4 years & 40,000 km with my Renault Kwid 1.0L AMT

Although there was a noticeable difference in overall refinement and NVH, the AMT wouldn’t change its ways.

BHPian vishy76 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Been very long since I have been seen lurking around on this thread (or any Renault Kwid thread for that matter). Partly because the Jetta has kept me occupied all throughout for the past 2 years as mentioned in the ownership review and partly because of professional commitments.

No update on Team-BHP usually means no issues or anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold true for any of my cars. Every time I have been away from the forum for a long period of time, I have come back with a rather lengthy update and an equally long bill at the service centre accompanying it. The Kwid’s story is bizarre. It hasn’t been a very uneventful ownership experience at all. A lot has happened in the past 3 years and some of it might have even slipped out of my mind, so apologies in advance. I will try and list down all part replacements and incidents in detail to the best of my abilities.

Here’s a pic of the actuator (replaced F.O.C under warranty) itself for reference. The first service was also carried out at the same time. Ended up costing about 5.3K:

The jerking issues from the AMT persisted though. My car has been to two distinct ASCs and an FNG, but all three have failed to sort the issue out. The car randomly jerks while downshifting from 2nd to 1st, engages drive and reverse late sometimes and slips the clutch excessively in first gear leading wheelspin many a times and oft. I have no other choice but to live with this issue, since the next step demands replacing the clutch pressure plate, friction plate and release bearing.

The second incident with the car happened due to my mom’s fault. She was backing out of a tight parking spot when the front right-hand side of the Kwid grazed the bumper of another car. The front right cladding cracked near the indicator lens. It was replaced for a princely sum of Rs. 490:

I was hoping this incident was the last untoward one, but my joy and hope were both short-lived. A troop of monkeys decided to use the Kwid’s roof as a trampoline. The damage was extensive. The roof has caved in at certain places like a tin foil. I haven’t gotten it fixed just yet though I will have to, now that rust has started to form due to paint cracks and chipping. My dad also ended up reversing into a pole, leaving another nasty dent on the boot lid and deforming the bumper around 2019. Have been given a quote of 12-13K for fixing both by Renault:

Battery Failure

Coming back to the technical tidbits, there’s plenty to write about. Around mid-2018, the car decided to spring up another issue. My mom was out shopping. After getting into the car and trying to start it, the Kwid refused to turn over. The electronic fault light came on. My mom had to resort to calling a towing service and getting the car towed off to Renault Gopinathji. It was disconcerting to learn that a faulty battery had caused this issue.

I wanted to give the RSA guy a piece of my mind for not checking the battery voltage and directly towing the car. Fortunately, Renault did cover the towing charges though I had to pay for the godforsaken battery. It was an Exide. My pocket was lighter by 4K or thereabouts. I later learnt this was a common issue in numerous 2017-2018 MFG Kwids.

Fuel canister replacement

The second service carried out shortly after was also eventful. I had again complained of recurring jerks while downshifting by the AMT, and they concluded that the petrol in the tank was contaminated. They drained the entire tank, replaced a part called the bleed canister (1.2K) and gave the car back. Though the petrol returned to me did seem to be contaminated with kerosene, I never observed any change in performance after this job was carried out. Here's a link to the part itself.

The third service was carried out at an FNG. Total cost came to about 5.5K. They did a fairly good job of it. The car also seemed to be settling in and the frequency of niggles had died down.

Faulty accelerator pedal assembly

Around late 2020 however, another issue, this time a known one. The electronic fault light came on and the Kwid wouldn’t respond to A-pedal inputs sometimes. I instantly knew this was the faulty accelerator pedal assembly issue seen on numerous Kwids. Got it fixed for Rs. 800.

4th Service and part replacements

Finally, I gave the car for its 40K km or 4th year service in April, 2021. I had three complains to be addressed:

• The brake fault light randomly pops up although the brakes are functioning normally and so is the handbrake
• The brake fluid hasn’t been changed and the same should be done
• The AMT’s jerky behaviour has increased

I got a call back giving me an initial quote of around 7K. However, on further inspection, it was revealed the front brake pads were completely worn, enough to scar the rotors. The quote went up to 13K. The S.A advised me to buy the Renault Easy Care program Ensure, which is basically P.R speak for an AMC. The AMC covers a lot (As indicated in the scanned copy) apart from costing a meagre 13K for 3 services. The final math worked out like this:

• Easy Care AMC: Rs 13.4K (valid for 2 more services apart from the current one)
• Brake pads and Rotor replacement + Labour: Rs 5K

I opted for the AMC and paid up for the brake overhaul (not covered by Easy Care). My wallet was lighter by 18.4K in total by the end of this saga. Here’s a list of parts replaced.

The air filter. The FNG didn’t bother changing this at the previous service, which clearly shows. The OE supplier to Renault is MAHLE. Cost is Rs. 190:

Wiper Washer fluid:

The brake pads with the associated shims and bolts. Set me back about 1.7K:

The minimum and maximum thickness on the pads. Its surprising how extensive the wear is for a 40K km done A-segment hatchback:

The scarred rotors. Look closely and you will see a very sharp lip on the external periphery of both rotors. They had enough thickness to be skimmed, but the dealership replaced them straight off:

Coolant.

Good to see Renault uses Long life coolant even on a budget offering. One bottle costs 260 bucks and holds 1L. The 1.0L takes 3 of these:

The alternator belt. Both the alternator and compressor are driven by separate belts in the Kwid. This belt costs 215 bucks:

The compressor belt. Comes in at 260 bucks:

That would be it. Although there was a noticeable difference in overall refinement and NVH, the AMT wouldn’t change its ways. It remains an extremely unpredictable gearbox when it comes to shifting gears and just isn’t something I would recommend any prospective Kwid owner to even consider.

The financial burden of building a new home has put car buying plans on the backburner for now. The Kwid was to be replaced earlier than the Jetta considering how fast it was ageing, and the fact that it didn’t really feel worth keeping with odd niggles popping up every 4-5 months. An Ignis AMT is the closest upgrade I see as of today. The Jazz, Kiger and Magnite CVTs are way out of my budget and the Polo TSI AT is also out of reach. The only logical thing to do at this point is to retain the Kwid. Hopefully, the car plays along and doesn’t throw up more tantrums.

On that (hopeful) note, it’s time to end this update. Thanks for reading through and stay safe. Until next time!

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