Quote:
Originally Posted by vijayrajthampi Verdict.
If you are looking for a driver’s car, if you are worried about your rpms and the gear selection, if you are worried about apex and exit speeds, look beyond all AMTs . DSG is what you want.
In real life, the point of taking an AMT is to not bother with the gear most of the time, and i think in the last 2 months, the un availability of a gear selector on the AMT hasn’t bothered me much. If you are confused between the Maruti's and the Renault the only things to differentiate between them are the availability of service centres and the suspension. Maruti has a brilliant network of service centres and the Kwid has a brilliant suspension setup. Apart from that, there isn't much to differentiate.
The Kwid has also given me the confidence to take it on small trips which are less than 7 hrs. It's not as comfortable as any of my previous cars. But its 2 segments down , and does a decent job at that price point.
The gripe with the Kwid AMT will last till you realize what the car was made for. The car was not made to burn rubber, or do handbrake turns, or do redline shifts. It was made for my Wife, so she can commute from Point A to Point B , with minimum Fuss. And the occasional road trips. And it does precisely that.
**The lack of pics are because i never felt any pic would add more value to what is covered in the official review . There is a picture of everything except the door handle. |
Couldn't have put it any better. I agree with you word by word.
Backstory
I took a big gamble pushing my FIL for this car. He had booked a Celerio as the Kwid hadn't launched then. I asked him to insist on the ZXI AMT option pack.
The MS showroom guys were pretty much inclined to push a VXI without the safety pack. They gave a month's waiting period. The Celerio costed around Rs.5,80,000 odd.
When the news of the AMT broke, I asked him to take a look. He test drove, liked it and booked it. But even Renault quoted a month's waiting.
In between he had checked the Grand i10 which was getting a bit too expensive along with other traditional automatic options.
Then Nov 8 happened. He got a call from Renault that he would get the car in a week if he made the payment. As there were no updates from MS, he went ahead paid by cheque and took delivery.
It cost him Rs. 5,04,000 which made quite the difference as this one was not being taken on a loan.
The MS guys turned up with a test drive car after he bought the car home.
1.5 months later
I was in Kerala over the last weekend and got to drive the Kwid AMT for around 100 kms.
To add some perspective I drive a Chevy Spark at home and my experience with automatics comes from
the 8000 odd kms I have driven on my fathers Honda City ZX CVT including its journey from Mumbai to Thrissur. Had not driven any AMT before this.
With the Kwid I didnt drive on any bumper to bumper traffic or heavy steep decline.
From my personal experience of the car;
Initially I was nervous, every time while braking I felt the car would stop. However it got better as I got to know the car better.
On inclines it gave me better confidence than my spark. I felt the accelerator initially just held the car and with additional input moved the car very comfortably.
Creep function was not missed. At signals and while parking the car behaved predictably.
Overtaking needed planning, for sedate drivers no issues but for people who like to zip and zap in and out of lanes it wont inspire much confidence.
Gearshifts are very much felt after all it
is just a manual underneath the automation.
Conclusion;
It was tough pushing for a Renault, especially when the only showroom was 22 Kms away and more so when its "common sense" to buy a Maruti.
But Im very glad my FiL went for it. The Kwid is fantastic car and the AMT just makes it easier to drive. It has good presence and can hold its own amongst cars of higher segments.
My Fil, who rarely touched 60 KPH on his erstwhile Alto, bragged about driving at 100 KPH. Thankfully he started wearing seatbelts too.
Just like
vijayrajthampi sir said its an Activa on 4 wheels, it doesnt get simpler than this.
But all said and done, the Kwid AMT would only be complete with a "sport" mode for faster intended acceleration.
I missed this, not just during overtakes but those small bursts of speed one needs to close in on the car in front of you on busy roads.
Maybe I'm already a fanboy but apart from lack of sports mode, no real deal breakers for me.
Here's the new Kwid kuttan Nair in pictures
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