Q.Kwid 1.0 Quick Review

[USER="12"]Arjun[/USER] it was part of the offer as in the pic. [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]n19009[/ATTACH][/CENTER] The offer closed on September 30th which was extended from the previous closing date as per the Sales Executive. Don't know if it is still available or some other promotion has started. Since we know that the Grand i10 facelift will be out early next year, expect the offers to increase more and more in the coming months. [USER="8605"]suyog[/USER] We luckily had the preferred color- Stardust in stock so delivery was done in 4 days after booking(September 30th as it was the last date to avail the scratch and win offer and bumper draw to win a.. get this, Grand i10:p but in Diesel, a golden orange Magna variant was gift-wrapped up in the showroom). Even if that's not the case with you, expect 10-15days standard waiting period(There was news on some strike in Hyundai Plant [USER="12"]Arjun[/USER] please update). So confirm delivery dates and stock details prior to booking. you are getting a stellar deal as you have a hyundai in exchange. It was my cousin's first car hence we couldn't cash in on exchange, Govt scheme and loyalty benefits. Please see the previous post for the items i received free of cost from the dealership. Only thing we paid for was for door visors, side beading and car cover(2000 rupees was discounted from the total bill of 4000 as we won 2000/- worth credits in the scratch and win). One thing though, you might feel that the Grand is a bit smaller than the i20 which you are being used to.

[URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] Wow. Bat and ball is something you don't expect to get with a car. Is it something to do with the M.S.Dhoni movie that is being released? As you had mentioned the accessories for the Kwid were expensive and overall, including the accessories cost, you haven't gone too much ahead of your budget with the Grand i10. For the extra cost you get 1. More premium interiors 2. Rear AC vents 3. Great service 4. [B]peace of mind[/B]( with the issues seen in Kwid). Overall quite a good deal.

[QUOTE=NikilSJ;n18954][URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] congratulate your relative on my behalf for booking the Grand i10. I've been a big fan of the Grand i10. In fact, that is the only Hyundai I have ever liked. For the price, nothing beats the Grand i10 be it in space, comfort, engine refinement or fuel efficiency. I love the fact that it is loaded with features that come only in cars that are a segment above (the Tiago is probably the only car that can beat it in terms of fetures). Moreover, the Grand i10 feels way better built than the Kwid The way the Renault dealer acted is not acceptable at all. If you had inspected the car and booked it, why would they give the car off to someone else :x [/QUOTE] [USER="12"]Arjun[/USER] There is only 1 Renault dealer in Trivandrum and hence the service is pathetic(No competition), I am now glad that the delay happened otherwise we wouldn't have looked at the Gi10 for sure. We are waiting to receive the cheque for the booking amount and yes, it is fully refundable which is the only saving grace where as Hyundai charges 3000/- as cancellation charges which i saw stamped on the booking order form. [USER="20"]NikilSJ[/USER] We just wanted to check out the offers in Hyundai before switching over to the the Swift Lxi which only had a 3k discount as we couldn't club in any exchange or loyalty / govt. scheme. But to our surprise, the Onam offer was extended till September 30th and we could get the 1.2L Magna variant for about 5.6 lakhs with all the offers thrown in(~40k benefits). The built quality is segment best as we know and the cabin quality and fit, finish is top notch be it an Eon or Creta. The feeling of plushness is what bowled us over. The Sportz variant could be streched BUT we had planned to go for a stereo with touchscreen navigation so the money saved here could be used for add-ons. The Magna featured a Driver side Airbag, rear ac vents, 4door power windows, power mirrors, central locking, fog lamps making it really VFM than the swift variant to variant. the 1.2L engine was also super silent and miles ahead in everything when compared to the Kwid and a delight to drive. We received a Hyundai branded bat(good quality) and ball(test match type red one), free b2b insurance(18.5k), 17k cash discount, basic accessory pack, extended warranty, 2k credit on accessories(scratch and win coupon), free vinyl flooring and under-body coating. This was a stellar deal and the overall purchase experience at Ajith Hyundai was excellent and so was our Sales executive Mr. Sakthivel. I will do a detailed write up on the purchase soon.

[URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] congratulate your relative on my behalf for booking the Grand i10. I've been a big fan of the Grand i10. In fact, that is the only Hyundai I have ever liked. For the price, nothing beats the Grand i10 be it in space, comfort, engine refinement or fuel efficiency. I love the fact that it is loaded with features that come only in cars that are a segment above (the Tiago is probably the only car that can beat it in terms of fetures). Moreover, the Grand i10 feels way better built than the Kwid The way the Renault dealer acted is not acceptable at all. If you had inspected the car and booked it, why would they give the car off to someone else :x

[URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] Its sad that the Kwid 1.0 purchase had to be cancelled. Were you given a full refund for the booking amount? Its quite unethical on the part of the dealer to sell the car that you have inspected and booked to someone else while expecting you to wait for more than a month. The dealer and sales network is something Renault needs to work on as that has been the major woe to most customers. The quality issues and the water leakage would have been already troubling you and then this goofup by the dealer would be a final straw. Its great that you could still make your purchase during the festive season. In terms of price how much did the difference come to? The Grand i10 is a great car to buy this festive season with the discounts. Your timing was way too good because you managed to get it just before the price hike. Moreover, the launch of the newer Grand i10 has also been postponed , so there was no point waiting for it. Hoping to see a Grand ownership review soon.

