MAY, IT BE TRUE
The rough- road hero Dacia Duster has arrived . . . but it’s a Renault
It’s rare for a budget new car to also have something close to a cult following, but you could argue the Duster is one of them.
It’s new to New Zealand, but the Duster compact SUV has been around for over a decade and two million sales. On paper it fits the mould of an urban SUV, but its reputation is really built on comfort, durability and practicality in countries where road conditions are demanding: it’s a highly regarded machine in India and Morocco, for example. And often exemplified — tongue in cheek — by Top Gear and Grand Tour host James May.
Built in Romania, Duster is a “Dacia” in most markets, but for right- hand drive the parent company favours its French brand, so locally, it joins South Africa being labelled the “Renault Duster”. There’s just one model for Kiwis: a 1.6- litre petrol automatic with front- drive ( AWDis under evaluation).
At a launch price of $ 27,990 the
Duster is not a whole lot cheaper than the obvious competition. The Kia Seltos, Mitsubishi ASX and Suzuki Vitara all open in the same pricing ballpark. Renault counters with the Duster’s generous dimensions for the class ( 4.3m long, 445l boot), some nice tech touches and low total cost of ownership. Fuel use is 6.9l/ 100km and service intervals stretch out to 30,000km/ 12 months, with the first service capped at $ 340.
It’s not a vehicle to sell just on showroom appeal. It’s cute on the outside and spacious on the inside, but the cabin is finished in dour black plastic with very few soft- touch surfaces, there’s the odd bit of ill- fitting trim and the infotainment system is a lower- end
Renault unit with a modest 7in touchscreen. The USB port for phone projection is above the screen, which means the cord hangs down over it to the tray where you have to put your phone. It’s not exactly strong on detail.
The appeal is in the driving. The 1.6- litre Renault engine is no powerhouse, but it’s eager and even has an engagingly thrummy sound. The CVT gearbox is often a red flag in a budget car, but the Duster’s is sprightly and in hard driving steps up and down like a conventional gearbox.
Duster differs most from the urban SUV crowd in its chassis. It’s designed for rough- road driving, hence the generous 210mm ground clearance and squishy suspension. That also makes it a really comfort- oriented machine for Kiwi road driving, but the French influence shows through in the way it handles. There’s lots of
body roll, but it’s also tenacious and well- controlled. Not the least bit sporty, but nicely balanced and quite a lot of fun.
The Duster- aware probably won’t need the sales pitch. For everyone else, Renault NZ hopes value- for- money will be the key. While quality may be merely average compared with Japanese and Korean competition, durability is well- proven and it should be cheap to run, especially for business users, who can have it as a two- seat van thanks to a few interior tweaks from Renault NZ.
A few surprise- and- delight specification items sweeten the deal: Duster comes as standard with integrated sat- nav ( handy for rural areas where CarPlay/ Android loses connection), multi- view parking camera, rear parking sensors and Blind Spot Monitoring ( BSM). That, as James May says, is indeed “good news”.