Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions

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Sat 26 Feb 2022 19:45
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - focussed

New Dacia Duster II 1.5 DCi Blue 4x4 Prestige to replace our old L200 bought from an online agency in France as no dealer stock available in our region.

Allegedly an 01/01/2022 pre- reg car that was manufactured in October 21 by the VIN and turned out to have never been registered in France so may have come from either Germany or Czechoslovakia, and it's first French reg is with us.

Delivered to our door on it's wheels by a delivery driver - nice old boy, retired French Navy chief petty officer from the Brest depot about 80 miles away, he has had a Duster bi-fuel on order from a dealer since november 2021 - delivery quoted is July this year!

Comes with alloys and 215/60/R17 Goodyear Vector all season tyres, and a steel spare with a 215/65/R16 Vector and a jack and wheelbrace, the poverty spec petrol ones come with just a bottle of gloop and a compressor, no jack or wheelbrace!

Off for a short test drive and fill up with fuel and noticed it won't track properly and the steering is very light, edgy, and wants to wander..

Back home, checked the tyre pressures and sure enough they were all over pressure by 5 or 6 psi ,a common fault here it seems, our Accord used to come back from a dealer service with the tyres all seriously over pressure - complained - "It's the valeter who washes the cars"

Pressures back to spec 33 psi all round- retest - no more problems, nicely weighted steering.

Then reset the TPMS on the dashboard- dead easy as it's the non-sender type, another bonus.

The rest of it.

Sweet little 8 valve Renault 1.5 diesel starts instantly, very quiet and pulls well.

Gears a bit notchy in fifth and sixth but will loosen up I guess.

Good feel from the clutch.

Brakes with a reassuring bite.

Everything feels tight and sturdy, no rattles or thumps over road humps, general fit and finish good.

I particularly like the controls for the heater/climate very easy to use.

The radio/media/nav/phone screen is nice and large -8 inch - easy to see and the femail satnav voice in english has already been christened "Mrs Miggins" - very clear direction instructions.

I haven't started to throw it about yet as I am getting used to LHD - the last time I drove LHD for more than a few minutes was in Sweden a long time ago.

I'm going to give it my own PDI over the weekend just to make sure, and will probably fit the OEM towbar kit and electrics next week if it get's here to me from Romania by then, before Putin's boys get to Romania!

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Sat 26 Feb 2022 20:07
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - badbusdriver

My mate is on his second Duster and loves them. Both have been petrol (though he had a diesel Sandero Stepway before), first was the older shape with the 1.2 turbo, and now on the current shape with the 1.3 turbo. I did have a wee shot of the first one and found it a nice thing to drive.

Good cars for folk who are do not suffer from badge snobbery!.

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Sat 26 Feb 2022 20:45
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Xileno

I had the 1.5 diesel in a Megane, no problems with the reliability or economy. Regularly saw 55mpg, I expect the duster will be a bit more thirsty.

I see a lot of Dusters around West Wilts, I think they are popular with farmers who need a bit of 4x4 capability but not the full works or expense of a Landrover. The later Freelanders were popular but the Discovery Sport too expensive.

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Sat 26 Feb 2022 20:55
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - focussed

The purchase was done in a bit of a hurry as we had sold the L200 a couple of weeks ago to a local brit who had to have a rhd 4x4 for his landscaping business and had wrecked his Shogun. Having just MOT'd the L200 (we have to have an MOT by law to sell a used vehicle here) the opportunity was too good to miss.

Hence using an online agency instead of casting a wider net around the dealers out of our region.

Judging by the sheer quantity of Dacias old and new in the supermarket car parks on Saturdays over here I'm guessing that badge snobbery is at a much lower level here - unless you come from Paris of course!

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Sun 27 Feb 2022 11:38
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - daveyK_UK
The 1.5 diesel Renault unit is still one of the best Diesel engines available, I had a Mercedes Citan van with this engine on hire and I was amazed to get 50mpg despite the van being loaded up.
The Ford Transit connect which came after it only managed 40mpg with the same load.

Shame the rest of the Citan was not as good. Door handles falling off and steering racks made of cheese are 2 of the more common issues!

Edited by daveyK_UK on 27/02/2022 at 11:39

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 07:52
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Ted66
Sorry to highjack this thread but I’ve recently bought a Megane with the 1.6dci 130 engine also used in Nissans etc. Has anyone had experiences with these in regards for reliability etc? Many thanks.
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Mon 28 Feb 2022 10:13
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Xileno

I can't remember seeing a recent post from anyone running a Megane of any engine. There are a few references in the archives to the 1.5 dci in MK4 Meganes but that's of no use as the 1.6 is a totally different engine with a chain cam rather than belt. I don't think Renaults are so popular now, I think some of their cars in the 2000 to 2004 period lowered their reputation although mine of that period was mostly positive.

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 10:32
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Sulphur Man

I experienced the 1.6DCI in a facelift 2012 Qashqai and liked it overall. Quite revvy, for a 4-cyl diesel. No issues exprienced.

One characteristic though, which I personally found strange - the need to drop to 1st gear if at crawling pace. My history with any manual car, diesel or petrol, is that 1st gear gets you moving and 2nd can pull a car from walking pace. Not so in the 1.6DCI Qashqai. 1st gear was definitely needed to prevent a low speed stall. Had to get used to that.

FYI, this car was pre stop-start 'technology'.

Edited by Sulphur Man on 28/02/2022 at 10:34

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 12:53
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Andrew-T

My history with any manual car, diesel or petrol, is that 1st gear gets you moving and 2nd can pull a car from walking pace. Not so in the 1.6DCI Qashqai. 1st gear was definitely needed to prevent a low speed stall.

