Renault Duster [2012-2015] User Reviews

Exterior

 only front looks good. when you test drive and a maruti ritz stands by your side, you realise that the you are not taller than it even though you have paid many more times!! Its not a SUV/ not a fully loaded sedan.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

 decent dashboard, no hand rest!!, rear ac makes back seat cramped, front seats window button console makes the seat uncomfortable for the front passenger

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

 good, gear shift is good

Ride Quality & Handling

 good

Final Words

 AT this pricing and the features, there are many options in the market. It will get more tough to sell this given the small network and add to this the fact that there is no firm delivery date!!, come on, the dealers should know when the delivery can take place , doesnt give the confidence to the customer who has paid for pre launch booking without seeing the car or knowing the prices or the features

Areas of improvement  

 drop prices, know your positioning, give customer firm delivery dates and stress on the after sales service you will provide, ask the test drive staff to deal with the crowd gently , they are paying you 14 lakhs to buy the vehicle!!

 

Front look, pick-up, safety for the higher versionSide Look, rear look, pricing, rear seat ac

Exterior Nice muscular exteriors. Good looks

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) My bluetooth doesn't connect (connects on my other car). Dealer guy says - "why do you want to connect bluetooth, its so inconvenient!" The mirror control switch located under the handbrake lever? Its super inconvenient to use even when the lever is pulled up.

Central locking - doesn't engage on its own switch - have to search for the tiny switch on the control panel - very difficult to find in the night. Defogger switch - tiny - not easily visible at night. Plasticky interiors. 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Good but not great. I am getting 13.5kmpl over the last 2-1/2 months.

Ride Quality & Handling Good.

Final Words Have been driving it for 2-1/2 months - now somewhat used to the strange placement of switches and controls.

Biggest problem has been service quality by the local dealer in Gurgaon - Sprint Motors.

Got my car in mid-Dec. Provisional registration given was till mid-Jan. Followed up 15-20 times after due date and they gave me a handwritten slip from RTO office saying my RC book will be ready on 3-2-13. Now when I follow up, everytime they want me to give them insurance olicy number and name and address and say they would call back. They never do. A few times, they have told me change the date myself by hand to 13-2-13 or 23-2-13 or even 3-12-13 and continue driving!! The person said that he has been told by the dealership to do this if anyone complains. He said I could do it on my own and save myself the trouble of making a trip to the dealership for this little thing. I told him this is fraud and I wouldn't do it. I have called everyone - from the guy to gets the registration done to the GM - total at least 60-70 times without any result.

I got caught by traffic police in Delhi and they took away my driving licence. I called the GM (Rajiv someone). he said he would call back in 15 minutes after arranging immediate help for me. Guess what - no call back and I called him 6 times that day and he didn't take my calls.

I don't know what kind of other dealers Renault has in India but this dealer is nothing like other car dealers I have seen in our country. You see untrained, unkempt, poor-mannered staff loitering about and most of them have no answer to queries and randomly say what comes to mind.

Standard practice when one follows up on phone is to say "I don't handle this thing anymore - call so and so" and bang - the phone is cut off. I don't understand how they can change responsibilities every few days. It happened when we were following up for our car delivery and now for our registration documents.

Only once I found a somewhat educated person in the dealership and when I complained about lack of systems and processes and how everyone was so confused and running about everywhere, he soon began expressing his own frustration. He shared with me that this problem of unprofessionalism pervades all over the dealership - even to management and owners. 

I hope Renault reads this review and cancels the dealership of this unprofessional dealer who is indulging in fraud. I hope the RTO officials take notice as well and watch out for tampered paperwork coming out of this dealership. I shudder to think what would happen when I need after sales service.

Areas of improvement Dealer quality.

LooksIrrational placement of switches, etc. Plasticky

Exterior

1. Like the looks, beefy yet soft unlike the monsters like Fortuner, suv500, Endevorur.  

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

1. Uncomfortable bench seats, ugly upholstry that can get dirty in Indian Conditions. 
2. If you like the vehecle enough on all other aspects, spend ~50K to get customised leather upholstery with extra foam to prevent hamarroids.
3. Lacks storage space for essentials like glasses, bottled water (there is a cheap rubber band contraption that Renault has put to tick the box I suppose)
4. The interior fabric, Carpets are all cheap looking

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

1. Avoid the 110ps version (which I have).  You never can shift 6 gears in a city like Bangalore. 
2. Also for those of you who like to start rolling on 2nd gear, this is not the car for you.  Engine boggs down since the 2-gear ratio seems to be too liberal forsaking torque for fuel efficency. 
3. Clutch takes some time getting used to.  The long throw on the clutch pedal ~8" (Belive me, I measured) does a number on your knees. 
4. Also I have a blown clutch @ 22000kms, just after the 3rd service.

