i got was around 11 km/L. Am not dissatisfied with the mileage i got. In-fact i expected the mileage to be around 10 km/L.

Duster can be handled like a small car on twisty roads, you just need to get used-to with its dynamics. On fast corners the ESC lamp blinks and the car is in total control. It can cruise at high speeds all the day without losing it's composure.
Just wish it had a sleeker gearbox. I miss the fast shifting of a sedan! stupid:

Did some mild off-roading & the AWD didn't disappoint.

No new niggles to be reported except the two persisting niggles.

1) Faulty fuel meter.
2) Sometimes the Rpm fluctuates in idle.

Hope both the niggle's will be fixed during the 2nd service at 10,000 km mark.

Few pics from the trip-

@Samba, you are making great use of the AWD. Good going.

As for rpm fluctuation at idle, if Renault cant do anything then a good remap will be able to fix it. I faced the same issue on my Brezza and a remap (done for different reason) fixed that as well. It'll also make the Duster more fun to drive than it already is.

4 months back a cycle fell on my static Duster and the result was a scratch on the front right door. It had a minor dent too. But the damage was not worth an insurance claim.



So i started ignoring the scratch.

During a casual chat, Bhpian Blackasta asked me to get the paint online from Com-Paints and i can do a DIY.

He shared the website with me. https://www.com-paint.com/

I visited the website and selected my car's model, year of manufacture and the paint shade. Everything matched and the color was available. I ordered instantly. It costed me Rs 765.

I knew that the dent will be there but the scratch can be hidden.

I received the product after 7-8 days.

The box was well packed and the kit looked impressive.







The kit came with an instruction manual. By reading the manual, i was like, it's not my cup of tea! It needs a professional!



I again bugged our Kolkata Bhpian's and was told not to spray directly, instead i can take the paint on the cap of the can and take an earbud and use that to paint the scratch.

Before starting, i cleaned the area & put a newspaper around the scratch.



I gently sprayed the paint on the lid of a tin can and from there i took it on an earbud and applied on the scratch. Applied two coats.

Once the paint dried, i applied the Com-Merge.

Removed the newspapers.

I was not very satisfied the way Com-Merge, merged with the original paint. An experienced person can definitely do it in a better way. The instruction manual says to leave it like that for the next 24 hours and then apply Com-cut (rubbing compound) & rub it with a cloth.

Bhpian Dip27in instructed me, if the Com-merge gets too hard in the next 24 hours, it will be difficult to remove it in case required, so it's better to apply the Com-cut after 2 hours and wipe it off. I did the same.

The end result-

Unless noticed closely, one cant make out the damage.





I tried this for the first time & am 70% satisfied. Experienced hands can do a better job. :)

Thanks for the suggestion, but till the vehicle is under warranty, i do not want to go for a remap. Am keeping it bone stock.

This April the car was hardly used for 150 km.

Due to the fear of vehicle requisition for election duty by police, i have hardly taken out the Duster.

The Odometer at this moment stands at 8,300 km.
If all goes well, this weekend there could be a 1200-1300 km drive. Though am not yet sure about it.
So no new updates on the vehicle. Due to less running, i just started the vehicle once or twice a week and dusted it.

The car was taken out only once, this month. Sharing a couple of pics from that drive.





Disclaimer- Before everyone points a gun at me on how risky it is to park a vehicle on the highway like this and take pics, let me clarify this road was closed to traffic due to some road repair work going on. Both side traffic movement was shifted to the other side.
So the question is, then how did i manage to come to this side?
Simple, i have an AWD. :D

:Shockked:

Do you mean that they will forcefully take a private vehicle even if the owner doesn't allow?