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Old 10th January 2022, 22:50   #466
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Re: Brand new Renault Kiger | Battery dead in 2 days | Battery drain problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hashtag View Post
What is the shadow spot on the right side, but not on the left? Thank you!
With low beam, the left headlight has a slightly longer throw than the right. It's only noticeable on a completely dark road. I thought it was an installation defect, but it seems to be deliberate as it reduces glare on oncoming vehicles on undivided roads.
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Old 11th January 2022, 00:22   #467
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by hashwin View Post
Seems like the image did not get attached, attaching it now
Hello Hashwin,

I work in passive safety domain. The airbag light you see in the instrument cluster is a result of a fault reported by the airbag ECU. This light comes on if the airbag sensor is faulty or if the power supply to the airbag ECU is interrupted. There are no systems developed which can detect if a seat cover is installed on a airbag equipped seat. In an unfortunate event that if the vehicle meets with a crash, all the sensor and circuit could be working fine, but the inflation of airbag would be hindered by the presence of seat covers there by not serving the purpose of having an airbag. I would highly recommend to not have any seat covers installed on airbag equipped seat.
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Old 11th January 2022, 17:24   #468
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by ansh_ram View Post
We got our Kiger delivered yesterday. Renault Noida had organized a ceremony where around 15 cars were delivered by Mr. Sudhir Malhotra (VP, Sales).

Our budget was capped at 8 Lakhs (No Loan) hence got the RXT AMT variant which I thought was a complete VFM package for a city runabout.
Congratulations on the Kiger!
We shall be booking a Kiger this month, an AMT model (non-turbo). Since this transmission is new to us, can you share how is the responsiveness and behavior of the gearbox? Also, how are you supposed to keep it 'in gear' when you park it in inclines? Thanks a ton!
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Old 16th January 2022, 09:12   #469
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by jackerhack View Post
I've posted my mileage logs earlier in this thread. It's not great for me either at an average of 11 kmpl in mixed driving (RXZ CVT). I drive in Eco mode most of the time because the sluggish performance reduces my urge to overtake and makes the overall drive low-stress.
Surprised to see mileage at 11 kmpl from a 1 litre engine. This is even less than than Brezza 1.5 bigger engine

Last edited by libranof1987 : 11th February 2022 at 12:20. Reason: Trimmed quoted post for easy readability.
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Old 16th January 2022, 19:11   #470
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by jackerhack View Post
3. My rear right tyre is losing pressure rather rapidly. I got a TPMS kit a few weeks ago and was alarmed to find the tyre had only 10 psi. It had been inflated to 36 psi at the last tank up. Since then I've noticed that it will drop to 30 psi with just 2-3 days idling in the garage. Both rear tyres lose pressure faster than the front two, but also at different rates from each other.
These turned out to be punctures – a long nail in each rear tyre. My first experience with punctures in tubeless tyres. Took me an entire month to recognise the problem!
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Old 16th January 2022, 20:27   #471
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by Pran View Post
Surprised to see mileage at 11 kmpl from a 1 litre engine. This is even less than than Brezza 1.5 bigger engine
My cousin got a Kiger few months ago and after the first service, hes getting around 17-18 kmpl in his monthly highway run from Chennai to Kochi and around 13-15 kmpl in City condition.

I also hear similar mileage figures on Magnite too which has the exact same engine, but without driving modes.

May be check with svc if it doesn't improve
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Old 23rd January 2022, 12:43   #472
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by starke View Post
My cousin got a Kiger few months ago and after the first service, hes getting around 17-18 kmpl in his monthly highway run from Chennai to Kochi and around 13-15 kmpl in City condition.
Which variant does he have? Mine could be lower because it's a CVT. The car insists I'm getting 12 in the city now, but fuel logs show lower mileage.
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Old 23rd January 2022, 13:55   #473
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by jackerhack View Post
Which variant does he have? Mine could be lower because it's a CVT. The car insists I'm getting 12 in the city now, but fuel logs show lower mileage.
Manul turbo actually, may be once the car run-in and each has to find that sweet spot as turbo-petrol engines are too sensitive on the efficiency part
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Old 8th February 2022, 17:49   #474
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

7 months in and fuel efficiency still hovers around 8 km/l, which is frankly pathetic

RXZ-CVT. Anyone else facing this?
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Old 10th February 2022, 16:39   #475
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

Made in India Renault Kiger is one of the Top-5 finalists at the "World Urban Car of the Year: 2022" awards.

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...nounced-423489
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Old 15th February 2022, 14:47   #476
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

Renault Kiger scores 4 star in GNCAP

The Renault Kiger scores 12.34 points for adult protection and 21.05 points for child protection.

Video :
Attached Thumbnails
Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19-screenshot_20220215144427_1.png  

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Old 16th February 2022, 12:49   #477
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

Quick question for Kiger owners:

Does the power window work when the car is turned off but the ignition is on ? Mine will work sometimes and sometimes it wont. I drive RXZ CVT
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Old 17th February 2022, 06:53   #478
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

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Originally Posted by hrish90 View Post
Quick question for Kiger owners:

Does the power window work when the car is turned off but the ignition is on ? Mine will work sometimes and sometimes it wont. I drive RXZ CVT
It works for a short while after the ignition is turned off. Then you have to turn it on again.
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Old 17th February 2022, 08:55   #479
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Hello BHPians. This is my first post on Team BHP although I have been a follower of the forum for many years and have particularly been an ardent fan for the last year or so while I was in the process of finalising a car for me. I do not find myself as knowledgeable as the members of this group and that was the primary reason for not posting anything however I gathered a courage to write now simply because I do not see any ownership reviews for Kiger even after an year of its launch. I hope my review below will add some value to the group and will be of some help to anyone who is considering to buy Renault Kiger. Please bear with me for any newbie mistakes.

Let me start with my requirements
Distance - We are a family of four : 2 adults, one teenager and one soon to be teenager. So I was looking for a family car to own for at least next 5 years or more. My regular running would be around 1000 KM per month, couple of trips of around 500 KM in a year and an annual long trip of around 1500 KM. So overall between 10000 to 15000 KM per year depending upon the work from home status. The daily running would be in city and the long trips would be mostly on highways in addition to one or two treks every month on rural roads of varying conditions.

Fuel – I was looking for a petrol car considering the distances and the engine refinements / NVH offered by a petrol car. I was not ready for an electric car yet considering the state of infrastructure that we have as of now.

Category – I had been an user of Wagon R for around 6 years. Then I owned a Citroen C4 for almost a year while I was abroad. When I came back to India in 2018, I purchased a pre-owned Hyundai i10 as a temporary option since I was expected to shuttle between different countries for couple of years and didn’t want any new car to sit idle at home for longer durations. The i10 was also supposed to be as an option for my wife to get used to driving before we went for a bigger new car. When I moved back to India fully, I started looking for a car in the first quarter of 2020 but then the world got into the Covid era and the lockdowns plus working from home meant that there was no immediate need to change the car. However, in early 2021 when things started to get back to new normal, I started to look for the options again and by then, I had made up my mind for a sub-compact SUV due to multiple reasons namely – my Citroen C4 driving experience, the multiple and exciting options that were coming up in that segment, aspirational element, the high ground clearance which would be handy for my weekend treks, ease of parking as compared to SUVs etc. My budget could accommodate only sub-compact SUVs so any SUVs or compact SUVs were out of consideration. Further, the big size of SUVs was having an intimidating effect on my wife whereas compact SUVs were less frightening. Less than 4 meter length category seemed optimal from parking and handling point of view as well. So sub-compact SUV it was in terms of category.

Budget – My budget was 12 lakhs and it was non-stretchable. Assuming the i10 would sell for around 2 lakhs, I had planned to spend 10 lakhs. With every one lakh addition, a new category or a new option would open up leading to a different set of parameters for comparison hence this was my starting point in the selection process for short listing or elimination.

Transmission – Although I love to remain connected with my car and the driving through gears, I decided to go for an automatic transmission considering the nasty traffic in Pune. My wife would also be driving it occasionally and she is not at all comfortable with gears. Further, my son would be 18 later this year and would drive the car at some point. Although I would love my son to learn driving with a manual transmission car, I would not like him to suffer on a day-to-day basis in Pune traffic with gears. He would eventually choose what he likes (with his own money &#128521 but I would prefer him to start easy. Hence we decided to go for auto transmission.

Once I decided to for an Automatic, I started reading about various types of auto transmissions and started leaning towards CVT for multiple reasons. I would not go into all the details here however, my mechanical and automobile engineering academic background helped quite a lot here in making some decisions.

Engine – With an interest and working background in IC engines, this was the area that I was quite happy to explore about. Unfortunately, there were not many 4 cylinder options in the category that I was looking at but most of the reputed manufacturers had quite refined engines with 3 cylinders as well. So I turned to the engine power and had a figure of around 100 PS and torque of around 150 Nm in mind based on my past driving experience, all the analysis and the test drives that I took during this process. This meant I had to go for a Turbo engine and not a NA one at least in the category that I was looking at if the engine was less than 1200 CC. I was open for the idea of bigger NA engines of upto 1500 CC but then the options in general were limited especially in my budget and in the sub-compact SUV category.

Other requirements / considerations
1. The car has to be from established brands with good presence and service network in India – hence Skoda, Volkswagen, Nissan, MG, Citroen etc were out of contention unless there was any significantly better option like Nissan Magnite. Plus most of the products from these manufacturers were expensive than my desired price band.
2. Preference was for well settled product and proven technology hence Tata Punch, Citoren C3 and other new launches had to be avoided as far as possible unless the product was proven in other markets like C3 in European countries. I still wanted to check Tata Punch, read its reviews / feedbacks and test drive it
3. Products from new players to be considered carefully e.g. Citoren, MG etc as the companies are still settling in India and come with significant limitations of dealer network and may not have the advantage of high scale when it comes to roadside assistance, general spare part availability and other minor things. This could also be a case like Ford if the company decides to leave India
4. Mahindra cars wasn’t a preference as I did not find them very mature or balanced products except for the new or premium products like XUVs or Thar which anyway were out of budget. Further, I was a bit sceptical about the ageing of Mahindra cars
5. Maruti Suzuki products to be a lower preference but not to be ruled out – Good but not great cars. The only options in compact SUVs were S-Cross and Brezza which were pricey and were old products with facelifts in pipeline
6. Waiting period to be less than 3 months (ideally around 30 to 45 days). This would be a problem with Nexon, Punch, Venue and Sonet
7. Good music system was a must – Nexon with Harmon system and JBL speakers; and Sonet high end with JBL were best in the segment. Kiger was quite good as well with Arkamys system
8. Safety rating to be more than 4 – Kia products (Sonet, Seltos), Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai were scoring very less on this parameter
9. Basic features required – power windows, power steering, ABS with EBD, 60:40 rear seat split, driver seat height adjustment for my wife who is shorter than me, driving modes were nice to have but not a necessity, folding ORVM, rear wiper, at least front airbags were a must. Rear camera was a must and I needed to look for variants accordingly as I preferred it prefer factory fitted and not aftermarket fitments
10. No funky featured required e.g. connected car tech or mood lighting
11. Advanced technology, internal comfort, driving quality, reliability, safety etc to be the preferences over looks and multiple features however there was a weightage for the looks
12. Boot volume to be minimum 350 litres for all the grocery trips, weekend treks and occasional long trips plus airport visits
13. Rear seat comfort, cabin space at the back and leg room etc had to be the best in the category as this would be a family car for the next minimum 5 years and rear seat will be occupied most of the times by at least one adult (my wife or son) along with my daughter who was already 5 feet and couple of years down the line, she would be taller so the car must have good rear seat design / space / leg room / comfort etc. Venue and Kia Sonet were scoring less on this. Arm rest and rear seat cup holder was a good to have for clear cut demarcation between my son and daughter to avoid their arguments and fights 😊
14. Rear AC vents was a major preference for the comfort at the back seat. Not all variants of Punch or Sonet had it so choosing variant accordingly was important. Kiger had it standard in the top 2 variants
15. TPMS was preferred but was only available either in high end cars or as an optional feature (Nissan Magnite had this) so I was ready to compromise on this
16. Sunroof was not required! – I wanted to avoid any added costs just because of this especially if it was a small sunroof for the sake of it plus it would eat into the cabin space and height
17. The car had to be a sound technological product without very complex / unreliable technology (e.g. DCT) that could be hard to maintain or replace hence Venue / Sonet DCTs were low priorities

The shortlisting
Obviously, this was the toughest and longest phase. I read n number of Team BHP threads, checked online blogs / reviews / articles, saw innumerable YouTube videos, talked to friends and relatives etc. I avoided asking for suggestions on Team BHP as I was already following most of the threads on similar topics (was transitioning from one job to another and had a gap in between which helped tremendously) and I was sceptical of getting overwhelmed with information so I did what most of the threads suggested already – did my research, took as many test drives as I could and gave an importance to what my heart was saying rather than get lost into numbers, information and reviews! I also tried not to get influenced by the online videos and blogs as I found some of them were either biased or were created by self-proclaimed experts; some of it did help but not everything was genuine I thought. Team BHP was a very respectful exception in this regard and was of great help always. As a part of my study, I analysed and compared cars on aspects like engine, gearbox, size / dimensions, weight, ground clearance, boot volume, wheelbase, fuel efficiency numbers, safety ratings and records, technical parameters like power to weight ratio and many other technical specs. Following was my short list (in no particular order) after all the hard work - Tata Nexon, Renault Kiger, Nissan Magnite, Citroen C3, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet and Tata Punch.

The selection

Once I was down to 7 shortlisted candidates, it was a bit easier to focus on the next steps of evaluating those cars against my requirements and comparing them with each other. I wanted to test drive all of these but before that, I could eliminate few of them based on multiple considerations.
1. The first one to go out was Citroen C3 because of the many unknowns including what it would offer and when it was going to get launched.
2. The second one was Venue due to its old design which had a facelift in the pipeline, iMT gearbox (DCT was beyond my budget and DCT was not a preference as well due to its mechanical complexity), lack of safety rating, rear seat parameters and waiting period etc. Price wise, Venue was on a higher side and the cost versus specs proposition wasn’t working for me.
3. The last one to go out was Kia Sonet. It was a good option but I found it very difficult to choose a variant due to its wide spread of features over too many variants. I was required to go for higher variants just because of one or two mandatory requirements which were escalating the price e.g. rear wiper or Bose music system. With price escalation, the comparison was with other cars in different category or with a different category altogether e.g. low end Creta or Seltos. I eliminated Sonet iMT first since it was not a true automatic and DCT was costing almost 1.5 lakhs more which wasn’t a great value proposition. I finally eliminated Sonet because of all the above and the smaller rear seat space compared to other options in the category, higher price, long waiting period, complex feature spread, reported after sales service issues, lower safety rating etc

Then I was left with 4 options. I did visit the showrooms for these and took test drive as well with a test drive check list that I had created to make sure that I did not miss out on checking things during the test drive. I shall leave the showroom experience part aside as it was a one-time feature and I didn’t want my car selection to get influenced too much by it. It still was important to get a feel of the dealership and the connect of the brand with its customers.

My first elimination here was Tata Punch. I must say that Punch was quite a disappointment especially considering all the buzz around it and the high number of bookings it has already collected. It looks fabulous from outside but it looked quite minimalistic from inside. Lower variants of Punch miss out many features and the higher variants are so pricey that it makes more sense to go for Nexon than Punch. Further, even the higher variants of Punch do not have category standard features like rear AC vents or central arm rest. It does not have a Turbo engine option as well and the highest power that you get is 86 PS and the torque is 113 Nm which was on a lower side as compared to other Turbo options in the category. The test drive very clearly showed that it was short on power as soon as you try to get it slightly out of its comfort zone. I walked out quite disappointed with my first test drive but I knew that I was getting closer to the car that I needed.

Then it was the turn of the Nexon. I didn’t carry a very good feeling about Tata cars in my mind looking at the way some of the Tata cars in the family aged. The Sumos, Indicas and Indigos carried a taxi image in my mind and my internal feeling was that Tata was more of a commercial or passenger vehicle brand. Internally, I wasn’t very inclined towards Nexon. Add to it the ugly central strip that runs throughout its side body. I knew it could be morphed with ceramic strip but I didn’t want to go for any after-market corrections as a principle. So, I walked into a Nexon with very reserved thoughts but Nexon thoroughly surprised me. The test drive was smooth barring the AMT gear shifting experience but even that wasn’t very noticeable. Nexon immediately was on the top of my selection list so much so that I was even thinking of cancelling the other test drives. However, the long waiting time, the central white strip, higher price and AMT were the considerations because of which I continued with the other visits and test drives.

Then I went to Nissan for Magnite. I unfortunately could not get the test drive even after couple of visits but the car looked good internally and externally. The music system was OK, other parameters like boot space, rear seat comfort etc were good as well. The not-so-great coverage of dealership and service network was something that was at the back of mind however being in a metro like Pune meant that wasn’t a deal breaker at least for the regular servicing or repairing etc. Magnite seemed good to me but it didn’t appeal to me fully for some reasons. The test drive could have made things clearer but that never happened. Also, on paper, Kiger looked better to me from these siblings except for some safety features, the 360 degree camera and TPMS.

I then went to Renault showroom for the Kiger test drive. I had quite liked the looks of Kiger when I had seen couple of them on road. On paper, the car looked a good value for money but a lot depended on the test drive. I asked for the top end model with Turbo engine and auto transmission and the test drive was …. a complete surprise! I found it to be a very competent car with an extremely smooth CVT transmission, a capable Turbo engine, great looks, good (but not great) interiors, good suspension, good music system etc. Kiger on sports mode felt better than Nexon in terms of power delivery and response. Kiger strongly appealed to me and straightaway went into my selection list. In the meantime, I eliminated Magnite after comparing it with Kiger based on my requirements.

It was down to Kiger and Nexon ultimately and this was where I took almost 3 months to finalise. I was comparing Kiger top end RXZ Turbo CVT variant with Nexon XZA+ as these two were more or less similar to each other plus features plus specifications wise they were in line with my requirements. I took multiple test drives, read reviews, saw online videos and created a detailed comparison Excel sheet. This comparison was very very close and there was no clear winner for me. While the Nexon was scoring on safety, brand presence, resale value, stable product, dealer network, higher engine power, Harman music system with JBL speakers and a really plush feeling interiors; it was scoring less on AMT gearbox, long waiting period of more than 4 months, higher price and on some features which were better in Kiger e.g. Kiger had a 8” touch screen and Nexon had a 7” one, Kiger had LED headlamps whereas Nexon XZA+ had halogens, Kiger digital instrument cluster was way superior than Nexon, Kiger had side air bags as well while Nexon had only front air bags, the boot space in Kiger was higher as compared to Nexon and in fact it was best in the category, the fuel efficiency claims were in favour of Kiger, as I mentioned above I hated the white stripe on Nexon so much so that it was like a deal breaker for me! It was illogical and I knew it was a subjective and non-functional aspect but I was not very comfortable with that strip. The heart was saying Kiger due to it’s looks, the CVT, the features, the novelty, quicker availability in less than 4 weeks, substantially lower price as compared to the similar Nexon variant on my comparison list (the difference was almost 1.25 lakhs) etc. However, I was wondering if I was missing something if Kiger seemed to have so many advantages over an extremely popular and stable product like Nexon and I started looking for the Negatives of Kiger. The obvious one was the mud through taillight issue which seemed to be a genuine one. Talking to the dealers and reading online, this seemed to be getting addressed by the company and a solution might be in place by the monsoon season however I had to accept this negative for the time being. Then there were ergonomic issues like the seat belt clip position, the power window buttons, higher loading lip for the boot etc. I went to the showroom with a list of all these issues and checked it one by one. While genuine, I found none of them to be a deal breaker and thought it would be more about getting used to it. I actually do not need to use the window power buttons too much; it gets used while paying the parking fees when I am the malls or at the toll gates etc and these are not very frequent use cases. So I accepted these lacunas. The service network is better for Tata but being in Pune city, it was not bad for Renault and in normal conditions, a service visit could be an annual affair so I was OK with it. In fact, there were lot of stories about Tata servicing issues and service experiences where people had expressed their displeasure. I wasn’t worried too much about the resale value because what mattered more to me was the ownership experience while I would be having and using the car; and not the hypothetical loss that I would incur if and when I sell it in future. Nexon had a 5 start safety rating and it was not available for Kiger; this was a clear cut advantage in favour of Nexon. Digging further, I learnt that Kiger was expected to get 4 star rating based on Triber tests due to same platform (which is confirmed now on 15th February that Kiger has officially scored 4* on GNCAP safety ratings). While Kiger still is better than Kia, Hyundai and Suzuki cars in terms of safety ratings, I accepted that Nexon was better in safety than Kiger. In summary, I did not find any major deal breakers for Kiger if I was ready to accept some of the lacunas. The heart was always on the side of Kiger and the price, test drives, features, looks and recommendations from the family supported it. So Kiger it was finally! I must say that the Nexon versus Kiger decision was the toughest decision that I have made in this entire process. I came across so many “experts” who voted in favour of Nexon without even fully knowing Kiger when I asked them to vote between the two so with due respect to Tata, Nexon and its owners; I wonder if heard mentality is driving some part of the Nexon sales (and Punch sales as well). Apologies if this bold statement is hurting any sentiments however I thought of mentioning it with a hope that this community will at least give it a thought before refuting it fully and it would not be right on my part not to mention something that I felt but I didn’t express due to a fear of rejection.

Booking
The booking was done in first week of December 2021 for RXZ CVT Turbo variant and it was all very smooth, very transparent. Nothing specific to mention about this process. Renault showroom experience was quite different to Tata as both are quite different in terms of their sales, presence, showrooms themselves etc. I was OK with not having any booking celebration like some other brands. The Renault sales team was more helpful and friendly than Tatas while Tata team was more professional and practical than Renault’s. Renault team was more eager to sell and make their numbers for the year end while Tata team seemed to have enough enquiries and bookings and didn’t follow up too much after my visits to the showroom. I had a specific requirement that I did not want to register the car in 2021 due to depreciation calculations even if it was made available in December for stock clearing or any other purposes. The sales team agreed to this and eventually took care of this as my car was physically available on 22nd December and was registered on 3rd January. It took around 3 weeks from the day of booking to receive the car at the warehouse.

Colour selection - Kiger Red and Blue were too bright for my taste. While my wife and I were discussing about Silver or Grey colour, we saw the Brown one at the showroom and were unanimous in choosing it. Both of us liked it instantly and we decided to go for it.

I must mention my impression about the whole waiting period theory. Initially when I was collecting information about the cars, it seemed that almost every popular car had a long waiting period for two reasons : semiconductor chip shortage and the demand-supply gap. After the showroom visits I realised that the actual waiting was not as much as it was made out to be. For example, it was mentioned everywhere that Nexon had a waiting period of minimum 4 months whereas when the sales people realised that I was interested in it but was not happy with the waiting period, I was promised a delivery in 2 weeks or maximum 3 weeks if I was ready to make the full payment in advance. And surprisingly, this trend was seen everywhere. Punch delivery was promised to me in 3 to 4 weeks, Sonet in around 2 to 4 weeks, Kiger and Magnite in 2 to 4 weeks etc while all of these carry a longer waiting period as per various sources. It makes me wonder if the misinformation about waiting periods is being spread purposely by the dealers and companies to create a false sense of urgency or popularity; or portray an inflated picture of high demand.

The delivery

After the booking, the showroom team kept me updated about the status of the car. Even though it was ready for delivery in last week of December, the registration was done in first week of January as desired by me and we took the delivery on 7th January. I did create my checklist for delivery thanks to Team BHP PDI checklist. I wish I had seen the Team BHP PDI checklist well in advance because it had many points that needed to be taken care well in advance and not just on the delivery day. Although I was fortunate not to face any problems, I strongly suggest everyone to take a look at that checklist even before booking so that one is clear of the payment and delivery terms right from the point of booking the car. The car was ready with all the accessories fitted on the specified time. We opted for trunk light (Kiger does not have a boot light even for the top end variant!), armrest console organiser, tailgate chrome, mud flaps, matting and body side chrome. I am not a fan of chrome however it looked good on the dark colour especially when there is no other colour on the side. I did not opt for seat covers even though the sales team strongly suggested it just because I did not want it to interfere with the side airbags. I negotiated hard for the insurance and eventually settled for zero-dep insurance from the dealer at 23K which initially was quoted as 43K. All in all, it cost me 11.30 lakhs including everything. The payment was made in advance (If I had seen the PDI checklist in advance, I would not have done this) so the completion of formalities was quite quick on the delivery day. The car was ready for inspection and the team explained me the controls and operations. I then did my inspection which took me around 15 to 20 minutes. The odometer showed 16 km out of which, it was driven for 4 km from warehouse to the showroom. The manufacturing date was last week of November which meant that it was not lying there after manufacturing. Both the odometer reading and the manufacturing date meant that the car was fresh and truly new. The showroom team organised a small pooja which is something I did not want to do due to a different set of beliefs but I did not resist it looking at their enthusiasm. I would worship my car everyday rather than just on the day of delivery 😊. Thanks to Team BHP suggestion, I carried some chocolate gift boxes for the showroom team and they were quite touched by this gesture. I had never driven an automatic car alone prior to that so was a bit hesitant to drive it home on my own however the showroom team could not arrange a driver at the short notice and I decided to drive it all by myself. Considering this possibility, I had chosen an afternoon timing for the delivery so that there was not much traffic on the road. The dealer had filled 5 litre petrol and I drove to the petrol pump on the way to make sure that there were no issues in reaching home.

First impressions
The first thing that I realised as soon as I sat in the car and tried to adjust the IRVM was that the quality of the mirror was absolutely flimsy ☹. It was quite disappointing as that was the first thing that I had touched. I decided to replace the IRVM at the earliest opportunity. I haven’t changed it yet and haven’t adjusted it as well fearing that it might break if I force it too much. The rear windshield of Kiger is on a smaller side so you don’t really need to adjust the IRVM and that may be the reason why it seemed hard to adjust. Thankfully the ORVMs are quite well designed and cover the rear view nicely along with the IRMS. The second thing that I was disappointed with was the horn. The first time I pressed it, I wondered if it was fitted inside the cabin and not outside! I wasn’t sure at that point if it was the noise insulation issue but I can confirm it now the noise insulation is not bad as some of the reviews have mentioned. Of course, I haven’t driven it on highways and in excess of 100 km speeds so I do not know the full picture but I have touched the speeds of 90 km at times and did not face any cabin noise problems. Initially, there was a weird sound at the time of braking which had been mentioned in some ownership reviews as well but that went away in a week or so. The combination of engine and CVT transmission of this car is amazing. The engine is silent despite being on 3 cylinders and there are hardly any vibrations at idle. This is my first automatic car so it took me some time to get used to it and now I am quite comfortable with it. I do feel the rubber band effect to a small extent but it’s neither irritating nor is there any problem with its function. The driving position is great and I feel quite assured when I am behind the wheel. Driving and comfort wise it’s a lovely car. People do turn their heads when it passes by them and many people in my friend and relative circle have asked me about it which gives a feel good factor. The colour of the car is something that almost everyone who saw it has liked. The first servicing is not due yet so I can not comment anything about the servicing experience. So far, the car has been driven for 450 km and a long trip is due (unfortunately couple of my family members were Covid positive so I had to isolate myself for almost 2 weeks since the car arrived). During this short ownership period, my experience with this car has been very positive and it has been an absolute pleasure so far. Couple of times before buying this car, I thought I was probably taking a risk by not going for a known / established car and going for Kiger instead of a Nexon seemed like a big gamble. I was also following Team BHP COTY survey for 2021 and was quite disappointed with the low votes that Kiger gathered there which was also creating a doubt in my mind but I am quite happy now at least with the first impressions of this car. To be honest, I wonder if there is something wrong with the marketing or positioning of such a value for money car and I honestly feel that it is worth much more than the numbers it has been able to achieve in the Indian market. For me, it was a perfect car satisfying all that I wanted in a car and it ticked most of the checkboxes of my requirements. Last week, Kiger was chosen as one of the five finalists from all over the world for urban car of the year award for the year 2021 and the news made me feel vindicated about my decision to go for the Kiger Tiger!

Thanks so much for reading this and apologies for the length of this post.
Attached Thumbnails
Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19-whatsapp-image-20220216-6.08.51-pm.jpeg  

Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19-whatsapp-image-20220216-6.08.11-pm.jpeg  

s_gams is offline   (84) Thanks
Old 18th February 2022, 09:07   #480
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Re: Renault Kiger Crossover launched at Rs. 5.45 lakh. EDIT: Driving report on page 19

Congratulations for your new car, wishing you hassle free miles ahead, how is the cabin feel good factor?
Piyush Kanthak is offline   (1) Thanks
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