The Renault Triber is a very unique car in the segment. It combines the characters of an SUV, MPV and a hatchback all at once and its versatility has to be one of its biggest highlights.
Renault has just launched their newest car in India yesterday, the Renault Triber. The Triber sits on a heavily modified version of the Kwid’s CMF-A platform and has been specifically designed for India. This is the first of the four new cars that Renault plans to introduce in India in the next two years, in an attempt to double their sales by 2022. So here’s all the highlights you need to know about the Renault Triber:
Exterior Design
The Renault Triber is a handsome looking car. The face has a very distinctive look. It is dominated by the large, three slat, U-shaped grille with the Renault logo sitting atop in all its pride. The tapering rectangular headlamps smoothly flow out of the grille. They are projector units and have good detailing inside them. Down below, are the LED DRLs on the bumper within the arrow-shaped air intakes. Also, the silver skid plates and the body claddings add a lot of character.
In profile, it looks much like a scaled down version of the Lodgy. There is a large glass section and one of the highlights in the design of the Renault Triber is a nice little kink at the C-pillar which looks quite cool. The body cladding continues at the sides and over the wheel arches and the 15-inch alloy wheels have been designed very well indeed. The rear of the car is comparatively simple with horizontal two-part eagle beak tail lamps and the ‘Triber’ badging stretching across the boot lid. It still looks pretty good.
The Triber measures 3990 mm in length, 1739 mm in width, 1643 mm in height with a wheelbase of 2636 mm. The ground clearance stands at 182 mm, while the kerb weight is 947 kg. It has short overhangs at the front and rear to maximize on interior space and the roof rails add further to the practicality.
Interiors
The interiors are one of the biggest highlights of the new Renault Triber. It is the only car in the segment that comes with modular seating arrangement. You can have it as a seven seater or remove a seat from the third row to make it a six-seater or remove both seats to make it a five-seater with a huge boot.
The second row is sliding, reclinable, foldable and can be tumbled down, allowing for up to 200mm legroom. The third row gets dedicated AC vents and there are charging ports for all passengers. The Triber is a tall car and headroom, even in the third row is not a problem, even for adults. The legroom is not very generous in the third row and only if you push the second row considerably forward can you make decent space for an average sized adult. The Triber offers 625L, 320L and 84L of boot space with five, six and seven-seat arrangement respectively.
As for the dashboard, its a fresh design from Renault. Its quite simple and geometric but quite appealing indeed. The dashboard is dominated by an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system below which sits above the climate controls. The cabin is trimmed in dual-tone black and beige with silver garnishes across the dashboard and on the steering wheel. There are three virtual dials on the digital instrument cluster and there’s keyless entry and push-button starts as well.
Powertrain
The Renault Triber is powered by a 1.0L, three cylinder petrol engine which makes 72 bhp of power at 6,250 rpm 96Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm. Renault says its the same engine that does duty in the Clio and Dacia Sandero in the international markets of Europe and South Africa. The power and torque figures are fine for a 1.0L, three cylinder engine but seem a little low for the car it has been put on and the segment it sits in.
The engine is paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox as of now. Renault has said that an AMT gearbox would also be introduced very soon. This engine is completely new for Renault India’s lineup and it comes with dual VVT system that allows for responses at all revs. Torque is available right from the lower rpms and it improves acceleration and city drivability. Renault says the new motor offers the right balance between performance and economy.
Features and Safety
The Triber comes pretty well equipped for what it is. The highlights in terms of features of the Renault Triber include an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, an LED instrument console with an 8.9 cm LCD screen, along with a start-stop button, air conditioning with all vents for all three rows, two cooled gloveboxes, keyless entry, power windows and rear wash-wipe.
On the safety front, the Triber will come with four airbags – driver, passenger and front sides; a segment first for the top-spec model, three-point seatbelts for all three rows, speed alert system, rear parking sensors and seatbelt reminder system as standard to comply with the new norms and will also come with a reverse camera on offer.
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Positioning
Renault says that the Triber will offer more than 100 configuration with its modular seating arrangement. The Triber is meant to be lifestyle vehicle, that is why it has the modular seating arrangement. One can have it in the surfer configuration with one seat removed from the third row or in the camping mode with both seats removed for maximum boot space. The seats themselves are also very easy to remove.
Renault has aimed this car at young buyers as well as families with its bucket loads of practicality. However, Renault does not call the Triber with any specific body style. Its built like an MPV, has characters of an SUV with increased ground clearance but has the size of the large hatchback as its a sub-4m car. We would just like to call it a crossover with seven seats.
Also Read : Upcoming New Renault Duster – 5 Things To Expect From The SUV
Pricing and Competition
The Renault Triber is a very unique car in this segment. The only direct rival it has is the Datsun Go+ which is essentially an extended seven-seater hatchback. But the Triber is much more than that. It will also take on the upcoming seven-seater Maruti Wagon R.
The Triber has a starting price of Rs. 4.95 lakhs for the base RxE Variant. The mid-spec RxL and RxS trims have been priced at Rs. 5.49 lakhs and 5.99 lakhs respectively. The top-end RxZ variant has been priced at Rs. 6.49 lakhs. It comes with only one engine-gearbox configuration as of now and the pricing of individual variants are not too far from each other. The Renault Triber sure seems like a very promising car.
