Renault Kiger First impressions & variant details
I visited local Renault showroom to take a look at Kiger. Below are some photos and this post shares all the useful details related to Kiger- variants, colours, price etc.
Renault Kiger was launched earlier this month and now has started arriving at dealerships. Renault has sent a bunch of cars- like a dozen of them across different variants, colours etc to all its dealers. If your local dealer has the variant and colour of your choice you can immediately make a booking and drive your new kiger home within couple of days. If they don't have stock may be you will have to wait for a few weeks.
What is good about Kiger?
1. Attractively priced.
Kiger is one of the cheapest compact SUVs you can buy today. While a Venue costs from 7 to 12 lakhs ex-showroom, Kiger is priced from 5.5 to 10 lakhs ex-showroom. So if you are Ok with slightly less powerful engine, Kiger will give you most of the features you may get in Venue or Nexon or XUV300 for 2-3 lakhs less.
However Nissan Magnite was launched at 4.99 lakhs and then increased to 5.5 while Kiger has been launched at 5.45 onwards. So prices now match with Magnite variant wise, still a good value for money package focused on cost conscious compact SUV buyers, comfortable with an underpowered engine.
2. New looks
From front, Kiger looks like a slightly bigger Kwid. So many do not like Kiger for this very reason. But looks are subjective. Kiger has a distinctive trail lamp (C Shaped) and overall decent looks. You will be the first few to drive this newly launched compact SUV so be ready to get some attention on the road.
3. High ground clearance
Kwid already had 184mm ground clearance. Triber had 180 mm. Kiger gets 205 mm, bit higher than Venue. While high ground clearance is good thing for bad roads, high speed stability and body roll needs to be checked.
4. Compact SUV for the price of a hatchback.
Hatchbacks like Swift, Tiago etc cost almost same as Kiger. Premium hatch like i20, Altroz or Baleno might cost a bit more than Kiger. For the price of a hatchback (or about 50k more), you might get to enjoy a nice compact SUV (or rather high ground clearance hatchback. Hyundai Grand i10 Nios Sport costs almost same as Kiger RXT MT...
5. Lots of bootspace
Kiger gets lots of boot space, foldable, split second row. But fair bit of weight lifting is required before you can position your bag in the boot.
6. Better focus on second row passengers
Most hatchbacks and compact SUVs do not focus on second row passenger priority. Venue S+ doesn't get arm rest in second row. Tiago doesn't get second row adjustable headrest even in top of the line XZ+. But Kiger mid level variants like RXT get both adjustable headrests, foldable armrests and split seat in second row, along with second row AC vent, giving more comfort to your passengers.
7. Better build quality than Kwid
Kiger feels better than Kwid in many ways. Kwid had power window buttons in center and felt super cheap in terms of build quality and feel. Kiger feels relatively better. For a few lakhs more, the difference in features, comfort, power and experience is probably worth it.
Things to worry about Kiger
1. It is a new car- customer feedbacks not known.
There are some risks involved in buying newly launched models. There could be several minor glitches that would have gone unnoticed during factory testing or inspections. You will be working as free tester for the company spending your money on a not so perfect product and then giving free feedback via complaints, which manufacturer will fix subsequently in next facelift or silently for future batches. Thus it is usually safer to wait for at least an year to know how a newly launched car is performing in market, how is resale value, what existing customers feel and so on. Usually after an year or two same model would get better quality as car makers silently fix small small issues that originally existed
2. Unknown safety rating
Renault cars are known for poor safety rating. Kwid got only 1 star years ago, 2 star recently. Triber's safety rating is not known yet. Duster alone has better safety. However Nissan Magnite, which shares most underskin components with Kiger got 4 star rating. Hopefully Renault has learnt its lesson on importance of safety and Kiger gets about 3 or 4 star like its Nissan Sibling.
3. Underpowered
Venue gets 82 PS (NA) and 120 PS (Turbo), Nexon also gets 120 PS but Kiger uses a smaller engine and gets only 71 PS (NA) and 98 PS (Turbo). This same 999cc engine works in Triber-it does the job of taking you from A to B but at a slower speed taking more time compared to Nexon or Venue. If you are a spirited driver looking for high performance SUV for highway cruise and ultra long riders, Kiger may disappoint you. But for normal city rides and occasional long drives at reasonable speed, Kiger would just be fine.
4. No Sunroof
If sunroof is your priority, look elsewhere. Nexon gives sunroof option from mid range XM, Venue has sunroof in SX, SX(O). Kiger doesn't get sunroof even in top of the line RXZ Turbo variant.
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Kiger |
RXE |
RXL |
RXT |
RXZ |
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Price (Ex-sh) |
NA-MT:5.45 |
NA-MT 6.6 NA-AMT 7.05 Turbo MT: 7.6 Turbo CVT: 8.6 |
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Price (onroad) |
20% more: 6.7 lakhs |
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Features |
DRL, roof rails, parking sensors, ABS & EBD, Manual AC, steel
wheels etc |
Shark fin antenna, Rear ac vent, speed sensing door lock, |
2 more airbags Height adjust on driver seat, rear camera, push button start, 2nd
row arm rest, slightly better infotainment, rear skid plates, few steering
controls, rear wiper, washer etc |
For 1 lakh more, you get alloy wheels, better infotainment system,
more speakers, better headlamp (tri octa pure vision), climate control, ORVM
auto fold, driving modes, air filter, defogger etc extra |
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Summary |
Cheapest option, basic features only |
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Has most of the essential features, right compromise |
All the bells & whistles if you can afford a few lakhs more |
- MT if you want to save some money, comfortable with old style stick and lots of gear changing effort during your drives. Easier to maintain as well
- AMT if you can't afford CVT
- CVT if you can afford it
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