A few months ago, the most expensive Renault Duster on our market with a turbo engine and a CVT went on sale. In the minds of ordinary people, the conviction has taken root that such a gearbox is not reliable, and is generally ineffective off-road. The “Southern Automobile” went to Tula, where an almost extreme off-road route took place in the Romantsov Mountains.
Distrust of the CVT
Renault Duster fans were skeptical about the appearance of a new generation of the model with a 1.3 turbo engine on the Russian market. That’s just how our consumer is made. He perceives any innovations with hostility. At the start of sales, the new product was offered only with a manual gearbox, but now a version with a CVT has appeared. The conservative public, which chose Duster for its ideal balance of price, quality and utilitarian characteristics, showed some caution towards this model.
There is an opinion that a CVT and off-road conditions are incompatible. Slippage, insufficient traction, as well as operation in the mud will lead to overheating of the unit, and after a while to its inevitable death. However, modern technologies make it possible to provide software and engineering protection of the CVT from overloads and overheating during operation off-road.
The Jatco JF016E CVT, known from Renault/Nissan/Mitsubihi models, is also used on the new Renault Duster, but for more severe operating conditions it received the maximum possible settings. Thus, the torque converter has two locking modes. In the 2WD and Auto positions, the lock occurs at a speed of 12 km / h, but in the 4WD Lock mode, the lock is activated at a speed of 45 km / h, so in serious off-road mode, the variator will be protected from overheating. At the same time, if you just stand in one place and forcefully slip, then the instrument panel will show an indicator of transmission overheating, but it is still very far from real overheating.
The variator is programmatically protected from overheating, that is, this indicator tells the driver that you just need to stand for a while, and then hit the road. In addition, the variator is additionally equipped with an external oil cooling radiator. That is, you need to try hard to overheat the variator on the new Duster.
As for changing the oil in the variator, the manufacturer states that it is filled for the entire service life and it should be changed only if recommended by the service. The variator has an oil aging sensor and if the car is used mercilessly, the oil can be changed as it works out. The official dealer makes a recommendation on changing the oil in the variator.
Tula Mountains
To test the off-road qualities of the new Duster, an off-road section was prepared in the Tula region. The place is called Romantsovskie Mountains or Konduki. Open-pit coal mining was once carried out here, and after the miners left, the quarry was flooded with water. It turned out to be a unique man-made miracle of nature, where local residents come to relax.
The clay-sandy soil on the route turned out to be difficult to overcome in some places, especially when it was necessary to climb a hill along a jagged slope, but even on factory tires the car coped with the task, it was not possible to overheat the variator even with slippage. The main thing when climbing is to keep a steady gas pedal and then the Duster flies up the hill without any problems. Diagonal hanging is one of the favorite exercises on the off-road.
The car gets over a small ravine and one of the wheels alternately hangs in the air, but even on three wheels Duster continues its way forward. Perhaps the share of the car with a CVT will account for a small demand, because more than 85% of sales of the previous generation Duster accounted for the all-wheel drive version with mechanics. According to Renault forecasts, the CVT Duster should account for up to 20% of sales.
Manual transmission is for the village, CVT is for the city and highway
