Renault Duster AWD spied ahead of September launch

Several pictures of the upcoming Renault Duster AWD have been appeared online ahead of its launch, next month. Clicked at a dealership, the pictures show the crossover donning a new white paint job and ‘AWD’ decals.

Apart from the decals and the new paint job, the Duster AWD will also get smoked headlamps and blacked out B-pillars.  By the looks of it, the ground clearance of the Duster AWD has been raised which, might have been done to accommodate the rear differential. The all-wheel-drive (AWD) system of the car allows it to be driven in three modes– two-wheel-drive, auto and four-wheel lock, with the option to switch the mode on the fly. The Electronic Torque control system will control the torque being sent to all four wheels. 

The Duster AWD will ditch the FWD car’s torsion beam setup in favour of an independent multi-link suspension. The car is also equipped with a hill-start assist system, which prevents the car from rolling away on an inclined road. The interior shots of the Duster AWD show an ‘Eco’ switch, which will help improve the efficiency by 10 per cent. It also gets a revised instrument cluster with multi-information display, a new leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel and new upholstery options. Cruise control is expected to be offered as an optional extra. 

All the Duster AWD variants are powered by the 1.5-litre K9K diesel engine from the RxZ variants, which churns out 108bhp and 248Nm of torque. The engine will be mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. 

Being a crossover, the Duster is a comparatively lighter than the other four-wheel-drive cars in the price bracket. This coupled with the high ground clearance and torquey engine, means that the addition of a four-wheel-drive system will only help the Duster become a better all-round vehicle. The new variants are expected to be priced around Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh more than the RxZ variants, which will put the Duster AWD in the Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Safari Storme territory.