Speaker 1: Car Talk with Melinda Ferguson on weekend Breakfast with Sarah
Speaker 1: Jane mcquali king.
Speaker 2: All right, time now for our regular motoring feature. For
Speaker 2: a Saturday morning, City Press motoring journalist Melinda Ferguson with
Speaker 2: us until just before nine o'clock to give us the
Speaker 2: lowdown on what she's been cruising in this week, which
Speaker 2: is the Renault Duster, which has been given something of
Speaker 2: a face lift.
Speaker 3: Mel Right, No, brand new generation. Oh okay, the whole
Speaker 3: brand new Duster, third generation. Hello Darling, Hello, good morning. Okay,
Speaker 3: I thought you might hear Joe in the background. He
Speaker 3: spluttered a squirrel. Oh I am in good that is
Speaker 3: what her squirrels are in abundance. Okay, yeah, so this look,
Speaker 3: I mean, let's just go back to a bit of history,
Speaker 3: because the Dust is I mean, it's a small compact suv.
Speaker 3: It's been very close to my heart since it launched
Speaker 3: in about twenty ten. I was a really green, kind
Speaker 3: of brand new type of journalist. I'd only started, I
Speaker 3: think the previous year, and it was one of the
Speaker 3: first launches I ever went to. And that was that boxy,
Speaker 3: very unkind of I guess stylish. The first generation but
Speaker 3: it did what it did. It had a real no
Speaker 3: nonsense vibe about it. And I'd be quite interested to
Speaker 3: find out how many of those first generations are still around.
Speaker 3: Maybe someone's listening with one of them. It was known
Speaker 3: as the Dassier in Europe, and yeah, it was developed
Speaker 3: by this Romanian arm of Reno called the Dassier, but
Speaker 3: came in as the Dust in South Africa. And in
Speaker 3: the second generation it had quite a sort of makeover
Speaker 3: in terms of what it looked like. One of the
Speaker 3: most amazing things about the first two generation Dusters was
Speaker 3: that it had this turbo diesel engine that went on forever.
Speaker 3: I remember taking it on a long journey and the
Speaker 3: dial never moved. I kept thinking, something's wrong with the gauge.
Speaker 3: The fuel gauge just didn't move. I think I got
Speaker 3: over one thousand kilometers on one tank on that turbo
Speaker 3: diesel Duster. Okay, And I'm talking about it with longing
Speaker 3: because the new one doesn't have a turbo diesel Oh okay, Yeah,
Speaker 3: well it's the turbo petrol engines.
Speaker 1: We'll get to those just now.
Speaker 3: But I think one of my sort of longings is
Speaker 3: that I wish they'd been able to have put a
Speaker 3: diesel option end, but with all the emissions regulations, especially
Speaker 3: in Europe, they just aren't in a way allowed to
Speaker 3: make those engines anymore.
Speaker 2: I'm just having a bit of a google as I'm
Speaker 2: as I tend to do at these things. And you
Speaker 2: you mentioned that the looks of the original Renoduster in
Speaker 2: it being a bit boxy, I'm going to say, and
Speaker 2: no offense to any Renoduster owners out there, it is
Speaker 2: it has historically been, in my mind, one of the
Speaker 2: least attractive and least appealing cars on the road. And
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's it's always dog doggy people. Doggy people
Speaker 2: have always got a renou Duster. There is nothing, there's
Speaker 2: never been anything sexy about it. It's one of those
Speaker 2: cars that I've just always looked at and thought in
Speaker 2: a million years, no I know which, which I'm sure
Speaker 2: Reno is delighted to hear that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but are you looking at that?
Speaker 3: Because the second generation definitely headlust all of their doggie
Speaker 3: no or all of.
Speaker 2: Them never And yet as I look now, as I
Speaker 2: look now now, yeah, definitely a step in the right direction.
Speaker 3: Definitely, it's actually damn good looking in the metal flesh
Speaker 3: this new generation. I was like, it came and got
Speaker 3: parked in front of my home and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, it's got a more tanky kind of look.
Speaker 3: More it's got I think, yeah, it's gone more muscular.
Speaker 3: It's in fact not very much bigger than the previous generation,
Speaker 3: but it looks bigger, and it looks more planted, it
Speaker 3: looks more sort of I'm here for some serious business.
Speaker 3: But it's also got I think, a pretty attractive edge.
Speaker 2: Agree. I agree with all of that. I agree with
Speaker 2: all of that. And it's a good thing too, because
Speaker 2: you know that the fact that it's a French brand,
Speaker 2: you kind of think, oh, come on, does you know
Speaker 2: where's which has been missing? But now they've they've got it.
