Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Comparo: Battle of Compact SUV

The competition in the SUV segment just got hotter after Renault decided to introduce the Kiger as the cheapest offering in the compact segment. The car comes at a time when automotive sales in India is recovering after a long slump due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The car essentially shares a lot of its DNA with the Kwid but puts up a good fight against its list of popular rivals like the Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300 among others.

For its latest act, the French company decided to leverage India’s price-sensitive market and place its offering as the most affordable one. While this begs a lot of questions for the future, the most crucial one is whether it would flip the script that dictates the dominance of the long-time segment leader, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. Even after a switch to only petrol powertrains, the Vitara Brezza has managed to operate with a grounded superiority over its rivals in the same segment. Hence, before a brawl, here is how the two cars fare against each other on paper.

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Design

Renault Kiger Design

On the outside, the design ethos of the Kiger somewhat falls in the common set with the Kwid, but that’s not a bad thing at all. The Kiger ships with a sculpted bonnet and a dominant bumper. It gets a high ground clearance at 205 mm and functional roof bars. Higher in the trim line, the Kiger gets a set of 16-inch alloy wheels that have a black diamond-cut finish. At the front, the car comes with a honeycomb grille. The upper strip formed by the front grille and the LED daytime running lights positioned at both ends. All-new LED taillights light up the rear of the car.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Design

On its way to the only-petrol iteration, Maruti Suzuki kept the exterior updates to a bare minimum. The Brezza’s nose now has a generous dose of chrome on its grille, which is complemented by a pair of projector headlamps and LED DRLs. The front bumper gets more attractive fog-lamp housings, and a restyled silver trim on the bash plate section. At the rear though, there’s only a mildly restyled lower bumper, along with the fresh LED internals for the tail lamps.

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Dimensions

Renault Kiger Dimensions

In terms of dimensions, the Kiger measures 3,991 mm in length; 1,750 mm in width; 1,600 mm in terms of height and gets a 2,500 mm wheelbase.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Dimensions

The Vitara Brezza is a slightly bigger car than the Kiger at 3,995 mm long; 1,790 mm wide; 1,640 mm in height and a wheelbase of 2,500 mm.

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Interior

Renault Kiger Interior

The Kiger sports a high and wide central console that is dominated by a 20.32 cm floating touch screen system that features wireless smartphone replication for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto at higher trims. The system not only offers voice recognition through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but also Bluetooth connectivity that can pair with up to five devices, a USB socket for faster charging and a built-in MP4 video player.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Interior

Dominating the dash is the large 7-inch touchscreen ‘Smartplay studio’ system, below which there is an uncluttered layout of sleek air-con controls and the USB, AUX and charging ports. Maruti Suzuki has the most basic cabin layout and features list among the other compact SUVs. Also, plastic quality remains the same, which is acceptable for this segment.

Also Read : Renault Kiger vs Nissan Magnite - Which One's a Better Compact SUV?

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Features

Renault Kiger Features

The Renault Kiger gets a first-in-segment configurable 7-inch TFT instrument cluster along with three drive modes, diamond-cut alloy wheels, an 8-inch floating touchscreen system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charger, an air purifier, triple-LED headlamps with LED DRLs, LED tail lights, ambient lighting, electrically adjustable and retractable wing mirrors, a 4-speaker and 4-tweeter system by Arkamys, cruise control, auto climate control and so on.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Features

Maruti Suzuki is offering the facelifted SUV with dual LED projector headlamps with dual functioning LED DRLs, LED fog lamps, LED tail lamps, auto-dimming IRVM, and a new 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In terms of safety, the car comes with features like dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, and rear parking sensors.

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Engine

Renault Kiger Engine

The Kiger is fitted with a three-cylinder turbocharged 1.0-litre petrol engine, with a power output of 100 PS and a torque of 160 Nm (available from 3,200 rpm). It boasts a fuel economy of 20 km/litre consumption. The 1.0-litre 100 PS turbocharged engine is paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. An X-TRONIC automatic continuously variable transmission will be available shortly after the Kiger’s  commercial launch. The ENERGY 1.0-litre 72 PS and 96 Nm naturally aspirated engine is also available in the Kiger range, with either a five-speed manual or the EASY-R five-speed robotised gearbox AMT.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Engine

While the pre-facelift Vitara Brezza was offered with a 1.3-litre diesel engine, the facelifted SUV comes with a 1.5-litre petrol unit only. This engine puts out 105 PS of power and 138 Nm of torque. It comes mated to either a 5-speed manual transmission option or a 4-speed AT gearbox. The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is offered with a 2WD system.

Renault Kiger vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza - Price

Renault Kiger Price

The new Renault Kiger has been launched at an introductory starting price of INR 5.45 lakh for the entry-level 1.0-litre NA petrol MT trim and INR 7.14 lakh for the entry-level turbo-petrol MT variant. Prices for the AMT version of the former starts from INR 6.59 lakh, while the two 1.0-litre turbo-petrol CVT variants are priced at INR 8.60 lakh and INR 9.55 lakh.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Price

Prices for the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza starts at INR 7.39 lakh for the LXI variant and goes up to INR 11.40 lakh for the top-rung variant.

Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more such comparisons and latest four-wheeler news.

*Ex showroom prices