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So the Duster has finally arrived in Australia, only it wears a Renault badge rather than the Dacia one seen in Europe.
The rugged new small SUV is available in Australia with a 1-1 . Combined with the front-wheel drive and an automatic transmission, or a 1-1litre petrol engine combined with 3-litres of petrol engines (or 3 litre) in one. A 2-litre mild-hybrid petrol engine with all-wheel drive (AWD) matched 4-litre light-fuelled petrol. To many people’s chagrin, the latter only comes with a manual gearbox.
Yet oversea’ – but there is an AWD (Awlandish) powertrain that removes the need for a drive shaft between front and rear axle, as well as incorporating one of the mild-hybrid 1s. paraphrasing 2-litre petrol engine,. For the first time in a Duster, it mixes an automatic transmission with AWD (and could be sold for sale in Australia), although it’s still not confirmed that this market is available.
The Romanian auto brand’s new mild-hybrid AWD powertrain is a popular option, and we recently got behind the wheel of – Dacia-badged Duster in Morocco to see what this model has been like for its own car company. How does it compare with the current offering?
How much does the Renault Duster cost?
The Duster is $31,990 for the first time before on-road costs in 1. guise of 3-litre 42 (with 1 – litre) . The price range for 2-litre 44 is $36,490 plus on-roads.
The newer hybrid setup is likely to replace this transmission, but local availability and therefore pricing has not been confirmed as yet. Nevertheless, it may be subject to a small price hike due to the technical changes and the fitment of an automatic transmission.
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What is the Renault Duster like on the inside?
It’s not a difference between Europea’, Dacia-branded Duster and the Renault–badged one we get in Australia other than the steering wheel badging.
Keeping in mind the rugged exterior, the cabin is an “advanced collection of hard plastics that sound scratchy but are colour injection and texturing made to look more attractive by colour injecting and making it appealing”.
This car is positioned at the lower end of the market, as some of its materials throughout the cabin show, but there is still an attempt to compensate for it with technology.
One 7, paraphrasing A 7. 0-inch digital instrument display occupies the centre of the dashboard binnacle (but does not fill the entire thing) and is very configurable in a small way. It’s a simple layout overall, giving the driver enough information without overloading them.
This is a very similar case of s with the 10’s. infotainment system with 1 inch touchscreen 1-inch. Despite the fact that it is slightly pointed towards the driver, there are several buttons on the top of which are almost hidden and allow you either turn off the screen or switch to a more minimal display. The native system isn’t hard to find your way around in; Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wirelessly available, while both can be used wirelessLY and work well with the same device.
This is the only version of the 44 Duster that has been released to date, and was accompanied by a manual gearbox; this edition will use an automatic transmission exclusively. It’s also the smaller, stubby drive selector on the centre console that is more space-efficient than the manual shifter (which takes up less space) and thus has larger volume of data. There is also a rotary selector that switches between Eco and Auto modes, as well as the off-road settings of Snow, Sand and Mud and Lock.
Two cupholders still remain between the front seats, USB-C ports and a wireless phone charger (depending on specification) with. Large enough for small drink bottles, the door bins are large and while glovebox looks like average size from outside to be smaller inside due to a fuse box position in right-hand-drive models. There is another storage bin, albeit not particularly large, under the centre armrest of (against it’s no big size).
The driver and front passenger seats are manually adjustable, and the steering wheel can be adjusted for reach and rake.
In higher-grade versions the seats are reasonably comfortable, but a sort of plastic coating is not unlike if it was used in an wetsuit and, during warm weather conditions (no one particularly breathable), there is no very good quality upholstery for this.
There is dual-zone climate control, and we’re glad to say there are physical buttons for adjusting its settings. heated seats and a heated steering wheel, which is available with the touchscreen.
Also, you’ll notice a few small square tabs in the cabin which are mounting points for Dacia’s proprietary accessory system called ‘YouClip’. The accessories include cupholders, torches and even a phone holder.
The rear of taller passengers is a bit of’squeezed’, and the middle seat has limited legroom because it sits at the back of the centre console. There are also two air vents, a USB-C port and another YouClip attachment point that is included in That.
Given the size and position of the car, with 400 litres available, boot space isn’t too bad. There is space for a spare wheel under the boot floor (although not in Europe’s bi-fuel version, where this area is home to the 50L LPG tank) and there is room for an empty wheel below that bottom of the boots.
| Dimensions | Renault Duster |
| — | — |
| Length | 4343mm |
| Width | 2069mm (mirrors extended) |
| Height | 1659mm (including roof bars) |
| Wheelbase | 2657mm |
| Cargo capacity | 400L (behind rear seats) 1527L (behind front seats) |
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What’s under the bonnet?
This is a new electrified powertrain for the Duster, which includes 1 of its own components. With 48-volt mild hybrid tech, 2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine running the Miller cycle for more efficiency and with an efficient 2 litres of petrol engines.
| Specifications | Renault Duster Hybrid G-150 4×4 |
| — | — |
| Engine | 1.2L 3cyl turbo-petrol 48V MHEV |
| Engine outputs | 103kW 230Nm |
| Electric motor outputs | 23kW 87Nm |
| System outputs | 113kW |
| Battery | 0.84kWh lithium-ion |
| Transmission | 6-speed dual-clutch automatic – front 2-speed automatic – rear |
| Drive type | Four-wheel drive |
| Weight | 1505kg |
| 0-100km/h (claimed) | 10.1 seconds |
| Fuel economy (claimed) | 5.9-6.0L/100km |
| Fuel economy (as tested) | 4.8L/100km |
| Fuel tank capacity | 50L |
| CO2 emissions | 134-135g/km |
| Emissions standard | Euro 6e-bis |
A simple engine with a power of up to 100kW and belt-starter generator for smoother stop/start operation, as well that helps harvest energy back into the 0 is easy enough. 84kWh lithium-ion battery for .