I like using first gear in my diesel for crawling without any throttle, usually in a long tailback on the M'way. Don't think I would try that in the petrol car. A diesel is happy to do it in second or even (rarely) in third on a level road.

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 13:08
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - alan1302

My history with any manual car, diesel or petrol, is that 1st gear gets you moving and 2nd can pull a car from walking pace. Not so in the 1.6DCI Qashqai. 1st gear was definitely needed to prevent a low speed stall.

I like using first gear in my diesel for crawling without any throttle, usually in a long tailback on the M'way. Don't think I would try that in the petrol car. A diesel is happy to do it in second or even (rarely) in third on a level road.

That is something I especially like about disel cars.

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 17:25
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Xileno

Years ago when they were new we had a 205 diesel that was brilliant for that. In traffic just had to operate the clutch, very difficult to stall. Great for learners :-)

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 17:50
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - badbusdriver

My history with any manual car, diesel or petrol, is that 1st gear gets you moving and 2nd can pull a car from walking pace. Not so in the 1.6DCI Qashqai. 1st gear was definitely needed to prevent a low speed stall. Had to get used to that.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the power of many modern diesels is tricky to modulate at low revs, not just Renault/Nissan.

My own experience is that a n/a diesel is best here (like Xileno's 205 experience). I used to have a MK2 Fiesta 1.6 diesel and despite having only 54bhp (when new, mine was 9 years old with nearly 100k miles when I got it) it was very tricky to stall. My wife had a 1.9 diesel Polo (64bhp) when we got together, it was the same. And now I use a Caddy 2.0SDI (70bhp) for my work, it will pull away in second on level roads and will happily pull third from walking speed!.

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 23:08
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - focussed

Re-hijacking this thread re the Duster 1.5dci 4 x4 for the benefit of anybody thinking of getting one.

The advice in the handbook is to use 2nd gear to move off on level roads as 1st gear is a very low ratio used for off-roading, a hill start, or pulling away with a loaded trailer. Reverse is a similarly low ratio.

A neat idea, avoids the complication, expense, cost and weight of a transfer box with a set of low ratios.

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Tue 1 Mar 2022 10:02
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Metropolis.
This does have disadvantages, too. For example, using low range with a transfer box, I can choose any of the gears to find what works best in a given situation. In a typical manual these days, thats 6 different options to choose from while in low range. 1st gear low range which is (probably) typically lower than the 1st gear in the Dacia admittedly, is usually no good for hill climbing as it induces too much spin and not enough momentum, but good for setting off with a very heavy load uphill, or for engine braking downhill. Sometimes, 4th gear low range foot to the floor works well if I am carrying some momentum through a muddy field. Much more torque available for the traction control system to utilise than if I was using 4th gear high range, which would also be too fast.
Transfer boxes are not complicated or all that heavy, but I suppose every ounce counts.
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Tue 1 Mar 2022 22:31
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - focussed
This does have disadvantages, too. For example, using low range with a transfer box, I can choose any of the gears to find what works best in a given situation. In a typical manual these days, thats 6 different options to choose from while in low range. 1st gear low range which is (probably) typically lower than the 1st gear in the Dacia admittedly, is usually no good for hill climbing as it induces too much spin and not enough momentum, but good for setting off with a very heavy load uphill, or for engine braking downhill. Sometimes, 4th gear low range foot to the floor works well if I am carrying some momentum through a muddy field. Much more torque available for the traction control system to utilise than if I was using 4th gear high range, which would also be too fast. Transfer boxes are not complicated or all that heavy, but I suppose every ounce counts.

We've given up mud plugging in the woods and forests with the L200 for fetching firewood nowadays, we have it delivered in cubic meter pallets, kiln dried, cut, split oak and then a nice flat concrete floor in the barn with our pallet truck is much easier on the back than unloading the trailer, cutting, splitting and stacking it to season for two years. The most onerous 4x4 duty for the Duster will probably be dragging the 750 kg trailer up the wet slippery concrete ramp at our local recycling depot, and a bit of security on the unsalted roads in winter.

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Mon 28 Feb 2022 23:16
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Andrew-T

<< I used to have a MK2 Fiesta 1.6 diesel and despite having only 54bhp (when new, mine was 9 years old with nearly 100k miles when I got it) it was very tricky to stall. >>

Reminds me of the first time I rented a diesel van. I could start it OK but until I discovered the decompressor I had to stop it by stalling it. Doh! ...

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Tue 1 Mar 2022 00:28
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - focussed

A decompressor? What van was that?

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Tue 1 Mar 2022 08:17
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - badbusdriver

The advice in the handbook is to use 2nd gear to move off on level roads as 1st gear is a very low ratio used for off-roading, a hill start, or pulling away with a loaded trailer. Reverse is a similarly low ratio.

A neat idea, avoids the complication, expense, cost and weight of a transfer box with a set of low ratios.

An idea taken from the original Fiat Panda 4x4!

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Tue 1 Mar 2022 12:46
Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions - Andrew-T

A decompressor? What van was that?

It's a long time ago now, probably about 30 years. Probably a Transit or somesuch. Anyhow turning off the 'ignition' didn't stop the engine. Rather like a canal boat I suppose.

Come to think of it, SWMBO's 205 Dturbo needed similar treatment when its stop-solenoid packed up. Simple to get another from a scrappie (a solenoid, that is) :-)

Edited by Andrew-T on 01/03/2022 at 12:48

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