Ride Quality & Handling

1. Good Ride Quality, and Handling. 
2. However body roll in turns a little bit too much for a monocouqe (unit body) construction.. 
3. Sight line is too high, so watch out for the curbs, since any brush against the curb will scuff up your Mag Wheels.
4. Suspension feels soft, boat like when doing fairly medium speed lane changes. 
5. Suspension Noise (clicking, Dealership says that is how it is designed) cannot be fixed.
6. Engine noise will remind you as to when to send for service.  Idle noise is too much.
7. NVH is good, infact I would rate it high.  Engine troque roll is well contained, good engine mounts I suppose.

Final Words

1.  Build Quality needs a lot of improvement,  the vehicle is too DE-CONTENTED to be a luxury segment vehicle (Am I mistaken? is this not in the luxury segment) 
2. Storage space needs to be well thougt of in the next design iteration.
3. Base Coat of paint should match the final color, and Please Renault, an extra coat of paint would help with those nasty scratch marks.  Belive me this car scratches very easily.
4. The cheap CHINESE stero is abysmal, better buy the base model and get your own stereo.  The Blutooth has a mind of it's own, and the quality of sound is that of a cheap boom box.

Areas of improvement  

1. This Vehicle is ripe for an AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - Are you listening Renault??
2. Need a better paint job,  Paint is too thin and under layer is white for a black car.  Scratches easily and shows ugly white lines which cannot be covered up by those TV advertised scratch removers.
3. When you take 14.6 lakhs, atleast provide for better seats and interiors.  Also some plush carpet mats would help.
4. WHY DOES EVER CAR MAKER THINK THAT WE INDIANS ARE PUSHOVERS AND DON'T HAVE A IDEA ON WHAT A QUALITY CAR IS.  We are not Cheap, neither do we have Cheap Taste.  We INSIST on value for money.  Looks like these Car OEMs have a wrong perception about Indians, and want to dump DE-CONTENTED cars on us like the would do in a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY.

 

Exterior Styling. Like the clean European Design, adequatly beefy looks, yet soft like a cute Ute.Clutch, Clutch, Clutch. Thin paint easily scratches and expensive fix. interiors are too frugal

Renault Duster is one of the best urban compact SUV in its segment and value for money. To discuss on the Performance, comfort and safety you can hear a lot of experts from various Automobiles in various web site (Team BHP, Auto car India etc..). These experts have provided review comments based on the high expectations of Indian market needs, in average it's been rated as 4 stars by these experts, which in my opinion is very good.

I do see some unsatisfied comments from very few individuals, were in either they are not completely aware about their comments from the point of reference or biased with their own dream vehicle. I am not saying they are wrong, however strongly believe automobile experts comments are more reliable to make a call about the vehicle.

External looks, no doubt Duster stands out the best in its segment. There could be some compromise in the interiors, I guess this is a little tradeoff for the price been charged.

For me the more reliable in any vehicle is driving pleasure and safety features with good looks and comfort as priority and later comes the luxury. Coming to these points, Duster is good with Safety, looks, comfort and driving pleasure. Yes on the Luxury of having all the features compared to a high-end SUV, there is a compromise, but that’s the tradeoff for the price we are paying for an Urban SUV.

It’s always debatable on features comparing to other premium sedans or SUV's. My final suggestion would be if you like Duster, go for it without second thought. It’s the best urban compact SUV in its segment.  Renault might be new to India, but well renowned company globally and also known for their good quality work.

Thanks for reading my comment and drive safe. Wish you all the best for your new vehicle.

