Dacia have acknowledged that there is a rust problem with "some" of the RHD Dusters from the Chennai plant.
www.daciaforum.co.uk
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 7 Aug 14 at 17:02
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My apologies for the poor link. I am using a recently acquired android tablet and am on a steep learning curve. I have now sussed copy and paste so although my links may be rubbish they should work. :)
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Just got back from a couple of weeks in France. Dusters everywhere and lots of Logan estates too. The Duster must be one of the best selling cars there judging by the number on the roads.
They seem to do them in a much wider variety of colours there. Saw loads of dark brown metallic ones. Might be a prudent long term colour choice !
They look nice in a sort of forest green metallic too.
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Saw a horrible mustard yellow Logan today. I only knew what it was from the foot high stickers along the side.
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I could be tempted by a Duster if I ever found myself in a position and climate never to have to work or wear socks ever again. I think it's the sort of car best driven in shorts, a T-shirt and a straw hat.
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Its the sort of car best not driven at all.
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Awful lot of them around here - mainly driven by tourists I assume
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>> - mainly driven by tourists I assume
Does rather beg the question as to why you are led to that assumption? Is it that the locals favour tractors or something?
;-)
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Could have been the plates Humph.
When I was in Edinburgh a few weeks ago I was amazed at the number of Welsh registered vehicles. The C prefix was everywhere.
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Now you see, I've learned something today, I didn't know C plates were Welsh. I knew S plates were Scottish though for some reason.
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C = Cymru ! Mainly the plates, the Engerland flags and general mimsing. Don't think there is a local dealer though. Locals drive Volvos.
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Ah ok Cymru. Makes me wonder if East Anglian number plates have an extra digit to identify them...
;-)
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Pal of mine has one. Lives in Northumberland, has spaniels that he trains to flush.
His last car was a Freelander with everything that opened and shut.
He has had a Duster 4WD Laureate that cost half as much as a replacement Freelander would have, since last autumn, that meets his current requirements as well if not better - including off road use. Good low first gear helps.
Extremely practical car, very functional for the money.
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>> Pal of mine has one. Lives in Northumberland, has spaniels that he trains to flush.
>>
Clever, our last spaniel just used to do it in the garden....I had to clear it up !
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>> >> Pal of mine has one. Lives in Northumberland, has spaniels that he trains to
>> flush.
>> >>
>>
>> Clever, our last spaniel just used to do it in the garden....I had to clear
>> it up !
Yes I was surprised when he told me - impressive enough just to get them to use the lavatory.
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I guess they're cheap(er) because they leave out the rust proofing. I wonder what else they skimp on?
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I'm not surprised that the French love Dacias. They don't have the same desire for electronic gizmos that the Brits do, so I suspect that they find French cars, which are basically sound, more reliable. The Renault-Dacia link means that they can still feel patriotic.
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>> I'm not surprised that the French love Dacias. They don't have the same desire for
>> electronic gizmos that the Brits do, so I suspect that they find French cars, which
>> are basically sound, more reliable. The Renault-Dacia link means that they can still feel patriotic.
But they are not reliable, certainly not the ones shipped to the UK.
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Dusters certainly are very common over here, have been for three or four years now. Not a great surprise, I suppose, when the Lada Niva was such a big seller in France. Other Dacias are also numerous. My friend bought a new Logan estate a couple of years ago, after a lifetime of owning Renaults and is very pleased with it.
They are, of course, all made in Romania for the French market and I've never seen one with visible rust.
It makes no sense at all to me though. What is Renault thinking about? Most of its products seem to be either Nissans, Dacias or Renault-badged vehicles made anywhere but in France.
I read recently a comparative test of a Duster and the new Renault 'Captur' 'soft roader' (whatever that is). There was an acknowledgement that both vehicles had been supplied to the magazine by Renault and - guess what - the Dacia came out on top. Bizarre.
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>> I read recently a comparative test of a Duster and the new Renault 'Captur' 'soft
>> roader' (whatever that is). There was an acknowledgement that both vehicles had been supplied to
>> the magazine by Renault and - guess what - the Dacia came out on top.
>> Bizarre.
I suppose the costs are so much lower in Romania (is it only the RHD Dusters that are made in India?) that they are agnostic regarding which you buy.
And there's the whole market segmentation thing, exemplified by VW. It's not much of an exaggeration now to say that mainstream VW group cars are made from the same essential bits whether they are Audi, VW, Seat or Skoda. VW is rationalising platforms so that among other things all transverse engines and running gears will have the same mounting points and different models/brands can be made in the same plant. So what are the badges and the trim differences for? Just to cover more of the market.
