The new K(w)id on the block by Renault is all set to take the market by storm after creating a lot of noise in recent times since its first global preview in May this year.
The new K(w)id on the block by Renault is all set to take the market by storm after creating a lot of noise in recent times since its first global preview in May this year. Renault Kwid is finally all set to go on sale later this month. It becomes the first car model to be majorly conceived and designed ‘in India, for India’ with 98% of localization from day one. Renault got a good start in India despite all the hindrances, including the bitter breakup with Mahindra which resulted in the former hitting Indian markets as a solo brand. This was sort of a blessing in disguise, and ever since, there has been no looking back for Renault. One of its biggest success models has been the Duster, launched in 2012 and still selling in good numbers in its segment. Renault now wants a major chunk from the small car segment as well. The company aims to achieve that with the Kwid which is up against the segment leader Maruti-Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Eon majorly. Despite all the challenges, Renault is pretty confident with its latest product.We drove the yet to be launched Renault Kwid around Goa. Here’s the firsthand report of the latest, long anticipated, small car from the French car maker.
To start off, Renault Kwid is built on the all new platform called the CMF-A Platform jointly developed by Renault and Nissan. The Kwid becomes the first car model to use this platform that would be later shared for other car models from Renault, Nissan, (Lada and Samsung other markets). Weight reduction is what Renault has primarily focused on, for better fuel efficiency and that’s what they’ve achieved by using lighter but strong materials all around the Kwid. What Renault has done is reduced the number of parts used. For example, the Kwid has around 6kgs less of weld-joints on it as compared to any other car model. The same also goes for the total amount of screws used amounting to 20 kgs, that is around 6 kgs lesser than a regular small car in this segment. The Kwid weighs 669 kgs only, making it around 100 kgs lighter than its closest competitor, the Maruti-Suzuki Alto.
At first look, Renault Kwid instantly grabs your attention. The Kwid has tremendous road presence. It does remind you of its elder brother, the Duster, in many ways. Which is quite a good thing because this gives the car a distinct SUV aura. The basic design is tall, wide and squarish with a lot of smooth edges and curves. The front face is very much like an SUV. You have the bold double-layered center grill in matt black finish with the Renault logo placed on it. The front bumper is large with an SUV-like lower half of it, in matt black finish to give it a tough look. Round fog lamps with matt black housings are placed here to further enhance the looks of this hatch. The headlamps are large, squarish and come with a multi-reflector finish on them. The bonnet is long with a stylish bodyline that runs over it. The windscreen is at a steeply raked angle to give the Kwid a sporty look.
On the sides you get a lot of soft body lines that run in angles across the door panels. The door handles are lift-up type in matt black finish. No complaints about the door handles not being body-colored as this unpainted matt black finish adds to the overall brute look of Renault Kwid. The wheel arches are large and the fenders get SUV-like body cladding in matt black finish adding a lot of instinctive sportiness to the sides of the Kwid. Not forgetting the 180 mm ground clearance, the distance between the fenders and the tyre, is a lot for such a small car. Another neat touch is the placement of the turn lights on the fiber body-cladding fenders. The doors also get long running finishers that run across the lower part. These door finishers or inserts are in matt black finish to go with the overall SUV-like theme that the Kwid comes with. The B pillar has a black finish while the C pillar gets a plastic matt black cover with a neat variant badge in chrome placed on it.
At the rear, the design gets slightly rounded with the boot lid and the rounfed C shaped tail lamps. The boot lid gets a tiny integrated spoiler as well. The rear bumper like the front one gets dual tone red-black finish with the lower half getting the matt black finish. As with all Renault cars, the Kwid too gets its name written in the center of the boot lid with the Renault logo in chrome.The Renault Kwid drives on 155/80 R13 sized wheels with JK Tyre Ultima-Neo doing the duty here with 3 point design plastic wheel caps.
Renault Kwid Dimensions
Renault Kwid is 3679 mm in length and is 1579 mm wide. The height of Kwid is nearly1478 mm. The wheelbase of the hatchback Kwid stands at 2422 mm which is best in class. Apart from all this, the car possesses a very good, class-leading ground clearance of 180 mm which is quite impressive, especially for the Indian roads.
Hop inside the Renault Kwid…and the first thing you notice is how easy it is to enter and exit the car, thanks to the height of the vehicle. The dashboard comes in matt black finish with a touch of piano-black finish at places, alongwith chrome inserts here and there. The instrument cluster gets an all-digital display with a large speedometer in the middle with the trip meters below it, the fuel gauge on the right side and other tell-tale warning lights spread around the cluster.
The instrument cluster comes in a soft orange backlight, and the digits with other instrumentation are easily readable in broad daylight. The steering has a three- spoke design with piano-black finish inserts on it. The steering feels chunky to grip. It’s in a decent position in terms of height, as there is no height or rake adjust here, but then, none of the rivals of Renault Kwid offer this option either. The center dash gets a large hexagonal design space that houses a 7″ (18cm) touchscreen head unit that Renault calls as MediaNav. This unit is same as the one that we see on Renault Duster. This touchscreen unit is the controlhouse for Radio, USB, GPS Navigation, Bluetooth and Aux-In. The hexagonal center dash also houses the rotary type Aircon switches. Like all other Renault cars, the Kwid also gets front power window control switches and central lock buttons located in the middle of the dash, rather than on the doors.
The Kwid has a 3-stage glovebox on it, the first and the last being closable ones, and the middle one is a left-open one. Lots of cubby holes and storage places are present in the Kwid; around the gear shifter, door pads. There’s no shortage of storage space in here. The AC vents on Renault Kwid consist of two round ones on the extreme sides and two rectangular vents on the center dash. All four vents can be shut and adjusted as per need. A thin chrome insert on these vents make them stand out and also enhance the beauty of the dash.The seats on the Kwid get integrated headrests and come with three-tone fabric upholstery, with a mix of black, red and grey, making them look sporty. The front seats offer support well, and are adequately-sized for the average Indian frame. Front seats have a good amount of cushioning and are well-padded wherever needed. Considering the average Indian height, the rear seats can seat 2 passengers very comfortably. A third can fit in with a decent amount of legroom, shoulder-room and headroom. The rear seat is inclined at a perfect angle to give the right comfort. Like the front seats, the rear also get two integrated headrests. As mentioned, due to the large dimension of the Kwid, the cabin area gets a lot of space all around. In comparison with the rivals Alto and Eon, the space inside and out, is quite good on the Kwid. The boot area on the Kwid is a generous 300 litres which again is the best in the segment. 3 medium-sized travel bags can easily fit in here. The loading-unloading area is also ergonomic. With a fold of the rear seat, the boot can be increased to a mammoth 1115 litres.
Renault Kwid Engine – Transmission – Drive
This new global Renault Kwid model has an all new platform, with one getting an all new engine to drive it as well. The motor, specially developed for the Kwid, is a 799 cc 3-cylinder Petrol 12 valve engine. This 800 cc engine produces 54 PS at 5,678 rpm and 72 Nm of torque at 4,386 rpm and gives power to the front wheels. What you get is a 5 speed manual transmission that’s mated to this motor.
There’s a keyless entry but a key ignition start. Comes with a blank on the dash, which we think may house the button start at a later stage, or for the export version, so as to not disturb its position in the price-sensitive country models. Start the Kwid and the 800cc engine settles into a smooth idle in a jiffy. A few vibes can be felt at idle, but are not very noticeable or worth mentioning. Shift to 1st and you notice the short throws of the gear-shifter. The clutch is very light, and the clutch travel is not very long, adding to the driver’s comfort level.
With claimed fuel efficiency of 25.17 kmpl (best for a petrol car in India) apart from weight reduction, Renault Kwid also has its 3-cylinder 800 cc engine tuned for total lean fuel use. The 1st gear response is pretty decent. Once you cross the 25-30 kmph speed and shift to 2nd is when the Kwid begins to show its true colors. The power delivery increases, and with it, so does the steering response. What’s noteworthy is the highly impressive ride- quality on the Kwid. All potholes and bumps are ironed out, making this easily one of the best cars in terms of ride-quality for the segment. The gear ratios are set to short ones for 1, 2 and 3 while the 4th and 5th gears get slightly longer ratios to suit highway commuting. Road noise does filter into the cabin and so does a bit of tyre-noise but then, it’s part n’ parcel of this segment and price bracket.
Renault Kwid gets front discs and rear drum brakes that feel lively. The feedback on the brake pedal is also adequate. Sadly, there is no ABS on offer on the Kwid, but we expect it to be included later. The Kwid is great for city commutes thanks to its gear ratios and engine tune. Surprisingly, Renault Kwid does not fail to impress us on the highways as well. Touching a speed of 130 kmph on the Kwid felt very comfortable. The Kwid top end variant will come with driver airbag as option, while we expect this feature to be added to all trims.
Renault Kwid will be available in five color options : Fiery Red, Ice Kool White, Moonlight Silver, Outback Bronze and Planet Grey. You also have about 60 special customized accessories to choose from, including chrome inserts and garnish, roof rails, side-cladding, weather guard window deflectors, skid plates, mats, steering covers, seat covers etc.
Renault Kwid RXT
Std – Base
RXE – Base-Mid
RXL – Loaded Mid
RXT – Fully Loaded
Renault Kwid manages to bring in an all new SUV-inspired styling, seen for the first time on a small car; especially for the entry -level car segment. This is something that has never been done before by any carmaker. The car is targeted at the common man who can now get a chance to own a SUV-car at the price of a small car.
The ‘in-your-face’ designing and styling is trendy (not in a negative way, of course.) And if we look at the features, airbags are optional on the top variant; but then again, the competition offers that too.
So the big questions here are – firstly, is it a headturner? Yes. One can easily say, that this one is. Secondly, should you buy it? Yes. Because this Indo-French production comes loaded with features. With a peppy 800 cc engine that also promises class- leading fuel economy of 25.17 kmpl in the package. So to sum it up, Renault Kwid is a whole package, and we fully expect Renault to price it intelligently, (starting at Rs.3 lakh or so) because it has rival with the best-selling Maruti-Suzuki Alto 800 and the Hyundai Eon. A formidable, but not impossible task, as the Renault Kwid is a fully capable product, challenging the competitors and giving them a run for their money.
We already have given senior Renault officials a strong feedback to improve their aftersales and dealer network. We have been assured that they already are working on it to support the Kwid. It looks like a pleasant road forward here onwards…Now you can pre-book your Kwid starting 14th September using the special Renault Kwid mobile app. That’s what we call, keeping up with the times! So, until the next time… Happy & safe driving! And we’re not Kwidding!!
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