2017 Renault Duster Is Junkyard Treasure

The last time new cars with Renault badges were available in the United States was 1988, though the Renault-based Eagle Premier stayed on sale through the 1992 model year. I still find the occasional Renault during my junkyard travels, of course, but today’s Junkyard Treasure is one that’s even harder to find here: a Renault-badged Dacia, built in Colombia and originally sold in Mexico.

Murilee Martin

A couple of years ago, a Colorado 24 Hours of Lemons racer spotted this Duster (with Mexican plates) on the street in a Denver suburb, shot the above photo, and suggested that someone might buy it for use as a race car. Last year, it showed up for sale on Denver Craigslist with a three-digit asking price. It was then that I knew I’d find it in a Front Range boneyard soon enough.

Murilee Martin

This isn’t the first Mexican-market Dacia I’ve found in a local car graveyard. Two years ago, I spotted a 2008 Dacia Logan with Nissan Aprio badging and registration stickers from Coahuila State in Mexico. Since it’s legal to bring a vehicle across the border from Canada or Mexico and drive it for one year in the United States, plenty of such vehicles can be seen on the street here.

The problem for owners of such machines is what to do when that one year is up. Especially for vehicles originally sold in Mexico, with its different crash-safety and emissions regulations, it’s essentially impossible to register them here (unless they happen to be at least 25 years old). You need to drive back across the border and then re-enter, which can be more trouble than it’s worth.

Murilee Martin

Eventually, the impossibility of legal registration results in a final tow-truck ride to the junkyard. I’ve found the 2009 Opel Corsa in the photo above (sold in Mexico as a Chevrolet Chevy) and a Canadian-market Honda Domani with Acura EL badges while exploring junkyards in recent years, and there’s a 2015 or so Nissan Tsuru (aka Mexican-market 1992 Sentra) offering up its parts in a Colorado Springs scrapyard right now.

Murilee Martin

We can only hope Budget de México isn’t still waiting for this Duster to return.

Murilee Martin

Dacia began selling Dusters as 2010 models, with New World production beginning in Colombia and Brazil in 2012. Thanks to the long reach of the sprawling Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Empire (Renault bought Dacia in 1999), the first-generation Duster was sold with Renault badges in Latin America and as the Nissan Terrano in India plus the ex-Soviet nations.

Murilee Martin

While visiting Luxembourg City a few months ago, I had lunch in an excellent Peruvian restaurant that was located, inexplicably, inside a Renault-Dacia-Alpine dealership. That gave me the opportunity to peruse the latest Dusters. Don’t worry, be Duster! Little did I know that I’d soon be finding a discarded Duster back at home.

Murilee Martin

The engine in this one is a 2.0-liter Renault straight-four with 133 hp, and its family wasn’t used in any motor vehicle ever sold new in the United States. The Nissan Cube, Juke, and Kicks were built on a related Renault-Nissan platform, so perhaps a few chassis parts might interchange with those cars. I suspect, however, that very few components will be sold from this vehicle prior to its trip to the cold steel jaws of The Crusher.