[QUOTE] "[B]Originally posted by JOY MRC"[/B] The Kwid fever is hitting the nation fast and how. I just finished a short drive of the 2016 0.8L and 1.0L variants. Nope, I am not going to buy another car. Just that I accompanied my relative for their first-ever car purchase. Thanks to internet reviews and stuff, the choice of the elders at home - the Alto 800 - was crushed by the youngsters . Special Onam offers like gold coins and cash discounts from Maruti Suzuki will sorely be missed as Renault India still doesn't offer anything for their Kwid yet (only car from the Renault stable enough to do so. Koleos and Fluence are not even being considered nowadays). The price of the genuine accessories list raises eyebrows as we can easily spend a minimum of Rs 25,000 - 30,000/- sprucing up the looks of the Kwid which almost every other customer are doing. Well played Renault . Coming back to the booking, We visited the only Renault dealer in Trivandrum (Kerala) situated near IOC Pump (Simy Fuels, Vallakkadavu) by 11 am. [NOTE : Renault site shows 2 dealers on their website. But the one in Kaimanam/Karamana is for service only]. The place was flocking with customers (all of them had come for the Kwid) and not so interested in what the sales executives had to say . Seriously, Renault is still far, far away from the customer service levels of Hyundai. They better start trying harder if they aiming for steady mass market sales in future. Note : Picture sourced from the internet. Road works are currently going on the place is a mess. Need to see whether it gets better by the time the Kwid gets delivered. After a quick query at the overcrowded desk (executives lot), a sales adviser (Mr. Adarsh) was assigned by another sales executive like, "Do you wanna take this one?" kind of way. Moving on, the executive briefed us about the variant details and prices. We told him that we are interested only in the 1.0L variant. Then he explained the current situation, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that the 1.0L variant was in stock with all the color options which is, incidentally, from the first lot delivered to this dealer. In comparision, the Hyundai dealer made my friend wait for over 2 whole months after paying the cash in full for the Elite i20 Asta Diesel (the dealer - Hilton Hyundai - was shut down later) and ultimately delivered a Red car (also offered White) instead of the colour we booked for - Silver. The bad news was that they are yet to receive the RTO clearance papers for this variant, so the registration, they said, could not be done at least till the end of this month (Malayalam month 'Kanni' starts from September 17th which is considered inauspicious in Kerala for taking deliveries and stuff, but not as bad in comparison to 'Karkkidakam' where sales and deliveries are extremely poor). In essence, the delivery may be extended even further after payment which is pure mental torture . Can't extend the cash payment also as there is uncertainty when the next lot of 1.0L cars will come, so we had to bill one from this set just to be safe. The 1.0L test drive car was also instructed not to be taken out on the road due to the same issues. Thus, I could only manage a brief drive inside their yard. A 2-km drive of the 2016 800cc variant (again no "Registered car" as test drive car was in unavailable). The car we drove had 121 kilometers on the working odo ). I kept a light foot and dealt gently as I suspected that it would be sold to someone later. The 0.8L variant was a disappointment when I first drove it back in 2015 and status report - It still is, even in this 2016 avatar (noise, refinement and performance). When we started the car first, I deliberately switched off the stereo to check for the reported improvements in the car. At idle, it vibrated like the previous car (no change) and even while driving, the vibrations can be clearly felt on the gear lever (also a bit notchy and hard, being new). The 3-cylinder engine sounds trashy and gives a out bad engine note (All new-age 3-pot engines have this problem but in the Kwid, I could feel it even on the inside). In comparison, My 5-speed M800 (12 valve MPFI) sounded so sweet and sporty at higher revs. Another problem was that the cost cutting measures were clearly felt, especially when it came to sound insulation. The car gives out a wheezing noise (heard inside the cabin) which is wind noise as per the SE. The noise is audible from as low as 10-20 kph and settles around 60kph when the engine noise takes over. So a working stereo is essential in this car. Low end power delivery is good and peppy enough for city runs. It never felt under powered and just a small dab on the accelerator would give out instant torque. BUT the issue is when you are in the pursuit of SPEEEED and POWEEEER. Progress is slow and to be honest, I expected this from a car with 25kmpl+ mileage rating (economy tuning ). The Kwid remains one of the rare cars where one gets to see the bonnet and where the body ends clearly while driving. I found it irritating as it restricts my usual view in tight traffic. But for newbies, this indeed would be an advantage as you don't have to guess if it will hit anything up front. Seats are firm and supportive and the posture is good for normal human beings (people with Navi physique from AVATAR movie, kindly excuse). Rear seats are also good as the front seat backs are scooped out to liberate more rear legroom. The ride on bad roads (moderate) is where the Kwid starts to make sense over the others as you don't have to worry if it will scrape the underbelly and you do not get tossed around much too. Don't get the idea that you will feel like sitting on an SUV or compact SUV of any sort. It doesn't feel that high off the ground and is like any other hatchback like say, a Celerio or at best, a Wagon R. Feels just right. With the fuel light blinking, we came back to the showroom and continued to inspect other Kwid's in the delivery area to see which accessories looked HOT and NOT on the car. One thing I noted in particular was that the Outback Bronze color (Duster's) manages to mask the obvious cost cutting measures on the car. For example, the two places which caught my eye were photographed (Kindly excuse the image pic quality) in colors like grey and red. It is applicable to all light colors except Outback Bronze. As I mentioned before, the deliveries hadn't commenced. So we could go and check all the 1.0L variants and inspect the highlights out in the sun (inside the showroom, the golden lights made everything look more premium. There was a red Lodgy"World edition" which looked fabulous under the lights but very ordinary out in the yard . We initially wanted to book the car in White color. But backed off at the last minute knowing that white was a'non-metallic' shade.White color - Dark grey painted mirror cover and black finished wheel caps (screamed cheap) along with the 1.0L decals - Seemed quite odd in person Red color - Silver painted mirror cover with aluminium finish wheel caps with 1.0L decals. Click HERE Grey - most indistinguishable of the lot. A darker shade of grey mirror cover and grey metallic finish wheel caps with the 1.0L decals. Click HERE Silver - again, almost indistinguishable darker grey