New Dacia Duster

One of my neighbors just got a new Sandero, clearly the quality has improved a lot over the years, the early ones were a bit cheap feeling in general but their current models are ok.
 
There are tons of non US market cars i wish we could have. You can buy these and many other desirable models from other brands in Mexico and bring it up here but you wouldn't be able to register them as they aren't approved for US roads but just need small changes from the manufacturer. I'd love to drive a Toyota Hilux or a mitsubishi l200 and get an automatic toyota avanza with the older bulletproof drivetrain with an automatic for just 15k usd.
Unless you're in Texas. Supposedly Texas doesn't emissions test diesel vehicles, and there are a couple of Hilux running around with Texas plates. I saw a picture recently of a Nissan Xtrail with Connecticut plates. I'm guessing that the dmv went "oh they mean xterra.".
 
There's something wrong with the pictures. Did you accidentally mirror the image somehow? The steering wheel is on the wrong side ;) :)

Thanks for the pics, It's interesting to see what's available in other countries. Nice car!!
 
First tow with the Duster, only 10 miles or so back to the storage yard, but a tow none the less! Caravan weighs between 1100kg and 1300kg.

It was a bit windy out but the car was as stable as I could ask it to be. Pulling off was effortless thanks to it's very low first gear. On the motorway I set cruise to 60mph in 5th gear (~2700rpm) and it pulled up inclines on the motorway without breaking a sweat.

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Little update time.

Mileage is current ~9,700miles so will be having it's next OCI between now and Sunday.

Got some towing in the last few months. Really impressed how well the small SUV with it's 1.5 diesel engine manages. As previously mentioned, it's very short 1st gear makes pulling off an absolute doddle even with a gross train weight in excess of 3000kgs/6600lbs.

On motorways you stick to 5th gear which is around 2600-2700rpm with cruise control set to 60mph (maximum speed for a towing vehicle on a UK motorway) and it pulls up inclines without a 2nd thought. Albeit can be a little 'buzzy' at times. 6th gear will drop the RPM down to ~2000 but it struggles with hills and EGT's and boost run higher. So raise the RPM's a bit and she seems far happier.

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While away I did decide to try and take it off road while in the Gower. In the salt mashes on the North of the peninsular there's a number of dirt roads. I decided to do a U-Turn and dumped a front wheel into the marsh. Came out without much effort but did make a mess. :ROFLMAO:

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While doing some pre-flight checks before towing home I did notice the coolant level was low. Not sure if it's just something I've missed previously or if it's leaked/consumed it. Something I need to keep an eye on!

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Last week I had some free time in work so decided to wire up the auxiliary power for the tow bar. This will allow us to keep the fridge running and also charge the on-board battery when towing the caravan.

Usually I run a 40A supply to a small fuse holder in the boot and take 2N° 20A circuits from this fuse box with the switching module mounted in the boot. This time while having a look at how I was going to install the wiring, I noticed the engine bay fuse box had a very accessible positive supply and some empty space. So I decided to fit the split charge relay into the fuse box and run two separate 20A supplies to the rear of the car and join onto the tow bar wiring loom.

Fuse box with lots of spare space...

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Running in 2N° 2.5mm cables...

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The took a piece of 4mm steel rod and ground a point on the end. Used this to push a hole through the bulkhead grommet to pass the cables through.

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I then taped up the loom that would be within the engine bay...
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And installed it in some flexible conduit which you can see running up from the bulkhead, around the strut tower, along the wing and stops by the headlight. You can see in the below picture that I coiled up the cable and cable tied it to the top of the battery as it was home time.
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Next day I purchased two inline fuse holders, put crimp lugs on the end and installed in the fuse box. I picked up the supply from the positive feed form the battery within the fuse box...
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Bit hard to see, but if you look carefully you can see where I brought in additional cabling. The grey and brown are the feeds going to the rear of the car and the blue was an earth which I picked up from the bulkhead. I was hoping there would be an earth in the fuse box for the relays but they were all switched/triggers.

