Renault Pulse small car launched; prices start Rs. 5.77 lakh

Renault India has launched the Pulse at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo. The Pulse is available in two variants, the RXL priced at Rs. 5.77 lakh and the RXZ priced at Rs. 6.25 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi.

The Pulse will compete with premium hatchbacks in the market which includes Hyundai i20, Fiat Punto and the Maruti Suzuki Swift. Here is a photo gallery of the Renault Pulse

The Renault Pulse is nothing but a “badge-engineered” Nissan Micra, with a few small cosmetic changes. The Pulse will come only in a diesel version for now, powered by Nissan’s K9K 1.5-litre diesel engine that puts out 63 bhp of power and 160 Nm of torque.

Looks, comfort and space

The Renault Pulse has been given a more aggressive styling by Renault’s design center in Mumbai. The cute-looking Micra headlamps are now replaced by more aggressive looking lamps. The grille has been entirely reworked to get a large, sporty hexagonal shape with the Renault badge neatly embedded and the bumper gets an entirely new design, with a sporty air dam and integrated fog lamps (fog lamps are variant specific).

In profile, there’s absolutely no difference between the Nissan Micra and Renault Pulse, except for the design of the alloy wheels. At the rear, only the tail-lamps get a new look (same shape, but different design), and Nissan’s badges have been replaced by Renault badges. Otherwise externally, the car is identical.

On the interiors too, the Pulse is identical to the Nissan Micra. It gets the same circular AC vents and circular climate control unit and stereo as the Nissan Micra. Seating, steering, door handles are all the same – which means comfort and space are identical to the Nissan Micra.

It gets a 251 litre boot, decent rear seat legroom and good driver’s comfort just like the Micra. Read our review of the Nissan Micra diesel

However, unlike the Micra diesel, the Pulse will likely get ABS and two airbags (Micra diesel has a single airbag and no ABS).

Performance and mileage

The Pulse is powered by Nissan’s tried-and-tested K9K, 1.5-litre diesel engine that puts out 63 bhp of power and 160 Nm of torque, mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Being essentially a rebadged Micra diesel, the performance and mileage is identical.

Mileage is a claimed 23.08 kmpl for the Pulse. And seeing that nothing’s different from the Micra mechanically, real-world figures of 20 kmpl can be expected, as these are the figures we got with our Micra road test.

Features

The Pulse gets comfort features such as follow me headlamps, automatic climate control system, integrated audio system that can play CD/MP3, FM/AM tuner and aux-in port with four speakers. With regard to safety, the Pulse gets driver and front passenger airbags, child proof rear door locks, front fog lamps, high mounted stop lamp and speed sensing auto locks. It lacks ABS which are available in other premium hatchbacks.

Pricing

Renault has priced the Pulse at a slight premium when compared with the Nissan Micra. The Pulse RXL priced at Rs. 5.77 lakh, is Rs. 5,000 more than the Micra XL variant. Similarly, the Pulse RXZ priced at Rs. 6.25 lakh, is Rs. 8,000 more than the Micra XV variant.

Renault Pulse Technical Specifications

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