Renault Twingo Review (Renault Sport) - Renault Twingo Car Review

If you always wanted to go round Brands Hatch in a racing car but then found the track day experience made you go a bit green in the cheeks and wobbly in the middle, allow me to offer some assistance.

The Renault Twingo, as I explain later, is a tiny city car that normally comes with a tiny engine. This makes sense because it is an ideal little tool for parking in small spaces and nipping through little gaps in traffic. What’s more, the rear sliding, folding seats allow you maximum flexibility to fit in adults or luggage or a bit of both. 

It’s really a very thrifty, easy-to-use car – unless you stick a great big 1.6 litre engine in it and some sticky alloy wheels on the outside. To look at, it doesn’t quite give you that same sweaty-palm feeling you had at the trackday, but it does have RenaultSport written across the back, bright orange seat belts, chrome gear shift and drilled metal pedals. It’s hard for something so small to intimidate, but there is a clear message that it means business.

And with a new list price of £12,000 plus extras, so it should.

Getting from your office or home to the motorway may well be the best 20 minutes of your day if you buy one of these ‘babies’ (it’s a brave man who tries to defend the slang use of ‘babies’ in a car review, but it’s a seriously small car).  The steering has a firmness and feedback from the road’s surface that comes from being connected to big wheels on a light chassis. If you like how racing cars and classic sports cars feel to drive, you’ll love this. This car will hug the edge of the road, or the white line and you can be certain you are on the apex of a corner because the front and the back of the car cross almost at the same time.  The stiff suspension makes the car bounce on B-road surfaces and if you wanted an un-intimidating and safe track day experience from a road car, then here it is.

 

 

I say un-intimidating and safe because don’t think you are going to look cool shooting out of your drive. The acceleration is not scary, with 0-62 at 8.7 seconds – ordinary family saloons can do that. And while you may feel like you are bombing down a B-road, a quick check of the speedo will normally show that everything is legal and you are quite a long way from impressing Jenson Button.

Which makes me wonder if it’s worth it. Because as soon as you reach that trunk road or motorway you are faced with a very noisy cruise at motorway revs. Its stable and firm – impressive for a roller-skate – but it does tire you out after an hour or so.

So would I buy one? A used one for £8,000 ish? Or in a couple of years £5,000? Hell, yeah.

There are around 300 Twingos in the used car market, about 10% of them are RenaultSport Cup cars. 1 year old versions are as little as £9,000 – saving £4,000+ on the new list price. Which makes them a whole load more attractive.

If you want a more normal Twingo, the main engine is the 1.2 petrol and while these are £7,600 - £10,600 when new, two year old examples are available from £5,000.

There are loads of conventional City cars to choose from, that cost around £6,000 for a two year old example: Citroen C1, Hyundai i10, Peugeot 107. For a bit more money you can have a ‘new-shape’ Ford Ka or Fiat 500. For a bit less Chevrolet will offer you a Matiz.

But 2 year old city cars with bright orange seatbelts and 1.6 litre engines on big sticky wheels for less than £10,000? It’s really just the Twingo.

A fun car that is surprisingly practical despite its tiny proportions.