Not wishing to be predictable or anything but the idea of a city car with a turbocharged, rear-mounted engine driving the rear wheels was always going to hold some appeal for the PHer about town. And, yes,
the Renault Twingo
has managed to charm us when we've had occasion to drive it, albeit with a few caveats about vague steering, over zealous stability control and a slight lack of va va voom.
Good news then because Renault has confirmed a lightly warmed up Twingo GT is coming, taking the 90hp of the three-cylinder 900cc turbo up to - wait for it - 110hp. Well, it's into three figures at least! Might even make for a sub-10 seconds to 62 sprint too. In celebration of this extra verve Renault boasts of the inspiration of the
Twin'Run concept
car, though if it was really delivering on that promise there would be a 3.5-litre V6 behind the front seats. Not much danger of that happening but the Twingo GT does get a lightly Twin'Run influenced look with a new orange paint scheme, new side intakes and twin exhausts.
Encouragingly there's also the promise of "revised suspension, specific ESP calibration and variable rate steering" with the aim of delivering "precise cornering and outstanding road holding". You can probably park those dreams of a city car drift machine for now but it'll hopefully be a step in the right direction, the standard Twingo playing it the very cautious side of safe when it comes to offering a sense of its rear-driven chassis.
The car makes its debut at Goodwood and will be on sale from the winter, pricing TBC.
