[SDP]

Brilliant review, to say the least!

Kwid looks like a great package and Renault seems to be very serious about their India plans going by the pricing.

Maruti needed that kick in the backside. My own Alto is 11 years old and even when I drive it today, people don't look at it as 'antique' because even the current one is not too different looking than the 15 year old design. No, unlike VW, Maruti can not claim it as a "timeless design". In reality, its sheer pompousness by Maruti that noone can touch them in small(est)-car segment. Hope they wake up now and do something new, something exciting, something innovative. Looks like, good times ahead, for the customers at least.

[naveen0111]

Wonderful review. Finally decided not to cancel my booking and hopefully will take delivery of the Silver Top end car with airbag next Wednesday. Just opted for the corrosion protection @ 9k. No chrome bling! Will go for the PDI tomorrow.
I guess the sheer VFM did me in!

[kautilya]

A fantastic review of a real value for money product. Given a choice I would buy this even above i10. Superb combination of space, features and style at extremely competitive price.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Excellent review there !!

Renault might just "Kill It" with this product only if they could give the requisite service back up to it's customers. I have a Renault Scala and have faced issues in the ready availability of common spare parts and accessories.

However, I feel for the Renault Kwid to show numbers, it is important for Renault to concentrate and open dealerships (with Service Support) in the Rural Market or else it will be just another car added to the herd of cars present in the indian car market.

It is indeed a VFM proposition for what it has to offer to it's buyers. Shall keep a close look at the numbers in the "Car Sales Analysis" section in the times to come.

[i_see]

Originally Posted by i_see

I had been to Renault showroom yesterday with our duster ( for one of my umpteen visits to fix even simple things at the service centre). Happened to see the car in the flesh.
Car looks good, probably the best looker in the segment
very spacious too.. over all, all ingredients for success are there

BUT, it is a very big one, what about the pathetic service of renault

Right now even with only Dusters and some Scala/Pulse/Lodgy occasionally , the service centers leave a lot to be desired. Their service is totally incapable of managing the present load, leave alone the load expected if this car sells in even half decent numbers
The way they treat a customer who has paid 16-17 lakhs for a Duster is shockingly ridiculous, they literally take a customer for granted,
No work is ever completed in one visit.
In renault website they write free pick up & drop of cars for lady customers, which the dealership outright refuse to accept!! Also, they never give a bill for pick up & drop charges!! Also even when the car is taken a second time or third for fixing the complaint, they always insist on pick up & drop charges
The less i say about their professionalism & quality of work, the better. Just spend half an hour at any Renault service center and you will come across multiple people yelling at the service advisers out of sheer frustration.
In my experience, even when i take a humble alto for service, Maruti treats the customer like a king.

If at all Renault needs to click here, they need to stop this high headed attitude and learn from Maruti / Honda/ Hyundai about customer satisfaction. Hell i have had even much better experience from the dreaded Fiat service centres!!

I have decided, for my next purchase, i will buy a well supported inferior product rather than well made product with poor support

Have a feeling after the initial hype, the car will fail & status quo will be maintained as even though i believe the product here is superior than competition, eventually customer service & reach of service centre matters

Sorry for quoting my own post, but there is a update which i feel i should give
Moderators, please correct it / shift it to appropriate location

Ok, in my last post i had vented my frustration on poor service at Renault service centers in the last post. After this, i sent a strongly worded mail to customer@renault.com and marked a cc to CRM of the service center where i had the problem.
The very next day i get a call at around 11 am from someone claiming to be in charge of Complaints at Vidhatri Renault showroom (where i had all the issues) and he tells me that he is in front of my house and he is there to pick up the car to attend to all the complaints !! I told him that the car is not at home as i had no information about this & since both me & my wife were at work that day, the car was at the hospital. He said "no problem sir , we will collect the car from the hospital. Just give me the address". He along with a driver came to the hospital, waited for me to be free from my patients , met me and said that he is there to pick up the car to complete all the pending works and to resolve all my complaints. This time i specifically asked him about pick up & drop charges for which he said there wont be any. So i sent the car with him.
He Promptly called me back at the time he had promised to returned the car and inquired weather to deliver the car to home or hospital!
He handed me the Print out from the Wheel alignment machine as proof that all work has been done. He also refunded the pick-up & drop charges collected last time erroneously ( the car is in my wife's name and Renault offers free pick up & drop to all lady customers). He had got 2 letters which he got signed from the owner ( my wife) one saying that the pick up & drop charges have been returned & a second saying that all issues have been resolved & complaint may be closed.

The next day i again get a call from Vidhatri Renault Mysore asking if all was well with the car. I said yes. They requested me " sir if you are free, can you join us on a conference call with Renault India about he issue at a time of your convenience "
I spoke to someone From Renault India who is in charge of complaints and he apologized on behalf of Renault India for the mess and assured me that the next time the car goes in for service, all work will be done in one go & up to my satisfaction. They asked me to contact Renault in case of any problems. Also the said that as a lady customer my wife is definitely eligible for free pick up & drop . He blamed the confusion to the fact that though it was my wife's car, i was the one speaking with the service adviser for which i replied that the service center definitely has all customer details in their database, then how come this happened ? He again apologized for erroneously collecting charges for the pick up & drop.They specifically wanted to know if i have received the refund for the same

Good to know Renault cares about customers. In all my previous experiences regarding contacting customer care ( not just automotive, but in general )this has been the promptest response i have got till date.
At the end of all this mess, I AM A HAPPY CUSTOMER thanks to Renault

[shibujp]

Great review. Despite some pretty blatant cost cutting measures Renault ticks all the right boxes for a car in this segment.

Coincidently I was asked about the Kwid from someone who wanted to choose between the Kwid and the Alto K10. I suggested that he look closely at two aspects - namely the engine and the service. I had read that the engine was jerky and it might have been due to the fact that modulating the light throttle is difficult. Service is non negotiable at this level. People want a fill it, shut it, forget it car.

However service is a mentality that has to be inculcated over time and constant reinforcement. The incentives and company culture has to be structured appropriately. So it is something that does not change one fine day. It takes years to get to the level that Maruti and Hyundai are delivering. That said it is great to see that most of the makers have understood that unless they deliver on this front, they are not going to see much success in the market.

Originally Posted by i_see

Sorry for quoting my own post, but there is a update which i feel i should give
Moderators, please correct it / shift it to appropriate location

Ok, in my last post i had vented my frustration on poor service at Renault service centers in the last post. After this, i sent a strongly worded mail to customer@renault.com and marked a cc to CRM of the service center where i had the problem.

At the end of all this mess, I AM A HAPPY CUSTOMER thanks to Renault

Great to see the lengths to which Renault has gone to, to address this complaint.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[anilntny]

Very good review, thanks team-bhp.

About renault service, it is not that bad.In fact, am a happy renault customer for the last two years.

[amalji]

Added to wish list. Will surely buy this some day ( possibly the AMT option ).

• A boot space bigger than the Figo
• Leg space comparable from one class above
• Comfort comparable from one class above
• Best in class mileage
• Best in class power to weight ratio and torque to weight ratio
• 180 mm of ground clearance
• Soon to be released AMT option
• One of the best accessories options ever in this segment
• The reliability of Renault
• All without compromising on the aesthetics or pricing!

What more do you need ?

[PrideRed]

Test drove the Alto K10 AMT and Alto 800 today. In comparison to Kwid the 800 did not feel as powerful. The K10 on the other hand felt more powerful. The AMT was sluggish but Manual mode was delight to use.
When it comes to space, Kwid has a lot more space. Be it in the boot,rear seat or front. The back seat in Alto is practically inexistent and is only for kids, No way i could sit in back seat with front seat set for 5'10 foot tall person.
Ride felt slightly better in the Kwid, the large turning radius did make its presence felt.
The interiors of Kwid felt much better than both Alto. Vxi trim and RXT offer almost same set of features,the alto loses touch screen and remote unlock. The body panels of Kwid felt much heavier, wonder if the company quoted figure of 660kg is for real.
Coming to pricing, the Vxi AMT costs 5.13 on road .There is 15k cash discount on K10 which means 5.0lacs on road. That is 55k costlier than Kwid.
Kwid Advantages: GPS,Airbag, more space,better GC and looks much better.
Alto Advatages:Slightly more power,AMT, more number of dealers, better resale(just guessing).

Alto 800 has nothing to offer other than more number of dealers.(BTW there is 35k discount on 800).

[AGwagon]

I just called a Renault showroom to enquire about my booking only to realize that there is a letter to the showrooms from Renault to halt all deliveries. The letter apparently does not give any further information or the reason why. Just asks to halt deliveries until further notice. Any idea what it is guys?

I remember reading on the other thread earlier someone mentioned that their friends at Renault and some other employees had not decided to book or take deliveries in the first lot. Are there any problems that ppl are not aware about?

The showroom told that they only delivered one car and that was before the letter arrived, otherwise that would also not happened. He confirmed that they have cars in their lot but are awaiting orders. The showroom has over 400 bookings

[wadewilson]

Originally Posted by AGwagon

I just called a Renault showroom to enquire about my booking only to realize that there is a letter to the showrooms from Renault to halt all deliveries. The letter apparently does not give any further information or the reason why. Just asks to halt deliveries until further notice. Any idea what it is guys?

Just drove 63 kms. to the neighboring city with the same agenda "inquiring about the booking" (there's no Renault dealer in my town). But when I reached, they told me that the first batch of cars would be arriving in January only

[MaheshY1]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

Probably for those who hold the steering at 12 o clock position (remember Ranbir Kapoor driving this way in one of the Kwid commercials).

Poor guy.
He needs a Driver Safety 101 to learn how to hold the steering of an airbag equipped car.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by AGwagon

I just called a Renault showroom to enquire about my booking only to realize that there is a letter to the showrooms from Renault to halt all deliveries.
The showroom told that they only delivered one car and that was before the letter arrived, otherwise that would also not happened.

Today, I along with my friend went to test drive the Kwid. But that couldn't happen as apparently their TD car has gone to their service center.
Upon inquiring that why it needed to visit the workshop so soon we were told that the tyre got punctured, that's why!
I mean we were like I asked him why not just get the puncture repair or maybe use the spare tyre till then, to which he said, it's company's policy sir and we needed to send it to the workshop.
My friend and I were laughing all along while returning that how lame their excusess can get!!
There must have been some mechanical issue with the car for sure or maybe a body work repair but I suspect the former.

[itinerant]

Originally Posted by i_see

Good to know Renault cares about customers. In all my previous experiences regarding contacting customer care ( not just automotive, but in general )this has been the promptest response i have got till date.
At the end of all this mess, I AM A HAPPY CUSTOMER thanks to Renault

I had a similar satisfactory experience with Renault Customer Care. Despite all my attempts, I could not find the seat belt buckles of the rear seat of my Duster. I showed it to a service advisor and he was also unable to retrieve the seat belt buckles. Following this, I was not even sure if the buckles are there or not. From the service advisor, I also got the impression that I may have to to pay for the entire seat belt set if the buckles are not there. At this stage, I wrote a mail to Renault customer care complaining about the issue. following my complain, I received a call from them and an assurance that the matter will be resolved as soon as possible. In a couple of days time, a mechanic from one of their service centres visited my residence. Fortunately the seat belt buckles were stuck beneath the seat in a way that it was completely invisible. He fixed the problem. So, it is fair to say that at least Renault takes the complaints of its customers rather seriously.

[Jeevith]

Couldn't help but notice the large wheel wells. Considering this (and subject to finding after market alloys with three lug nuts), does this mean there is scope for up sizing the tyres?