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Renault Twingo

We drive the facelifted Renault Twingo, which gets sharper looks and improved cabin quality

Renault Twingo front tracking

By Sam Hardy

December 2011

  • Rating:
The Renault Twingo has always been a spacious and likeable city car – it simply hasn’t had the looks to attract style-conscious buyers and its cabin has trailed on quality. Now Renault has gone some way to answering those criticisms with this updated version, which costs from £8,995 and goes on sale in January.

It’s the first Renault to get a look heavily influenced by recent concepts such as the DeZir. The new grille stretches across the nose and incorporates a large Renault diamond badge, while bold headlamps and huge spotlights mean the Twingo has a lot more road presence.

Video: watch CarBuyer's video review of the Renault Twingo

 

At the back, though, the tail-lights are split awkwardly across the tailgate itself. Renault has also tried to add further pizzazz with a couple of bright new colours: Bermuda Blue and the Fuchsia finish of our test car. There are 17 different wheel designs to choose from, too.

Renault has taken a leaf out of MINI’s book and now offers lots of personalisation options, with a choice of different decals for the roof and contrasting colours for the door mirrors and protective side mouldings.

With competition set to be fierce from the VW up! (and its sister cars, the Skoda Citigo and SEAT Mii), the Twingo needs all the help it can get, though. So what about inside? Well, the dashboard gets a darker, high-quality finish, there are new seat patterns, and extra colour coding for the controls and upholstery stitching. It’s just not as big a leap forward as the exterior.

That said, the four-seater cabin is quite spacious, with 50:50 split-fold rear seats and decent room in the back, even if the VW up! has more legroom thanks to a slightly longer wheelbase. It’s a shame the steering wheel doesn’t adjust for reach, as it compromises the driving position a little, though.

Around town the Twingo is nippy, and with lots of glass it’s easy to see out, making parking in tight gaps simple. The steering has good weighting and if you hustle the little Renault through bends you’ll be surprised at the level of grip and lack of body roll. But the ride is on the firm side.

Our test car had the entry-level 75bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine which delivers peak torque of only 107Nm at 4,250rpm. That means you have to rev it hard to get anywhere quickly, at which point it becomes noisy. With only five gears to choose from, motorway cruising isn’t especially refined, either.

But while the little engine isn’t very punchy, it’s quite economical, returning 55mpg and emitting 119g/km of CO2. The latter ensures road tax is free in the first year. All in all, while the Twingo can’t match the class leaders, it’s far more appealing than before.

For an alternative review of the latest Renault Twingo visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

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6 Comments

Horrid

So nasty it makes we want to puke

By IronChicken on 22 December, 2011, 10:48am

Have they overstocked on Nissan Juke headlights?

That's the only reason I can think of for spoiling the look of a perfectly acceptable city car.

By snappyuk on 22 December, 2011, 11:22am

Following the usual Renault trait?

Renault just can't help tinkering with the styling on all their models. The Clio and Laguna have both had it, to such an extent that the Laguna looks like its had too much plastic surgery. The Twingo looked OK, whereas this one just looks like its had various styling cues grafted on in the hope that it can hold off the competition before the totally new model is introduced. The fact that there's a new model on the horizon would make me run a mile....and I'm probably not alone!

By n50pap on 22 December, 2011, 1:40pm

Vile...

So to add to the news that Renault are on the verge of admitting defeat in the UK by culling models and dealers, they present to the public yet another reason NOT to buy one of their poorly screwed togther washing machines. Perhaps they are trying to appeal to the TOWIE lot by adopting their mantra "if in doubt throw more makeup at it and make it as vulgar as possible"...

By JamesRiley on 22 December, 2011, 4:44pm

As successful as the Ford Granada to Ford Scorpio facelift...

...OK, a long time back, but this really does remind me of the ill-judged design mistake.

It is absolutely awful. The colour is horrendous by itself but they've ruined the front and rear in equal measure, neither of which are cohesive as an overall design.

The article mentions the current Twingo having a cheap interior. I recently sat in a Renaultsport Twingo 133 and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it at all.

"Renault has taken a leaf out of MINI’s book and now offers lots of personalisation options, with a choice of different decals for the roof and contrasting colours for the door mirrors and protective side mouldings."

Or, to put it another way, they've taken a good, honest, fun little car and turned it into a handbag on wheels for those who buy cars as a poncy fashion statement, not on the merits of the car itself.

Well, even though it will probably have the opposite effect, I hope this facelift/disaster reduces the price of the original Twingo as I fancy a RS 133 :-)

By Rodge on 22 December, 2011, 5:25pm

Are you having a Stephie Graf?

This looks ridiculous, I mean seriously, who the f is going to buy this? Save yourself the shame and buy a Fiat Panda.

It's no wonder Renault UK are cutting thier range in half, Citröen must be laughing thier heads off.

By JFalck on 24 December, 2011, 3:27am

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Pictures

Renault Twingo front tracking
Renault Twingo rear cornering
Renault Twingo dash
Renault Twingo boot

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FIRST OPINION

    With a more distinctive look, the Twingo feels a lot fresher and better equipped to compete with newer city car rivals. It’s more stylish than before and even though the cabin hasn’t made many great leaps forward, at least it’s spacious. On the downside, the 1.2-litre engine needs revs and the ride is quite firm. But the biggest problem for the Twingo is that even in basic trim, it costs £1,000 more than the higher quality and more economical Volkswagen up!.
 

AT A GLANCE

    Price: £10,350
    Engine: 1.2-litre 4cyl, 75bhp 
    Transmission: Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
    0-62mph: 12.3 seconds
    Top speed: 105mph
    Economy: 55.4mpg
    CO2: 119g/km 
    Equipment: Air-con, electric windows, driver and passenger airbags, MP3 connectivity 
    On sale: January
     
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