Renault Kiger

Nice car, good mileage, but cabin noise is pretty much that they have to concentrate on sound noise cancellation and engine refinement, which could be more efficient in terms of mileage.

I have owned a Renault Kiger RXT CVT (automatic) for the past 3.5 years and have covered over 70,000 kms. I am a heavy user, covering at least 70 kms a day for office commute, 5-6 days a week with 10 kms of this commute being particularly bad rural roads. First, the good parts. The Kiger is built solid and performed admirably on rural roads. I rarely had any ground clearance issues. I also appreciated the hill assist feature in particular, as about 7 kms of my daily commute also involves rather steep uphill roads. The vehicle has good styling with excellent paint finishing which makes it standout from other budget SUVs. Mileage is excellent, and I am routinely able to get between 14-15 kms during routine commutes and about 17 kms plus on the highway. Performance is satisfactory if you accelerate the car gently without slamming the pedal (more on this later). The vehicle can easily hold a speed of 70-80 kms all day long and only complains if you accelerate past 110 kms on highways. For the first 2.5 years (60,000 kms), the vehicle gave no major problems and performed fairly well during both daily commutes and long rides (400 plus kms) on highways in extreme heat, heavy rains and severe fog/cold. Things have unfortunately gone downhill since then. The main problem that I have repeatedly faced with escalating maintenance costs and vehicle idling time for weeks in the garage is engine heating. I suspect this is because the Kiger wrings a lot of power out of a relatively small engine so maybe it runs 'hot.' You only need to have the car full (4 occupants) and luggage with AC on and going uphill on the ghat and the "engine fault" message flashes on your screen with the loud warning alarm. Initially, I assumed it was a minor sensor problem but the problem has continued to trouble even on normal flat roads. Coolant container has been changed, radiator has been cleaned and may now have to be changed. The engine itself may now need to be opened. To be honest and fair to Renault, I did not give my vehicle to the Renault Service Center but to a trusted mechanic in Pune with a well-established shop (where all my work colleagues and friends also give their cars). Speaking of servicing, Renault service centers in Pune are particularly bad with high servicing costs (upto Rs 15,000 for a regular service plus additional repair costs) and basic servicing shortfalls (repeated delays, interiors of the car not being cleaned etc). Part of the reason for this high cost is also the expensive engine oil required for the automatic version (around Rs 4000). Can a middle-class professional like myself not expect a vehicle for which I have paid close to 12 lakhs to atleast be designed in a manner that it can be easily serviced (with spare parts available) by a good mechanic. It is only when the vehicle is handed over to a service center other than Renault that the real crunch in spare parts becomes painfully clear. The vehicle has been in the garage for weeks and every time I get it back, the engine fault problem comes right back. Attempting to drive the vehicle despite the alarm is not an option as it risks overheating and seizing the engine. Luckily, I have a second car. But for this, my work commute would have been completely disrupted. Other issues include the interiors which are built to a price point and are not able to keep out the noise of the engine and the tyres. As said earlier, performance is satisfactory but slamming the accelerator pedal immediately reveals the engine's limitations with loud knocking sound and momentary loss of power, especially on slopes. The engine heating problem seems to be a common issue with many users reporting similar problems on social media forums. Overall, the Kiger unfortunately fails the one test that Indian buyers probably value the most which is reliability. Despite having a solid body, excellent mileage, great styling and satisfactory performance, the Kiger has simply not had the endurance and reliability which would make me want to count on it blindly and sell my other car. I still like the vehicle. I only wish it had lived up to its own high expectations that it set in the first 2 years.

I bought a Kiger AMT in Mar 2022, it's been 3 years and the overall experience is very significant, especially on highways, mileage reaches 20 to 22 km/l, and speed is also quite reasonable ranging from 100 to 120 km/l. There were some issues at the beginning such as clutch pedal and sensor misguiding, but when I discussed these with the service center, they fixed them without any extra money. I must say the service is very good as compared to Maruti and Tata. People should trust Renault in India, it is a better option in these compressive price segments. One thing that should be handled in Kiger is that the mileage should be fixed as it reduces to 4 to 5 km/l in small traffic.

1. I saw all the car details from Carwale after I approached the showroom for smooth buying 2. Driving fees like a German car 3. Performance always good in Renault 4. Best service 5 . All good The Renault Kiger subcompact SUV iam happy to get this type of car at this price always happy with this because of my family.