Twingo is an instant car of the year contender
“Different is good and the new Renault Twingo is certainly very different,” writes Richard Hammond in the Daily Mirror.
Placing the engine in the back, for starters, harks back to the Renault 10 of 1965. “Without driveshafts at the front and having to put in the engine there and make space for its ancillaries, Renault has been able to give the Twingo a tight turning circle. It’ll turn in 8.59m thanks to the front wheels going through 45 degrees. You’ll really notice it when you’re parking.
“If you couldn’t hear the engine thrumming away in the back you wouldn’t know the Twingo was rear-engined. Which is not a bad thing because traditionally, cars with engines in the back tend to be a bit hairy on the handling front. The Twingo is well behaved, even if you chuck it around.”
Hiding the engine in the back also provides enough “space-saving” to make adults in the back “comfortable”. There’s also a large storage area under the rear seats, and bins in the front and rear doors.
Hammond adds: “The new Twingo is as interesting as the last one was dull. It’s a great little car that is a good candidate for my car of the year.” [Mirror, Sept 5th]
Twingo out to entertain
The new Renault Twingo is “definitely one of the more entertaining” city cars on the market, reckons Autocar’s Hilton Holloway.
At just 3.59m long, the Twingo “is a full 10cm shorter than the outgoing three-door but has a 12cm longer wheelbase.” It’s rear-engined layout also gives it “a tiny turning circle of just 8.9m, only marginally larger than that of a London black cab”.
Once behind the wheel, Holloway found the TCe 90 Dynamique test model to be “hardly anything like a rear-drive car. The new Twingo, by Renault’s own admission, has been tuned to be as similar to a typical front-drive city car as possible”, meaning that “there’s hardly any sense that the Twingo is moderately tail heavy”.
“The Twingo’s driving position is higher and more upright than normal and none the worse for it. The dash is flat and upright, as are the door panels and the overall effect makes the cockpit feel quite spacious and liveable for a car this compact.
“The effect is magnified when bowling along at 70mph on the motorway, where the Twingo is quite hushed and feels unusually capable of longer, high-speed, journeys than nearly any other A-segment car.
“On more winding roads, it was possible to get this car flowing quite nicely, once the engine was operating around its peak torque levels.
“It is possible to pull a series of B-road curves into a satisfying whole once you’ve got the engine on the boil. Despite its resolutely ordinary set-up (although this model does get steering which is usefully half-a-turn quicker than on the normally-aspirated car) the Twingo has some country road potential.
“Naturally, the Twingo was at one with the city environment, especially thanks to its exceptionally tight turning circle.”
Holloway adds: “This Twingo is definitely one of the more entertaining city cars. It is reasonably brisk and will get better with miles, the interior is genuinely accommodating for such a small car and the extraordinary turning circle should not be underestimated in everyday use.” [Autocar, Aug 28th]
Twingo à gogo
The “radical” new Twingo offers “more for your money” and “more style”, Rob Gill says in the Sun.
“And now for the magic. It’s 10cm shorter in length than the old car but the cabin is 23cm longer. Renault found the extra space by hiding the engine under the boot and making it rear-wheel drive.”
The “well-weighted” Twingo is “super-light” to steer and parking is “a doddle” thanks to a turning circle that “would beat most rivals by a metre”.
The cabin has a “funky dash” and “loads of clever storage”. It is “roomier” than a Fiat 500 and “much quieter” without an engine up front. [Sun Sept 4th]
Twingo on sale from £9,495
“The new Renault Twingo will cost from £9,495 to £11,695 when it goes on sale in late September,” reports the Telegraph.
“The range starts with the Expression SCe at £9,495. This has the 70hp engine, giving a top speed of 94mph and 0-62mph in 14.5sec. The EU Combined economy is 62.8mpg, with CO2 emissions of 105g/km and band B VED.
“It’s followed by the £9,995 Play SCe 70, which is expected to be the biggest seller. Its performance figures are the same as the Expression.
“Next up is the Dynamique SCe 70, at £10,995. Its performance is the same, but a stop and start system helps push the economy up to 67.3mpg and the CO2 down to 95g/km. It’s in VED band A.
“The Dynamique Energy TCe has the 90hp turbocharged engine and costs £11,695. Its top speed is 103mph, with 0-62mph in 10.8sec, average economy of 65.7mpg and 99g/km of CO2 (also Band A).” [Telegraph August 18th]
Twingo reaps dividends for being ‘genuinely different’
“Well, that’s a snappy-looking thing,” Paul Horrell begins in Top Gear’s first review of the new Twingo. It doesn’t fall into the trap of trying to be a “scaled-down big car” or “scaled-up cutesy child’s toy”, so it’s “comfortable in its own skin”.
Things get “even more interesting” under the skin. “Again, it’s not trying to be a scaled-down regular hatch. Its engine is in the back. This means the front end can be shorter while still providing enough of a crush zone, leaving more room for people. It’s shorter than the old Twingo but the wheelbase is 12cm longer.”
