[Tgo]

My June 2015 Duster AWD was sent for its 40K service to Renault Gandhidham where its being used by my dad. I was reported that one of the front shockers and bush was replaced under warranty.

[T-Rex]

Hi there!

My RxZ Adventure 4WD is 3 weeks old and has done only about 600 KM. Last few days I have noticed a humming kind of sound when the car is idling at signals or in the prking lot. It stops momentarily when I hold or gently turn the steering wheel by even a degree or so. I will get it checked tomorrow with the GenNext service centre in Mumbai (dealership + service centre under the same roof). Any ideas to not get fooled by Renault ASS will be highly appreciated.

Cheers!

[vijayrajthampi]

My comments on living with a Friend's Duster AWD.

Creature comforts like cruise control, climate control are absent. The power window buttons for the rear seats switch on every time you place your elbows on the arm rest. You cringe to the feeling of the cable being pulled when the head light level adjuster is being turned. Even during moderate summer days, you blind the windows with shades, since the A/C is not keeping the cabin cool for all 5 passengers. You realize that the boot space is not a significant improvement over the boot space of a Sedan. And then you take it offroading somewhere on a hillstation during the weekend travel. And everything falls in place.

The weekend travel on a duster awd begins early in the morning. The children sleep in peace. Wifey does not complain about not slowing down for the small pot holes. The ABS,ESP and other albhabets acknowledges whenever a life is being saved on the road, and gives you a nudge on the foot to remind you to be careful.The conscience of the miserly indian in you sleeps well looking at the average mileage and the service center experience. The torque motor ensures you dont'spend too much time behind those long distnce buses and trucks .You reach your destination on schedule. There is no heave of relief like the last time when it was done on a Thar Di. There are no tired faces, disheveled hair or crying kids. There is no drama. After lunch, as on cue, the owner of the homestay pitches the off-road track and the local Jeep that takes you there. Thats when you ditch his pitch and ask him the route. Following the script, he would tell you the duster would not go there . There is a thin line between being cocky and being confident. The Duster was with us on both sides of the line. The Duster was with us when it got a standing ovation from a group of trekkers on a forest trail. The Duster was also with us when the clutch started smoking on a steep hill when we got stuck in a ditch. He taught us where the thin line was. Let me clarify, we never mistook it for a serious offroader. There are no low ratios, the articulation of the wheels have limits and service centers are not as common. But then by sunday evening, it brushes off all these and tells us " lets go home, we have to be in office tomorrow".

The duster AWD answers my quest for an all rounder car. This is a no-nonsense, functional, sensible car.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

My comments on living with a Friend's Duster AWD.

The duster AWD answers my quest for an all rounder car. This is a no-nonsense, functional, sensible car.

Well written. Totally agree with this. There are some major flaws of the duster especially when it comes to interiors. But the pacakage overall is a good options. The only reason,I would pick the creta over it is if I was going for the Creta Automatic, which is a proper six speed automatic rather than an AMT offered on the duster. But if you need AWD, this is the only choice out there in this price range.

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

Creature comforts like cruise control, climate control are absent. The power window buttons for the rear seats switch on every time you place your elbows on the arm rest.

Very valid points, what was Renault thinking?! Although they fixed it all in the 2016 facelift!

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

The only reason,I would pick the creta over it is if I was going for the Creta Automatic, which is a proper six speed automatic rather than an AMT offered on the duster.

Comes with a price though!
Honestly, when you're evaluating a Creta 1.6 AT, you're in MT XUV & Hexa's territory and suddenly there are so options to choose from.

[C300]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

The duster AWD answers my quest for an all rounder car. This is a no-nonsense, functional, sensible car.

Well written. Its a perfect crossover for our roads.

[SajiNSalin]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

My comments on living with a Friend's Duster AWD.

Creature comforts like cruise control, climate control are absent.

The duster AWD answers my quest for an all rounder car. This is a no-nonsense, functional, sensible car.

The Duster AWD does have cruise control. I own an AWD and have used the cruise control several times; but only on very good national highways. It also has a speed limiter which is very useful in Kerala to observe the 70km speed limit.

