2021 Renault Kiger compact SUV review

Renault failed to want to go for a typical boxy SUV look with the Kiger, which is evident by its raked rear windscreen, tapering roofline and unique spoiler ingredient, all of which lends it a SUV-coupe-like profile. The standout feature at the again are the 3D, C-formed LED tail-lamps with gloss black aspects. The boot lid way too has lots of cuts and creases and it also has a chunky rear bumper, system cladding and a faux skid plate. What completes the SUV look is the 205mm of floor clearance, the roof rails which can just take hundreds up to 50 kg and the good sixteen-inch diamond-minimize alloys. 

The Renault Kiger can be had in six exterior colors, with a twin-tone paint scheme available throughout the overall variant line-up. This certain colour on our examination car, Caspian Blue, seemed decidedly magnificent under the Goan sunshine. 

What’s it like on the within?

Phase within the Kiger and you’re greeted with a neat dashboard, one that is very similar in design and style to that of the Triber’s. An all-new eight-inch touchscreen, that is slick adequate in its procedure, normally takes centre stage on the sprint. What genuinely is a boon is the wi-fi integration for Apple CarPlay and Android Vehicle. In its top trims, the Kiger is also equipped with a substantial-res, seven-inch digital instrument cluster that displays genuinely neat graphics relying on the drive method you’re in, which we’ll get to in a little bit. 

You won’t locate any delicate touch resources on the sprint but plastic excellent is much more than acceptable for the Kiger’s selling price. Renault has also done a superior career to spruce up the cabin with chrome detailing all around the equipment lever, piano black aspects on the centre console and the weather manage knobs with built-in readouts (shared with the Magnite) look quality way too. Even so, there is no escaping that fees have been minimize in buy to selling price the Kiger so competitively. For instance, aspects like the inside rear- view mirror, sunshine shades and roof lining sense really essential.  

Up front, it is easy to locate a cozy driving placement and you get a superior view out of the cabin. The seats by themselves are supportive, effectively-bolstered and have a neat pattern on them. One of the highlights on the Kiger, nevertheless, is the house on offer you for rear seat passengers. Headroom and legroom at the rear are both of those fantastic and the flat ground also would make life simpler for the center passenger. The fold-down armrest is also effectively positioned, and if nearly anything, it’s that the rear windows are a little bit smaller. 

There is certainly lots of headroom and kneeroom on offer you at the rear.

The Kiger is one of the most practical SUVs in the segment, with plenty of storage house within the cabin. This is thanks to practical and massive storage areas like the twin gloveboxes and the cental storage house amongst the elbow box and the equipment lever.)  The Kiger also impresses with a class-top 405 litre boot. The blend of a substantial loading lip and minimal boot ground do make loading significant baggage challenging. Even so, Renault will offer you an accessory shelf that would make the boot ground stage with the opening. There’s also the extra flexibility of 60:forty break up rear seats.  

On the devices front, the selection-topping Kiger RXZ has an Arkamys 3D seem technique, keyless entry-go, automatic weather manage with PM 2.5 filter, ambient lights, cooled glove box and electric power folding mirrors, nevertheless the all-vital sunroof is missing and there are a couple blank switches on the steering wheel, presumably for a cruise manage that could be extra on a long term update. A wi-fi charger and an external air purifier can be had as part of an accessory pack. Basic safety options consist of four airbags, Abdominal muscles with EBD, ISOFIX child-seat mounts, a rear-view digital camera and parking sensors.

What’s it like to drive?

Powering the Kiger are two, three-cylinder 1.-litre petrol engines. There’s a the natural way aspirated unit that places out 72hp and 96Nm of torque and can be had with both a 5-velocity handbook or an AMT gearbox. This engine also does obligation in the Renault Triber. The other engine choice is the new HR10 turbo-petrol engine that manufactured it’s debut on the Nissan Magnite and will locate its way into a range of Renault-Nissan Alliance products in the long term. The unit makes 100hp and 160Nm of torque with a 5-velocity handbook gearbox and 152Nm when paired to a CVT automatic. Renault expects the automatic variants to make up thirty p.c of gross sales. Just like in the Magnite, there is no diesel choice with the Kiger, nor will there at any time be as the CMF-A+ system merely can’t accommodate one. We bought to sample the Kiger turbo-petrol handbook on our drive in Goa. 

