2023 Renault Twizy, or: Calimero the amusing commuter egg

[lipadier]

Cambs_Stuart said:

How was driving it in the cold and snow?

I did a 50km drive yesterday into the higher elevations of the Appenzeller Alps to visit family, recharged the Twizy there, and then drove those 50km back during the evening. It was 2°C when I drove up, and 1°C when I drove down. It was snowing lightly on my way back but mostly it didn't really stick to the roads as the were already salted:


- No problems to report, but you have to be aware that your track width is smaller than all the other cars, so you may hit the snow that lays inbetween the snow-free tire lanes.
- Traction was always there, no wheelspin at all, contrary to what I was expecting. (The Twizy is my first RWD vehicle, I always had AWD).
- With the winter tires the Twizy understeers way less than on summer ones, quite a big difference actually!
- The Twizy is very light and therefore reacts not too well to strong crosswinds, you have to hold on and be aware. Had one long exposed stretch on a hilltop where I went full tilt, and I was all over the place LOL

- The hating jacket was not really needed to be honest, but I turned it on anyways halfway in as it gives a lovely sit-in-a-hot-tub feel LOL
- Second fluffy jacked as a horse blanket over the legs and all was well.
- The heated windscreen is essential during the first few minutes.

Can't wait for proper winter!

[lipadier]

lipadier said:

Can't wait for proper winter!

And now we are talking!





It's all analog and direct and so you always know what the weels are doing. = Incredible fun!!

[lipadier]

General Price said:

A child on Christmas morning.

^ Pretty much, yes.

[lipadier]

andyj007 said:

checked in for another update , and more pics i enjoy this diary..

Not much to report at the moment, besides that I'm really happy that I've bought me this funny bucket. - With the big V10 Audi I had to drive quite some distance to get to a favourite bit of road, but with the Twizy every road is a favourite road. LOL

Anyway, I gave it some much needed interiour lighting, which puts an end to the blind search for the keyhole and the "D" button:


And as a random anecdote, a coincidental "evolution of the small car" parking row, from tiny to fat:

[lipadier]

Since I have the Twizy my parking expenses went down considerably:

[lipadier]

20'000km (12'500mi), done in 11 months (bought on April 21th 2023), and it reached this milestone even before its first annual service

[lipadier]

The month of May starts in 10 days.... the situation today:




Good thing the appointment for changing to summer tires was postponed to next week by the garage.

[lipadier]

^ That was properly wierd today, it felt like it was snowing in summer, because before noon it was all still lush green, but soon after it was January again:







Proper fun with the Twizy because the steering is direct and unassisted so you can feel very easily what the front wheels are doing. - Granted I did a unwanted slide under breaking while crossing those train lines, but it was slow and catchable. Phew.

Edited by lipadier on Sunday 21st April 23:00

[lipadier]

Cambs_Stuart said:

In the UK, despite the plethora of SUVs, that amount of snow would bring the road network to a halt, so it's particularly heartening to see you out having fun!

We had some summer tires numpties too this year, who went too early for the tire change, but then went out in the snow anyway... result: A unusual amount of crashes over the last weekend, especially on the Autobahns.


Anyway, first annual service avec le Twizy, at 21'300km (13'230mi), almost exactly 1 year to the day after the purchase. - What had to be done?:

• Topping up a spoonful of braking fluid
• Cleaning of battery terminals (were already a bit corroded, probably because I concreted the battery and its surroundings with slush from time to time, whilst playing snowplow)
• Half of the screws of the battery carrier (or battery tray) had to be tightened again (presumably loosend due to heavy mechanical stress when grounding it at full speed on uncleared winter roads)

That was it.

Brakes, says the friendly Renault man, are still fine, no problem, despite of me bombing around with the little bucket every day like there is no tomorrow. We'll take another look at them again during the winter tire change, at the end of autumn.

Conclusion 1: Absolute peanuts.
Conclusion 2: IknowIknowIknow the Twizy is not designed for hardcore winter service, so (mis)using it all year round like I do for sure will take a chip off its lifespan, but that's what I'm already doing anyway the way I'm staking up the kilometers/miles.

Edited by lipadier on Saturday 27th April 18:45

[lipadier]

Little fun fact: On straight roads the limiter comes in at 85km/h (53mph), but downhill and on recuperation it will let you lose up to 90km/h (56mph), wohoo!

[lipadier]

Caddyshack said:

Powerbox removes the limiter…i have seen an indicated 73 mph.

Your pic with the interior light reminded me of when my wife phoned me as my "stupid little car" (Twizy) "wouldn’t go". After a long trouble shoot I worked out that she had the key in the locking glove box and not the ignition.

The key in the glovebox lock is a classic.

Sadly on every Twizy from 2017 onwards the software is protected (european law) and it's not possible to software-chip them anymore like all the ones from 2011 to 2016.

[lipadier]

^ Yeah, I can only imagine on what sort of an even higher fun level a powerbox'ed Twizy must be. - But as long as mine has warranty I leave it as it is. - Still plenty amusing...


And fitting to the theme, here's me today gocarting trough the vernal scenery, life is good:

1:04, that overtake timing...*chefs kiss*
2:46, I plead "let's go", and they actually do. Nice! - Ok, granted not for long, but still, made me smile.

Edited by lipadier on Saturday 11th May 18:39

[lipadier]

Wohehey! First time I saw a Citroen Ami in the wild. Only seen them in pictures and videos so far. - And yes it's quite a cute and charmefull thing. Love the headlight "eyes" which gives it a friendly character. From the front it looks like it's interested in whatever you're about to say:


But I was also surprised that from any other angle the Ami looks a bit... ahem how should I put this... it's quite big for a tiny car... fat would be the mot juste if I was biased, which I'm absolutely not, of course:


But looks aside there is still the fact that the poor thing can only go 45km/h (28mph), which is a big roadblock (LOL) and probaly the main reason why I haven't seen one of these in my region so far since the launch. Over here the regular speed limit in built up areas is 50km/h (31mph). So even when le Ami chauffeur floors it in full attack mode, from the outside he still only looks like one of those sunday drivers that force everybody else behind him to make impatient grunt noises. - But I admit that's not the Amis fault just that silly law impeding some vehicles from going the speed of the traffic flow.


Anyway I just enjoyed the random opportunity to finally have a 3D look at one of these. *Checkmark*

Edited by lipadier on Friday 7th June 23:16

[lipadier]

^ Yeah, that thing needs its own thread! Tell us more!

[lipadier]

Gary C said:

Have you never seen a 1985 Sinclair C5 before ?

I think he meant it more in the sense of that the owner should tell more about the purchase and the experience.

[lipadier]

OP here, I think the Sinclair is so unique it deserves its own thread. - Looking forward to it. - Please put a link in here so people can find it.

Would also like to hear more about your own Twizy, did you have a exact purpose for the vehicle when you bought it, or did you wanted one just because? - Myself I was suprised how quickly my Twizy went from its intended small role of second fiddle work commuter to its current big role as main car, it shoved a awesome V10 S6 with a Milltek exhaust off the podium for crying out loud. LOL

And hence now more than a year later it's still as much fun as on day 1. - In the last 13 months there were exactly 5 days when i wasn't underway in it. Says it all.

Edited by lipadier on Tuesday 11th June 19:53