After skipping the 2nd generation, the Duster is finally returning to India in 3rd Gen. Siddharth finds out more about it.
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After skipping the 2nd generation, the Duster is finally returning to India in 3rd Gen. Siddharth finds out more about it.
The Duster. Sirf naam hi kaafi hain! Yes once the car that pretty much created the compact SUV space in India, and that first generation was a popular powerhouse of a brand. Then the Creta came, and Renault lost interest in its leadership. After skipping the 2nd generation, now the 3rd generation is finally returning to India.
The Dacia Duster – a familiar and popular car here in Eastern Europe. I am in Slovenia to drive it exclusively. What you see here is pretty much what we will get. Barring the badge and the powertrains.
It's a very popular model in this part of the world. The Duster is something that many people here in Eastern Europe will swear by. It sells in great volume, you see a whole lot of them, by the way, the previous generation. Why? Because it stands for value, it stands for just great affordability coupled with a lot of value when it comes to features and efficiency and space. Now, isn't that exactly why the Duster was always popular in India too? It's exactly why I have so many expectations from this one. Now, Renault and Nissan have announced in India that there will be a whole slew of new vehicles coming over the next few months that will be based on this platform. CMF-B will spawn a variety of vehicles, including what's been called the Bigster, the seven-seat version, the larger, longer wheelbase version of this car. What remains to be seen though is whether we will get some interesting powertrains. Here in Eastern Europe, you do get a strong hybrid. Hmm, don't you think that Renault India should be thinking about that?.I certainly do, especially since, again, diesel is going to be missing in action.
A quick look at the specs of the car I am driving – the most exciting engine offering as it combines power and efficiency and is the engine I think that’s best suited to India. It is very refined, and reasonably punchy. Plus, both Renault and Nissan need a good offering to stand up to the Koreans and Japanese in this segment.
This engine sounds nice too, and even at higher speeds performs well, so does the gearbox, and overall, great stability at high speeds. In fact, quite impressed with how it has behaved even on the highway and fast conditions that I've been driving now for some time, but there is a chink in that armour. Go upwards of 120 km/hr and there's a lot of wind noise, just a lot of wind noise. Now that's disconcerting, it takes away from that overall refinement that I was talking about, but otherwise, great stability, good manoeuvrability and a nice sense of control even at higher speeds.
Of course, the 1.6 with the strong hybrid would be great too, and frankly, we don’t need the 4X4 do we? But I reckon Renault won’t be that bold. Not at the start anyway. I would love to be wrong. The new platform is more rigid, the car has barely any roll, goes through corners confidently, and is also more crash safe than the previous B0 platform cars.
I've been so impressed by all the new features that I'm seeing on the Duster. Just something you don't associate with the Duster. This car even has a whole suite of ADAS options.
Yeah the Duster got refined, got a bit premium, and yet remains practical and ruggedly appealing. After all, it is the distinct looks, shape, and the fact that it has such a different character to the rivals that remains its calling card.
So quite the natural setting for a Duster, right? Nice and rugged, out in the open, in the outdoors. That's where a car like this belongs. Its image has always been one that's rough, tough, and sturdy. The new generation totally delivers on that promise in terms of how it looks. Now, I have to stop you there for one second because, come on in, it's this logo that's not coming to India because we know it's not going to be badged Dacia in India. Of course not. So, try and imagine that with that new, slim, interlinked diamonds logo from Renault. Just try and imagine that because that's what we will get. We'll have the Renault badge on this car, no doubt about it, but everything else you see, except for that little detail in the front grille, is going to be exactly like this. Now, the car looks Completely new and grown up and yet immediately recognizable as a Duster. The things I really like, let's quickly talk about those, look at all of this. It's not cladding, it's not just a bumper, it kind of grows out, it has a lot of heft to it, it's not just a scuff plate, it gives the car so much character and yet everything is kind of slimmed down. The old car was very upright and very sort of tall and yet this one, if you come around to the side, you'll start to see it has this little bit of a, dare I say, streamlined, almost shark-like front which protrudes out, it slims out a little bit in the front. I like that because it gives the car a completely new signature. The DRLs, very sharp, very nicely finished too. Again, the car stands out because of them. Around the side is where you start picking up on the regular Duster look, though even the hood has a whole lot of contouring in it which is new and gives a sense of power and heft also. Lots of cladding and then you've got this whole new element that's been done. which is again a nice new signature. I showed this to you from the Geneva Motor Show when the car debuted. It gives the car a nice identity. Very sexy alloy wheel pattern. The whole two-tone thing on this is working for me. The bronze and the grey-green. I hope that they play with colour like that in India too. And then you've got the roof rails at the top and this section of the car again reminding very much with this bulge in the door and the fat cladding. Once again reminding of the Duster. Around the back, the roof doesn't really sort of taper down and yet you've got this built-in spoiler which gives it a much more angled look than before. And the LED look for the taillights, it's nicely finished. There is a clever sort of a solution here where you could go LED or not. So, let's see what happens in India. But very different because immediately once you start seeing this car on the road even at night, you're going to know what it is. Nice, ample looking tailgate. It implies a lot of space in the boot. This particular one has the 4x4 badging as well.