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The new module was wired up (must say, not a fan of screw terminations on cars but all these modules all seem to have them)...

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And then secured in the fuse box with a cable tie...
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This module provides two functions. First is it provides a switched live to the tow bar when the engine is running and also provides discharge protection on the permeant live to ensure you don't drain the battery.

All back together, other than the flexible conduit, you wouldn't know it was there!

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Finally, I fished the cables (with some swearing and not a lot of patience) under the carpets into the rear boot space and connected the new supplies into the existing tow bar wiring with some glue lined heat shrink crimps...

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Had another weekend down West Wales with the caravan. Duster towing impeccably like always!

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Came home with ~9900m on the odo so I decided to get an OCI out of the way. Unfortunately it is becoming a two day affair.

Drained the oil...

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Removed the filter housing (fantastic location directly above the anti-roll bar) ...
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Popped out the filter and cleaned the housing with brake clean and compressed air...
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Then realised the filter that Euro Car Parts gave me is the wrong one 😭

Bottom of the old filter...
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Bottom of the new filter...
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Just got the filter changed to the right one on my lunch break. To be continued...
 
No sure what the long-term plan is. My Wifes Dacia Logan is getting on a little bit now (coming up to 6 years old with 110k on the clock) so I may give it to her in a year or two when (hopefully) the car market sorts itself out and I can buy something German again.
But doesn't that mean it will be her turn to pick and get a new car and your turn will be down the line when this one is used up? :)
 
Little update time.

Mileage is current ~9,700miles so will be having it's next OCI between now and Sunday.

Got some towing in the last few months. Really impressed how well the small SUV with it's 1.5 diesel engine manages. As previously mentioned, it's very short 1st gear makes pulling off an absolute doddle even with a gross train weight in excess of 3000kgs/6600lbs.

On motorways you stick to 5th gear which is around 2600-2700rpm with cruise control set to 60mph (maximum speed for a towing vehicle on a UK motorway) and it pulls up inclines without a 2nd thought. Albeit can be a little 'buzzy' at times. 6th gear will drop the RPM down to ~2000 but it struggles with hills and EGT's and boost run higher. So raise the RPM's a bit and she seems far happier.

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While away I did decide to try and take it off road while in the Gower. In the salt mashes on the North of the peninsular there's a number of dirt roads. I decided to do a U-Turn and dumped a front wheel into the marsh. Came out without much effort but did make a mess. :ROFLMAO:

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While doing some pre-flight checks before towing home I did notice the coolant level was low. Not sure if it's just something I've missed previously or if it's leaked/consumed it. Something I need to keep an eye on!

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Am I alone in never seeing coolant in litres?
 
This was such an interesting writeup on a small engine European SUV. 1.5l Turbo. With a 10k miles, first oil change! Thanks for your post!!
 
On every new car I did a PDI on (must be hundreds over the years) I've had to add some coolant to get it to full

The coolant level hasn't budged since. I'm suspecting it's always been low and I just haven't noticed.

But doesn't that mean it will be her turn to pick and get a new car and your turn will be down the line when this one is used up? :)

Unfortunately she decided she wanted a new BMW Mini to go with her classic Mini so my plan has been somewhat disturbed. I'd love an ex-police BMW 3 or 5 series touring with the 3.0 diesel. I can pick up a 5 year old example straight out of duty with 120-150k on the clock for £13,000 or so. But the Duster is growing on me every day!

Am I alone in never seeing coolant in litres?

I'm in Europe so everything is in litres. Unless you mean the fact it came in litre bottles? I just went into the dealer and asked for a small quantity of Renault Type D and that's what they gave me. Reasonably priced too at £6.

Type D is just an OAT coolant but dyed fluorescent yellow. I have OAT coolants in the garage but they are all red or pink and didn't want to wind up with brown coolant. :ROFLMAO:

This was such an interesting writeup on a small engine European SUV. 1.5l Turbo. With a 10k miles, first oil change! Thanks for your post!!