mirror cover with silver finish wheel caps and 1.0L decals. Bronze- The most handsome of the lot. The contrast silver mirror cover on the dark color stands out and looks better. Silver finish wheel caps and 1.0L decals. Click HERE The family vote went 3 out of 4 for Red (even before we visited the showroom) hence sticked to that shade as Outback Bronze, again, means high maintenance like white even though it looked the most brilliant of the lot. The Media-nav system inside Renault cars does have in-built navigation but does not feature a reverse cam display (Kwid) or video playback (all cars). The sales executives confirmed video playback can be unlocked via software update (unofficial) and they have seen customers who have done it to their cars without any issues. Some searches on the internet revealed the same to be true. The software (paid) is called MENACO (Click HERE) which also unlocks many more functions and about a $25 wiring adapter which adds a video camera input jack to the media-nav system without any wire splicing. With the Menaco software, the system will act as reverse camera display (Click HERE). Inside the yard, we took a quick spin in the 1.0L variant and right from idle, I could feel the difference. It does still sound like a 3-cylinder and trashy but the vibrations (especially on the gear lever is gone) are well controlled and when we leave the clutch, the extra torque is clearly felt. I opened the bonnet and still found the engine dancing away to glory unlike a steady 4-cylinder engine. Still, everyone agreed that this was better than the 0.8L car and justified the extra money. With that done, we went back to do some paperwork with a token advance of 5000/- cash and the booking was done. There is no finance involved, so we just had to make the final payment via RTGS when the car gets allotted. Then we shook hands and bid adieu. Now starts the painful part, the waiting... To our horror, just after hours of booking, the news about a frustrated Renault Kwid owner from Bangalore was shared via Whatsapp. He urged everyone not to buy the car as it had a flaw/issue with water leaking in to the cabin.The owner had got the car after waiting for 4 months, and now this! Poor chap [manufacturing defect still present after repeated rectification trials by the dealer. The dealer also said that 3 cars were reported with this issue and that 2 were fixed which indicates it was not a one off case. Video is linked below. Anyway, I am planning to do a thorough PDI including water leak test before final billing and formalities. Fingers crossed . Attaching Trivandrum,Kerala Price list and details below for reference.. Regards... UPDATE : Contacted my trusted Insurance agent for years (New India Assurance, S.S Kovil Road office, Trivandrum - Mr. Subbayya Pillai) and the special rate for the B2B insurance was a quoted Rs. 9870/- against the dealers Rs. 18,373/- quote (Renault - Reliance) and even with optional add-on packs like towing charge cover (Upto 10,000 rupees per year), engine protection cover (water damage coverage), no claim bonus protection (NCB stays even after claim), theft of belongings in car, return to invoice cover etc. The premium totaled to Rs 11,700 only. Renault is clearly milking the customers selling the accessories and insurance. The insurance margin is a common practice regardless of brand and dealers (I saved Rs 10,000 when buying the Rio CRDi4 and saved Rs 12k on the Elite i20 purchase - all B2B insurance schemes from New India). I had specifically asked the Renault dealer executive (previously) if the quotes can be matched by them or at least offer some discount on their quote and for both, they blatantly refused and told the list price comes from Renault directly and they can't do anything. There was a hint that they wouldn't help if any claims occur (which would scare off new buyers from going outside) if insurance is done by us (yeah, right. They didn't know whom they were talking to ). Since the "Registration Charges" scam was not there anymore, they simply added the extra to some other items in the bill. So, Customer's Take Note, buy insurance yourself and save money. You can use the savings to buy the accessory packs [/QUOTE] The Kwid 1.0L Purchase came to an unexpected end. Some of the concerns we had with the car(water leakage issue) were already making it more and more confusing after booking. To add to the woes, the Sales Executive called in after a few days to confirm that they have sorted out the RTO issues and that the sales and registration of the 1.0L have officially started in Trivandrum. BUT then he broke out the bad news. The Red 1.0L RXT variant that we booked was suddenly not available. All the cars shown to us were to be sold to previous bookings(2 silver 1.0L RXT(O) cars were there but we were not interested). This was not mentioned to us beforehand, but he promised that he would make sure we get the car from the next lot for sure(which was ready to be shipped from factory. we expected it as usual sales talk but later found out that it was indeed True). He gave us a 30 day time frame just to be safe. This sudden uncertainty in delivery made the familywallah's furious. Going for a Renault instead of a Maruti product was also boiling underneath from the start :D . Days went by and searching online revealed more and more people were having the issue with their Kwid's. My cousin originally was a fan of the Swift but the budget bug made sure he avoided it from the list(Original budget was under 4 lakhs which was later stretched to 4.75 lakhs after booking the Kwid 1.0L Rxt plus accessories). The fact that he may or may not have the issue with his Kwid(If it does, he will be in a lot of trouble), Swift(Lxi) was in near reach if he could emotional blackmail his parents(For about 75k more, an Lxi swift was in reach @ 5.5 lakh OTR[A lot less features but still a Swift]). Then came the Sales Executives call that a Red RXT 1.0L had arrived in stock and It can be arranged if payment could be done next day. Needless to say, He had a terrible night :confused: Next morning he gathered all of his courage and presented the concerns and possible outcomes to uncle who surprisingly told to go ahead and cancel booking if needed. The purchase could be done when the issues were sure to be sorted out(There was no replacement car in talks until then). That was literally shocking as we expected a destructive scene from the HULK :eek: after the briefing. After the family confirmation, we called the executive and told that we wished to cancel the booking. he too surprisingly didn't ask why(maybe as Kwid was hot selling and he can find another buyer in a jiffy) later that evening we went to the showroom, gave a cancellation request and returned the booking form. The booking amount is fully refundable(YaY) and we can expect a cheque in 15-20days(Not so YaY :p ) . after some friendly conversations we went back home and the Kwid 1.0L took a U-Turn from our Lives.. [CENTER] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n18939[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [CENTER] [B]BUT that was not the end of the story, but the beginning of another one...[/B] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n18940[/ATTACH] [/CENTER]

[URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/11"]Kaiserketkar[/URL] These days it is best to stem the damage with a gesture like this. Because if you weigh the outcome of viral videos and the potential damage costs, it is really just a small price to pay to trade in the vehicle or offer a quick fix. The goodwill, in fact, will go a long way. Pro-active companies are the ones that will win this. Ford has been quite active that way and so is Renault. Mahindra too responds really quickly to social media posts / queries.

[QUOTE_NODE]"[B]Originally posted by JOY MRC"[/B] The video went viral and Renault in an attempt to avoid any further damage to the brand and product Kwid(most of the concerned comments were from people who booked the car and awaiting delivery) has taken the car back and refunded the owner, Oswald Perera. [/QUOTE_NODE] That's really good news. It's heartening to know that companies are sitting up and taking notice of individual cases as well, even if it's just because of the bad publicity. After all, a little bit of goodwill never hurt anyone :) I remember a similar case from Bangalore. This time the company was Ford and the car in question the Ecosport. The service center driver crashed it while transporting it. The dealer as usual hemmed and hawed and tried to shirk responsibility. Ultimately, social media ensured that the matter was brought to the notice of Ford management and an email to Ford India president Nigel Harris did the trick. Ford intervened and the customer took up the exchange offer by the dealer at the fair market price. The best outcome for Ford was that the customer went in for another Ecosport, because of the response. [Link]

[USER="12"]Arjun[/USER] yeah, but hat's off to the guys creativity. since foreign countries are more strict with their lemon laws, he would have got additional compensation along with the price as well. just had a smile wondering about an Indian version of the same, since the cavalry has arrived in India too ;)

[video]https://youtube.com/watch?v=5sVmoOZRypk[/video] [URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] So finally the lemon turns into sweet lime. Though late, its nice to know that Renault responded. He didn't have to go to the extent to making a video like this. In spite of getting 2 million hits I do wonder if his bitter Jeep experience was replaced.