This model was the bi-fuel model, which is unlikely to be sold in Australia and would have been a version we drove for . A driver can switch between petrol and LPG tanks by simply pressing the LGP button on the dashboard – this is done while driving. The engine is a six-speed dual-clutch automatic combustion engine that only drives to the front wheels and does so via.
Unlike that, there is a 48-volt electric motor on the rear axle. The Duster is driven electrically by outputs of up to 23kW and 87Nm, which it does with its own two-speed gearbox that includes a clutch to fully engage or disengage the rear axle as required.
This electric motor can also recover energy for the battery during braking and deceleration.
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How does the Renault Duster drive?
The Duster does a pretty good job of using the electric portion of its drivetrain whenever it is available, especially in urban environments, and may not be ‘full hybrids’ as they say with companies like Toyota.
When the Duster is left on Auto mode, leaving it in its most efficient motor for any given situation can be used if you give the right pedal a prod (or do slack) to overtake quickly, then the petrol engine burns up and gives more power.
The suspension setup is good and feels well-judged for everyday life,’ said. It is still calm as the speed increases, and six-speed auto shifts between gears as smoothly as you would expect from a DCT setup. It is a three-cylinder, and when you ask for everything from the petrol engine it starts to sound so hard that there’s already an inherent thrum to its timbre.
The majority of stop-start (and even free-flowing traffic) motor tennis between the axles is happening, but it doesn’t unsettle the car.
While the steering is light, it still has a lot of weight to it and the front-end feels planted. While we have tried the bi-fuel system (changing tank systems) but it’s a reality, other than an alternative fuel gauge that is showing up there’s little to know which source of fuel is used.
A trip off the tarmac and onto some trails gave me an opportunity to see how it goes off-road, and the results were good. Noting that the Duster is still largely designed for road use, it’s worth noting when we drove an Extreme specification with a pared-back front bumper which raised the approach angle to 31 degrees. It is as helpful as the 217mm of ground clearance, and also receives a 24-degree breakover angle and 36-degree departure angle.
With this system aimed at focusing on traction rather than cutting emissions, switching to one of the three dedicated off-road mode activates both engines simultaneously. The Duster was not a problem covering rough ground even with all-season tyres on the dry Moroccan terrain, and more demanding ascents were made easier by the extra and instantaneous torque from the rear axle.
This gave Steeper descents an opportunity to use the Hill Descent Control (HDC), which is activated by pressing a round button in the centre of the mode selector. It can be set in the same way as cruise control and maintains the preset speed from 3km/h up to 30km / H once it is active.
| Off-road dimensions | Renault Duster Hybrid 4×4 Extreme |
| — | — |
| Track front and rear | 1580mm – front 1560mm – rear |
| Ground clearance | 217mm |
| Approach angle | 31 degrees |
| Departure angle | 36 degrees |
| Ramp breakover angle | 24 degrees |
| Wading depth | 450mm |
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What do you get?
2026 Renault Duster equipment highlights:
- Keyless entry and start
- 17-inch diamond-cut ‘Adventure’ alloy wheels
- Continental Cross Contact 215/65 R17 tyres
- Full-size spare tyre (215/70 R16)
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Automatic LED headlights with halogen high-beam
- Rear fog light
- Grey door mirrors
- Fixed roof rails
- Electric parking brake
- 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster
- 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- DAB+ digital radio
- Wireless phone charger
- 2 x front USB-C outlets
- 2 x rear USB-C outlets
- 1 x front 12V outlet
- 1 x boot 12V outlet
- 6-speaker Arkamys sound system
- Dual-zone climate control with rear air vents
- Leather-wrapped steering wheel
- Height and reach adjustable steering wheel
- Power windows with one-touch auto up/down
- YouClip accessory points: 1 x rear centre console, 2 x boot, 1 x inside of tailgate
- Remote central locking
To see how the Renault Duster stacks up against its rivals, use our
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Is the Renault Duster safe?
ANCAP is still waiting for the Renault Duster to be rated, but Euro NCAP has already assessed it as the Dacia Dusters. In its review, there was a three-star safety rating with most marks lost for failing to have the more advanced safety assistance systems that were included in the price.
Standard safety equipment includes:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Cruise control
- Hill descent control
- Front and rear parking sensors
- Two ISOFIX mounting points in the rear
- Traffic sign recognition
- Front and front-side airbags
- Curtain airbags for both rows
- Reversing camera
Duster is a relatively good standard and safety equipment, especially given its price tag. There are some things that could be better, like the 360-degree camera system which has a higher resolution picture than you would expect from the first smartphones way back when it comes to your smartphone.
To see how the Renault Duster stacks up against its rivals, use our
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How much does the Renault Duster cost to run?
It’s backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and there’re some relative peace of mind with the Renault. intervals are 12 months or 30,000km,whichever comes first for Servicing interval (although interval in the hybrid system may vary from one-year to another).
| Servicing and Warranty | Renault Duster Hybrid 4×4 |
| — | — |
| Warranty | 5 years, unlimited kilometres – vehicle 8 years or 160,000km – battery |
| Roadside assistance | 5 years |
| Service intervals | 12 months or 30,000km |
| Capped-price servicing | TBC |
To see how the Renault Duster stacks up against its rivals, use our
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childcareman.xyz’s Take on the Renault Duster Hybrid 4×4
Duster is an easy but a refreshing compact SUV, and this new AWD automatic powertrain helps to keep up its off-road potential.
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While it is not a super-frugal hybrid like some people are, it does work well and most people will be happy with its efficiency, running costs and capability.
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