Speaker 2: They've they've they've got it, and I am going to
Speaker 2: be interested to see just just talk a little bit
Speaker 2: about what segment this is in. Who's this going up against?
Speaker 3: Oh well, this is interesting. So it's built on there
Speaker 3: and with this might mean absolutely nothing to everybody. The
Speaker 3: CMFB platform, which is a kind of the compact suv,
Speaker 3: and you'd see immediately you'll know what I'm talking about
Speaker 3: because the Toyota Corolla Cross, which I reviewed last week
Speaker 3: is kind of in that segment, the Cherry Tiko seven Pro,
Speaker 3: the Kiirs Sealtas, the mghs.
Speaker 1: You'd even think of.
Speaker 3: The Ford Ecosport I think is probably like the closest
Speaker 3: in a way rival. The thing is is that they
Speaker 3: might have similar body looks and even engines. But the
Speaker 3: Reno Dusta there is one of the models does have
Speaker 3: four bar four capability.
Speaker 1: Now none of those others do.
Speaker 3: The only other one I would think is maybe you
Speaker 3: could look at as a Jymney, a Suzuki Jimney kind
Speaker 3: of in this price range.
Speaker 1: But then the Jymney wouldn't.
Speaker 3: Be as nice to on open roads, would It would
Speaker 3: definitely beat the Renau Duster having to do insane or
Speaker 3: for road things. So it's kind of almost now in
Speaker 3: a class of its own, this Renau Duster.
Speaker 2: So I'm trying to think about other products from Renot.
Speaker 2: So we've got the Kiger, which is that very popular crossover,
Speaker 2: that the Quid, which the lesson said about that Quid
Speaker 2: the Quid, and the is it the Triber, the Renault Triber,
Speaker 2: Yes it is.
Speaker 3: And then of course you've got Cleo's and you've got captures.
Speaker 3: You know, you've got all of those kinds of the capture.
Speaker 3: In fact, the clear and Capture platform. They've used the
Speaker 3: same platform for the Duster.
Speaker 1: Just for a bit of trivia.
Speaker 3: Okay, that quit I went and looked at some numbers
Speaker 3: before I started the show, and that quit is still
Speaker 3: the best seller for Reno along with the Triber. Is
Speaker 3: it the Tribe or the Kiger? I mean, listen, it's
Speaker 3: one of the two. I always get mixed up. I
Speaker 3: know there's a Nissan. I think it is the Reno Triber.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, yeah, all right? And then inside, what have
Speaker 2: we got going on? Any new tech features, safety features
Speaker 2: that people need to be aware?
Speaker 3: I think that yeah, I think there's quite a lot
Speaker 3: going on inside. Look, it was never the most like
Speaker 3: plush inside ever. No, it always felt quite utilitarian to me.
Speaker 3: So we still have obviously we've got these hard but
Speaker 3: durable plastics, but all of the ones in this segment do.
Speaker 3: There's no like leather and ebony wood in this segment,
Speaker 3: so it feels very sturdy. I felt like there's no
Speaker 3: cheap feeling about it. And the entertainment system has definitely
Speaker 3: gone up quite a few notches, very modern now. It's
Speaker 3: obviously got Apple Car Play, Android Auto two USB sports
Speaker 3: for charging your phone in the front. There is a
Speaker 3: wireless charger, but I did find that my Samsung S
Speaker 3: twenty three Ultra was a little large for it. So
Speaker 3: I think, if you're going to buy one of these,
Speaker 3: check if your phone fits the wireless charger, or actually,
Speaker 3: don't even bother. I'm not mad about wireless charges. They
Speaker 3: never charged fast. As far as I'm so, I would
Speaker 3: not not buy a Duster because my phone didn't fit.
Speaker 3: Then you've also got a kind of seven inch digital
Speaker 3: instrument cluster for the driver, and I found that all
Speaker 3: of the tech very easy to connect. It wasn't you know,
Speaker 3: it wasn't difficult. What I rarely loved was the outdoorsy
Speaker 3: kind of feel inside and instead of having carpets, there
Speaker 3: are rather floor mats. And I've just been driving the
Speaker 3: Ranger Trema with the same kind of like very use
Speaker 3: full type of no carpets. You don't have to take
Speaker 3: a car. It's for the people, the dog people and me,
Speaker 3: you know, I am a dog person. This is my
Speaker 3: dream come true, is to have Joe not making a
Speaker 3: bit big mess on the carpets. Yeah, yeah, you don't,
Speaker 3: You're no longer a dog person, but if you were,
Speaker 3: you might be interested.
