The Renault Kwid Thread (Kwid Lovers)

This Renault Kwid is packed with features and priced to sell

Although this is essentially basic, small transport, the Kwid has real character, something you would not expect at this price really. But for the most part, the Renault Kwid is all about value for money and economy and to be honest there is just nothing that can compete at under R100 000.

WE LIKE

Well priced and good value
Super economical
Enjoyable to drive
Increased ride height

WE DON'T LIKE

X No Rev Counter
X Only Driver-side airbag
X Performs poorly in crash/accident testing

SPECIFICATIONS

MODEL: 2019 Renault Kwid Expression
PRE_OWNED PRICE: R99 000
NEW PRICE: R150 900
MILEAGE: 10 580km
SUPPORT: Remainder of Five-year/150 000km OEM warranty
FUEL CONSUMPTION ON TEST (combined cycle): 4.7l/100km
0-100km/h: 13.6 seconds

www.iol.co.za

This Renault Kwid is packed with features and priced to sell

Not only is the Kwid one of the most affordable cars on the market, but it is also one of the most economical.
www.iol.co.za www.iol.co.za

Kwid 1.JPGKwid 2.JPGKwid 3.JPG
 
Renault Kwid: The Surprising Value Of A New $6,000 Car From India - Jalopnik

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At this moment, I think the cheapest new car you can buy in America is the Chevrolet Spark, which in its manual shift, LS trim level starts at $14,395.

By U.S. market standards, it’s a hell of a deal. But I just drove a car that sells for about $10,000 less than that new, and in comparison to what you get with the Spark at more than three times the cost, this incredibly cheap little machine seems pretty damn amazing.

The car is a Renault Kwid, and like it or not, I’m going to tell you about it.

Normally, you can’t find these in America. But recently I happened to be in a place where most of the normal automotive rules of America don’t always apply: Detroit, specifically at Munro & Associates, the company that all the major carmakers go to when they want to know just how their competitors are building cars.

Munro happened to have one of these Indian-market little hatchbacks sitting around, and because I’m an absolute sucker for small cars from developing markets, I had to check it out.

They let me take it for a little 20-minute or so drive around, so consider this a sort of mini-review, just enough to get a little taste and feel.

The Kwid I drove was a 2018 model; there’s a new facelifted one available, but the prices still range from around $4,000 for the base model (manual transmission, 0.8-liter engine) to over $6,000.

The version I drove was what is known as the Climber; it’s a higher-spec model with a bunch of orange trim, a more SUV-like look, an automated-manual transmission and the 67 horsepower 1-liter engine.

This one sold for $6,293 when new, and for comparison, a 2018 Chevy Spark with an automatic transmission sold for $16,850 when new.

So the Kwid was much less than half the price of the Spark, and the pricing of the 2021 models keeps about the same ratio, if not better.
Click to expand...

Read the full review at the link below:

jalopnik.com

Renault Kwid: The Surprising Value Of A New $6,000 Car From India - Jalopnik

At this moment, I think the cheapest new car you can buy in America is the Chevrolet Spark, which in its manual shift, LS trim level starts at $14,395. By U.S. market standards, it’s a hell of a deal. But I just drove a car that sells for about $10,000 less than that new, and in comparison to...
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
 
Pricing! New Renault Kwid Ultra Ltd Edt touches down in South Africa

Renault South Africa has added a fresh limited-edition model to its popular Kwid range, with the newcomer slotting into the middle of the line-up.

So, what sets the Kwid Ultra Ltd Edt apart from standard variants of the French firm's budget car? Well, it adopts a two-tone exterior colour scheme, mixing a white body with a black roof. The side-mirror caps, too are finished in black, while 14-inch black alloy wheels have been added.

Priced at R174 900, the newcomer is some R2 000 more expensive than the Dynamique variant.

Pricing:

Renault Kwid Expression: R162 900
Renault Kwid Expression AMT: R 172 900
Renault Kwid Dynamique: R172 900
Renault Kwid Ultra Ltd Edt: R174 900
Renault Kwid Dynamique AMT: R182 900
Renault Kwid Climber: R183 900
Renault Kwid Climber AMT: R193 900

www.carmag.co.za

Pricing! New Renault Kwid Ultra Ltd Edt touches down in South Africa

Renault South Africa has added a fresh limited-edition model to its popular Kwid range, with the newcomer slotting into the middle of the line-up.
www.carmag.co.za www.carmag.co.za

Kwid 1.jpgKwid 2.jpgKwid 3.jpgKwid 4.jpg
Kwid 5.jpg
 
Nice car for a run-around vehicle. I like the new interior and the exterior styling for it's price.
 
No chance saloon? Renault scraps plan to build Kwid sedan, says report

A fresh report out of India claims Renault has scrapped plans to build a sub-four-metre sedan based on the Kwid.

According to The Economic Times, the French firm’s Indian division will no longer produce a saloon version of its Kwid budget hatchback, which reportedly wore an internal codename of “LBA”.

