Renault Duster test drive since 2012 SUV

Renault Duster. Phenomenon

Maxim Fedorov, 34 years old, automobile journalist, driving experience of 8 years, personal car - Ford Focus II
This winter, the weather presented us with another surprise: in Moscow a thaw, and in Uzbekistan frost under minus ten and snow. Natural phenomenon! But we were interested in another car phenomenon, under the name Renault Duster, for acquaintance with which we went to the former cotton Republic of the USSR

Renault Duster. Price: from 449,000 p. On sale: since March 2012

Duster has not yet entered the sale, but an unhealthy excitement has already arisen around the model. The capital's dealers scare annual quenches, offering to speed up the supply of the car when making an advance payment of a hundred thousand rubles. And buyers from the regions complain that local car dealerships are setting arbitrary margins on the new product, and the councils cannot be found: you don’t want to take the car at an inflated price, do not take it. What is the good Renault budget, since his sellers behave as if the times of total deficit have come again and the car can be reached only by form? To deal with this phenomenon, we had two days and two dastera from the first parties released by the Autoframs plant: both with all -wheel drive, 6 -speed mechanics and gasoline engines with a volume of 1.6 and 2.0 liters (102 and 135 L.S.).


The cute exterior of the crossover undoubted luck of the designers Renault

Outside, the Russian Renault Duster is practically not distinguished from the Romanian analogue under the Dacia brand: another radiator cladding and chrome lining on the trunk door, that's the whole difference. But there are much more differences in the cabin: a new front panel with a two -dine radio and comfortable luggage shelves, the buttons of the electric windows on the doors ... Dacia looks much poorer in Dakia! As we were told in Renault, the focus groups of Russians surveyed several years before the launch of the production of the crossover in Moscow unanimously sentenced the old Torpedo Duster to replace. In their opinion, a crossover, albeit budget, should look more presentable inside, and not copy Logan. But the Russians had no claims to the appearance of the car, they were not asked to add chrome. It is curious that in our wishes we were close to Latin American: the Renault Duster, produced in Brazil, received the same changes.


Inside the Russian-Brazilian Duster looks much more presentable than Romanian

However, you can’t deceive yourself: despite all the alterations, Duster remained a state employee. Even on crossovers in the maximum configuration with dermatin-coat seats, the plastic finish is the same cheap and echoing, and noise insulation is as weak as in the Protetsk Logan itself. And this is at the price of a car of more than 600 thousand! There are claims to ergonomics. For example, the buttons to turn on the heating of the seats are not only devoid of any indication, but are also in such a place (between the door and the pillow of the chair), which you will not find right away. The designers also arranged the joystics of the electric drive of the mirrors under the lever of the parking brake.

Uzbek traffic rules prohibiting the headlights in the daytime (here they go without light, and then immediately cut the distant one), revealed another ergonomic puncture: the position of microclimate regulators can only be distinguished with working illumination, otherwise about which fiddle regime is now involved, It remains only to guess. At the same time, blowing itself does not work well: so that the glasses do not fog, and the legs are not freezing (especially the left driver’s), it was necessary to put the stove temperature to the maximum, switching the fan to the second speed. Well, overloaded steering wheel switches or a standard radio, in which the central regulator is not responsible for the volume, and for setting up the frequency of the radio station, these are not even disadvantages, but the family features of Renault cars.


But grasping the Duster along the Uzbek roads, I was ready to forgive him all of the above minuses. The even roadway on the way from Tashkent to Samarkand suddenly ended: the pits were loomed ahead, but it was too late and dangerous to slow down on the slippery asphalt. The only right decision to pass the pits. I prepared to feel a hard blow and already reconciled with the thought of a possible replacement of the wheel and even calling the technicians. However, to my surprise, the crossover could easily jumped potholes, responding with an elastic boom without any hint of a breakdown breakdown. I slowed down the remaining way in front of the pits only in cases where it was necessary to go around the vehicles of natives, slowly storming irregularities according to the intricate sinusoid.


Devices are informative, but from the icons heaps in the eyes

The organizers of the test provided for the site in the mountains, where it was possible to evaluate the cross-country ability of Duster in the conditions of off-road, but it was necessary to refuse his passage due to the gathering of the snow avalanche. But we managed to cold in a local career that resembled a reduced copy of the Grand Canyon. Thanks to small overhangs, a 21 -satimeter road clearance and a regular steel protection of the motor compartment, we fearlessly stormed the scattering of stones. At the same time, it was not even necessary to connect all -wheel drive: in the absence of a lowering row in the transmission, the first gear was made short on it, the car pulls like a tractor on it! The expected minus of the converged series of numbers in the box is the need for frequent gear when driving in urban traffic. However, doing this is not a burden, the benefit of the selectivity and clarity of the 6 -speed manual transmission are good.


