2023 Renault Twizy, or: Calimero the amusing commuter egg

[RC1807]

Useful info, and great to see you’re still loving it!

[lipadier]

Found a nice downhill stretch that's still inside a 1-charge loop radius from my home. - You may notice that the cornering looks jerky, but that's because the Twizy simply can go-cart corner a lot sharper than I have the courage for, I still brake way too early.

Also near the end at 4:25 you can hear my audible amusement.



I bought this as a simple from-and-to work commuter, it does that too, but turns out it's even better as a after-work fun valve.

Edited by lipadier on Friday 19th May 03:37

[lipadier]

^ Even better:



These roads are still inside my 1-charge loop radius. While it does 90km/h downhill, granted the Twizy falls back to 60km/h uphill on really steep roads, but the fact that one can keep the foot down even in curves because of the planted gocart nature of it helps a lot.

All in all, awesome fun!

Edited by lipadier on Sunday 21st May 07:05

[seiben]

That looks most excellent

[lipadier]

Got the swiss road tax quote today:

The Audi: 672 SFR per year (606.25 GBP)


The Twizy: 30 SFR per year (27 GBP)


That's 22.4x less!

[EdIsNotDead]

I wasn't expecting Swiss road tax to be cheaper than UK's for the V10!

[lipadier]

dodgydd said:

I followed you here from the 'does your car get you attention' thread!

I have the windows, but don't use them. Mine is an import from Korea with 30km total on it, also has DRL on it (front centre) which is quite unusual.
Same colour as yours! Wish mine had the sunroof, that really changes the feel of them. But definitely the most fun car I can think of just now.

Ref toll roads/tunnels/ferries. Similar issue here depending on who processes you, I emailed Mersey Tunnels for clarification and they said as it has 4 wheels I have to pay the toll. I questioned that as 4 wheel motorcycles (ATVs) don't pay it. They came back a while letter and correctly categorised it as a heavy quadricycle, which means I have to pay the tool. A shame as I have to use the tunnel often to go see my elderly dad in a care home.

I have the public charging adaptor so I can stop at Tesco on the way back from seeing Dad and charge it up while I do my weekly shop, 45minutes gets me about 15miles extra.

Have fun!

I had a look through this thread again and realised I've newer reacted to your post, especially regarding the glass roof: While I was configurating mine on the Renault website for sure first I clicked the glass roof option. - But after some thinking I clicked it away again, and I'm very glad I did, because now during the summer with the sun burning straight down the resulting shadow is priceless.

Btw, after not even two months of ownership I'm already at 4'500km (2'800mi), altough my daily commute is only a total of 16km (10mi) and I only work 4 days per week. Hence all those other km's are just from fun drives at evenings and weekends. Sometimes I come home, plug it in, and as soon as I can't hear the charger fan anymore (= battery is full), I'm off again for another giggle loop.

It has to be said that by now I drive the Twizy solely digital, because only this way it makes maximum fun. = Hypermiling is a hobby for other people.

On the negative side so far I had two occasions where motorists underestimated my speed and while clearly noticing me by eye contact simply drove infront of me regardless, while I had the right of way. On one of these occasion I had to slam on the brakes full tilt. The resulting noisy old-school non-ABS tire screetching made me suck air through my teeth. LOL

Also so far only once my plug got taken out while I was charging in the field. Gladly at already 84%, but still, made me a bit mad. Who does this? Around a school you would expect it, but this was at a community hall, and I had the ok to fill up.

But hey the positives are 99%, because this thing is total fun. And very addictive! - So yeah, the only way to get me give away the Twizy is to pry it out of my cold dead hands (and only after I've rolled it down embankment or under a truck)

Btw, i've sold the Audi S6. = My ICE swan song was a V10.

[lipadier]

By now it's officially not new anymore.
Firstly because that "km" number in the display keeps climbing fast...

And secondly because I got me my first beauty spot:



How to do it: Easy, you park up for a short pause to take a seat on that red bench. And after that done you happily step into your Twizy and then you elegantly back up straight into that road sign that has been in your field of vision during the last 10mins, but went out of your mind the moment you pressed "R" on the dashboard. "Kaboom!"


Eh, it's only pride and plastic, and anyway, i'm sure it's just the first of many scratches to come, judging by my careless co-cart driving style.

Best car ever! And I mean it!

[RC1807]

I think it's pretty incredible that you're using and loving this so much!


There's a 2012 Twizy for sale locally on FB Marketplace at the moment for EUR 5,500. Says it's done 11,150km in 11 years, so 20/week on average.
What's there to service on these? Tyres, axle oil?
Not sure how the battery rental system works w/Renault.

Always fancied one for the many local trips that occur, and also for my daughters to whizz around in. (Only need to be 16 here, but they're already full B licence holders and 20+.)

[seiben]

This thread continues to be excellent. I spotted this while on holiday recently, which made me chuckle

[Blib]

Thank you for your excellent reviews, OP. I really enjoy your enthusiasm and sense of fun.

I've had a hankering for one of these for some years. I reckon it would squeeze into the garage quite readily.

All I need to square off now is the man maths.