[QUOTE] [video=youtube_share;bLcPNR1_4N8]https://youtu.be/bLcPNR1_4N8[/video] [/QUOTE] The video went viral and Renault in an attempt to avoid any further damage to the brand and product Kwid(most of the concerned comments were from people who booked the car and awaiting delivery) has taken the car back and refunded the owner, Oswald Perera. [CENTER] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17709[/ATTACH] [/CENTER]

[B]UPDATE : [/B]Contacted my trusted Insurance agent for years([B]New India Assurance, S.S Kovil Road office, Trivandrum - Mr. Subbayya Pillai[/B]) and the special rate for the B2B insurance was a quoted[B] Rs. 9870/- [/B] against the dealers[B] Rs. 18,373/- [/B] quote :eek:(Renault - Reliance) and even with optional add-on packs like Towing charge cover(Upto 10,000 rupees per year), Engine protection cover(water damage coverage), No claim bonus protection(NCB stays even after claim), Theft of belongings in car, Return to Invoice cover etc. the premium totalled upto ~11,700 range only. Renault is clearly milking the customers selling the accessories and insurance. The insurance margin is a common practice regardless of brand and dealers(I saved 10,000 when buying the Rio CRDi4 and saved 12k on the Elite i20 purchase all B2B insurances from New India).[B] I had specifically asked the Renault dealer executive(previously) if the quotes can be matched by them or at least any discount on their quote, for both they blatantly refused and told the list prices comes from Renault directly and they can't do anything. There was a hint that they wouldn't help if any claims occur(which would scare off new buyers from going outside) if insurance is done by us(yeah, right. They didn't know to whom they are talking to :rolleyes:)[/B]. Since the "Registration Charges" scam was not anymore, they simply added the extra to some other items in the bill.[B] So, Customer's Take Note, buy insurance yourself and Save money. You can use the savings to buy the accessory packs :p[/B]

[QUOTE=Arjun;n17631][URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] Congrats(to your uncle) for the purchase. I am sure, that we would be getting frequent updates about the car, even if its your uncle's. As far as I remember, Renault has added extra insulation into the hood for the 1.0 Kwid. It may be helping keeping the noise lower or at the 800's levels. When is the expected delivery? It will be quite frustrating going to the yard and seeing the car and still not being able to get your hands on it. [/QUOTE] True that Arjun, It's pure mental torture to see our prized possession baking in the hot sun(which was fine till yesterday:D ). The extra padding(its only a little bit in the fire wall, but it shows) helps to a great extend. The rubber beadings on the door is also very thin and the maruti 800 like metal thud is there while closing door on every Kwid(We tried this on the Lodgy world edition and it sounded so marvelous with just a little bit of rubber beading) which is a fly in the oinment as the car is selling at much much higher price point than the low end maruti's. The rear strut mounts(sharp on top) are also garingly left open in the boot(forgot to take pics), I mean that is downright dangerous and can even poke a hole in our bags if we tight pack the huge 300L boot.

[QUOTE=kaiserketkar;n17636] [QUOTE_NODE]"[B]Originally posted by JOY MRC"[/B] Moving on, The executive briefed the variants and price details and we told him we are interested in the 1.0L variant only. Then he explained the situation, there was good news and bad news. Good news is that the 1.0L variant is in stock with all colors, which is the first lot delivered to this dealer(In comparision, My friends Elite i20 Asta Diesel made us wait over 2 whole moths after paying full cash in advance and ultimately getting a red car(or offered white) instead of the booked silver). Bad news was that they are yet to receive the RTO clearance papers for this variant, so the registration cannot be done atleast till the end of this month(Malayalam month 'Kanni' starts by Sept 17th which is considered inauspicious in Kerala for deliveries and stuff but not as bad in comparison to 'Karkkidakam' where sales and deliveries are really poor) .So the delivery may be extended further even after payment which is pure mental torture . Can't extend the cash payment as there is uncertainty when the next lot of 1.0L cars will come. so will have to bill one from this set just to be safe. [/QUOTE_NODE] Good review Joy. With the 1.0 liter Kwid, Renault has widened the prospective customer base right from the budget customer who is price conscious to the budget customer who wants a little more refinement. I don't understand how the 1.0 liter variant of the Kwid doesn't have an RTO clearance certificate? Is this a Trivandrum specific issue, or a Kerala specific issue? Usually all these procedures are completed well in advance before the deliveries commence. Can you not take delivery of the car now and register it later? The delivery and registration are two completely different things. As far as I remember, as long as the road tax is paid, you can even drive it within the state even without a registration number. I think there's a period of 30 or 45 days within which you should register. [/QUOTE] Each new variant needs to be updated in the respective registering authorites(in this case Trivandrum RTO, KL-01) for registration. the SE reported of some issue existing between RTO office and Renault and that they are deliberately extending their cases in particular. The 1.0L test drive car was also parked in the yard only as the officials had showed up and issued a warning. Not sure if its true or not(or due to some initial fault from Renault which pissed the officials). I hope they get it sorted soon(Onam holidays in offices will delay it further). SE has promised to keep us updated.

