RE: Driven: Renault Twizy
Discussion
Hellbound said:
SystemParanoia said:
All concepts are 'prettymuch' production ready
Inaccurate statement. The Honda has a complete interior and actually drives....enough for the test driver to give it the beans. 'Honda will start testing the Micro Commuter in 2013 as part of an initiative spearheaded by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The car is also being developed with an eye on L7 category (quadricycle) regulations in Europe.'
You have to only look at some of the concept cars last year to see that not all of them are anywhere near production ready.
jerrytlr said:
Anybody got any views on the Renault ZOE? Range of 150km seems far more useful than the Twizzy, seating for four, etc. With the 7,000 Euro incentive available in France it is around 13K Euros for a very well equipped car - seems like good value to me. I am seriously considering one.
Battery rental is €80 a month though, so no real fuel cost savings overall when compared to an economical diesel Clio alternative.
I'll say this for Renault though, they are actually making and selling these cars and the specs are getting good. No excuse for other manufacturers just to have concepts any more....
Cheers
Jerry
Having actually driven one its possibly the nearest thing to driving a RR round town - yes really - but at 1/20th of the cost, it is silent & sublime with an old school French car style ride, comfy seats & on its own its a cute stylish car.Battery rental is €80 a month though, so no real fuel cost savings overall when compared to an economical diesel Clio alternative.
I'll say this for Renault though, they are actually making and selling these cars and the specs are getting good. No excuse for other manufacturers just to have concepts any more....
Cheers
Jerry
And if you have solar panels on your house the fuel is free too (this is the interesting bit) read up on how the feed tariffs actually work, you get paid the rate even if the electric goes into the car.
for me to get one.. it will have to in total every month cost me less than the fuel im currently spending which is about £150-£200 p/mth
but i have a sneaking suspicion that after taking away the battery finance from the total ( which will be fairly large as i do 15k commuting miles per year.. ) whats left wont cover the finance for the car.
thereby meaning this thing will cost me mor than my current solution of getting to work which has no large ongoing costs.. just fuel and tax.
give me an all inclusive Peugeot style finance package @ 100-125 p/m and ill bite their hands off
but i have a sneaking suspicion that after taking away the battery finance from the total ( which will be fairly large as i do 15k commuting miles per year.. ) whats left wont cover the finance for the car.
thereby meaning this thing will cost me mor than my current solution of getting to work which has no large ongoing costs.. just fuel and tax.
give me an all inclusive Peugeot style finance package @ 100-125 p/m and ill bite their hands off
DonkeyApple said:
MarshPhantom said:
I like these, although I'm sure I read somewhere you have to lease the batteries for £60 a month.
It's 45 upwards. Bit it solves the problem of buying the batteries at the outset and the risk of ownership. It's not exactly a large sum of money and is somewhat irrelevant in contrast to the initial outlay of 7k+. MarshPhantom said:
DonkeyApple said:
MarshPhantom said:
I like these, although I'm sure I read somewhere you have to lease the batteries for £60 a month.
It's 45 upwards. Bit it solves the problem of buying the batteries at the outset and the risk of ownership. It's not exactly a large sum of money and is somewhat irrelevant in contrast to the initial outlay of 7k+. The issue with this car is not the battery financing, nor the range or any of the other things people leap to whinge about. It is the initial price. Not only does it not compete on price against IC cars, but the IC car isn't really their main competition in the first place. The real market for these little city cars is the people who don't currently take a car to work but would like to. People who take the bus, train, scooter, taxi or walk. As such, they are simply too expensive to compete. They need to be priced against mopeds, cabs and Oyster cards if they are to ever gain serious traction.
I have never heard a Twizy being compared to a go-kart!
With due apologies for the thread necrophilia, I hired a Twizy for a day, last week. Several businesses in the New Forest hire them and there's a network of charging points, usually a pubs and cafes.
Thoughts? The ride is harsh, and the seats are hard. Being of lightweight construction, the Twizy crashes about through potholes and over bumps. And cattle grids.
While the lack of windows isn't much of an issue for the driver, it very much affects the passenger in the rear - in this instance my daughter.
The alleged range of 50 miles is very dependent on gradients and whether the driver has a conscience about holding up a queue of traffic. Going up hill or driving at 40mph rather than 30 makes a dramatic difference to the battery life, and I found that I became obsessed with the "range remaining" readout. Primarily because the charging points were fairly well spread out. And the New Forest is quite large.
Now some of the above may not be relevant if the car is used for short commuting journeys, or shopping trips (although there is no luggage capacity if the rear seat is occupied).
In my view, except in a limited range of applications, the car is too compromised to be practical. But, as has been pointed out earlier in the thread, it represents the first of a new wave of small electric cars which, with some of the obvious shortcomings ironed out, will undoubtedly become a viable option for short journeys or commutes.
Thoughts? The ride is harsh, and the seats are hard. Being of lightweight construction, the Twizy crashes about through potholes and over bumps. And cattle grids.
While the lack of windows isn't much of an issue for the driver, it very much affects the passenger in the rear - in this instance my daughter.
The alleged range of 50 miles is very dependent on gradients and whether the driver has a conscience about holding up a queue of traffic. Going up hill or driving at 40mph rather than 30 makes a dramatic difference to the battery life, and I found that I became obsessed with the "range remaining" readout. Primarily because the charging points were fairly well spread out. And the New Forest is quite large.
Now some of the above may not be relevant if the car is used for short commuting journeys, or shopping trips (although there is no luggage capacity if the rear seat is occupied).
In my view, except in a limited range of applications, the car is too compromised to be practical. But, as has been pointed out earlier in the thread, it represents the first of a new wave of small electric cars which, with some of the obvious shortcomings ironed out, will undoubtedly become a viable option for short journeys or commutes.
At less than £4000 with only 200 miles on the clock these are getting seriously tempting as little fun runaround.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...
V8 FOU said:
Chris, agree 100%.
The Twizzy thing would suit me to travel the 2 miles twixt home and workshop as I can't walk very far due to my ankle problems. so far so good. But £7000? I will stick to my LPG shed Micra that cost £300.
These things need to be around the £3000 to sell. But that isn't going to happen.
Perhaps when Renault realise that they aren't going to sell shedloads (!) of these they will discount the hell out of them....
First time I've heard of anyone fitting lpg to an already economical car. Out of interest what sort of mpg to you return?The Twizzy thing would suit me to travel the 2 miles twixt home and workshop as I can't walk very far due to my ankle problems. so far so good. But £7000? I will stick to my LPG shed Micra that cost £300.
These things need to be around the £3000 to sell. But that isn't going to happen.
Perhaps when Renault realise that they aren't going to sell shedloads (!) of these they will discount the hell out of them....
V8 FOU said:
Chris, agree 100%.
The Twizzy thing would suit me to travel the 2 miles twixt home and workshop as I can't walk very far due to my ankle problems. so far so good. But £7000? I will stick to my LPG shed Micra that cost £300.
These things need to be around the £3000 to sell. But that isn't going to happen.
Perhaps when Renault realise that they aren't going to sell shedloads (!) of these they will discount the hell out of them....
First time I've heard of anyone fitting lpg to an already economical car. Out of interest what sort of mpg to you return?The Twizzy thing would suit me to travel the 2 miles twixt home and workshop as I can't walk very far due to my ankle problems. so far so good. But £7000? I will stick to my LPG shed Micra that cost £300.
These things need to be around the £3000 to sell. But that isn't going to happen.
Perhaps when Renault realise that they aren't going to sell shedloads (!) of these they will discount the hell out of them....
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