Utility comes in 'soft' forms of which brand/image is one, and people will always pay for that. Others will be prepared to go without metal door handles, soft plastics, a fancy showroom if it saves them money.
I think this landscape is getting harder for companies to navigate; when it's as cool to shop at Aldi as Waitrose, what is the best marketing strategy for Tesco?
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Although Dacia are claiming that there is only a rust problem with RHD Indian built Dusters, this German 100,000 km strip down test proves that the LHD Romanian built ones also have a problem but possibly not as bad.
There is a link to a video on this page.
www.autobild.de/artikel/dacia-duster-dauertest-4195651.html
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 11 Aug 14 at 12:17
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>> Although Dacia are claiming that there is only a rust problem with RHD Indian built
>> Dusters, this German 100,000 km strip down test proves that the LHD Romanian built ones
>> also have a problem but possibly not as bad.
>>
>> There is a link to a video on this page.
>>
>> www.autobild.de/artikel/dacia-duster-dauertest-4195651.html
>>
POC
Typical French reliability..:-(
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I had a pal who had a Dacia dealership, in Swansea, in the mid/late 1980s. They were truly horrible lumps of ordure, with gearbox oil leaks as standard, from new. He had at least two in his yard - brand new - which he could not sell due to that!
He also had a Yugo franchise for his sins, while I was selling Ladas - the Riva range, at the time - with many fewer problems!
The Lada Samara, which came in later on, was a different story - massive failures of Romanian built fuse boxes, apparently supplied on a barter basis with the Russians - fuse boxes for wheat or similar.
I made a lot of money on warranty claims for that! We charged Lada Cars out at 90% of our agreed retail labour rate and got 10% mark-upon warranty parts.
Last edited by: Roger. on Mon 11 Aug 14 at 19:23
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>> Although Dacia are claiming that there is only a rust problem with RHD Indian built
>> Dusters, this German 100,000 km strip down test proves that the LHD Romanian built ones
>> also have a problem but possibly not as bad.
>>
>> There is a link to a video on this page.
>>
>> www.autobild.de/artikel/dacia-duster-dauertest-4195651.html
>>
Looks like a bit of a friday afternoon job - fair bit if warranty work on that one.
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There are reports on the Dacia UK Forum that deliveries of Indian built Dusters have been stopped and Romanian built RHD Dusters will be available from October. A partial facelift is brought forward from 2016, (excluding the uprated engine).
Apparently a quick way of checking the build country is the origin of the window glass.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 29 Aug 14 at 16:10
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I think it is highly likely that Dusters ordered from now on will be built in Romania. In addition the car shown on the Dacia website has the facelift so that is what you should expect to be delivered if you order now.
We own two Romanian-built Dacias, a Sandero and a Logan MCV. the build quality is good and there's no sign of rust. I still miss my Duster Access 4x4 which was written off after 18,000 miles but I was not going to replace it with a rusty Indian-built car. I would still consider buying a Romanian Duster, particularly with the TCe125 petrol engine, although that is not available here yet and does not seem to come with 4WD where it is available.
Dacia have a still rather vague plan for repairing the rust on the Indian built Dusters. I expect a glut of very cheap 2013-14 Dusters with barely disguised rust on the used car market fairly soon. Worth buying if the price is right, you don't care about the appearance of your car and you are going to run it into the ground.
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Being Renault, I don't suppose they'll do a 'Lancia', ie buy them back and try to scrap them on the quiet.
Lancia tried to dispose of some of their bought-back Betas by sending them to be crushed at a scrapyard up a back road in a little town in Somerset. An alert young newspaper man lived not far away...
Oddly enough, the by then a bit older newspaperman eventually bought a Beta (HPE) and it didn't have a spot of rust on it anywhere.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Sun 31 Aug 14 at 13:57
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By coincidence, in the late '80s the newspaperman found himself conducting a press road test of the original-type Dacia Duster. He found it be a worthwhile motor with decent off-road capability - but not terribly well finished.
He was a bit surprised when he saw one pass him going the other way just the other day.
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"An alert young newspaper man"
Any relation? :-)
I had an 8-year old HPE in the late 80's and it lasted me 5 years. It was a delight to drive.
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A good friend briefly had a Lancia Gamma, the coupé model propelled by a quite big flat four in the nose.
It was quite a big thing but went very quickly when asked. He scared me in it once.
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Rusty Dusters - Focusless
