New Delhi: Earlier last week, Renault brought its SUV-esque Kwid to India, priced at Rs 2.56 lakh. With this impressive pricing, the Kwid will take on established players like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai in the segment. The Maruti Alto 800 is priced between Rs 2.83 lakh and Rs 3.4 lakh and the Hyundai Eon between Rs 3.09 lakh and Rs 4.22 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
If you are tempted to buy the Renault Kwid this festive season, here are ten things you must know before you loosen the strings of your purse for the compact car:
1. Their car for the customers in this sub Rs 4 lakh segment isn't a hatchback, it's a compact car aping to be an SUV. That ticks one box on the unique selling proposition list. Don’t for even a second be fooled by all the superlatives indicating its SUV-like persona. This is quite simply a large hatchback sitting on tall suspension, very similar to the the pseudo crossovers of the Hyundai, Volkswagen and Toyota ilk.
2. There are however several attention grabbing elements, headlamps are big bold units and are coupled to the indicators which are housed in the same casing. The large Renault lozenge sits in the centre of the bonnet and has the two-piece chain link grille as its background. The bonnet has a power bulge to it. The sides also look sculpted with muscular haunches and protective plastic cladding on the wheel arches giving it an aggressive personality.
3. So it's taller, longer, wider and sits higher than the competition, yet manages to snugly fit in the sub compact segment. It’s also got several chunky black plastic bits that further strengthen its visual appeal. Thus far it’s the cleverest and handsomest application of plastic cladding in this segment or any other.
4. The dashboard is simplistic, non cluttered and therefore, optimising space over all else. The dash is dominated by the chrome bezeled centre console which has the same touchscreen unit used in the Duster and Lodgy. The touchscreen provides the user to control media functions, telephony through Bluetooth and navigation. It’s surrounded on the top and bottom by the air-con vents and dials respectively.
5. At the left of the centre console is a three stack storage area or three glove boxes stacked one above the other. This also means the Kwid will not get a passenger side airbag though a driver airbag is offered as an option.
6. Space inside a sub compact is usually at a premium but slimmer seats and a more upright H-point provide enough room. Three grown-ups will find space on that rear bench a bit of a squeeze and certainly not encouraging for long drives. Ideally use it as a 2+2 seater.
7. Renault has built an all-new engine for the Kwid from ground up. This 799cc motor from the BR family of Renault engines makes 54PS@5,678rpm and 74Nm@4,386rpm. Renault hasn’t disclosed acceleration performance figures but fuel efficiency is claimed to be a class leading 25.17kmpl.
8. Engine refinement too is quite impressive. Also, the noise insulation is tightly controlled so you don’t really hear the engine clatter inside the cabin as a disturbance once on the move.
9. The new Renault Kwid weighs in at just 660kg, making it lighter than its competition by a good 60kg as well as the lightest car in the segment. This raises a lot of questions about safety and Renault claims that it meets all required Indian norms. That’s a pretty shallow claim considering Indian safety norms are as good as being non-existent or absolutely irrelevant. An airbag can be optioned but only for the driver’s side, since the passenger side dashboard area is occupied by the stack of glove boxes. There isn’t any ABS available either. However Gerard Detourbet insists that the crash structure is strong enough to avert most incidents. And thanks to its modular structure, as the norms get more stringent, the Kwid can be improved to meet those requirements.
10. This hatchback has great potential to provide good value to its owner. It has several areas of strength like its exterior styling, a strong power train, good ride quality, confident and secure dynamics, decent feature set and a host of options that are unmatched in the segment.
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