[The Count]

Great thread OP. Love it!

P.s. why do cars look much cooler abroad, in particular France?

[Crapaud]

I was thinking of getting one as a tender to my Bentley.

[Suralan]

That looks like so much fun! Can it be driven in bad weather, or are the lack of windows a serious issue for anything other than warm, dry conditions?

[lipadier]

Suralan said:

That looks like so much fun! Can it be driven in bad weather, or are the lack of windows a serious issue for anything other than warm, dry conditions?

Just today I drove the through a summer storm, that classic one with rain drops bullets defoiliating the local threes, immitating agent orange.

No problem in the Twizy, as mentioned in a post before the insides of the doors get wet, but the centre with you and the seat stays completely dry.

[lipadier]

RC1807 said:

I think it's pretty incredible that you're using and loving this so much!


There's a 2012 Twizy for sale locally on FB Marketplace at the moment for EUR 5,500. Says it's done 11,150km in 11 years, so 20/week on average.
What's there to service on these? Tyres, axle oil?
Not sure how the battery rental system works w/Renault.

Always fancied one for the many local trips that occur, and also for my daughters to whizz around in. (Only need to be 16 here, but they're already full B licence holders and 20+.)

I'm amazed myself about how much I'm addicted, knowing myself I thought the new-toy fancy would die away quickly. - But maybe it's because I've never had a motorbike and zipping around with all the roads suddenly being more than twice as wide as with any other car before is one reason. Or maybe it is because you can basicly go full tilt anytime and everytime while still being perfectly legal, I dunno. - Fact is it's a daily joy, more than I had anticipated, and judging by what other owners are writing in Twizy forums it will be so for years to come.

Service is yearly, a pretty simple affair, with the main focus on the brakes, but even they don't have a hard life as they only have to stop about half a ton from a max speed of 85km/h, and the energy recuperation does help to elongate their lifes. - Tires are also no worry, after almost 5000km (3100mi) of brisk go-carting they still look like new.

Since 2021 gladly the battery rental idiocy has stopped, since then new Twizys like mine are solely sold together with the battery, and owners of older examples can buy themself out of their rental contracts at a relatively easy price.

Edited by lipadier on Friday 30th June 22:06

[bungz]

Great little car!

This is the sort of thing for the masses I would fancy as a first leccy car, sadly seems the market is intent on making huge SUV's instead.

Lack of a heater would make the winter commute a bit sad though but it's understandable.

[Caddyshack]

bungz said:

Great little car!

This is the sort of thing for the masses I would fancy as a first leccy car, sadly seems the market is intent on making huge SUV's instead.

Lack of a heater would make the winter commute a bit sad though but it's understandable.

I saw one the other day with a small diesel burning heater in it. We have one in our horse lorry and it is mega efficient. I may look at adding one to my Twizy.

[lipadier]

Caddyshack said:

I saw one the other day with a small diesel burning heater in it. We have one in our horse lorry and it is mega efficient. I may look at adding one to my Twizy.

That's a very good idea, as I think every heating solution that is independent from the Twizys electrics is a smart option. Heating from the main battery will gnaw on your range, and torturing the little 12V bike brick isn't a good option also, as that one can only manage a very limited power output in terms of voltage and time.

But as my daily commute is only 5mins from and to work and just 3mins to the local shops I'm probably going to be fine with just the regular casual winter gear, even here in northern Switzerland with its local wet Lake Constanze microclimate.

For longer winter journeys (I know they will happen) I'm simply going to buy me a electric heating jacket. These thing are very good and can heat your upper body for hours. Because to me it just makes more sense in efficiency to directly heat your skin under some insulation than trying to heat up the cold drafty air around you in the Twizy egg.

[Caddyshack]

lipadier said:

Caddyshack said:

I saw one the other day with a small diesel burning heater in it. We have one in our horse lorry and it is mega efficient. I may look at adding one to my Twizy.

That's a very good idea, as I think every heating solution that is independent from the Twizys electrics is a smart option. Heating from the main battery will gnaw on your range, and torturing the little 12V bike brick isn't a good option also, as that one can only manage a very limited power output in terms of voltage and time.

But as my daily commute is only 5mins from and to work and just 3mins to the local shops I'm probably going to be fine with just the regular casual winter gear, even here in northern Switzerland with its local wet Lake Constanze microclimate.

For longer winter journeys (I know they will happen) I'm simply going to buy me a electric heating jacket. These thing are very good and can heat your upper body for hours. Because to me it just makes more sense in efficiency to directly heat your skin under some insulation than trying to heat up the cold drafty air around you in the Twizy egg.

I have already fitted heated seat covers in my Twizy, they run off the 12v but the traction battery tops that up as you drive. I used a heat gun to persuade the doors to make a better air tight seal and then added small strips of car door fluffy strips to stop any air getting in, that made a big difference. I also made small wind deflectors that move air away from the scissor door hinges. There is a hole in the floor where the steering column goes through, I sealed that with a rubber flange too….it does make a big difference.


I also have a heated gillet.

Renault made a winter cover for your legs too, I bought that dut don’t really use it unless it is really cold.