Renault Duster: First Look Review

Renault had launched the Duster back in 2012 and it turned out to be a master stroke for the French car-maker. The Indian customer got a taste of a modern SUV that would take on the bad roads, seat five in comfort and not guzzle a tankful of diesel for running errands. Four years down the line, the newly created segment has populated with the arrival of the Nissan Terrano, the Maruti S-Cross and the Hyundai Creta. The Duster slowly lost its sheen and needed a boost to stay relevant in the market. The Duster facelift, hence, offers a new lease of life for the SUV.

The new Duster gets the international face with the new grille and reworked headlamps. The bumper with the new fog lamps gets nips and tucks and a silver finish bash plate to add to the butch looks. From the side, the Duster is almost the same except for the brand new alloy wheels and the roof rails that have Duster embossed on them. The wing mirrors get LED turn indicators while the tail lamps have been reworked and look futuristic.

The Duster is a roomy car for four with decent headroom and leg room. With the changes being cosmetic only, these would remain the same. But what has changed is the look and feel inside the cabin. The Duster gets a brand new dashboard design. While the round air-con vents have been retained, the console layout is drastically different. It gets automatic climate control, cruise control and the steering mounted audio controls are still a stalk on the steering column. The wing mirrors are electrically adjustable and retractable and the control fob has come out of hiding from under the handbrake lever. The front power windows get auto up/down with anti-pinch function. The music system is touch-screen and can be paired to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

The instrument console with the multi-information display screen has been brought over from the updated Duster of last year. It reads out two trip meters, average fuel economy, average speed, real-time fuel economy, gear indicator among other things. The AWD version gets an additional knob on the console for the shift-on-fly switch for the four-wheel-drive option and an ESP button. For safety you have dual front airbags for the driver and the front passenger, ABS with EBD and brake assist. The AWD version gets hill-assist too.

The Duster gets two engine options – the 1.6-litre four cylinder petrol engine that develops 102bhp of power and the 1.5-litre K9K turbocharged inline four dCi engine. Along with the 84bhp diesel setup, the petrol mill is mated to a five-speed manual gearbox that powers the front-wheels. The 108bhp setup with a peak torque output of 245NM from the same K9K engine is available with two transmission options. You get a six-speed AMT gearbox, offered for the first time on the Duster along with the existing 6-speed manual transmission. The Duster also gets an all-wheel-drive option but it can be availed only with the manual transmissions and in the top-spec RXZ trim.

The 108bhp setup has ARAI claimed fuel efficiency of 19.72 kmpl for the AWD variant and 19.6kmpl for the AMT. The 84bhp setup economy figures are yet to be ascertained but will certainly better the 108bhp setup.

The Renault Duster competes in the five-seater SUV category which is currently dominated by the Hyundai Creta. Launched at Rs 8.47 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) the base petrol variant is Rs 40,000 cheaper than the Creta base petrol. The Duster AMT gets a price tag of Rs 12.86 lakh for the top spec RXZ AMT variant as against the Rs 13.96 lakh for the similar Creta SX Auto. The Duster AWD is the top of the line variant and will set you back by Rs 13.57 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi.