[CrazyToDrive]

Excellent review Omkar.
I was seeing the video review of Kwid AMT on you tube for some auto show. When the car was stopped on incline and again started it almost rolled behind about 1 ft. This will be a big issue in city traffic where we have cars bumper to bumper.

[Rajeevraj]

The more I think about the Kwid AMT, the more upset I am with Renault. The success of Kwid seems to have got to their head, and they seem to believe they can get away with providing a half baked AT with a gimmicky dial shift. The sad thing is that they probably will get away with it. A lot of first time buyers will not understand the issues with the lack of any kind of manual control until they get into specific situations.

I can't think of any other AT in India that does not have some form of control. Either via additional modes like S,L,2 or a full manual mode. The only car I can think with a single Drive mode is the Mahindra E2O. But even that if I am not mistaken has some kind of a boost option for that bit of extra power.

The Ford Fiesta used to have only an S mode and no other manual option(Which Ford fixed with the Aspire and Ecosport)

[Night Raven]

Originally Posted by 400notout

2) The dealer has refused to register the car, they have asked him to register the car himself at the RTO. They will just deliver with temporary registration. First time I'm hearing this. Are procedures different in kerala? Has someone faced something similar?

I guess that is normal here in Kerala. My Fiat was delivered by the dealer located at Kottayam, which was KL 05. Since my residence address was about 45 kms away from Kottayam and it was coming under another sRTO, KL 36, it was delivered with a "KL 05 temp" registration number. They provided the documents required for registration in a separate envelope and told me to get it registered within a month. I don't think it has anything to do with RTO updating the variant, because by that time the Punto Evo had been in the market for quite a few months.

[Dr.Naren]

PowerDrift Video Review :

https://youtu.be/lrWN_Bvqll0

[vsrivatsa]

I did my test drive today at Renault Silkboard. Here are my initial impressions:

1. The gear shifts can be felt easily - although having a display of which gear would surely have been a big benefit

2. I tried specifically on a slope/incline. Stopped the car completely and managed to move forward easily. The rollback I think is manageable. Tried different combinationa such as hand brake and accelerator etc. and overall can be handled with some practice. Its not a deal breaker from a rollback perspective

3. Overtakes would still be an issue. Now I am not much of an AMT expert but I dont believe most of the people with manual mode also use it much. I spoke to a friend of mine who has a Jazz Auto and he says he did the complete drive to and fro to Tirupathi and never used the Manual mode.

[400notout]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

I guess that is normal here in Kerala. My Fiat was delivered by the dealer located at Kottayam, which was KL 05. Since my residence address was about 45 kms away from Kottayam and it was coming under another sRTO, KL 36, it was delivered with a "KL 05 temp" registration number. They provided the documents required for registration in a separate envelope and told me to get it registered within a month. I don't think it has anything to do with RTO updating the variant, because by that time the Punto Evo had been in the market for quite a few months.

Well things moved exactly the way you said. Vehicle is received with temp numbers and is to registered within a month. The Kwid arrived a couple of days back.









Sorry for the image quality, this is the best I could source.

[arunu]

As most of you have pointed out, its a big miss out from Renault of not having manual control of the automatic gears.

I have been driving conventional auto gears for a decade now and one pertinent observation w.r.t. Auto gear.

While coming down a hilly slope, say you are doing 60+ kmpl and you are on your highest great, say 5th or 6th gear of your AMT car, you touch the brake pedal lightly, car's ECU understands that you are going down a slope fast and tries to slows down to say 40kmpl by dropping couple of gears. You will still gain speed again but you can control by braking consistently and have control.

Does this happen with Kwid AMT?

Of-course, having manual control like pedal-shifters OR tiptronic gear is mandatory, but trying to understand the rational behind this omission by Renault. I am sure Renault would have done enough market study to comeup with such a strategy and will sure know that any safety issues cropping up post market release will cost their market share and market reputation heavily.

[quakerme]

Excellent Review!
After a long wait I Td-ed Kwid last week, I was very much impressed when they annonced AMT with a dial and more impressed when checked the demo car with the larger than class infotainment system but come TD all expectations went kaput. Im not concentrating on the lack of manual gearshift (which I think is a complete letdown) right from the start you can feel that the engine is noisy it growls frequently when changing gears, engine feels like a bit refined form of nano amt, NVH levels are high and the drive is not smooth. They couldve included a sports mode to boost the lazy workhorse just to impress the driver and lack of creep function will be a dissapointment in Bumper to bumper traffic, Hope Renault will comeup with an upgrade sooner

[bhp_maniac]

Excellent review, saw lot of highly positive reviews on Youtube etc. However, how can one decide without an official TBHP review Contrary to mentioned by other reviews on the internet, it seems like the omission of manual control and creep function are very well felt in day to day city traffic. We almost zeroed in on Kwid AMT for my wife, but it seems better to consider the Alto option now. She's not convinced with the Alto looks though

[amalji]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

We almost zeroed in on Kwid AMT for my wife, but it seems better to consider the Alto option now. She's not convinced with the Alto looks though

Consider the celerio as well. It's a much more practical and comfortable car compared to the alto.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by amalji

Consider the celerio as well. It's a much more practical and comfortable car compared to the alto.

Thanks amalji, actually we did test drive of both a couple of months back. While Celerio was a much better car in terms of comfort and space, AMT operation felt smoother on the Alto than celerio. Don't know if it was some issue with the test drive vehicle. The sales team didn't agree to us and said there is no difference between Alto and Celerio in terms of AMT unit, however I felt a noticeable difference. Hence we decided to wait for Kwid AMT launch.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Thanks amalji, actually we did test drive of both a couple of months back. While Celerio was a much better car in terms of comfort and space, AMT operation felt smoother on the Alto than celerio. Don't know if it was some issue with the test drive vehicle. The sales team didn't agree to us and said there is no difference between Alto and Celerio in terms of AMT unit, however I felt a noticeable difference. Hence we decided to wait for Kwid AMT launch.

In the same boat here, had almost zeroed in on Kwid AMT for my wife. Now its back to the selection game again. Like you called out looks-wise, both Alto and Celerio do not come near to the Kwid. Will be TD-ing the Celerio soon. Hoping to see some Ownership reports on the Kwid AMT as well to get a more comprehensive view of the drawbacks and how much they would matter.

[prince1a]

Seems like Creep function removal was decided later ? Kwid Manual available in Renault site has creep function detailed in Page 49 and 50

Link : https://www.cdn.renault.com/content/...l_11082016.pdf

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by prince1a

Seems like Creep function removal was decided later ? Kwid Manual available in Renault site has creep function detailed in Page 49 and 50

That's interesting. Seems like they decided to disable a feature which was buggy at the last moment. I presume it might be possible for them to enable it through a software update in the future.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

I presume it might be possible for them to enable it through a software update in the future.

That's Renault for you in India, should not be surprised if they offer Gear indicators, Creep and Hill assist function in a higher variant later. Please do not rely on the claims of manufacturers and be satisfied with a test drive on flat roads. This is another halfhearted effort from Renault, please test this vehicle in peak hour traffic and if possible drive through slow moving traffic around hilly areas in your city with AC, it will reveal the real facts.