Thumb the starter button in the centre console and the engine arrives to life, settling into a silent idle. Even though the engine is reasonably quiet, you do sense some of the three-pot motor’s vibrations in the cabin, specifically on the steering wheel and equipment lever. 

Even so, once you established off, the engine feels smoother and builds velocity with self-assurance even when its off-improve. The improve arrives in at all around 1,700rpm, but it does so without having any distinguished surge or spike, as is popular with turbocharged engines. General performance stays powerful until finally earlier 5,000rpm, right after which it tapers off, nevertheless you can wind the engine to six,500rpm. Revving challenging would make the engine seem pretty loud and there is no missing that three-cylinder thrum both. The turbo-petrol Kiger responds keenly to swift taps on the accelerator, which would make for easy overtaking or rapidly filling gaps in site visitors. It has decent minimal-selection grunt way too, but like other smaller capacity turbo-petrol engine-powered cars and trucks you’ll need to have to be aware to be in the ideal equipment on climbs. On the subject matter, the Kiger’s 5-velocity handbook gearbox has extensive throws and normally takes a little bit of effort and hard work to slot into the gates but, it is specific adequate. The clutch pedal however, is gentle and easy to modulate. 

Rotary dial, to toggle by way of the drive modes.

A big speaking point on the Kiger is the inclusion of three driving modes – Ordinary, Eco and Sporting activities. These modes are controlled through a rotary dial on the centre console and they alter the Kiger’s throttle response and steering. These modes do make a visible variance to the Kiger’s effectiveness, with the car feeling most responsive in Sporting activities method. The digital dashboard also displays neat graphics when in Sporting activities, such as electric power and torque usage and even a G-meter. Ordinary method set the emphasis on the velocity display while Eco highlights the rpm band for most successful driving.

Goa’s winding and twisty roads also gave us a opportunity to examination out the Kiger’s managing capabilities. The Kiger has superior system manage and there is a superior volume of grip on offer you way too, generating it pretty capable in the bends. The Renault turns with self-assurance and the Activity method that provides visible weight to the steering only allows the experience. The steering is also gentle at minimal speeds but it needs one way too a lot of twirls lock-to-lock, which is anything you’ll notice when parking. That staying claimed, the Kiger is an easy car to put and feels at house in tight town confines. In terms of braking, there is a absence of an initial chunk right after which the Kiger decelerates in linear and progressive fashion. 

Also impressive is the Kiger’s trip excellent. There is an fundamental firmness to the trip but it’s not to the point of staying jarring, and on genuinely bad patches, it really feels pretty tightly screwed with each other, nearly like a mini-Duster. The massive shock is how the Kiger feels at cruising speeds. Entire body actions are effectively contained and it feels much more surefooted than its 1 tonne weight would propose. It drives like a more substantial and heavier car and that is a massive compliment to the Renault. In which the Kiger feels pretty average is in refinement stages. There’s lots of street, tyre and wind sounds in the cabin at substantial speeds and you can even listen to the suspension challenging at operate.  

Ought to I get one? 

Priced from Rs 5.forty five lakh (ex-showroom, pan-India), the Kiger formally results in being the most inexpensive compact SUV, just about undercutting its Nissan sibling, the Magnite. Even though Nissan may possibly have had the initially mover advantage within just the Alliance with the Magnite by taking a couple months more time, Renault appeared to have manufactured the Kiger a much more rounded bundle. 

What you get for your revenue is a cozy compact SUV that is fantastic to look at, superior to drive and decently equipped with options as effectively. Absolutely sure, the Kiger does miss out on some options that are now popular in its class, like a sunroof, cruise manage and related car engineering and Renault has also visibly saved fees in areas, but aspect in its selling price, Rs eight.55 lakh for the top-spec RXZ turbo-petrol handbook that we drove, and you can genuinely see the value in this proposition. 

The Kiger arrives throughout as a fantastic value-for-revenue bundle.

Not only does it undercut the overall compact SUV segment and nearly create a sub-segment, the Renault Kiger in this top-spec kind is much more inexpensive than even some quality hatchbacks like the new Hyundai i20. If the demand from customers for the Magnite is nearly anything to go by, which garnered 32,000 bookings within just a thirty day period from its start, and contemplating the value-for-revenue it offers prospective buyers, the Renault Kiger could just come to be the subsequent massive matter in the compact SUV segment. 

Also see: