Chats of lack of power should be a thing of the past as the French stable has introduced more power for its popular Renault Kiger by offering a turbocharged variant to the lineup and flew out to sunny Cape Town to see what has changed.
The Turbo Kiger gains aesthetic updates over the standard model in the exterior, as seen from Tri - Octa LED headlamps, dual-tone paint that adds up to six attractive color palettes, including the new addition Autumn Yellow, Grey, Red, alongside existing options: Blue, White, and Silver, fog lamps, 360-degree cameras, and these stylish 16 - inch Evasion diamond - cut alloys to signal that this is the top-of-the-range turbo variant.
The upgrades extend into the interior, where the customer gains ventilated two-tone leather seats, wireless smartphone replication, auto AC, and some yellow stitching on various parts of the cabin, including the steering wheel. Infotainment also includes an 8-inch touchscreen with smartphone replication and a 7-inch digital TFT cluster for the driver to view speed, fuel level, and all other important information.
Renault also went all out to ensure that all occupants are safe, as the car consists of 21 standard safety features across the lineup, including ABS with EBD, TPMS, ISOFIX, and available ESC, TCS, and six airbags.
Among other things, Renault shared with the media that there are plans to introduce the newly shown India-built Duster with new powertrains and exterior and interior changes soon to our market. They also expressed their excitement and eagerness to introduce the new Renault Bridger concept, which was shown via a livestream on the Renault Group events platform and is poised to be the firms answer to the likes of the Suzuki Jimny and Vitara.
So then we set off on a curated route drive where we learned how the turbo gain had a massive upgrade in power as it responded quite well on the Cape Town roads. The CVT is screamy like all CVTs but had good calibration and little to no jerkiness, as most CVT gearboxes tend to feel. An impressive standout has to be the improved NVH level, which is enhanced to lessen wind, road, and tire noise that seeps into the cabin.
The engine in the Kiger is the same 1.0l 3 cylinder that is now of course turbocharge to output 74kW and 160nm driving the front wheels either through a 5 speed manual or a CVT transmission. Altogether this setup gives a claimed figure of 5.0l per 100km.
The Turbo Kiger feels a more solid variant of the range with the addition of more bells and whistles on show for the comfort and convenience of the driver and the passengers, if this is too much for you could always just go simple and get the mid spec Kiger which we recently had on test.
From launch the vehicle will be available in two trim with three specs to choose from :
Kiger 1.0L TURBO TECHNO R 278 999.00
Kiger 1.0L TURBO ICONIC R 298 999.00
Kiger 1.0L TURBO ICONIC CVT R 329 999.00
The KIGER model range offers complete peace of mind with a standard 5-year/ 150 000km mechanical warranty and a 2-year/ 30 000km service plan, with optional extensions available through Renault dealers nationwide.