Speaker 2: Well maybe I am a child person, and it's not
Speaker 2: it's not too dissimilar a thing. Honestly, the amount of
Speaker 2: time I spent, you know, taking milk stains and sour
Speaker 2: milk and biscuit crumbs out of my car, maybe maybe
Speaker 2: rubber rubber mats is exactly what I need.
Speaker 1: Sour milk is my worstful, it's awful.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's go to the boot. I mean you always
Speaker 3: want to know about that, Yeah, yeah, okay, So there
Speaker 3: is a full size spare wheel.
Speaker 1: Great news, and there is.
Speaker 3: We'll get to those two types of engines because we
Speaker 3: have actually skipped over that. But in the four bar
Speaker 3: four you've got four hundred and forty four liters and
Speaker 3: in the four by two variant you've got four seventy
Speaker 3: two liters. But if you put the rear seats down
Speaker 3: and squash the kids, you've got one thousand, six hundred
Speaker 3: and ninety six liters. So it's a really lovely big
Speaker 3: boots with rear seats down. Should we get to those
Speaker 3: two engines?
Speaker 1: I'm sure yes. One thing, why are we not talking
Speaker 1: about that? Okay?
Speaker 3: So, as I said, no, turbo diesel. I'm very sad,
Speaker 3: but anyway, it is what it is. We've got two
Speaker 3: turbo petrol engines. There's a one point three liter turbo
Speaker 3: for the four x two that gives one hundred and
Speaker 3: thirteen kilowatts and two fifteen newton meters of talk, and
Speaker 3: that is two wheel drive.
Speaker 1: Okay. And you have got an auto gearbox. I think,
Speaker 1: well I have.
Speaker 3: I've been driving that one, and I think there's a
Speaker 3: manual in that as well. But the one for the
Speaker 3: four the four bar four strangely doesn't have an auto gearbox.
Speaker 3: You just get your manual, although that might be quite
Speaker 3: nice to be doing more careful driving. And the one
Speaker 3: point two litera turbo, where the four by four has
Speaker 3: ninety six kilowatts, so slightly less than its other counterpart,
Speaker 3: and two thirty newton meters of talk.
Speaker 2: Okay, I know that I've sound. I'm not convinced by this.
Speaker 2: I think I need to. I think it's about mindset. Actually,
Speaker 2: I think I've always had such a attitude towards the
Speaker 2: Renaudusta that you could tell me it's got, as you know,
Speaker 2: a Porsche engine or something, and I probably wouldn't be
Speaker 2: that impressed, which is terribly unfair because you know.
Speaker 1: This, you know what, Sarah, Yeah, Sarah, yeah, as your
Speaker 1: mother would call you.
Speaker 3: Yes, me and me and your mom are the only
Speaker 3: people who get to call you Sarah.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't think you are crazy about going
Speaker 3: four by four driving and driving on sand dunes and.
Speaker 1: Taking rocks for it. You know you're not. So you're
Speaker 1: more of an urban mom.
Speaker 3: This isn't Yeah, you're an urban mother ic or just
Speaker 3: urban mother who needs to take kids around and go,
Speaker 3: you know, on little dates and do whatever you.
Speaker 1: Do in your life. But I think the market, you're
Speaker 1: not the target market.
Speaker 3: And I think that for those people that really do
Speaker 3: love taking for me, I'm like very interested in terms
Speaker 3: of taking it out on ruts and muddy, slippery things
Speaker 3: because that's kind of my lifestyle right now. So I
Speaker 3: think the big appeal is that this car it comes
Speaker 3: in having four by four capability and at a price
Speaker 3: point where most all of the other competitors is none
Speaker 3: of them have that. And also I have to just
Speaker 3: add that there is a forty eight volt hybrid assist
Speaker 3: in the four by four version, so you do have
Speaker 3: better fuel consumption even though it's not the diesel. They
Speaker 3: have done something to make that turbopetrol not as hungry
Speaker 3: as it might be without the hybrid tech.
Speaker 2: All right, Okay, we need to talk about money, don't we.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean we could have a little insight
Speaker 3: on how it is to drive. I did feel that
Speaker 3: it was very solid, very comfy. There no not a
Speaker 3: lot of wind noise, no sort of road noise while
Speaker 3: you're driving.
Speaker 1: It felt well put together.
Speaker 2: Did you put foot in this?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean it's not look with the with the
Speaker 1: what are the kilowatts?
Speaker 3: I mean it's not exactly going to be to golf GTR,
Speaker 3: but at one hundred and thirteen kilowatts, and conversely the
Speaker 3: ninety six kilowatts. Luckily is the turbo in there so
Speaker 3: that it doesn't feel laggy. It's not a laggy car.
Speaker 2: Okay, did you put Joe in the car?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 2: How did Joe line?
Speaker 1: And it was Joe? I mean, Joe's reviewed more cars.
