Both come from the house of heavyweights who have been into this arena for generations now. Maruti Suzuki amidst high anticipation, launched Ertiga into the market and the response was a “RAGE”. The booking of Ertiga is taking place on a massive scale and Maruti is already looking forward to increasing the units of production in order to meet with the oncoming demands. But there is a competitor who is lurking in the shadows till now and will lash out in the coming month. Renault will be unleashing its second SUV in India named Duster. There are a lot more SUVs that Renault has under its banner but presently there are only two that are slated for India. One of them had already been launched and this was Koleos which unfortunately could not cope with the competition brewing in the SUV arena here in India. Even Ford EcoSport launch is being anticipated to give a gush of sweat to Ertiga and Duster. Thus now we will critically analyze what makes Maruti Ertiga and Renault Duster different from each other.
Exteriors: –
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
Maruti Suzuki designing team has done a good job on Ertiga as the car has been taken well by the people here in India owing to the fact that one can easily manoeuvre this car without any hassles and adding to this, the exteriors of the car give an elegant appeal to whosoever passing by the car. The car is perfect when it comes to city roads and traffic and this is one car that every metropolitan citizen would give a thumbs-up to. Another interesting feature of the car is that the designers have made the exoskeleton of the car in such a manner that the driver would not have any obstructions while parking the car even in a narrow space. The headlamps attached to the car have been peeled back in an expertise manner which gives it an impressive look if someone assesses it while standing in front of the car. The fenders of the car are designed to look fabulous and would definitely strike a chord with the buyer. There is a smart spoiler attached to the rear of the car as well which not only does add to the looks quotient of the car but also assists in the aerodynamics. The tail lamps of Ertiga has also been given a new design and just like the headlamps, even these are extended in order to rationalize the looks of the car in sync with the headlamps. Maruti Ertiga will come equipped with 15-inch alloy wheels which will give it a luxurious as well as a sporty outlook on the whole. Thus all these compiled into one car surely makes the car worth a lot of applauses and praises.
Present day SUVs are most based on rough designs which at the moment are the trends that SUVs are taking up. The exterior design of Renault Duster is based just in sync with the ongoing trend. The headlamps of Renault Duster are pretty bland and bright thus illuminating even the darkest roads. The bumpers of the car are much sportier than Maruti Ertigaas Duster is an off-roader as well. On the contrary, Maruti Ertiga is more comfortable on city roads rather than rough terrains. The wheel arches installed to the car are pretty aggressive and this is what adds to the appeal of the car. The roof rails of the car have been fitted to look sporty and bringing all these features together, we get a compact durable SUV by the name Duster. The Renault logo has been carefully and expertly fixed on the chrome grill in the front on the skid silver plate. Duster provides a praiseworthy ground clearance of approximately 210mm and will be coming equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels. There is enough boot space on the rear part of the car and the whole boot lid has been designed to be curvy. The tail lamp as well as the stop lamp has been designed well and all this makes Renault Duster score well when it comes to its exterior features.
Interiors: –
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
Just like the exteriors of Maruti Ertiga got praises, similar are the features that Maruti has put inside Ertiga. The interiors of the car are pretty refreshing and jazzy. The car is perfect for a joint family as the ambience in the car is quite alluring. Ertiga has three row of seating arrangement with 7 seats comfortably installed into it. There are a lot of seat cues that Maruti has borrowed for Ertiga from its junior counterpart Swift. The material used to cover the seat is top-notch which in turn will totally give a pleasant and regal feeling to the passengers seated inside the cabin. The boot space that has been put into the car is 135 litres which is a lot of space and thus can easily accommodate a complete family. If we wish to fold the end row of seats in order to make more boot space, then the capacity increases to 735 litres. Maruti Suzuki while designing Ertiga made up its mind to include the car with up to date interiors as well as exteriors owing to the fact that Ertiga was something that they wanted to push ahead of all the other cars of its class. The car fared well from the exterior point of view as well and now the interiors of the car also seem to be impressive enough. It is being said that the interiors of Ertiga are better than most of its counterparts including Toyota Innova which set a rage following its launch in the Indian automobile market. The expectations from Ertiga are high owing to the fact that it is Maruti Suzuki we are talking about.
Renault Duster
If Ertiga’s interiors have caught the eye of the critics then Renault Duster is not far behind as the interiors of the car totally reflect that appeal that it makes from its exteriors. The exteriors of Renault are more aggressive than that of Ertiga and thus owing to its outer design; Renault decided to give such a design to its interiors which justifiably compliments the exteriors. The dashboard of Ertiga is made out to be curvy and all the finishing in the cabin of the car has been done in black colour. Black colour finishing exudes sportiness in the truest sense and increasing the appeal of the car. Renault Duster has a lot of features in it that were there in Renault Logan and it has five seats in its cabin which are made using premium fabric in order to give the passengers a perfect feel of comfort and elegance. If we give a close look to the dashboard of Renault Duster, then we will notice a dial that is trimmed using chrome and it has a digital display feature on it. Going more into interiors, Renault Duster might give the drivers more challenge while making manoeuvres across turns and the gear box attached to the car is also a bit stiff. But those who have been driving SUVs since a long time will not complain regarding this since this is how the gear box is in most of the SUVs that are rolling here in India. The interiors of the car are pretty spacious and it consists of an impressive boot space that can easily accommodate at least 6 passengers comfortably.
Ergonomics: –
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
Maruti Suzuki has over the past few years revolutionized its K-series engines which now come with almost every car of the company. Maruti Ertiga comes in two different variants one of which is the K12 VVT 1.7 Litre Petrol engine and the other one is the 1.3 Litre DDiS Super Turbo Diesel engine. The petrol engine has a capacity to churn out a maximum power of 94 bhp at 6000rpm and a peak torque of 13.2 kgm at 4000rpm. On the contrary, the diesel engine has the capability to churn out a maximum power of 88 bhp at 4000rpm anda peak torque of 20.4 kgm at 1750rpm.The top speed that the car can achieve is 170kmph which is impressive since usually sedans go up to that kind of speed comfortably. Maruti Suzuki is one of the most trusted brand names in India and has been ruling the Indian automobile market since ages now. The engines that they build are one of the most fuel-efficient ones and this is the reason why more and more Indian customers prefer going for a Maruti instead of any other counterpart of Maruti. If one decides to race Maruti Ertiga and Toyota Innova at once, then the chances are high that Ertiga will accelerate faster than its Toyota counterpart and this is what makes the car world driving. Ergonomically the car has been made into a perfect performing machine.
Renault Duster
Just like Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Renault Duster will also be launched in the market in two variants one of which will be the 1598cc DOHC Petrol engine and the other one will be 1.5 Litre CRDi Diesel engine. The engine will be attached to a six-speed manual transmission system gearbox. The maximum power that the variant of diesel engine will be able to shell out is 110bhp at 4000rpm which is more than that of Maruti Ertiga. Adding to that, the peak torque that Duster will be capable of doling out is 240 Nm at 1750rpm. On the contrary, the petrol version of the car will be churning out maximum power of 105bhp at 5750rpm. The maximum torque it can generate is 148Nm at 3750rpm. The petrol engine will be tuned up to a five speed manual transmission system. Two Renault Dusters will be available in the market one of which will be the 4×2 variant whereas the other one would be the 4×4 variant. For those who are looking forward to more fuel-efficient car then Renault recommends Duster 4×2 rather than 4×4. Diesel version of Renault Duster has the capability to go from 0-100kmph in flat 11.8 seconds reaching a top speed of 164kmph.
Features: –
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
There are lots of features that Maruti Suzuki has put into Ertiga and this is what sets the car straight ahead of its counterparts. Some of these features are electric power steering tilt adjusted, Tinted glass, Leather seat, steering-mounted audio controls, USB compatible audio unit, keyless entry, central locking, twin-air con, etc. Besides all these features in the car, there are a lot more features that Ertiga has to offer such as Power Windows having auto-down function installed in them, electrically adjustable ORVMs, Multi-information Display (MID) and many other features. These features in the car have been installed in order to make the experience much livelier in the car and Maruti has been setting a benchmark ever since they entered the Indian automobile market.
Renault Duster
Renault Duster comes laden with intricate features that increase its appeal. Someof these features are remote central locking, Power-steering, remote fuel filler, foldable rear seats, Tinted glass, Power windows having switches placed on door pads, rear armrest with cup-holder, Tachometer, 2-Tripmeter, remote boot opener, AC having climate control feature, Foldable front passenger seat, rear wiper, glove box, rear defogger, integrated radio, etc.
Mileage: –
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
Since it is a Maruti, thus one can anticipate pre-requisitely that the car will be giving out an impressive mileage. Maruti Ertiga has been designed to be fuel-efficient in which the petrol variant gives a mileage of 16.02 kmpl and the diesel variant gives a mileage of 20.77 kmpl.
Renault Duster
Renault Duster will give a mileage of 17-19 kmpl but the exact figures are not yet known. Probably they have not been disclosed as of now but the critics have predicted the range.
PRICE: –
Maruti Ertiga
Rs. 5.89 Lakhs/- to Rs. 8.45 Lakhs/- (Ex-showroom price in New Delhi)
Renault Duster
Rs. 7 Lakh/- to Rs. 9 Lakh/-
Conclusion
Both the cars were put through rigorous drilling and it seems that Maruti Suzuki Ertiga takes a step ahead of renault duster owing to its impressive 7-seater capacity, aggressive pricing and fuel efficiency.