Full -wheel drive is activated at speeds up to 80 km/h

Among the buyers of Renault Duster there are many those who do not need all -wheel drive. Such a machine is not only 50,000 rubles. Cheaper, but also more practical: in the absence of a wheel gearbox, the luggage gender is lowered below, and its beneficial volume is increased to 475 liters against 408 liters of an all -wheel drive crossover. True, instead of a multi -leaf, the 2WD version is equipped with a simpler, a simpler -dependent rear suspension, and how such a metamorphosis on controllability will affect, you only have to guess. We hope that it will be reflected slightly, because for its price an all -wheel drive duster rides very well. The steering wheel with a hydraulic wrap, although it does not have high sensitivity, allows you to go along the highway without straining. In the city, the force on the steering wheel seems slightly high, but this does not cause inconvenience. The crossover was pleasantly surprised by the dynamics of acceleration, and subjectively, the car with a 1.6 -frail unit, despite the loss of 33 liters. p., is practically not inferior to the 2.0 -fraud version.
But in general, in the Duster there is nothing phenomenal. This is a solid car for adequate money. Moreover, the latter statement in no way refers to the top versions of the new product. For myself, I have already deduced the formula for the ideal Renault Duster: this is a car in the basic configuration (with practical not painted bumpers) with a 1.6 engine and front -wheel drive for 449,000 rubles. He justifies his price to the last penny. It is only upset that there are no electric windows and central castle in the database, and they cannot be ordered even for a surcharge. Why it is done understandable: it is more profitable for the French to sell more expensive configurations, using a spectacular price for the basic version in advertising.

And this move worked: there are no end to the queue of those who wanted to sign up for the duster! Dealers are afraid of buyers with a shortage and long delivery time, forcing them to agree to bonded conditions (making an impressive prepayment, ordering of pre -equipment, etc.), just to receive a car as soon as possible. Renault, in turn, hopes to satisfy the demand to the maximum: half of the capacities of the capital's auto -frame will be given for the release of the budget crossover, which is 80,000 cars a year! Moreover, since the summer, the French plan to increase the production volumes in Moscow by another 10%. So dasters should be enough for everyone. And after a year or two, when the excitement subsides, the version with all-wheel drive and automatic, covered in many Russians, will appear. But at a price it will be not a state employee at all.


Back in USSR
Having arrived in Uzbekistan, I seemed to return to the past. Police in overcoats, dilapidated Soviet development and a monotonous stream of cars. Only instead of the Lada and the Volga on Uzbek roads (judging by the quality, also built during the USSR), Matiza and Nexia dominate. It is not surprising that we, only on the new, who had just settled down from the conveyor of the Autoframos of the Renault Duster crossovers, made a real splash here! It was worth parishing the car, the natives immediately approached us to take a picture next to Duster on the mobile phone and ask two standard questions: what is the expense? And how much does it cost?. We also answered standardly: 10 liters and 20 thousand dollars. There is no need to transfer the ruble price to the local currency: American monetary units are used here even in outdoor advertising of mobile operators, just like ten years ago ... Another attribute of the departed era is huge queues at gas stations. Gasoline in Uzbekistan is shortage, so the issue of consumption is by no means idle curiosity. But the Uzbeks do not experience a shortage of blue fuel: gas gas stations, like minibuses with a battery of cylinders on the roof, are found here at every step.


A regular audio system can lose music from flash drives, but the sound of the columns is cheap, plastic, and management is uncomfortable

Driving
All the advantages of the model appear on bad roads, where Duster feels like a fish in water.

Salon
The decoration materials are expected cheap, and the salon, habitually for the Loganov family, is spacious.

Comfort
The suspension easily straightens out with irregularities, but Shumka is rather weak, and the plastic of the salon is talkative.

Safety
Only three stars according to Euro NCAP.

Price
For this money, the best offer in the class is definitely the best.
 

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The attractive price of basic versions, a spacious interior, a large trunk, an energy -intensive suspension, excellent geometric cross -country ability.
Cheap decoration materials, weak sound insulation, in the next couple of years there will be no version with an automatic machine and all -wheel drive.
 
We do not love
Non -casual
The pads on the doors where the buttons of the electric windows were moved from the front panel, look like a foreign element.

Child
A regular audio system can lose music from flash drives, but the sound of the columns is cheap, plastic, and control is uncomfortable.

SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions 4315x1822x1625mm
Base 2673 mm
Equipped mass 1205 kg
Full weight 1705 kg
Clearance 210 mm
Trunk volume 408/1570 l
Fuel tank volume 50 liters
Gasoline engine, 4-cylinder.
1598cm3, 102/5750 hp/min-1, 145/3750 Nm
Transmission Mech., 6th., Complete drive
Dynamics 158 km/h; 13.5cdo100km/h
Fuel consumption (city/track/mixed.) 11.0/7.0/8.2 l/100 km
Competitors Chevrolet Niva, Skoda Yeti, Nissan Qashqai

Our verdict
Even with a gasoline engine 1.6, Duster rides very vigorously, and an impressive road clearance, an impenetrable suspension and all -wheel drive allow you to move without analyzing the road. At the same time, the car pleases with spaciousness and, of course, at a price. And if you do not take into account expensive configurations, the cost of which approaches 700 thousand rubles, there is no real alternative to Duster yet.
 

Source: Magazine 5 wheel [February 2012]