The engine “lies almost on its back” under the boot floor so as not to encroach on boot space, “and slides downwards and forwards in a crash rather than breaking the backs of the people in the rear seat”.
The Twingo “sits pretty solidly” on the road and “you don’t suffer” from the ride. The transmission is “quite a nice-shifting” manual. “There’s no oversteer, and the rear-engined layout has some advantages. “The light nose means it’s super-agile down twisty roads. The steering isn’t corrupted by torque demands, so feels very pure. The engine and exhaust are further from your ears, so their noise is diminished. And it’s great for a city car too, because the turning circle is extraordinarily tight. You can pull sneaky U-turns and backdoubles like a London cabbie. Getting into and out of tight parking spots is almost comically easy.”
Opting for the 90hp turbo sets the Twingo up for faster roads, too, and also makes it “the most fun you’ll have in a baby car at the £11,696 price”.
The Twingo costs from £9,495 but Horrell says either outlay is worth it. “It’s a genuinely different approach to design and engineering that has brought real dividends, not just in being different for its own sake. Most important, it’s much more fun than a base-model supermini for the same cash.” [Top Gear Aug 28th]
Twingo back to its trailblazing best
“The brilliance of the new Twingo is how Renault has managed to make it pay,” says the Telegraph’s Andrew English in his first drive review of Renault’s latest city car.
English is referring to the traditional conundrum of making a mass-production small, rear-engined car – of which the Twingo is Renault’s first since the R10 more than 40 years ago – a profitable exercise.
“The answer lies in its strategic co-operation deal with Daimler, the sharing of engine and driveline development, and the Twingo being jointly developed with a replacement for the Smart Forfour.
Another big advantage of this partnership is that Renault “gets to launch its car first, thus garnering all the publicity”.
Despite sharing much of its DNA with the new Smart Forfour, the Twingo is a visually unique specimen. English reckons it’s “neat and fun” to look at, “and the beaky nose gives it a style of its own. You might not know – nor care – exactly what’s under the skin, but there’s clearly something new and different about it”.
“The interior has an indefinable sense of space, with the seats sitting high on the flat floor which, because of the tilt-adjust-only steering column, means you’ll want at least the middle Play trim level with its adjustable seat height.” There’s enough room for four large adults, as well as “more than 50 litres of storage space”.
Of the two engine options available, the 89bhp turbocharged 899cc unit “provides more performance”, although the 69bhp 1.0-litre alternative is “better around town” with its “well-spaced set of gear ratios”.
“We tried to provoke a tail-out moment, but to no avail, even braking suddenly while fully committed at speed – the Twingo just tightened its line, very safely. In the city the Twingo’s extra steering lock makes it unbelievably manoeuvrable and you’ll even relish front-first parallel parking. The slower steering rack in the 1.0-litre cars is the better bet here.
“The steering is accurate and the Twingo turns in well, grips admirably and is pretty good fun to drive.”
English concludes: “Renault’s baby is back to blazing a tratroad.com/news-client-wp/wp-sity that provides real benefits in interior space, manoeuvrability and driveability.
“Original Twingos are still much loved in France, still doing their job and looking contemporary.
“This new model stands a good chance of doing the same. Santé Renault, the Twingo’s back in the game.” [Telegraph Au9 29th]
Back with a twinkle
The new Twingo appeals to the young and middle-aged alike, says the Daily Express, thanks to its combination of “good looks” and “practicality”.
“Renault has given the Twingo stylish design without being too oddball or too staid,” writes Tristan Young.
“What sets the Twingo apart from its rivals is that the engine is mounted below the boot floor at the back of the car, driving the rear wheels.”
A 0-60mph time of 14.5 seconds from the 70hp engine makes the car “quick enough to be hustled along around town”. The 90hp version is “substantially quicker” with a 0-60mph time of 10.8 seconds. “Both engines are very efficient.”
On the road, the Twingo delivers “a nimble, fun drive that’s also comfortable over potholes and speed bumps. The three cylinder engines offer great character in terms of an appealing thrummy noise yet the refinement, particularly compared with similarly powered rival cars, is remarkably good on the motorway.
“The response from the accelerator is good and it helps the car feel nippy. Couple this to light yet precise steering plus an amazingly small turning circle and the car is great around town.
“Comfort levels are impressive and helped by supportive seats. The interior has been very well designed, with a simple cabin and dashboard that’s elegant and easy to use. “It’s the amount of interior space from such a small car that really impresses. There’s even amount of decent leg and head room.”
Young adds: “The new Twingo is clearly a return to the first generation’s appeal. The looks alone are enough to sell the car. However the fact that it’s also an impressive drive and has a clever interior serve to put plenty of icing on the cake.” [Daily Express, Aug 30th]
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