Complete Guide to Buying a Renault Kiger

The Renault Kiger has been around for more than 2 years and does most of the heavy lifting for the French carmaker in India. While its sales are not as high as that of segment leaders, Tata Nexon and Maruti Brezza, you would hardly ever find anyone talking down the Renault Kiger. A valuable offering in more than one way, the Kiger easily attracts buyers who look beyond the sales figures and analyse a car on more important parameters. If you are one such individual and intend to bring a Kiger home, here is a complete buying guide to buy a Renault Kiger, featuring what you will like, what you will not like, and the best variant for you.

Renault Kiger Specifications

Why you should consider the Renault Kiger

The Renault Kiger competes in the most hotly contested segment, which is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Not only does the Kiger match many already-set standards, it also surpasses its rivals on several grounds. Here are some facts that make Kiger a better offering than its contemporaries.  

Well-balanced space and practicality

Dimension-wise, the Renault Kiger is a decently sized car in its segment. But the commendable feat is how well the space has been distributed across the cabin. There is ample headroom, legroom, and even shoulder room for all 5 passengers, making it one of the segment’s best 5 seaters. On top of this, the segment-leading 405 litres boot space caters well to most luggage-carrying needs. Another thing that adds to Kiger’s practicality is the 205 mm ground clearance. This high-riding SUV keeps you from worries while crossing potholes and speed-breakers. When all this comes with a stylish road presence, it elevates Kiger’s appeal to another level.

Sprightly performance with good mileage

The 1-litre turbo petrol engine of the Renault is capable of delivering a sprightly performance while maintaining good mileage. In fact, the mileage figures of 20.5 km/l from manual transmission and 18.2 km/l from CVT automatic, are the highest as compared to every other turbo petrol engine in the segment.

Safety

It is always good to know that a robust bodyshell is there to shield you, in case of any accident. The 4-star G-NCAP safety rating of the Renault Kiger is a fine testament to its structural strength and makes it one of the safest cars in its segment. This safety rating places it above the Korean twins, Venue and Sonet, and only a few points behind the segment-leading Tata Nexon.

Value for money

The most important facet of any car, and the most attractive trait of the Renault Kiger, is value-for-money. No car in the segment, other than its soul sibling Nissan Magnite, matches the value Kiger delivers for its asking price. Offering an impressive wealth of features, a spacious cabin, good looks, easy handling, and even a city-friendly CVT automatic at a considerably affordable price as compared to its rivals, makes the Renault Kiger a real praiseworthy deal. Even a fully digital instrument cluster and three drive modes that Kiger offers are rare facilities to avail at its price point. The amount of bang for your buck Kiger packs is arguably the number one reason that is keeping it the best-seller for the French carmaker. 

Why you should not consider the Renault Kiger

Despite being a great value-for-money package, some aspects of Kiger can turn your preference to its rivals.

Unavailability of Curtain airbags

As we know, most compact SUVs are offering 6 airbags these days, if not as standard, at least in their top variants. This airbags array includes two front and two side airbags for the front passengers and the curtain airbags. The Renault Kiger, on the other hand, offers dual front airbags as standard, and additional side airbags for front passengers in the top two variants. Missing the curtain airbags does make the Kiger lag slightly behind its rivals. Though the 4-star G-NCAP safety rating indicates a strong first layer of safety, the curtain airbags strengthen the second layer of safety.

Cost cutting in interiors

As affordable as the Renault Kiger is, it cannot be overlooked that Renault has done some cost-cutting in the quality of its interiors with a little overuse of hard plastics. This feels justifiable for its price, but makes its cabin feel a little less premium compared to its rivals.

Renault Kiger Variants

If you are looking to buy a Renault Kiger, it will be wise to know which variant is best for you. To make things simpler, here are the variants of the Renault Kiger against their prices and the most suitable variant for your needs.

Best Renault Kiger Variant to Buy

While the base variant of the Renault Kiger sports the most essential features, it misses some key features such as the music system, powered ORVMs, steering mounted controls, and remote central locking. Therefore, if you want better value, it will be wise to skip the RXE variant. One step higher, the RXT variant is a great deal for its asking price and is a big leap ahead of the base variant. It packs a music system, touchscreen infotainment system, height-adjustable driver seat, 4 airbags, and many more features to justify its price difference from the base variant. For some additional amount, the RXT Opt variant offers LED projector headlamps, alloy wheels, and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Both RXT and RXT Opt come with the 1-litre naturally aspirated engine with either a manual gearbox or AMT. So, if you intend to own the turbo petrol engine, the top variant Kiger RXZ is the only option.

Renault Kiger Warranty and Service Cost

For all Renault cars, the French carmaker offers a warranty of 2 years/50 000 km from the delivery date. This warranty period can be extended up to 7 years at some additional cost. With regard to the service cost, the first three services are free of labour charges and the cost falls around, Rs 835 at 2 months/ 2,000 km, Rs 1,259 at 1 year/10,000 km, Rs 1,610 at 2 year/20,000 km, Rs 3,884 at 3 year/30,000 km, and Rs 3,364 at 4 year/40,000 km.

Summary

Despite being a fashionable and great value-for-money package, the Renault Kiger is a highly underrated car in India. At the same time, as fickle as the landscape of the Indian automobile industry is, no one can predict when buyers start realising the true potential of the Kiger. However, if you have already gauged Kiger’s value and plan to buy one, this buying guide will help you analyse things better and bring home the best variant for you.

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