Team-BHP - Renault Duster : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by HillMan (Post 3538695)

Yes, any alterations gives the manufacturer an opportunity to deny warranty. This is common to every industry.
.

I too opted out of the opt as leather was more important for me and I wanted a different style of alloys.

I prefer Google maps /waze as they are more updated on latest changes. Waze, being community based, is very good at this.

Warranty is only voided if any wires are skinned or cut. Most good installers are aware of this & have adapters for this.

Steering controls are overrated in this vehicle as the hand comes off the wheel anyway. It might as well be the left as the right. The adapter is about 4k

I personally don't like reverse cameras as I believe they degrade your parking skills. You can't park without them after sometime.

Budget about 25-30k for alloys. If you are in blr, the power drift shop opposite agara Lake is pretty good

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3538588)

The reason for these questions is, the price difference between 85RxL Plus and RxL Option is almost 1.2Lakhs which I find difficult to justify.

My take, go with the top end version without the Media Nav unit. Take the essentials you need which you wont get out side the car, some thing which look good with OEM.

Basically the original RXL(O) without the Media Nav unit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3538805)

Thanks Ampere. That's what I am planning to do. Rxl Plus has everything except Alloys, Media Nav and parking sensor. I can probably get the parking sensor fitted in the dealership itself. Alloys may be cheaper outside with variety of options available. Medianav can be bought separately at dealership (as updated by Hillman) or I can just go for a speaker upgrade later on.

The final decision to be made in next few days after TD of 110ps. Curious to see the power difference between the two. Lot of owners are quite satisfied with 85ps power delivery but at the same time some have also mentioned the absolute lack of top end performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3538832)

The final decision to be made in next few days after TD of 110ps. Curious to see the power difference between the two. Lot of owners are quite satisfied with 85ps power delivery but at the same time some have also mentioned the absolute lack of top end performance.

Makes sense. With regards to media navigation, I a firm believer to keep unit portable. Simply because, you may need to play with maps, waypoints etc, before a trip. It works much better that way.

The other thing you may need to do is to change speakers. The OEM ones are quite pathetic. The basic HU works very well. Pairs with phone (iOS/Android) and works flawlessly with iPods.
The stalk control is good, once you get used to it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3538875)

True. I would also prefer portable unit. If the basic HU is pretty decent ( i guess it also support bluetooth?), I would retain it and upgrade just the speakers.

Is it possible to fit 6x9 Coaxials on rear door?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3538886)

Yes thats what I did too. You should retain the HU. Its very capable. Nicely integrates with the phone/ipod ecosystem

Just change the speakers alone. I went with 6.5 Inch Infinity Primus components for front and co-ax for the rear. (No amp as well). Sound is very good. I am happy with it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ask-gu...ml#post3128964

The other thing I did was damp the doors end to end. (both inner and outer lining).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3538890)

Thanks Ampere. I am running the same setup in my swift with co-ax mounted on rear parcel tray. Amp is not in my list.
The money saved in HU upgrade can be used to invest in quality seat covers :)
How is the OEM MRF tyres? How is the grip and durability? Do you see/recommend any other upgrade on delivery?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3538899)

Why co-ax on the tray? Get it on the door itself. That would give more space to keep your things on the tray. MRF wanderers are very capable. I am nearing 42K on the odo with stock. All kinds of rough terrains and roads dealt with.

For leather I went with a complete Karlsson. Very very satisfying I must say. Other than the quality it also adds a firmness to the seat, which the fabric does not give. Gives me that aid while driving.

One more question to the owners. Apart from the higher on road price and lower average FE of 110ps is there any difference in maintenance cost between two?

I was going through various reviews in the forum and the running cost (FE & maintenance) of 85ps seems to be on par with swift diesel. I am getting an average FE of 16-17 for swift in Kerala roads for a mix of highway/local running and 85ps seems to be matching these figures. The service cost of swift is not cheap and it will come to around 4-5k per 10k service and 7-9k for 20k services.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3539365)

Between the two engines 1.5L is the only common factor. Both are different otherwise. 110p has stronger components to handle higher torque and has a Variable Geometry Turbo.

85ps is a simpler engine with a Fixed Geometry Turbo. The factory tuning, I understand is already squeezing out the optimum performance out of this engine.

Regular maintenance in long run might work our marginally more on the 110ps, just my thoughts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HillMan (Post 3540038)

Thanks Hillman. I took a longish test drive (around 20kms) of 110ps today. The following are my observations:
1. Not fun to drive in traffic due to the lag and sudden surge in power once turbo kick in. Strangely, the clutch didn't seem to be that hard as mentioned by many in the forum.
2. Impressive performance on open roads. The vehicle climbed to 120 kmph without me realizing it.
3. I tried shifting to 6th gear around 90kmph but the vehicle came out of power band. 6th seems to be more suitable after 110kmph or so.

Overall good performance (similar to swift's power delivery with a stronger top end) but the question remains whether I can utilize the full potential of 110ps inside Kerala where you can rarely hit 100

I have almost made up my mind to go for 85ps RXl Plus but then the showroom staff gave the bad news that RXL Plus is not available in stock and the company may even stop this version once AWD is launched(?). I can book only by around Diwali time and don't want to go for 85ps full option which is costlier than 110 RxL.

Not sure if this is a tactic by the sales guys to clear the 85ps full option stock (they mentioned all colors of this model are readily available). Decided to wait till October 2nd week and then take a decision after evaluation Diwali offers

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 3540130)

Not sure if this is a tactic by the sales guys to clear the 85ps full option stock (they mentioned all colors of this model are readily available). Decided to wait till October 2nd week and then take a decision after evaluation Diwali offers

Your observations are right on the engine variants. The 110ps has a softer clutch because it got an upgrade with additional spring to assist. Otherwise 85ps had a lighter clutch.

The variants unavailability is definitely a sales tactic. Renault keeps variants around one lakh price differences. This strategy has been there for long. This let's them answer every budget across the price band.