SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We raise a perfect dust storm in the 2014 Renault Duster 1.5 dCi 4x4

Almost unstoppable

Posted on 7th May 2014

In some ways the Renault Duster diesel with awd reminded us of Suzuki’s little Jimny. Both are small, nimble and respectably comfortable. Both have surprisingly good off-road abilities and neither is saddled with the kind of opportunistic pricing suffered by most 4x4s.

Duster is bigger, slightly more expensive and does without the full set of low-range gears offered by the little shogun, but it’s more practical for day-to-day family use. Duster has lots more people-space and luggage room for example, more power and the low down grunt of a diesel engine, but Jimny is more adventure-oriented.

As we pointed out in the launch report, this mini off-roader is a little different, specification-wise, from its otherwise identical petrol and diesel powered stablemates. For example it boasts five millimetres more ground clearance because the spare wheel was moved inside the boot, as in a regular car. That reduced its luggage capacity by 67 litres. Unlike its 4x2 diesel sister, maximum torque is developed at lower revs - 1750 vs. 2250 rpm.

The off-roader gains a diesel particulate filter, so pay attention to that. Using low-sulphur diesel wouldn’t hurt either. Other differences include multilink rear suspension rather than twist beam, and this one has ESP and traction control; part of the Nissan awd system it uses. It loses its backup alarm though. Whether this is a mud issue or simply cost-cutting, we don’t know.

And, uniquely, it’s fitted with a super-low first gear. Remember Grampy talking about the cars of his youth; with “four-plus-overdrive” gearboxes? Consider this Duster a five-plus-stump-puller. First gives you 5.79 km/h per 1000 rpm which means its top speed in that gear, engine screaming, would be about 25. We did this briefly and just once. In the interest of science, you understand. One does not drive a diesel that way. More practically, it means that at maximum torque level, you would be chugging along at ten kilometres an hour. Also, practically, you could treat this car like a pickup most of the time and pull away from stops in second gear.

Having had a chance to live with it for a week, rather than just a few hours on the launch, we discovered more about it. Confirming what we had experienced on the demonstration 4x4 track, Duster coped easily with the washaways and loose shale sections of our tenderfoot trail, as well as the rough provincial dirt road we use occasionally. And in daily driving we found that, while it doesn’t accelerate particularly quickly, its torque and gearing makes it almost unstoppable. You get the feeling it could pull mountains to new locations without breathing hard.
 
Practicalities: The hatch opens only when you push the central button of the lock assembly inwards – just like in the old days. It opens at about waist height and its floor is flat with a small bin on the left. You will find one light, one bag hook, two lashing rings and a fully sized steel spare. Seatbacks fold 2/3:1/3 and lie almost flat with a small step down into the cabin. The jack is stored behind a flap on the right. The hatch door features a central pull-down so lefties can use it and there is a towing eyelet on the right, below the bumper.

In the back seat the tall passenger rated accommodations at nine for head room, seven for knee space and eight for feet under the driver’s chair when it’s adjusted all the way down. For reference, seven is interference level or marginally tight. Three belts and three head restraints, a 12-Volt socket on top of the parcel shelf and a single cup holder at the rear end of the centre console look after safety and comfort. There are no door bins until you get to the front. In keeping with its outdoorsy nature, our test car was fitted with rubber over-mats, front and rear, to keep the carpeting clean.

Up front, the driver’s chair is either all-the-way up or all-the-way down; like on Sandero. The steering wheel adjusts for elevation only. A notable change from other Renaults is that the doors don’t lock automatically on pull off. A horizontal rocker switch on the dash does all locking and unlocking; you even have to use it to get back out again. Unlike Sandero, all window switches are up on the doors where they belong, although the mirror control is down on the central console. It’s French, you understand.

The media and navigation panel consists of a tablet-style, seven-inch panel on the dash with on-off button, volume control and the USB and auxiliary plugs above it. Other controls, including air conditioning and 4x4, are all straight-forward rotating dials. Storage space is more generous at this end with two further cup holders, door bins, a big and lighted cubby and two open dash trays. Fit and finish is quite tidy although the two-tone, grey and black, plastic is all hard. Unexpected is that only one visor mirror is provided – the driver will have to use the rearview.

The longish lever for the six-speed manual ‘box is easy to reach and works smoothly. There is no resting pad for the clutch foot, but enough space for big feet to get down on the floor easily. With long suspension travel, the Duster copes with most city obstacles comfortably and it steers and handles well. The view outwards is generous to sides and forward although we found the rear-most, or “C” pillars, a bit wide.

As indicated, this small family SUV does more than pose on pavements. If you have an occasional need to go boony bashing but can’t afford a full-on 4x4, this could be the one to go for.

Test car from Renault SA press fleet

To read the launch report click here

The numbers
Price: R239 900
Engine: 1461 cc, Renault K9K four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 80 kW at 3900 rpm
Maximum torque: 240 Nm at 1750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 12,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 171 km/h
Ground clearance: 210 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 30/36/23 degrees
Maximum braked trailer mass: 1500 kg
Real life fuel consumption*: About 6,9 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Luggage: 408/1570 litres
Warranty: 5 years/150 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/45 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals
*includes some off-road and gravel road use

We drove the facelifted 2016 diesel 4x2 here

Read our review of the 2018 version here

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

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