2 months with my Renault Kiger Turbo CVT: Ownership observations so far

The seat belt issue, which was a major irritant in the first month, seems to have been resolved by way of muscle memory.

BHPian jomyboy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello fellow BHPians,

It has been two months now since we have had the Kiger and the car has just been fantastic. It definitely has grown on me. The car has superseded my desires of what car comfort should be! It’s a superbly tuned CVT turbo engine. I do not know what gripe Gagan (YouTuber) has with the performance of the CVT turbo, but for me it performs a charm. I have had no problems going metal to pedal, albeit with a slight lag, to get any overtaking manoeuvres done. The engine is quite peppy and fun, and coming from Swift and Xcent I am so glad to own a car with the same zing. The drive quality, suspension, steering, and seats have been top notch up until now. The rear seat comfort is even better than the front seats.

I got my first free service done at the Benchmark Andheri. I went ahead and got the antirust coating done for my own satisfaction. It was a lazy day at the showroom and I was attended to and got my car delivered back fairly quickly. The rubber beading, which I had installed in a haphazard manner, had come off whilst cleaning. Asked for it to get re-fitted and they did so in a much more professional manner. The car wash sadly left a lot to be desired.

We had got this beautiful piece at at 12.6 lakhs OTR with car discount, corporate discount, exchange bonus, etc. Totally VFM! I hope to be able to post with the same pride in three years' time:

Fuel economy issue:

I was surprised to know that people owning the Hyundai I20 IVT also get 6 kmpl or even less in city bumper to bumper driving conditions. A relative driving the Hyundai Venue DCT N-line gets 4 kpml. Somehow the Kiger gets more brickbats amongst its peers.

Having said that, the Kiger comes into its own once you hit 80+ and are cruising, the FE bar hovers between 20-30 kmpl all the time. Once you have gained speed, the key is to play with the accelerator with a light foot (press and release) and lo behold you strike gold!

The seat belt issue, which was a major irritant in the first month, seems to have been resolved by way of muscle memory. We have no problems getting the seatbelt hooked on now that we are used to it except when in a hurry, then the darn belt just will not get hooked!

The grime under the door problem has been resolved by installing the rubber seals from MediaNav solutions. That is one must-have accessory for the Kiger!

The Android Auto problem that we had also has got resolved. I just happened to start the car with my airdopes on Bluetooth one fine day and for some reason the android auto system recognised my phone and started working after that.

The keyless experience has been fantastic. Without taking out the card from my pocket/wife’s handbag, we are able to enter, start, switch off and get out without a bother and it works every time without fail. I didn’t think much of it at the time when we were told about it at the showroom and thought it more a façade; however, it is a feature that I will dearly miss if and when I change my car . Sure it’s got its own set of problems, e.g. once we parked our car in front of a fast-food restaurant and were sat in the open area, but due to the close proximity to our car parked outside, the doors had opened; luckily, no harm done. I understand it can be a safety issue for some if all doors open when you are near the car and I don’t think you can get it re-programmed to open just one door, but you can use the key inside the card to manually open only the driver's door (I think) if you were ever in that situation. Other than that, the keyless card feature is a keeps for me!

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