[skandyhere]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Also, are you saying that the interior quality of Duster, if not better is just as good as ANHC? Thats high praise for it and i can't wait for the official T-Bhp review then!

That's not true, Nilesh. The Honda's interiors have been so tastefully done up that the fact that the quality of plastics and materials is properly average seems to escape casual observation, and many people have a great opinion of the materials used.

I haven't seen the Duster yet, and all I can tell from a distance (through pictures) is that the color combination doesn't do the Duster any favor. Quality-wise, I'd be really surprised if materials were less than at least average.

[AutoIndian]

Another good review on the Duster interiors & the design from IAB (Indianautosblog)

Interiors --> Renault Duster Interior Review [Indian Market]

Design --> Renault Duster Design Review [Indian market]

[rageshbhaskar]

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

Talk about timing the TD. It rained for 3 days in Bangalore and the roads were at their best to hold on to as much water as possible. The pot holes and the unpaved road were competing in front of the Renault Showroom for the best off track as possible. I went in with a friend (TBhip-an for sure!) to see the new car in town...

...The interiors are not great etc, lets not miss a thrilling move, because it does not have songs in them!


PS: I found the brakes, especially high speed to grind halt a bit spongy. This needs to be verified again.

This is the review i had waited for , from someone where luck played its part for a suitable test drive and had to devils mind to capitalize and the patience to write it .

The feel of experiencing a wild machine ... I know that , when i first drove my Palio GTX.

Waiting for the first official review.

Note From Team-BHP Support-Staff: Please avoid quoting entire posts as it may inconvenience small-screen / mobile users. Thanks!

[AutoIndian]

Isn't it amazing that there has not been a single print advertisement till date in any of the national/local dailies yet (at least I haven't seen one), the Duster has not just caught many eyeballs, but converted them into bookings & the list is only going to grow in the coming days. Once the initial owners start experiencing the vehicle & the dealership (sales/service) experience & if they are satisfied, then many fence sitters (like me), may jump in to join the Duster bandwagon. The tribe of Duster owners is likely to grow exponentially in the weeks/months to come.

[gunner fan]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Isn't it amazing that there has not been a single print advertisement till date in any of the national/local dailies yet (at least I haven't seen one), the Duster has not just caught many eyeballs, but converted them into bookings & the list is only going to grow in the coming days. Once the initial owners start experiencing the vehicle & the dealership (sales/service) experience & if they are satisfied, then many fence sitters (like me), may jump in to join the Duster bandwagon. The tribe of Duster owners is likely to grow exponentially in the weeks/months to come.

Hey. There have been few print ads that came out in national dailies - the NCR/Gurgaon editions atleast. And full blown ads - full page rear cover types.

Have been reading up on the duster much before its India launch. Shying away from a TD, am not in the market for a ride right now, fear if I like the Duster enough, my swift might feel/get compromised.

Nonetheless - desperately awaiting the official review - hope mods are able to get their hands on the 85bhp version as well.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Isn't it amazing that there has not been a single print advertisement till date in any of the national/local dailies yet (at least I haven't seen one

There were full page print ads in national dailies announcing Duster's arrival. Remember seeing half page ad in Malayalam dailies too.

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Isn't it amazing that there has not been a single print advertisement till date in any of the national/local dailies yet (at least I haven't seen one),

There was one full page adv, a day before the launch, in TOI

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by gunner fan

Hey. There have been few print ads that came out in national dailies - the NCR/Gurgaon editions atleast. And full blown ads - full page rear cover types..

Originally Posted by Latheesh

There were full page print ads in national dailies announcing Duster's arrival. Remember seeing half page ad in Malayalam dailies too.

Originally Posted by rkbharat

There was one full page adv, a day before the launch, in TOI

Thanks for that update guys. So it seems Renault has put in some marketing efforts in the North & South of this country. Strangely I haven't come across any print ads in dailies, at least in Pune (Am I missing something over here?). Pune/Mumbai folks can you confirm if you have seen any such Duster ads in national dailies? Or is it that Renault didn't feel the need to advertise their product in Western India?

[floyd.bell]

I have one query. As we know, only the RxZ models have the driver seat height adjust option which has only two settings, low and high. So, what's gonna be the default on the other models? When I test drove one, I had the seat adjusted to the high setting and got a very good visibility of the road. With the seat at the low setting, atleast I wasn't satisfied with the visibility.
Anybody who drove with the driver seat at the low position, can you please share your experience wrp to road visibility?

[Shandy1981]

Regarding height adjustment on the RxZ, i am not sure why there have been comments that only two settings are possible, cause the way i experienced it was, step out of the seat, pull the lever up and the seat pops up to the high position, then you sit and the hold the lever and seat starts to slide down, you can let go of the lever at any point in time which stops the slide down action and sets the height...this action in effect lets you choose any setting between the lowest to highest.

Not sure on the usability though, cause traditionally, you sit in and pump away to glory until you are comfortable. Personally, i set the height only once cause i dont let anyone else drive my ride so am fine with this.

I booked the 110 RxZ, eagerly awaiting delivery date.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Nice review m&m, seems like you truly enjoyed the TD. I'm a bit skeptical of betting 12lacs on 1 test drive no matter how revealing it is. A couple of more TDs maybe for me to put down my money.

Also, are you saying that the interior quality of Duster, if not better is just as good as ANHC? Thats high praise for it and i can't wait for the official T-Bhp review then!

Honda City took quite a flack when it was launched for poor interiors. I think post that they did beige-ification of the car interiors. The quality is decent of the interiors in Honda City but the dash/central console is at best average. Step inside a Civic and City back to back and City feels even worse.

Having said that City interiors is better than Vento imho. But honestly cant compare it to Duster. Duster interiors are functional but since the car's interiors have been spruced up for Indian market, the interiors do come across as patchy. You have to search for different controls at different places. The interiors can hold their own as far as this segment is concerned but are definitely not its USP. Sit inside a Swift (new one) and all C segment cars interiors look bad.

Regarding not putting money down on 1 test drive, whilst I agree, I also feel that if your heart didnt tick after the first drive there is no point driving the car. I bought a Honda City automatic in 2010 as a brain decision. It ticked all the boxes but I never really had any fun in the test drive. After a year and half had to sell it at a loss of nearly 4 lakhs. Replaced it with new Fiesta D in my garage. The car that I fell instantly in love with after first test drive.

Did it tick all the boxes? No, is it a good financial decision? No, will it have a good resale? Probably Not. But everytime I drive it, my decision is vindicated. I can live with this car for 3 years, and that for me says a lot. We only live once so might as well live it to the fullest!

[DieselDon]

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

I will wait for the 4X4 Duster, 4X4 it will have to be and wait till Renault hears me on on this, no doubt. The current Duster is like Ronaldo, but without his spike shoes.

If you can't wait for the 4X4, its nevertheless an experience that will change your vision of where to go and how to go!

Originally Posted by ampere

So unless the 4WD costing is brought down, we wont get it so easily in India. (In other words they need to be localized)
And for city commute one may not require a 4WD. From that point of a non-4WD is also fine.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I agree with wanting to buy a Duster top spec with 4WD. From all accounts if the top spec 4WD comes in, it won't leave much change from Rs 15-16 lacs.

I have been in the market for a replacement ride for a while now (nothing urgent though). I TD'd all vehicles in the 8-11 Lakh(Ex-Showroom) spectrum with a decent FE(hence SUV's were out). Sounds familiarly boring Eh !

The first time, I heard about the Duster in India and the FE it offered to a cost conscious driver. I thought why not. {Proof of Renault's strategy working}

As it is with some people, I started to 'want' more. At certain times(in the past 3 weeks) I have been thinking, "If it is a SUV it needs to be a 4x4. Else why at all. A nice Europian/Indian sedan should be good.". Simple pictorial explanation below.

What the 4x2 cannot do : The video shows Snow. It could be our own Indian Slush too.

Then I had my test drive. Man!, the suspension has hooked me in. I cannot stay away from the thought of owning a Duster now.
Yeti is beyond my budget. And from the likes of it, the 4x4 Duster(if at all it comes to India - 'in 2014' is what the SA mentioned), it is going to be beyond my budget.

In a normal year, I(me,myself) would not need 4x4 on 360 days. On those 5 days, I would not want to 'risk' a 'test' without proper training/education unless I know that the front 2 wheels are going to get their grip on the path.

So 4x2 it is. Waiting for our TBHP review. 3 more painful days to go....

Meanwhile am getting the Corporate Lease documentation ready(Or I would have made Tata proud by running my Indica for ever.)

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

PS: I found the brakes, especially high speed to grind halt a bit spongy. This needs to be verified again.

I found the brakes good. Spongy, a little, but that was the suspension I guess.

[shankar.balan]

I would have had a slightly tough decision to make on this on account of the VFM. Specifically when comparing the Duster to the Scorpio the Duster would have won hands down and I would certainly have bought it.

However the lack of the following details in the Duster (in comparison to the Yeti) are irritating to me.

1. 4WD
2. Stacks of Modern Safety kit and ESP etc
3. Fit and finish quality.

(Basically I wanted the Euro Top Spec version of the Duster at about 14-15-16 lacs OTR BLR.)

I guess, now that the Duster is launched, had I been in the market now, I would have still gone for the Yeti.

Let us also not forget the tasty discounts on the Yeti which makes the Elegance version very hard indeed, to resist!!

If I am spending 14 lacs for a Duster India 2WD top spec, then I might as well put another few lacs for a far higher spec and generally much more advanced, plush and luxurious vehicle such as the Yeti.

Originally Posted by raul

Shankar - a question for you given you were waiting for the Duster for a longish period. Today if you had not bought the Yeti, and you had the choice between the Yeti and Duster what would you go for?

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

The rear seat is great, I am 6 feet tall and I had no issues. But its for 4 only, strictly.

Enjoyable and informative write up.

A few questions, when you say the Duster is strictly a 4-seater, is that because the rear seat is very narrow or because of the intrusion of the rear a/c vent?

Also, do you consider an ANHC a four seater or five seater? In other words, is the rear bench of the ANHC much wider than the Duster, not considering the rear vent?

Is the Duster's clutch hard? In this aspect alone is the ANHC miles ahead?

thanks

[man_and_machine]

Originally Posted by StarScream

A few questions, when you say the Duster is strictly a 4-seater, is that because the rear seat is very narrow or because of the intrusion of the rear a/c vent?

Also, do you consider an ANHC a four seater or five seater? In other words, is the rear bench of the ANHC much wider than the Duster, not considering the rear vent?

Is the Duster's clutch hard? In this aspect alone is the ANHC miles ahead?

thanks

1. Its because of the hump in the center and the Ac vent. If you are adult you will need to really spread your legs wide apart in awkward position to sit in the center. That will also hurt the neighbors.
2. The Seats are not narrow, but even without the A/C vent is not very wide
3. The ANHC can seat 5 in city drives. For longer drives 5 normally built adults will be fine, but that is all it will not go beyond. But then this is the state of all Sedans in India. More or less they are comfortable 5 seaters for short (read in-city) and medium (read < 200 Km) drives.
4. The clutch is not hard for a Diesel, but you can't compare it with ANHC at all
5. The rear bench in my ANHC and Duster seem to be more of less the same feel (technically there might be a difference, but I am talking from a usage perspective)