Renault Duster: All you wanted to know!

India’s first compact SUV Renault Duster launched

Renault has launched Duster in 8 variants—two petrols and four diesels—with two options packs at priced starting at Rs. 7.19 lakh (since then revised to Rs. 7.49 lakh).

Renault Duster beats the longest best-selling SUV

So should Renault Duster be on your shopping list?

Renault Duster Reviews

You can read a detailed Renault Duster review or better still watch Roshun Povaiah put it to test. In fact, one of Cartoq.com community member Subhashish Sarkar who is a Skoda Yeti owner too tested the Duster and thought it was cracking SUV, one that wives will approve of as well. Cartoq.com expert Devdath Narayan, who beat Roshun to first ride of Duster, predicted—rightly—it will sell like a hot cake.

Renault Duster road test and video review

Roshun test drives Duster in the scenic hills of Munnar and comes back mightily impressed.

Skoda Yeti owner checks out Duster

Subhashish who owns the rather good Skoda Yeti, says Duster is a cracking SUV. High praise indeed.

Duster set to storm the market

Devdath finds Renault Duster’s combination of looks, practicality and price irresistible.

Renault Duster vs. Competition

And if you want to know it stacks against competition, check out how the Duster compares with the hot-selling Mahindra XUV500 and the somewhat similarly priced Tata Safari Storme.

But choices are rarely that straightforward. So we have evaluated Duster as an alternative to sedans that are similarly priced as there is a trend towards buying SUV/MUV to ride over bad roads. Any such comparison is incomplete till one brings the other pioneering, hot-selling MUV from the Maruti Suzuki, the Ertiga…so watch the video about how Renault Duster compare vis-a-vis Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.

In fact, here is a snapshot of Renault Duster vs. Everything else! 

Renault Duster price, features and specs

Renault Duster comes in 6 models—two petrols and four diesels—starting from Rs.7.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the base Petrol and going all the way up to Rs.11.39 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the top-end diesel.

This means there is one big question to be answered: Which version of the Duster makes sense for whom? We have that angle covered as well.

If you want more details on pricing, specifications or want to read what Cartoq.com community members had to ask/say about Renault Duster, the Duster In-Depth Research page is your best bet.

All of this would cover pretty much all you need to know about Renault Duster.

But Duster is just one—okay, the first one—compact SUV on the market. There are more on the way. Should you wait for them? When are they expected?

Upcoming compact SUVs that will rival Renault Duster

The first real contest Duster will face will come from Ford’s EcoSport. We have news that unofficial bookings for EcoSport have already begun—perhaps hinting at a late February or early March launch.

There are other significant launches though a little more far-out in the future. One of these is the Honda compact SUV, the prototype of which was shown at Los Angeles Auto Show. This rather striking looking SUV from Honda will take its time—expect it to arrive sometime in 2014.

Then there is Fiat (under the Jeep brand) which too is working on two compact SUVs, one in the B-segment Rs. 10 lakh – Rs. 12 lakh price segment and another in C-segment Rs. 14 lakh – Rs. 15 lakh price segment that will be launched in India in 2014 and 2015.

Market-leader Maruti Suzuki too has Alpha compact SUV under works and that too should be out in 2014.