The sedan was expected to undercut rivals such as the Suzuki Dzire and Honda Amaze (as well as Hyundai’s Aura).

www.carmag.co.za

No chance saloon? Renault scraps plan to build Kwid sedan, says report

A fresh report out of India claims Renault has scrapped plans to build a sub-four-metre sedan based on the Kwid.
www.carmag.co.za www.carmag.co.za

Render.jpg
 
My mother recently used one of these as a loaner while her car was at the panelbeaters. I used it twice. Badly insulated as I could hear small stones hitting the inside of the wheel wells as well as the engine being a noisy little thing. Floaty ride but that could be because of the laughably narrow wheels. Seat is hard and flat and my back area where I had back surgery 3 years ago was aching within 20 minutes. Slight uphills need you need to drop down to 4th or 3rd to keep any decent speed up. I look like a tool in this little car. Nice for grannies as a grocery getter or as a students car but no thanks
 
Mekon said:
My mother recently used one of these as a loaner while her car was at the panelbeaters. I used it twice. Badly insulated as I could hear small stones hitting the inside of the wheel wells as well as the engine being a noisy little thing. Floaty ride but that could be because of the laughably narrow wheels. Seat is hard and flat and my back area where I had back surgery 3 years ago was aching within 20 minutes. Slight uphills need you need to drop down to 4th or 3rd to keep any decent speed up. I look like a tool in this little car. Nice for grannies as a grocery getter or as a students car but no thanks
Click to expand...
That sounds more like the 1st gen
 
It might be a 'Climber', but doing a complete somersault & landing upside down on the highway resulted in some 'minor damage' to this Renault Kwid and a 'slightly bruised' ego for the driver, who apparently tried to emulate the 'emergency moose avoidance test' on a perfectly straight section of the road, resulting in an epic fail...

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From the Emer-G-Med FB page:

"Rivonia》#TM3 responded to the N1 North after the Rivonia Offramp for a rollover. Fortunately there were no injuries on scene"

https://www.facebook.com/EGMMedia/posts/4132404163470484
 

Nothing basic about the drama that can come with an entry-level car - Wendy Knowler (Sunday Times)​

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New cars going horribly wrong – it’s a complaint that lands in my inbox all too often, and with it, the disappointed, furious new owner’s desperate wish that the dealership “takes back” the car and refunds them.

Alas, that seldom happens, and almost never when the persistent problems aren’t what the industry refers to as “safety critical” – think defective steering or brakes.

Some “Monday car” owners are elated when told the dealership will take the car back. That is until they discover that what they mean is they’ll refund them the car’s “book value” – in other words, far, far less than they paid for their “brand new” car.

So the hapless owner of the problem car is expected to carry the loss, as if they’re choosing to trade in a perfectly good new car.

Rattles, sound system problems, electrical issues and other quality-related niggles may not be safety critical and may not render the car unfit for purpose, but my goodness, they are annoying and can utterly ruin the “new car” experience for someone who is paying through the nose to a bank for it every month.

For Abigail Wentzel, the cheerful went out of her “cheap” Renault Kwid purchase before she even left the showroom of multi-brand franchise Zambezi in Pretoria North (owned by the Motus Corporation) in December 2017.

She’d signed a financed deal on the new car – with a R10,000 motor plan and R5,000 “on the road” fee being among the extras added to the R131,491 purchase price – and was committed to paying a monthly instalment of R3,637 for the next six years; that is until December 2023.

It was all downhill from there – the noise coming from the engine was unbearable, Wentzel said, the immobiliser unit had to be replaced, she couldn't use her phone via the car’s built-in Bluetooth at anything more than 70km, the aircon wouldn’t cool, the brakes needed to be “deglazed”, a roof rail became detached and there was a problem with one of the windows.

In and out of the dealership’s workshop the Kwid went, as they “honoured the manufacturer’s warranty” on the car.

After 18 months of that, Wentzel unsurprisingly wanted to be rid of it without suffering a financial loss, and she was prepared to take her case to court.

In 2019, high court judge Moses Mavundla ordered Renault, the dealership and the financing bank to repay about R260,000 for the returned car, that being the full amount Wentzel would have paid by December 2023.

“In my view, the vehicle, right from the onset, was simply not of good quality. Any version to the contrary must be rejected, as I do,” the judge said.

Companies should not be allowed to “bully unsuspecting consumers to accept flawed goods and raise all sort of spurious defences and denials”, the court said.

But it was a short-lived victory. Renault SA appealed the judgment.

And on April 13, the Supreme Court of Appeal deemed that high court judgment to be wrong.

In essence, the disputed issues were whether the Kwid had defects, whether they were resolved by Renault and whether there were any further complaints received by Renault from Wentzel after the repairs.

Judge Dumisani Zondi said those “serious disputes of fact” could not be ignored, and that Wentzel stopped formally complaining about the car after the third set of repairs.

