RE: Renault Twingo: UK Review

[juansolo]

So essentially: Small, light Renault turbo hatch. Rear engined, RWD. All the promise...

Is sanitised bullst with anti-fun electronics and massive wheels.

Next.

[sideways man]

I had so much want for this, before I read that it drove like every other fwd city car. Really hope the RS version happens, but will book a test drive in the std version to make my own mind up.

[Butter Face]

juansolo said:

So essentially: Small, light Renault turbo hatch. Rear engined, RWD. All the promise...

Is sanitised bullst with anti-fun electronics and massive wheels.

Next.

Except it's not designed as a RWD sportscar, it's a small city car with a tiny turning circle (much smaller than competitors) and plenty of room inside for 4 adults.

Also, the wheels are hardly 'massive' the base car has 15's and the higher spec models have 16's.

'Anti-fun' electronics are also called 'safety feature' in the modern safety obsessed world, these cars were never going to be designed to go sideways round corners!

[Butter Face]

jackpe said:

Am I missing something here? not one sigle mention of the Fiat Cinquencento? that is surely the biggest rival. Renault all but copied the design and it is the most successful car in this sector. I'm sure it is off the pace dynamically but a new one must be out soon and crap dynamics have not hampered the Cinquecento so far..

There's an anecdote that one of the top bods at Fiat came up to one of the top Renault guys at Geneva last year and said 'I wish we had done that' after looking at the Twingo

How true that is I don't know....

[juansolo]

Butter Face said:

juansolo said:

So essentially: Small, light Renault turbo hatch. Rear engined, RWD. All the promise...

Is sanitised bullst with anti-fun electronics and massive wheels.

Next.

Except it's not designed as a RWD sportscar, it's a small city car with a tiny turning circle (much smaller than competitors) and plenty of room inside for 4 adults.

Also, the wheels are hardly 'massive' the base car has 15's and the higher spec models have 16's.

'Anti-fun' electronics are also called 'safety feature' in the modern safety obsessed world, these cars were never going to be designed to go sideways round corners!

My front wheels on my Cayman are 205 section... I call that on a city car massive.

I suppose I'm just disappointed. Renault used to make such fun little hatches. I saw that along with the styling as being the car the Fiat 500 Abarth should have been all along... Which it isn't either.

As a city car it leaves me with a feeling of utter numbness and lack of interest after reading that review.

[drgoatboy]

Is this not very similar to the mitsubishi i launched back in 2006?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_i
That got rave reviews at the time and had a similar layout but didn't seem to sell much in the UK (although quite a hit in Japn by the looks of things).

[DUMBO100]

I quite like the reg no. I think Renault should have called it the Twango to start with

[Butter Face]

juansolo said:

Butter Face said:

juansolo said:

So essentially: Small, light Renault turbo hatch. Rear engined, RWD. All the promise...

Is sanitised bullst with anti-fun electronics and massive wheels.

Next.

Except it's not designed as a RWD sportscar, it's a small city car with a tiny turning circle (much smaller than competitors) and plenty of room inside for 4 adults.

Also, the wheels are hardly 'massive' the base car has 15's and the higher spec models have 16's.

'Anti-fun' electronics are also called 'safety feature' in the modern safety obsessed world, these cars were never going to be designed to go sideways round corners!

My front wheels on my Cayman are 205 section... I call that on a city car massive.

I suppose I'm just disappointed. Renault used to make such fun little hatches. I saw that along with the styling as being the car the Fiat 500 Abarth should have been all along... Which it isn't either.

As a city car it leaves me with a feeling of utter numbness and lack of interest after reading that review.

But how wide are your rear tyres, you know, where the power goes?

The models with 16's run 205 Rear and 185 Front
The models with 15's run 185 rear and 165 front
Seat Mii with 15's run 165 all round
a tiny Pug 107 runs 155 all round.


So they're hardly 'massive'. It's rear engined, it has wider tyres on the back, it's not uncommon on rear engined cars of any ilk.

[smilo996]

It is good to see Renault getting its Mojo back. I cycle up beside one the other day and for the first time in a while stopped to take a closer look at a new car. Sounds fun to drive and when they add some Renaultsport Lunacy, then it will likely be a scream. V6 perhaps?

Good to see PH letting the 911's handling deficiencies slip out!

[loose cannon]

It's a smart car with a different badge, I did look forward to the concept but having seen one in the flesh
Not really my bag, still looks a million times better than the abortion smart car version

[kambites]

loose cannon said:

It's a smart car with a different badge, I did look forward to the concept but having seen one in the flesh
Not really my bag, still looks a million times better than the abortion smart car version

I saw one of the new Smart ForFours today, very odd looking thing.

[court]

Fingers crossed for a Frankfurt reveal...




I'm sure Smart will be launching the Brabus version of the ForFour too..

[pSynrg]

jackpe said:

Am I missing something here? not one sigle mention of the Fiat Cinquencento? that is surely the biggest rival. Renault all but copied the design and it is the most successful car in this sector. I'm sure it is off the pace dynamically but a new one must be out soon and crap dynamics have not hampered the Cinquecento so far..

Is this Specsavers' latest guerilla marketing?

[j_s14a]

Syvecs ECU and some suspension tweeks would make the car a bit livelier!

[kambites]

The old Brabus ForFour had something daft like 180bhp, if they can manage a similar figure in this one it could be highly entertaining.

[///ajd]

Nice idea and packaging.

I assumed it had a front boot (froot?), but it appears not:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXaV41zMA60

This design at the front seems bizarre? I can only think it was driven by front pedestrian crash tests - why else not a couple of hinges and a normal bonnet release!?

[Axionknight]

It seems like a neat little car - a Renault Sport model with a zingy NA engine like the original 133 would be great IMO.

[squirejo]

Re turning circle. Also excellent on the Zoe given the lack of front engine. Making it the better choice as a London city car- no cong charge, no road tax, no parking costs, no electricity costs, more net riot space, more toys, same price. The end.

[kambites]

squirejo said:

Re turning circle. Also excellent on the Zoe given the lack of front engine.

Doesn't necessarily always follow, ever driven a Clio V6?

[Butter Face]

squirejo said:

Re turning circle. Also excellent on the Zoe given the lack of front engine. Making it the better choice as a London city car- no cong charge, no road tax, no parking costs, no electricity costs, more net riot space, more toys, same price. The end.

Whilst the ZOE does have all of that going for it, you have to factor in battery rental and mileage restrictions, which the Twingo has neither of.

They're not meant to compete anyway really.