Renault Duster

Duster is a compact urban suv from the french car maker Renault. It’s a striking looking SUV that boasts of clean muscular lines, large headlights, a big grille with three horizontal chrome slats, protruding wheel arches both front and back, large wheels, fine shut lines and dimensions that are perfect for the urban environment. The rear has also received a fair share of scalpel treatment and the sculpted boot with the metal mimics of the taillight design and the large chrome plate with ‘DUSTER’ written across are a visual treat. The flared wheel arches, huge wheel clearance, typical SUV scuff plates and the roof rails all play their part in giving it a tough appearance. While the design team may have been conservative in terms of styling, the car holds a certain road presence that is bound to appeal to a large audience.

 Moving on to the inside, the Duster’s cabin is a nice place to be but it doesn’t feel particulalrly premium. The shiny, hard dashboard plastics look cheap and even the grain is not what you’d expect on a car of this class. However, the deep glovebox, four cupholders and the storage recesses on the dashboard top all come together to make the interiors of the Duster very practical. The highlight of the SUV is its back seat that offers excellent thigh, back and shoulder support with ample knee – and headroom too. The air-conditioning too is simply outstanding. That said, the rear AC vent on the top RxZ model stands like a pillar and eats into middle passenger legroom.

 It looks quite cheap too The positioning and the price points of the Duster is such that Renault expects to draw in customers in the SUV space and from among those looking at driving home a premium hatchback or a sedan. “Duster offers all the features and comforts available in a sedan but has the styling and space of a sports utility vehicle. It is a segment breaker and we expect to draw customers both in the SUV space and also from among those looking at buying a premium hatchback or sedan”, says Len Curran, vice-president (sales&marketing), Renault India.y The Dusteris offered with two engine options - the 1.6-litre petrol and 1.5-litre dCi diesel. The former will be part of the same family of engines that also powers the Nissan Sunny petrol in India and produces roughly 102.5 bhp of peak power and just under 15 kgm of peak torque. It is this version that will start at Rs 7.5 lakh and will be offered in two trims. The 1.5-litre dCi will come with two power ratings – 84 bhp and 108 bhp. The K9K motor, as it's also called, will be mated to a 5-speed manual for the 84 bhp version or a 6-speed manual for the 108 bhp version. The Duster will be offered with two-wheel drive (front-wheel drive) only for the moment, while the diesel versions will come with at least three trims each. High localisation levels have been key to pricing the product competitively for the Indian market. The Duster has local content of 60 per cent which would be raised to 80 per cent over the next few months. The base diesel variant of the Duster is priced a tad higher than segment leader Mahindra Scorpio but comes Rs 29,000 cheaper than Tata Safari.