Style, comfort, Safety and economyLuxury

Exterior I liked the duster the day it was released. Very simple and neat design. Nothing extra to say we developed it like a tiger so we will have wisker style bumpers (aka SUV 500), just plain and simple which is what I like.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Again not as jazzy as other SUVs in this segment but has all the necessary features like bluetooth connectivity, very good audio system etc. Second row leg room is quite good. The cons are they should have atleast thought of puttinga navigation system in and the third row removable seat is a joke. It can seat only small kids and for them to it is very uncomfortable. Dont buy it as an option.. it will be a total waste.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Good pickup, although i read lot of reviews about slow pick up. Not sure it was for 85PS or 110PS but i didnt find any sluggish pickup. it was good.

Ride Quality & Handling Very good.

Final Words Good SUV. But the customer service at the dealer is horrible. Renault will loose lot of customers if they dont improve.

Areas of improvement Customer Service at the dealer. I booked my Duster at the Chennai Renault (Khivraj Pearl) dealer and they gave me such a hard time that for a moment i even considered cancelling the booking. Starting from the time they promised when the vehicle to be delivered to the day they actually delivered, lot of issues. They totally lacked in coordination and communication with the customer. They told me the vehicle is ready and when i went there, no one was there to help and eventually found out the vehicle wasnt even in the service center and it will take another 3 days for registration to be completed. False promises, poor coordination. So if you book in Khivraj Pearl dealer in Chennai, please be aware of this and dont go by the timelines they say.

Good StylePoor Customer Service

My Renault Duster met with an accident on Jan 27th and had some front damage, not really significant. It has been with the Dealer Nag Shakthi Auto Cars in Hubli for the last 2 months. Today I got an update that they have not received the spare parts required, so it may take another month for them to fix it. After receiving spare parts, these clowns need 1 week to fix them on to the car it seems. That is the state of affairs with Renault Duster after market service. So stay away. 

Flashback: I booked it on July 7th, 2012 and took delivery on December 15th. hardly used it for a month and half. and it has been sitting at their body shop for the last 2 months and nobody knows when this story will end.

I am still waiting on May 14th. As  the Renault workshop guys did not receive diesel connectors and some other pieces of hardware from Renault. As long as nothing happens to your car, you are fine. Once you have a problem with your car, you are screwed. Go to Renault workshop and check out the number of cars waiting for parts and service for months in their workshop lot before buying your new car from Renault.

Great Looks and ride qualityNo service

Using duster Rxz 110 PS diesel from last 4 years 96000 km done and still going on. Awesome for highways, offroads, long trips. Powerful, handling is awesome, mileage around 15kmpl. Though lags in some features but worth it if your priority is comfort, safety, handling, SUV, Turbocharged make u feels the power. Overall 4/5 score.

Exterior

Simply loving the way the exterior of this car designed. You will certainly fall in love with this one with the beautifully placed curves. I must say that the exterior design helped a lot to create a bulky look eventhough it is not that big.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

I am not a big fan the way the interior design done for this car. Even the top end version doesn't look premium inside the cabin. But the fact is you have all the required stuffs inside. Space is just ok. But very comfortable for long drive. Very good thigh support. Recently went for a long 700km drive and I didnt feel tired driving.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Probably the most interesting stuffs in this car is the engine performance and the way this 110ps pick up the power. I am just loving it. My decision to go for 110PS was worth enough and I realised it when I drove this car in high range. Fuel economy is OK. Getting 15+ for me..

Ride Quality & Handling

Simply love driving this machine. I drove this one at 160km/hr and i must say the car was steady. Ofcource I was not riding in 160 for long. Our roads will allow to do so only for a minute or so and I am happy to see this machine didnt dissappoint me..

Final Words

Really a good one to have. I suggest to go for 110ps to enjoy the complete performance and ride quality of this car. You may crib saying some of the key features are missing. But end of the day weigh it against the engine performance , ride quality & the way you able to handle this machine. I am loving it.  strongly recommend.

Before buying this car I was skeptical about the Service as I  heard a lot negative feedback about Not customer friendly Service Team. I am owning this car in Chennai and I must say categorically that all the Service personal i met before and after sale of this car were truly friendly and knowledgable in giving me proper service advices.

It won't be fair if I am not mentioning about this service engineer who helped me a lot in getting my car serviced on time and also with lot of important tips. Vivek Viswanath in Khivraj Motors Mountroad Service centre. I am specifially writing comments about Service culture here because I got really surprised to see the big difference in what it was written in some reviews against my true experience. I agree there were people who may not be friendly everywhere. But you have the rights to complain to the Sevice Manager or above if you are not getting the right support.