Thank you. The factory interval is 2 years or 15,000miles on a 5w30 RN 720 or ACEA C4 oil. I changed the oil at 5k and now 10k with Fuchs Titan GT1 Flex 3 5w40 which carries a ton of very stringent approvals.

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Anyway, moving on to the 2nd part of this cars OCI.

New filter in (finally!)...

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And I installed 6 litres of oil and started my usual cleaning routine.

Engine bay was quite dusty. There's no rubber seal along the front bonnet edge so it does get dusty in there quickly. Especially during winter when there's salt on the roads. May have to look at installing a seal somehow. I hate a dirty engine bay!

So after 3 months and 5,000miles since the last clean, it looked like this...
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I give everything a good soak in a strong Bilt Hamber Autofoam solution with the snow foam lance and left to dwell for 10 minutes...
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I spent 10 minutes rinsing everything off with the pressure washer and reinstalled the undertray.

I applied 500ml mixture of 5% Bilt Hamber Atom Mac over everything in the engine bay with a pressure sprayer on a fine mist for corrosion protection.

Then applied a fine mist of Autoglym Vynil and Rubber Dressing over everything while the engine was still wet.

Then I took the car for a drive to get the engine bay to dry.

On return I sprayed an MF with a light mist of Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber Dressing and wipes over all the visible plastics and applied Bilt Hamber Ferrosol to all the visible and accessible battery terminals, earth points, bonnet hinges, latches etc.

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Job done for another 5,000miles or 6 months!
 
Update Oct 2023 Part 1
Thought I'd add another update for those interested.

Back last month the car hit 15,000miles so was due another oil change. Exactly the same process as my last post, except I got the right filter the first time...

Oil drained
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New oil and filter ready to go in.
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Usual slightly dirty engine bay so gave it the usual clean. Quick snow foam, followed by a rinse with Bilt Hamber Atom Mac and a thorough application of Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber dressing on a wet engine bay. Took the car for a drive to give it all a chance to dry off and a final wipe down with a microfibre with a light spray of dressing.
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Update Oct 2023 Part 2
Annoyingly, throughout August I managed to pick up two flat tyres 3 weeks apart. I hadn't yet removed the wheels from the car since I had it and found both wheels on both occasions seized onto the hub. Not fun sitting on the floor trying to kick a wheel off, especially in the rain. Unfortunately both tyres had puncture right on the edge of the tread therefore unrepairable so both were replaced with the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons that came on the car from the factory.

Flat tyre one.
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Flat tyre two.
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I decided it was wise to get the wheels off and apply some copper grease to the hubs to stop it happening again.

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I was actually quite surprised to see how much corrosion had built up on the hubs themselves.
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I wire brushed the hubs, thoroughly cleaned the hubs with brake clean and applied a very small smear of copper grease around the spigot and a small amount of copper grease to the wheel bolts.
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I think that was a job worth doing. I also put the two new tyres on the front, hoping all four will now wear out around the same time as I'd like to change to all-terrains.
 
Update Oct 2023 Part 3

A bit of a random one thrown in here. The Duster is approved to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil or HVO as it's known here. There is only a handful of pumps in the UK that sell it. I've been making regular trips back and fore Glasgow (400miles each way) and found out I pass one of them so figured I had to try it.
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Things I noted...

Cost - This was £1.899/litre. Compare this with BP Ultimate diesel which is usually around £1.709/litre at the moment.

The fuel itself was perfectly clear and seemed to be thinner than regular diesel. It smelled just like diesel though.

I think the car was marginally quieter, but had no scientific way to confirm.

The car seemed more responsive, but again this was only my butt dyno. I wouldn't say it was any more powerful.

Fuel economy was most certainly higher. I usually average high 50's to low 60's on long drives. The tank of HVO did 69mpg managing 693.4miles to 45.62litres!
 
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