Zondi also pointed out the high court had ignored that Renault was entitled to deduct “a reasonable amount for the use of the vehicle” during the 18 months she had it, if there were to be a refund.

The judgment, which should be of huge interest to anyone buying a new car, especially an “entry level” one, hinged on what constitutes a defect in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.

“It must be accepted on the facts that are common cause that (Wentzel’s) vehicle did have certain issues, which she brought to the attention of Renault,” Zondi said.

“It is more difficult to determine whether they amounted to defects as defined in the statute. Not every small fault is a defect as defined.”

And then came the standout comment for me: “No evidence was led by either side to inform the court of what purchasers of entry-level motor vehicles are reasonably entitled to expect.”

I have so often been told by owners of problematic new little cars that the dealership responded to their complaints with: “Well, what did you expect from a cheap car?”

Zondi continued: “Is every rattle or unfamiliar noise a defect in terms of the statute?

“A defective module may be readily replaced, as occurred with the immobiliser. Does that render the vehicle defective so as to entitle the purchaser to return it and demand repayment of the purchase price? Clearly not.”

Research the Kwid for just a few minutes online and you’ll read the words “poor build quality” many times.

In April 2019, when I told Renault I’d received many complaints from Kwid owners about bad brake noise and pads needing to be replaced after six months, I was told the Kwid’s brakes were not designed for SA driving conditions and styles and, when used locally, could result in them “producing a disconcerting sound when applied”.

“We are glad to inform you that we have sourced a softer compound brake pad for the Kwid, which is more aligned with SA conditions and driver profiles.”

Those brakes weren’t defective either, Renault would no doubt argue.

But a series of disconcerting noises, rattles and malfunctions, requiring repeated surrendering of a car to a dealership for repair, does not make for happy car ownership.

So car buyers would do very well to look beyond price and cute design when deciding on a model.

Renault sold 519 new Kwids in SA last month.
Click to expand...

www.timeslive.co.za

WENDY KNOWLER | Nothing basic about the drama that can come with an entry-level car

A woman learned the hard way when she bought a ‘cheap’ Renault Kwid that turned out to be anything but
www.timeslive.co.za www.timeslive.co.za
 
Ivan Leon said:

Nothing basic about the drama that can come with an entry-level car - Wendy Knowler (Sunday Times)​

View attachment 1054747



www.timeslive.co.za

WENDY KNOWLER | Nothing basic about the drama that can come with an entry-level car

A woman learned the hard way when she bought a ‘cheap’ Renault Kwid that turned out to be anything but
www.timeslive.co.za www.timeslive.co.za
Click to expand...
How bad was her interest rate if she was paying R3600 a month over 6 years. I'm paying R2600 over 5 years for R150k financed and R2700 for R160k.
 
Renault Kwid gains minor styling change and enhanced safety for SA

The Indian-built Renault Kwid has been given a specific cosmetic change together with some added safety features which will be introduced to our local market next year. The French-brand’s Indian arm says that the budget hatch will retain its competitive value proposition.

With regards to the Renault Kwid Climber trim, a dual-tone exterior in white with a black roof as well as an electrochromatic rear view mirror with a day and night anti-glare finish. The manufacturer also confirms that a pyrotech and pretensioner functionality has been added to the front driver side seatbelt. While already standard here, the Indian-spec Renault Kwid will come equipped with dual airbags for the driver and passenger throughout the range.

Mechanically, the Renault Kwid remains unchanged as it sports the brand’s 1,0-litre, three-cylinder, petrol engine with either a five speed manual gearbox or AMT. This produces 50 kW and 91 N.m of torque which boasts a claimed fuel consumption of 4,7 L/100 km on a combined cycle.

Revised for South Africa in 2019, the facelifted Renault Kwid brought with it a number of rivisions, including three trim levels; Expression, Dynamique and the flagship Climber. All models offer standard ABS braking and two airbags and can be optioned with the AMT.

Inside, the Kwid features a cosmetic updates such as a dual-tone dashboard, replete with chrome accents, and gloss-black trim, which surrounds an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The latter setup includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay functionality. A rear-view reverse camera, a fast charging USB port and 12V sockets (fore and aft) completes the package. The front and rear windows are electrically operated.

www.carmag.co.za

Renault Kwid gains minor styling change and enhanced safety for SA

The Indian-built Renault Kwid has been given a specific cosmetic change together with some added safety features which will be introduced to our local market next year. The French-brand’s Indian arm says that the budget hatch will retain its competitive value proposition.
www.carmag.co.za www.carmag.co.za
 
Yet another Renault Kwid Climber 'capsized on its roof' again - to quote the lyrics of the 1980's hit song by Diana Ross:

"I said upside down
You're turning me
You're giving love instinctively
Around and round you're turning me
Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And round and round
Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And round and round"


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(Photo courtesy of the 'ER24 EMS Pty Ltd'. FB page)
 
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