Renault Duster, which made its debut in the country a few months ago, has already achieved a lot of accolade from car enthusiasts, and its sales graph has constantly been on the rise since its launch. The car has been highly praised for its dynamic designing cues and ecstatic performance. Another much anticipated compact crossover, Ford Ecosport, with dashing looks and packed with a host of safety and comfort features is all set to hit the roads in India in early 2013. When launched, the Ford EcoSport will take on the likes of Renault Duster. We analyse the features of these two cars and try to find out which would be the better of these two four wheelers.
So far as the exterior of Duster is concerned, it carries a dynamic and rugged looks with powerful and steadily designed headlamps, sporty bumpers and roof rails which together makes this compact sports utility vehicle a very appealing car. The Duster comes fitted with 16 inch alloy wheels and has a ground clearance of 210 mm. On the other hand, the yet to be launched Ford Ecosport, would come with a ground clearance of 200 mm thus making it easy to pass all the hurdles on the road. According to media reports the 2013 Ecosport is will come with a large chromed grille, which strikingly looks very similar to the Fiesta model; however, the overall looks of the Ecosport surpasses that of the Fiesta.
The interiors of Renault Duster have been made in black-theme with curved dashboard that gives it a sporty look. Its interiors carry a lot of features from the Logan sedan and even has the same chrome trimmed dials with digital display in the centre of the dashboard. The spacious interiors of the Duster with comfortable seats can easily accommodate 5 persons. Ford Ecosport, on the other hand, despite having a compact styling, is quite spacious and will come with comfortable interiors having a host of thrilling features. The cabin has been made very stylish and the seats would come with smart upholstery. Apart from it, Ford’s engineers have utilized the space very efficiently to pack the car with exciting features which include voice controls, hill launch and smart start, to name a few.
Under the hood, the Duster houses a 1.5 litre dCi diesel engine capable of churning out a power as high as 110 bhp at 4000 rpm and a maximum torque of 240 Nm at 1750 rpm. The engine comes mated with a five speed manual transmission gearbox and can accelerate from 0-100 kmph in just 11.8 seconds. The much awaited Ford Ecosport is likely to house a 1.0 litre turbocharged ecoBoost petrol engine that can churn out a maximum power of 118 bhp at 6,000 rpm and a maximum torque of 170 Nm at 1300-4500 rpm. It is expected that the engine would come mated with 5 speed manual gearbox.
While the Duster comes with a price tag between Rs. 7.5 lacs and Rs. 11.8 lacs, the 2013 Ecosport is likely to come with a price tag under Rs. 10 lac mark.
Thus, the 2013 Ecosport and the very popular Duster have all the features at par with each other. As of now, it can just be said that Ecosport has the capability to turn the table against Duster. However, it is difficult to say anything unless the launch of Ecosport.