[vijayrajthampi]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

The Duster AWD does have cruise control. I own an AWD and have used the cruise control several times; but only on very good national highways. It also has a speed limiter which is very useful in Kerala to observe the 70km speed limit.

Saji, the awd my friend has is one from the initial batch of AWDs. I am not sure what variant he has, or if there are variants. But his car dosen't have a cruise control or ACC. I will certainly question him for being a pinchpenny.

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Very valid points, what was Renault thinking?! Although they fixed it all in the 2016 facelift! .

Did they bring all these in the 2016 facelift, or did i miss variants?

[xjosephjacob]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

Saji, the awd my friend has is one from the initial batch of AWDs. I am not sure what variant he has, or if there are variants. But his car dosen't have a cruise control or ACC. I will certainly question him for being a pinchpenny.

Should be RxL AWD. We have him at home. RxL loses passenger air bag, soft touch dashboard, cruise control, speed limiter. Got it for a fantastic price back then, 12.6 lac OTR, in Kerala. I used to tell people you have to travel in Duster AWD to understand what magic carpet ride truly means.. much better than our 2WD. I can easily live with the interiors, however the space inside especially the very poor rear legroom is bothering me much more than it used to when we bought these guys.

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

Did they bring all these in the 2016 facelift, or did i miss variants?

Yes. Touch screen AVN, climate control and cruise along with proper placement of window buttons and OVRM adjusters were added in the 2016 facelift. Even the alloys, grille and lamps received an upgrade

[SajiNSalin]

I have the Sept 2015 model RXZ AWD. This has touch screen, cruise control, speed limiter, OVRM adjuste, but no climate control. Love the suspension and the pickup even in 6th gear. The interiors are mediocre, but still love the drive. It is a great vehicle for city driving, highways and no road. It is not a serious off roader, and I have encountered no road situations where it met its match. I was also surprised by the protection on the underbody, after going through some very rough boulder laden roads where I heard a lot of scrapping and frightening sounds underneath. No damage so far.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi

Saji, the awd my friend has is one from the initial batch of AWDs. I am not sure what variant he has, or if there are variants. But his car dosen't have a cruise control or ACC. I will certainly question him for being a pinchpenny.

When the AWD was launched it was avaialable in two variants. Only the top end RXZ had the cruise control. Mine is 2015 Jan and it has the cruise control.


Frankly I have never used cruise control in India. Cause it is very rare that you can maintain the same speed for any extended period of time.

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Frankly I have never used cruise control in India. Cause it is very rare that you can maintain the same speed for any extended period of time.

Never used it on any normal NH but CC is a boon on Yamuna Expressway. Just set it to 100 & there is no need to touch any pedal except at the tolls.

Regards,

Pawan

[SajiNSalin]

I had a good reason to use cruise control in my AWD. During a drive to Goa, the oil pressure valve developed a small leak. This happened just after the 1K service in Goa, and they didn't have any replacement. They assured me that driving slowly would be OK all the way to Trivandrum. With some experience, I found that keeping the RPM below 2K would switch off the warning light. But the problem was in the lower gears, where it would quickly cross 2K. We drove back through Jog falls and Haassan and we would need to quickly reach 5th gear. On the Haassan-Bangalore-Kanyakumari route, I set the cruise control to 87kmph and it would happily remain below 2K RPM, and the warning light would remain off. The cruise control overides when you press the clutch or accelerator and you can regain manual control. Once the oil pressure valve was replaced, I have not used cruise control since. But it can be useful on very good highways, such as the Yamuna expressway or Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway.

[C300]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Frankly I have never used cruise control in India. Cause it is very rare that you can maintain the same speed for any extended period of time.

I was also of the same opinion. Recently tried it during BLR to Pune drive and loved it.
The best part is the speed adjustment and cruise resume buttons on steering wheel. You can reduce the speed as you approach traffic using the speed adjustment button and then disengage cruise control.
To engage cruise again just press Resume button and increase the speed using the other button.