 

Areas of improvement  

-> I simply hate the rear AC vent and its looks like a motor sitting inside. Please change this one to a small one.

-> Can improve the quality of plastics in some areas without affecting the price

-> Please add more industry standard features like auto sensing wiper, head lamp, auto climate control etc.

 

 

 

Exterior Looks, Driving comfort, Engine performance, ride quality & handlyingLess features inside the car, rear ac vent,

I will tell you everything I experienced about Duster in this review.

I entered the Renault showroom at Thane on Sunday afternoon, saw this Red semi-loaded Duster standing in corner , I was already excited to get a hands on it so quickly pounced in to the drivers seat to get the feel of everything.

Looks of the Duster are pretty awesome, it looks like a modern muscular SUV, the Tires are wide & look good with the alloys and there’s a lot of space between body and tire for the suspensions which gives a heighted SUV look.

When I grabbed the handle to open the door, the door felt super light, almost my Santro, the handle was also made up of some cheap material. When I closed the door it banged loudly.

The rear seat A/c vents were broken, the seat Fabric was made of super cheap fabric, there were no steering mounted controls but the steering wheels had some controls at the back, which weren’t visible unless you take your head forward to see what those controls do.

Overall the plastic feel is not that good , it looks like that of cheap quality. I am not sure what that is really made up of. But one thing I am really sure is that Renault guys have really used a thin sheet of Metal to create the outer Body, which you can easily find out by punching on one of the side doors, it straight forward goes in and is ready for denting.

So now I thought to test drive the Vehicles and the process was done in 5 mins, I was ready with a white color 110 PS fully loaded Duster. One sales person Mr.X accompanied me, he was kind of over friendly and allowed me to really Test the Duster to full Extent.

I unlocked the Vehicles by press of a button on the Keys, I went to insert the Keys but Mr.X told me not needed, there’s an engine start button on the right, I was amazed. it required me to press the clutch and brake and press the button, engine started.

The area where vehicle was parked was Dusty so I expected Duster to create a sand storm, Dust kicking, & tyres burning when I accelerated to the possible on Start. But sadly nothing happened, it took 3-4 seconds for the vehicle to begin rolling.the engine was not at all roary as I expected, it was slow and lame on pickup. So when you stop at a signal don’t expect to WIN the drag race, so we went ahead, the TURBO kicked after some 2k RPM the vehicle gather some power, the steering was really really awesome.

You can view the entire world from the vehicles, the visibility is really good. I slowed at a coming speed breaker, MR.X said don’t do it on next one, so there was another one after few distance, I ran over it on 60+ and it absorbed majority of the shock, with little shake.

I was amazed by the suspension quality,. Then at an empty road Mr.X told me to do something funny,,he asked me to turn left and take the vehicle on the side way where the Pedestrians walk, but there were no people on Sunday afternoon, so for my delight, I took the Duster over that side walk which was almost at 6 inch’s hight, the Vehicle got on it easily I guess due to awesome Big tyres, than we drove over some broken roads, the suspensions are really good and the handling was what amazed me, the steering is really lively. I tried to Brake hard twice and thrice, it was really decent, the car stopped immediately after some meters. The A/C was decent in afternoon Heat not too chilling though.

I was really delighted by the cars performance besides Turbo Lag in the beginning. I reached showrrom and the mager said the vehicle has 3.5 month waiting period, the onroad cost was 13.5 L for 110PS.

I will list some pro’s & con’s as summary.

Good things : Suspension (A+), Handling A, Boot Space, Tyres, Button Start Stop engine, Mileage 15+ as claimed. Overall good for highways.

Bad things: interior’s plastic, seat cover fabric, thin Sheet metal used in Body, Turbo Lag, 5 seater, waiting period. Not sure about the Service they provide.

Overall the car needs a lot of modifications or improvement in the long term.

Suspension (A+), Handling A, Boot Space, Tyres, Button Start Stop engine, Mileage 15+ as claimed. Ovinterior’s plastic, seat cover fabric, thin Sheet metal used in Body, Turbo Lag, 5 seater, waiting p