Renault Duster

After a couple of months on the fleet, it is time to say goodbye to the Renault Duster The ride quality was absolutely phenomenal no matter how bad the road conditions were

IT'S INEVITABLE. WHEN A LONGterm car leaves the fleet, it does leave you a bit empty. Because though these cars may not be our own, we spend enough time in them to fool ourselves in to believing they are. The Renault Duster is the latest in that line of cars.

Where do I begin with the Duster… we're in 2022 and I still think it is a brilliant car. It doesn't do the fancy, glitzy stuff that midsized SUVs like the Creta and Seltos do. It isn't packed to its roof rails with features and tech. Instead, it is a package that is honest and true to the U in SUV.

I'll start with the engine because I think that's the highlight of the last update it had. It was a 1.3-litre unit, making 154bhp and 254Nm. And it is a proper hoot to drive. It is punchy, aggressive and loves to rev out. Incidentally, this is the same engine that Mercedes-Benz uses in the likes of the petrol A-Class and GLA. So you know it means business. Even more exciting is the fact that it is paired to a manual transmission. It has a narrow gate, which makes shifting really fun. While the chassis of the Duster was always sorted, this petrol engine really made it shine. The diesels were great too, but they just didn't have the spunk of this petrol.

What was so great about the chassis though? Mainly, I think it was how unbothered it was with Indian roads. The ride quality was absolutely phenomenal — no matter how bad the road conditions were, you could just hammer through them and know the Duster would take it. No midsize SUV sold today — the Tatas included —have the sheer ability to decimate bad roads like the Duster does. And the best part is, it didn't come at the expense of handling. The Duster stuck resolutely with a hydraulic power steering setup instead of switching to EPS, and that always made

the front end feel very connected to the road. There is a good resistance to understeer, and good balance at the limit. The Duster always had its fundamentals very sorted. No one could question them.

The problem was not with the Duster — it was with the expectations of the customers. They were wooed by the glitz and glamour of the newer SUVs in the segment, and flocked there. The Duster never walked down that road — the infotainment screen is still that tiny, archaic unit mounted so low down in the dash that it was virtually unusable. There were no storage spaces for the massive slabs our phones have evolved in to. That one feature that everyone seems to be clamouring for — the sunroof — wasn't around. So they looked past the Duster, and what they looked past was one of the most capable, fuss-free SUVs around.

Okay they do make the occasional fuss. Like our long-termer's fan has given out and the engine has started overheating as a result. But the fusses are occasional — readers who have been with evo India for a while will remember the Border Challenge series we did. We took it to the remotest corners of the country, to some of the harshest environments around, and it never gave up. Not even once. That series was a true testament to the Duster's reliability.

They don't make cars like the Duster anymore. There's more of a focus on what's happening inside the cabin, than what is happening underneath it. There's a big question mark on whether the Duster will return. If it does, it will likely be on a new platform. If it does, I just hope it gets its fundamentals right like this one did. ⌧

Aatish Mishra (@whatesh)

Date acquired December 2021 Total mileage 8378km Mileage this month 545km Costs this month Nil Overall kmpl 12