Renault Duster Gets A New 1.0-litre Turbocharged Petrol Engine In Europe; Will It Come To India?

It replaces the naturally aspirated 1.6-litre petrol engine on offer there

• New engine joins the 1.3-litre turbo-petrol unit on offer in Europe.
• 1.0-litre turbo-petrol makes 100PS of power and 160Nm of torque.
• It can be had with a 5-speed manual gearbox with front-wheel-drive.
• The SUV is no longer available with a naturally aspirated engine in Europe.
• One of these new engines could make its way to the India-spec Duster soon.

Renault has given the Euro-spec Dacia Duster a new 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. The Euro-spec Duster is in its second generation and not to be confused with the one on sale in India currently. Co-developed with Nissan, the new 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine makes 100PS of maximum power and 160Nm of peak torque mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox.

The new engine replaces naturally aspirated 1.6-litre unit that churns out 114PS and 156Nm of torque. This marks the end of naturally aspirated petrol engines in the Duster lineup in Europe. It is now available with two turbo-petrol engines (1.0-litre and 1.3-litre) along with the 1.5-litre Blue dCi diesel engine (an updated version of the 1.5-litre unit sold in India).

Pictured: Renault's new 1.0-litre petrol engine

Meanwhile, Renault plans to discontinue diesel engines in India once the new BS6 emission norms come into place. Hence, it’s safe to assume that the 1.5-litre diesel unit’s days are numbered. This leaves the French carmaker with just the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated unit to power the Duster. The 1.5-litre petrol engine is not available with an AWD system and it feels underpowered, especially when compared to other compact SUVs like the Hyundai Creta and the upcoming Kia Seltos. Even petrol-powered sub-4m SUVs like Hyundai Venue and Ford EcoSport offer over 120PS of power compared to the Duster’s 106PS. In fact, the Ford and the Hyundai offer more torque as well.

We feel that Renault might introduce one of the two new turbocharged petrol engines in the country if it plans to discontinue diesel engines from its lineup by April 2020.

We are placing our bets on the 1.3-litre unit as the motor that could replace the current 1.5-litre dCi diesel unit. That is because the 1.3-litre unit is offered with the option of AWD option in Europe, which is also one of the biggest USPs of the Duster in India.

In Europe, the 1.3-litre turbocharged unit is available in two states of tune. The lower-spec version makes 130PS and 240Nm, while the higher-spec version is good for 150PS and 250Nm. It is available with a manual as well as a dual-clutch automatic transmission. Since both of these engines are available with 4WD option, it would be interesting to see which version of the two will be introduced here.

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