[QUOTE_NODE]"[B]Originally posted by JOY MRC"[/B] Moving on, The executive briefed the variants and price details and we told him we are interested in the 1.0L variant only. Then he explained the situation, there was good news and bad news. Good news is that the 1.0L variant is in stock with all colors, which is the first lot delivered to this dealer(In comparision, My friends Elite i20 Asta Diesel made us wait over 2 whole moths after paying full cash in advance and ultimately getting a red car(or offered white) instead of the booked silver). Bad news was that they are yet to receive the RTO clearance papers for this variant, so the registration cannot be done atleast till the end of this month(Malayalam month 'Kanni' starts by Sept 17th which is considered inauspicious in Kerala for deliveries and stuff but not as bad in comparison to 'Karkkidakam' where sales and deliveries are really poor) .So the delivery may be extended further even after payment which is pure mental torture . Can't extend the cash payment as there is uncertainty when the next lot of 1.0L cars will come. so will have to bill one from this set just to be safe. [/QUOTE_NODE] Good review Joy. With the 1.0 liter Kwid, Renault has widened the prospective customer base right from the budget customer who is price conscious to the budget customer who wants a little more refinement. I don't understand how the 1.0 liter variant of the Kwid doesn't have an RTO clearance certificate? Is this a Trivandrum specific issue, or a Kerala specific issue? Usually all these procedures are completed well in advance before the deliveries commence. Can you not take delivery of the car now and register it later? The delivery and registration are two completely different things. As far as I remember, as long as the road tax is paid, you can even drive it within the state even without a registration number. I think there's a period of 30 or 45 days within which you should register.

[URL="https://www.zigwheels.com/forum/profile/135"]JOY MRC[/URL] Congrats(to your uncle) for the purchase. I am sure, that we would be getting frequent updates about the car, even if its your uncle's. As far as I remember, Renault has added extra insulation into the hood for the 1.0 Kwid. It may be helping keeping the noise lower or at the 800's levels. When is the expected delivery? It will be quite frustrating going to the yard and seeing the car and still not being able to get your hands on it.

