Guaranteed to take on the city traffic jams with ease plus motorway driving too, the Twingo boasts excellent space, safety specifications, comfort levels and even has a great choice of engine and fuel types.

twingo interior

The good

Stylish, fun, funky and deceptively fast

The bad

Interior lacks a little flair in places

Tech Specs

Price from

£9,495

Combined Fuel up to

67.3mpg

0-62 from

10.8 seconds

max speed up to

103mph

co2 from

95g/km

Test Drive

Renault Twingo Gordini 133

It’s quite an awesome combination – the well-established and rather sensible Twingo from Renault’s small car segment and the world-renowned Gordini racing heritage from Renaultsport. The result – a feisty little beast that loves to be let loose and have fun.

Whenever I think of the name Twingo it conjures up thoughts of children’s television, maybe the Tweenies or the Teletubbies – that’s where Twingo always seemed to fit in. That is until now.

For after a short spell behind the wheel of the Twingo Gordini, those children’s TV myths were totally shot to pieces and thoughts are much more concentrated on high impact, action movies with plenty of special effects.

First impressions of this three-door model sort of give the game away with the Malta Blue metallic paint finish complete with two white racing stripes, tinted windows, 17-inch Gordini alloys with blue inserts, white door mirrors and fog light surrounds and the black centre sections on the front and rear bumpers.

And the sporty feel is continued inside too, with brushed aluminium pedals, blue leather touches on the doors, gearstick and steering wheel and Gordini carpet mats.

Further creature comforts include cruise control, electric front windows, see-me-home headlights, an excellent sound system with CD player, MP3 compatibility and Bluetooth connectivity, automatic headlights and windscreen wipers, remote central locking and lots more.

My only criticisms of the vehicle are the door handles on the outside which appear to be rather plastic and flimsy and, secondly, the very large rev counter which is housed above the steering wheel which I thought resembled a giant alarm clock. But both those factors are down to personal taste and some people would love those touches.

However, when it comes to performance it really is a case of hold onto your hat it’s going to be one hell of a ride!

The 1.6-litre petrol-driven engine simply loves to be unleashed on the open road where the five-speed manual transmission is extremely responsive. Cabin noise was a little loud at higher speeds, but hey, what’s a radio for!

All-round visibility is excellent and there is plenty of leg and head room for rear seat passengers.

The boot is quite generously sized and there are a number of smaller storage compartments throughout.

The Twingo Gordini has been fitted with some top notch safety specifications including anti-lock brakes, electronic stability programme, numerous airbags, an electronic immobiliser and a Thatcham category 1 alarm to keep away any invited attention.

All in all, Twingo Gordini is fabulous value at £14,600 with very few additional charges on top. And for that outlay, you are guaranteed a brilliant ride with all the trimmings thrown in.

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