Speaker 1: I wish I could get.
Speaker 2: Joe For people who are not regular listeners to the show.
Speaker 2: Joe is not human and therefore is not capable of
Speaker 2: giving any sort of opinion on these cars. Joe is
Speaker 2: Melinda's dog, who goes everywhere with her. Okay, I mean
Speaker 2: he was. He was happy in there, jumping in and
Speaker 2: out with his you know, slobber all over rubber matts
Speaker 2: and things. Good.
Speaker 3: He's not a slubberer, he's he is a dirty mud
Speaker 3: poor Yeah. And I do have to tell you that
Speaker 3: that one of the good things is with these cars
Speaker 3: is that you need to have one of those buttons
Speaker 3: that push the windows to lock. It wasn't in the duster,
Speaker 3: but the other day he somehow managed to open the
Speaker 3: window after I'd parked the car.
Speaker 1: And the next thing he was running around really no stop.
Speaker 1: I mean he was screaming. I thought, why are people screaming?
Speaker 3: And the next thing came bounding the beautiful meat section
Speaker 3: at will Wards and everyone was in total like this
Speaker 3: array because no dog is allowed in Willies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that is absolutely that's the story. I hadn't
Speaker 2: been expecting. That's hilarious. But also, I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 2: there's people listening. It's not hilarious, s J. I think
Speaker 2: it is quite funny. I love the fact that he
Speaker 2: opened the window himself and was like, I'm coming in right, Okay,
Speaker 2: that's really funny.
Speaker 1: So you want to go do you want to guess?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do, and I'm not going to be terribly specific,
Speaker 2: so I'm just going to go I'm going to go
Speaker 2: on the nose, six hundred thousand round.
Speaker 3: Gez, you can get the Reno Dusta one point three turba,
Speaker 3: the Zen four by two for four eighty nine nine
Speaker 3: ninety nine.
Speaker 1: Pretty good. Christ Hey, you were almost two hundred arms.
Speaker 3: Then the mid range intense the four by two is
Speaker 3: five nineteen nine nine nine, and then the four by four,
Speaker 3: the one I would probably go for is five point
Speaker 3: forty nine nine ninety nine.
Speaker 2: Gosh, all right, yeah, so I was over by Okay.
Speaker 2: I mean that's I mean, I don't know how that
Speaker 2: compares to I mean, you said the chimney, but it's
Speaker 2: not really. I mean, it isn't it isn't. Isn't it comparable?
Speaker 3: But it's much more comfortable than the chimney, I have
Speaker 3: to tell you that. And it doesn't have exactly the
Speaker 3: same spider crawling up the mountain nobility. I just always
Speaker 3: think of the chimney as the spider that can like
Speaker 3: crawl up everywhere.
Speaker 1: It's just insane what that little car can do. But
Speaker 1: also that jimney comes with the jimney.
Speaker 2: The jimney is trendy, isn't it. I know so many
Speaker 2: sort of young people who are who love the chimney
Speaker 2: because you know, it's like, we're so young and trendy
Speaker 2: in our in our chimney, which is the in my mind,
Speaker 2: the exact opposite of the Duster people. But listen, I
Speaker 2: could be wrong. I'd love to see who the which,
Speaker 2: who it is that's going to end up getting on
Speaker 2: board with this new I think that's men.
Speaker 3: I think, honestly, men are more desper orientated than women.
Speaker 3: I think the women would probably like as you saying,
Speaker 3: is like they want to have like this kind of
Speaker 3: stylish little you know, not a car that maybe gets
Speaker 3: associated with dogs.
Speaker 1: That's really even though I.
Speaker 2: Say that because in my mind's eye, when I think
Speaker 2: of Duster owners, it's usually a woman in a k
Speaker 2: Way jacket of about sixty with a couple of labradors.
Speaker 2: That's that, in my mind, is who the Duster drys.
Speaker 2: Barbara's exactly, That's exactly it. I'm thinking of Barbara Woodhouse.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm definitely I think I might be going into
Speaker 3: my Barbara wood stage because I am definitely a target
Speaker 3: market person for this car.
Speaker 1: Definitely.
Speaker 2: Oh that is so funny. All right, what are we
Speaker 2: giving it out of ten?
Speaker 3: If it had that diesel, I would have given it
Speaker 3: an eight out of ten. But I have to say
Speaker 3: I'm still like tearing up my clothes in grief, so
Speaker 3: I'm giving it a good, good seven and a half
Speaker 3: out of ten today.
Speaker 2: Okay, seven and a half out of ten for the
Speaker 2: renaut dust up, Mel, thank you very much. Indeed, we'll
Speaker 2: chat to you again next week.