Sceptics be silenced – Renault has done it! With the Kwid, the French brand, relatively new to Indian customers, has delivered a budget hatchback that’s not only very capable and attractive, but is also priced extremely competitively. And though we’ll perhaps have to wait a little while to see whether the promise of class-leading, long-term cost of ownership pans out, with 97 percent localisation of its components, things are looking promising. However, this is all only on paper, of course. Sure, we were very impressed when we first drove it last month, but to really be the best, it has to outdo two very important cars – the Hyundai Eon, thus far our pick of the segment, and the Maruti Alto 800, which is quite simply India’s favourite car if you go by sales numbers. We’ve brought the three together to see if the young upstart can actually topple the big hitters.

Bling For Your Buck

When you want to reach out to masses as vast as these cars do, it might be prudent to use a design that’s inoffensive and neutral. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Maruti has been so successful with the Alto all these years, as that’s just what its look conveys. The new Alto 800 does serve up a bit more flair than its predecessor, thanks to a more characterful nose with swept-back tail-lamps, a thick ridge on the side, mildly flared wheel arches and a more interesting rear end, but overall and especially compared to the other two, it looks very ordinary. The Hyundai Eon was the one that threw convention on its head and proved first that a budget car needn’t look simple or boring. Hyundai had just become popular for its Fluidic Sculpture design language, and the Eon adopted many of those traits. It’s full of creases, curves and unconventional surfaces, which do well to disguise what is inherently a ‘tall boy’ hatchback shape, in Hyundai design speak. However, some buyers in this segment have found it a bit overstyled.

And then you have the Renault Kwid, which takes an even bigger departure from the norm for hatchback design – not just in this segment, but in general. Its squared-off shape is like a proper SUV’s, so much so it’s more convincing than even the recent bunch of trendy ‘cross hatchbacks’, which only add cladding and roof rails to a hatchback body. It’s also jacked up on its springs to offer 180mm of class-leading ground clearance, which only reinforces the ‘tough guy’ image. The detailing is also very impressive when you consider how much these little things cost to execute. Sure, our test car is fitted with the optional chrome accessories pack, but even without it, you get intricate-looking headlamps, chunky fog lamp enclosures, a rugged grille, black plastic cladding and a pair of rather elegant tail-lamps too. SUVs are really popular right now, and for first-time car buyers, many as they are in this segment, owning a car that resembles a crossover will be a very attractive proposition.