Expect more standard safety equipment than before too. While we may not get ADAS, I do anticipate things like ESC, 6 to 8 airbags, all three-point seatbelts with pretensioners and audio warnings, 360 camera view, and more. And most of that should be standard.
There's almost this exaggerated sense of chunkiness and robustness when it comes to the design of the cabin and yet there are some stylish new sort of feeling design details that kind of match the slightly more upmarket looking car that you're seeing on the outside. So, the DRL pattern, this is almost what Tata likes to call tri-arrow, well you see that showing up everywhere even inside here on the AC vent, the design of the door handle and the overall door trim and then you've got these different textures and design elements like the stripes here in the door or the fact that you have a very fine texture here onto this panel which says Duster very nicely, it also complements the exterior colour and then the two-tone or three-tone version seats where again there's a play of texture, plain and then some branding.
It's different, it certainly feels different too and then you've got these interesting sorts of features like there's this phone clamp that's been built into the car here. That's nice because by the way, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, nice little touch to have. And then nice buttons down here, which are easy to operate. You get climate control now on the Duster, which is great. And yet it's all very simple. This isn't going to blow you away. It's not going to try and impress you with a whole lot of technology. You've got a TFT screen. It's again a lot clearer and sharper and pretty functional compared to say what you get on the C3 Aircross from Citroen. That's a more direct comparison since, of course, don't forget French company. And then this particular one, of course, is the manual. There will be an option of an automatic, I'm sure, when it comes to India. You've got the four-wheel drive on this one. So, you've also got the different drive modes that you can access over here, which is a little dial. We don't know if that's going to make it to India. But again, there's a little texture thrown into the plastic next to it. So, you see that. You see contours even in the way the screen animates when it starts. You see a contour pattern even on this floor mat down below. And then the other good thing compared to its competition, really nice and roomy, spacious and tall feeling sitting at the back too. You've got this touch screen here, which is, uh, again, not the biggest in the segment, certainly not something that's going to, you know, show off the competition in or throw them off in any way, but it's functional.
It's got a whole lot of features. It's got the basic connectivity and music that you're looking for, on the whole, definitely a more updated and yet almost simple kind of a cabin than what you've been used to, though it tells you straight away it's a Duster. One last element, there's a little bit of a, an Easter egg that's been shown of a car going upwards in the front glass. That is like the one on the Thar Roxx, isn’t it? Well, you know what I mean!
Great sense of space. The Duster was always known for that, that carries through leg room, headroom, shoulder room, feels really nice. The seats angle and overall width is pretty good too. Under-thigh support is pretty good too. What's missing is a drop-down armrest. That's something that maybe the Indian version could have. Now, you've got the USB-C slots over here, and there is no rear AC vent here. Again, something to think about for the Indian version, but you've got a little space here to keep, I don't really know what's gonna fit in there. Having said that, there's an interesting little accessory that is available here in Europe from Dacia. Now, it doesn't look like much, but it basically has a little notch here, and you can just slide it onto it, and what it gives you is a little cup holder. If you think that's not great, well, it's got other attributes as well. It's got these little widgets, so you can customize that, and you can put in different things here where it basically gives you access to, you know, portable speakers or a way to be able to charge an extra device or even something like a light for camping or, you know, if you want a little floor light here at the back. Well, you've got these interesting ideas and then this can go out with you. So, if you're camping, for example, you can carry it with you and you can again use it. So that's something different. I'm not sure that really appeals to Indian buyers, but hey, it's different.
Pricing is expected to stay in the 12-17 lakh range with manual and automatic. Does that sound right to you? So that is everything you need to know about the new Duster. Much remains to be seen – in terms of where the Renault-Nissan alliance may end up and what that means for the Indian market and their joint plant in Chennai. But needless to say, the 4 cars promised on this new platform will be delivered. And the Duster will be the more brutish, rugged and macho offering.
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