Cute li’l Munchkin!

Our roads are crowded by mighty SUVs, swanky sedans and utilitarian hatchbacks. To counter all those swish set of wheels, Renault has come up with the Kwid Climber, a nifty pint sized, bundle of attractiveness!

And I have said the words… Cute li’l munchkin! I had never thought that I will ever string these words together to describe a car. For me cars have always been about brute power or a sexy silhouette or the pure joy of utilitarianism. But Renault has added an absolutely new perspective for me with the Kwid Climber. The Climber transforms the regular Kwid into the cool kid in the hatchback community. With its spunky electric blue colour and the garnishing of orange at strategic points on its body, the Climber is definitely a showstopper. All over the car there are markings that make the Kwid Climber stand apart, not just from the Kwid, but from every other four-wheeler on the road. Having driven some of the coolest set of wheels in the country I am used to people gawking away and at times stopping me on the road to check out my ride, but I had never thought that a hatchback would arouse the amount of curiosity that the Kwid Climber managed to garner.

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Mixing Spunk and Funk

There’s no denying the fact that the Kwid Climber is a very interesting looking hatchback. Be it the exterior or the interior, Renault has managed to subtly integrate its design elements all over with ease. The dash of orange adds oodles of character to an otherwise utilitarian hatch. The roofbar integrated with the orange streak gives it a fiery feel. Upfront, the Climber gets a bold grille and even the lower lip gives out a unique glimpse of style with its terrain guard. The way the fog lamps have been integrated into the facade is quite innovative and kind of beefs up its overall look. The Climber gets side claddings on the doors and the wheel arches, which gives it a very strong stance.

Pottering Around Town

There’s no hiding the fact that small cars are pretty fun to drive around in cities. They get you out of sticky jams, let you find parking space in nooks and crannies and also give you the satisfaction of not messing with the environment in a big way. With the Climber, Renault amps up its power game and instead of the 800 cc motor that power the Kwid, this one gets a peppy 1.0 litre engine churning out 68PS of power and 91 Nm torque. You can choose between a 5-speed manual transmission and an AMT stick. For our test purposes I got hold of the AMT Climber and I must say that going by the size of the car and the engine, it’s quite a slammer. Of course it doesn’t tear its way through from standstill but then, neither was I expecting it to do so. But overall the experience was quite nimble and satisfying.

All said and done, I must say that Renault had got a winner at its hand with the Kwid and the climber simply takes that up by a few notches and stamps away its authority in the hatchback segment… Exactly the way a toddler would do with a twinkle in its eyes… Damn, am not just growing old but even soft… Munchkin followed by twinkle in the eye… kill me right now!

SPECS

Engine: 1.0 SCe

Transmission: AMT

Power: 68 ps @ 5500 rpm

Torque: 91 Nm @ 4250 rpm

Price: XXXXX

From the October 2017 issue of FHM India.