The Kwid fever is hitting the nation fast and how. I just finished a short drive of the 2016 0.8L and 1.0L variants. Nope, I am not going to buy another car. Just that I accompanied my relative for their first-ever car purchase. Thanks to internet reviews and stuff, the choice of the elders at home - the Alto 800 - was crushed by the youngsters :o . Special Onam offers like gold coins and cash discounts from Maruti Suzuki will sorely be missed as Renault India still doesn't offer anything for their Kwid yet (only car from the Renault stable enough to do so. Koleos and Fluence are not even being considered nowadays). The price of the genuine accessories list raises eyebrows as we can easily spend a minimum of Rs 25,000 - 30,000/- sprucing up the looks of the Kwid which almost every other customer are doing. Well played Renault :rolleyes: . Coming back to the booking, We visited the only Renault dealer in Trivandrum (Kerala) situated near IOC Pump (Simy Fuels, Vallakkadavu) by 11 am. [[U][B]NOTE[/B][/U] : Renault site shows 2 dealers on their website. But the one in Kaimanam/Karamana is for service only]. The place was flocking with customers (all of them had come for the Kwid) and not so interested in what the sales executives had to say :D. Seriously, Renault is still far, far away from the customer service levels of Hyundai. They better start trying harder if they aiming for steady mass market sales in future. [CENTER] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17626[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [CENTER] [/CENTER] [U][B]Note[/B][/U][B] :[/B] Picture sourced from the internet. Road works are currently going on the place is a mess. Need to see whether it gets better by the time the Kwid gets delivered. After a quick query at the overcrowded desk (executives lot), a sales adviser (Mr. Adarsh) was assigned by another sales executive like, "Do you wanna take this one?" kind of way. Moving on, the executive briefed us about the variant details and prices. We told him that we are interested only in the 1.0L variant. Then he explained the current situation, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that the 1.0L variant was in stock with all the color options which is, incidentally, from the first lot delivered to this dealer. In comparision, the Hyundai dealer made my friend wait for over 2 whole months after paying the cash in full for the Elite i20 Asta Diesel (the dealer - Hilton Hyundai - was shut down later) and ultimately delivered a Red car (also offered White) instead of the colour we booked for - Silver. The bad news was that they are yet to receive the [B]RTO[/B] clearance papers for this variant, so the registration, they said, could not be done at least till the end of this month (Malayalam month [B]'Kanni'[/B] starts from September 17th which is considered inauspicious in Kerala for taking deliveries and stuff, but not as bad in comparison to [B]'Karkkidakam'[/B] where sales and deliveries are extremely poor). In essence, the delivery may be extended even further after payment which is pure mental torture :( . Can't extend the cash payment also as there is uncertainty when the next lot of 1.0L cars will come, so we had to bill one from this set just to be safe. The 1.0L test drive car was also instructed not to be taken out on the road due to the same issues. Thus, I could only manage a brief drive inside their yard. A 2-km drive of the 2016 800cc variant (again no 'registered car' as test drive car was in unavailable). The car we drove had 121 kilometers on the working odo :eek:). I kept a light foot and dealt gently as I suspected that it would be sold to someone later. The 0.8L variant was a disappointment when I first drove it back in 2015 and status report - It still is, even in this 2016 avatar (noise, refinement and performance). When we started the car first, I deliberately switched off the stereo to check for the reported improvements in the car. At idle, it vibrated like the previous car (no change) and even while driving, the vibrations can be clearly felt on the gear lever (also a bit notchy and hard, being new). The 3-cylinder engine sounds thrashy and gives a out bad engine note (All new-age 3-pot engines have this problem but in the Kwid, I could feel it even on the inside). In comparision, My 5-speed M800 (12 valve MPFI) sounded so sweet and sporty at higher revs. Another problem was that the cost cutting measures were clearly felt, especially when it came to sound insulation. The car gives out a wheezing noise (heard inside the cabin) which is wind noise as per the SE. The noise is audible from as low as 10-20 kph and settles around 60kph when the engine noise takes over. So a working stereo is essential in this car. Low end power delivery is good and peppy enough for city runs. It never felt underpowered and just a small dab on the accelerator would give out instant torque. BUT the issue is when you are in the pursuit of SPEEEED and POWEEEER. Progress is slow and to be honest, I expected this from a car with 25kmpl+ mileage rating (economy tuning :cool:). The Kwid remains one of the rare cars where one gets to see the bonnet and where the body ends clearly while driving. I found it irritating as it restricts my usual view in tight traffic. But for newbies, this indeed would be an advantage as you don't have to guess if it will hit anything up front. Seats are firm and supportive and the posture is good for normal human beings (people with Navi physique from AVATAR movie, kindly excuse). Rear seats are also good as the front seat backs are scooped out to liberate more rear legroom. The ride on bad roads (moderate) is where the Kwid starts to make sense over the others as you don't have to worry if it will scrape the underbelly and you do not get tossed around much too. Don't get the idea that you will feel like sitting on an SUV or compact SUV of any sort. It doesn't feel that high off the ground and is like any other hatchback like say, a Celerio or at best, a Wagon R. Feels just right. With the fuel light blinking, we came back to the showroom and continued to inspect other Kwid's in the delivery area to see which accessories looked HOT and NOT on the car. One thing I noted in particular was that the Outback Bronze color (Duster's) manages to mask the obvious cost cutting measures on the car. For example, the two places which caught my eye were photographed (Kindly excuse the image pic quality) in colors like grey and red. It is applicable to all light color's except Outback Bronze. [CENTER] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17627[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17628[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] As I mentioned before, the deliveries hadn't commenced. So we could go and check all the 1.0L variants and inspect the highlights out in the sun (inside the showroom, the golden lights made everything look more premium. There was a red [U][B][URL="https://www.renault.co.in/vehicles/personal-cars/renault-lodgy/world-edition.html"]Lodgy 'World edition'[/URL][/B][/U] which looked fabulous under the lights but very ordinary out in the yard :eek:. We initially wanted to book the car in White color. But backed off at the last minute knowing that white was a 'non-metallic' shade. [LIST] [*][B][U]White color[/U] - Dark grey painted mirror cover and black finished wheel caps (screamed cheap) along with the 1.0L decals - Seemed quite odd in person [/B] [*][B][U]Red color[/U] - Silver painted mirror cover with aluminium finish wheel caps with 1.0L decals. Click [URL="http://i.autoportal.com/media/news/6576/main/535274fb9939c579e48e94a75b9e3ce9/thumbnail_cropped.jpg"]HERE[/URL][/B] [*][B][U]Grey[/U] - most indistinguishable of the lot. A darker shade of grey mirror cover and grey metallic finish wheel caps with the 1.0L decals. Click [URL="http://nation.lk/online/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Kwid-to-reach-Mauritius.jpg"]HERE[/URL][/B] [*][B][U]Silver[/U] - again, almost indistinguishable darker grey mirror cover with silver finish wheel caps and 1.0L decals.[/B] [*][B][U]Bronze[/U]- The most handsome of the lot. The contrast silver mirror cover on the dark color stands out and looks better. Silver finish wheel caps and 1.0L decals. Click [URL="http://image.newsdog.today/origin_259cc7a812b2e1dbd636207e5d213c6b"]HERE[/URL][/B] [/LIST] The family vote went 3 out of 4 for Red (even before we visited the showroom) hence sticked to that shade as Outback Bronze, again, means high maintenance like white even though it looked the most brilliant of the lot. The Media-nav system inside Renault cars does have in-built navigation but does not feature a reverse cam display (Kwid) or video playback (all cars). The sales executives confirmed video playback can be unlocked via software update (unofficial) and they have seen customers who have done it to their cars without any issues. Some searches on the internet revealed the same to be true. The software (paid) is called MENACO (Click [URL="https://mena.co/"][SIZE=14px][U][B]HERE[/B][/U][/SIZE][/URL]) which also unlocks many more functions and about a $25 wiring adapter which adds a video camera input jack to the media-nav system without any wire splicing. With the Menaco software, the system will act as reverse camera display (Click [URL="http://car-solutions.com/en/rear-view-camera-connection-cable-to-renault-dacia-opel-medianav.php"][SIZE=14px][U][B]HERE[/B][/U][/SIZE][/URL]). Inside the yard, we took a quick spin in the 1.0L variant and right from idle, I could feel the difference. It does still sound like a 3-cylinder and trashy but the vibrations (especially on the gear lever is gone) are well controlled and when we leave the clutch, the extra torque is clearly felt. I opened the bonnet and still found the engine dancing away to glory unlike a steady 4-cylinder engine. Still, everyone agreed that this was better than the 0.8L car and justified the extra money. With that done, we went back to do some paperwork with a token advance of 5000/- cash and the booking was done. There is no finance involved, so we just had to make the final payment via RTGS when the car gets allotted. Then we shook hands and bid adieu. Now starts the painful part, the waiting... To our horror, just after hours of booking, the news about a frustrated Renault Kwid owner from Bangalore was shared via Whatsapp. He urged everyone not to buy the car as it had a flaw/issue with water leaking in to the cabin.The owner had got the car after waiting for 4 months, and now this! Poor chap [manufacturing defect still present after repeated rectification trials by the dealer. The dealer also said that 3 cars were reported with this issue and that 2 were fixed :eek: which indicates it was not a one off case. Video is linked below. [video=youtube_share;bLcPNR1_4N8]https://youtu.be/bLcPNR1_4N8[/video] Anyway, I am planning to do a thorough PDI including water leak test before final billing and formalities. Fingers crossed ;). [CENTER] Attaching Trivandrum,Kerala Price list and details below for reference..[/CENTER] [CENTER] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17629[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n17630[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [B]Regards... UPDATE : [/B][SIZE=14px]Contacted my trusted Insurance agent for years ([/SIZE][B]New India Assurance, S.S Kovil Road office, Trivandrum - Mr. Subbayya Pillai[/B][SIZE=14px]) and the special rate for the B2B insurance was a quoted[/SIZE][B] Rs. 9870/- [/B][SIZE=14px] against the dealers[/SIZE][B] Rs. 18,373/- [/B][SIZE=14px] quote :eek:(Renault - Reliance) and even with optional add-on packs like towing charge cover (Upto 10,000 rupees per year), engine protection cover (water damage coverage), no claim bonus protection (NCB stays even after claim), theft of belongings in car, return to invoice cover etc. The premium totalled to Rs 11,700 only. Renault is clearly milking the customers selling the accessories and insurance. The insurance margin is a common practice regardless of brand and dealers (I saved Rs 10,000 when buying the Rio CRDi4 and saved Rs 12k on the Elite i20 purchase - all B2B insurance schemes from New India).[/SIZE][B][SIZE=14px] I had specifically asked the Renault dealer executive (previously) if the quotes can be matched by them or at least offer some discount on their quote and for both, they blatantly refused and told the list price comes from Renault directly and they can't do anything. There was a hint that they wouldn't help if any claims occur (which would scare off new buyers from going outside) if insurance is done by us (yeah, right. They didn't know whom they were talking to :rolleyes:[/SIZE][SIZE=14px])[/SIZE][/B][SIZE=14px]. Since the "Registration Charges" scam was not there anymore, they simply added the extra to some other items in the bill.[/SIZE][B] So, Customer's Take Note, buy insurance yourself and save money. You can use the savings to buy the accessory packs :p[/B]