Renault Twingo 1.0 Sce Dynamique 5Dr [start Stop] Petrol Hatchback

Specification

Body Glass
Electric front windows + one touch + anti-pinch
2 speed front wipers + intermittent wipe
Rear wiper
Variable front intermittent wipers
Brakes
ABS/EBD
Hill start assist
ESC - Electronic Stability Control + traction control
EBA
Communication
Smartphone cradle
Bluetooth + USB
R & Go Connect
Driver Aids
Crosswind Assist
Electric power steering
Cruise control + speed limiter
Driver Information
Trip computer
Driving Mirrors
Electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors
Entertainment
2 USB ports
Auxiliary input socket
Audio remote control in steering wheel
Exterior Body Features
Rear spoiler
Body colour door handles
Body colour bumpers
Matt black finish B pillar
Exterior Lights
Front fog lamps
LED daytime running lights
Heating/Cooling/Ventilation
Air re-circulation and pollen filter
Interior Features
Height adjustable steering wheel
Glovebox
Internal chrome door handles
12V Accessory socket
Front door storage bins
Rear cupholder
Cupholders in centre console
Storage compartment in rear doors
Leather steering wheel
Sunglasses storage
Removable luggage cover
Interior Lights
Luggage compartment lighting
Passenger reading light
Safety
Tyre pressure monitoring system
Driver/Front Passenger airbags
Front seatbelt pretensioners + load limiters
3 point inertia reel seatbelts
Front and rear seatbelt reminder
Front airbag deactivation
Front side airbags
3 point seatbelts
Front curtain airbags
Seats
50/50 split folding rear seat
Height adjustable driver's seat
2 height adjustable rear headrests
Isofix rear child seat preparation
Folding front passenger seat
Front headrests
Security
Remote central locking
Deadlocking system
RAID (Renault Anti-Intruder Device)
Thatcham Cat.1 alarm
Folding key
Insurance Approved Immobiliser
Vanity Mirrors
Driver/passenger sunvisors and vanity mirrors
Wheels
Two tone black wheel trims
Wheels - Spare
Tyre inflation kit

The specification listed for this vehicle was standard when purchased new. The actual specification may vary, for confirmation, please contact our sales department.

Ten Second Review

The Renault Twingo is a great little citycar most will want in SCe 70 1.0-litre entry-level guise. If you want performance, you'll want to spring for the pokier turbocharged 900cc motor but if economy is everything, this base unit might well suit. Engine issues aside, it certainly seems to be made of all the right stuff.

Background

You should have figured it out by now, but if you haven't it's worth remembering. A small car's engine capacity isn't the most accurate guide to its position in the hierarchy. Take the Renault Twingo for example. You might well have heard of this latest version, with the engine in the back and the underpinnings shared with the latest Smart Forfour. If you haven't, it's a car with the engine in the back and its underpinnings shared with the latest Smart Forfour. Renault launched this car with two engines, an 899cc unit and a 999cc motor. The key difference between the two - apart from the obvious 100 cubic centimetres of capacity - is that the former is turbocharged and generates 90PS and the latter does without forced induction for a mere 70PS. We'll take a look at the latter engine and see whether it makes a decent buy.

Driving Experience

Preservation of momentum is key when you only have 70PS under your right boot. The Twingo revs willingly and even sounds quite sporty when you plant it, but it's a car that's really at its best within city confines. Get one on an open road and you'll wish you'd sprung for the 90PS turbo model. On motorways, the gear ratios feel strangely judged and if you're trying to accelerate cleanly off the line to join fast moving traffic, bear in mind that the Twingo will take a full 14.5 seconds to get to 62mph. At idle, the off-beat thrum of the three-cylinder engine causes the car to vibrate quite markedly, so it's better if you choose one with the Start & Stop system fitted. Otherwise, there's a lot to like. The advantages of a rear-mounted engine in a city car are easy to appreciate. Even with a smallish engine up front, turning circles are often compromised by the amount of under-bonnet real estate the front wheels have to move in. With no engine to worry about, you can offer a genuinely tiny 8.65m turning circle. With the wheels at each corner of the car, you're not going to get the sort of weighty, tail-endy feeling you'd get in a 'traditional' rear-engined model where the engine's slung a long way out beyond the rear axle. For a city-orientated driver, that can only be good news.

Design and Build

If you didn't know the engine was where you'd normally put your shopping, you'd probably never guess from the outside. The Twingo has a fairly conventional city car silhouette, with elements of Fiat 500 in its cheeky domed profile. The front end adopts the usual Renault family face, with bulging headlamps and a detail strip that frames the huge centrally-mounted Renault diamond. Punched inboard of the headlight pods are LED daytime running lights. The design team, headed up by Laurens van den Acker, wanted to evoke the feel of the Renault 5 and the rake of the Twingo's rear screen and the prominent shoulders are said to be inspired by the rear-engined Renault 5 Turbo. That might be a bit of a stretch for most of us to spot. Meanwhile, thiscitycar's five-door architecture - a first in the history of the model - makes it the most versatile Twingo to date. This version is around 100mm shorter than its predecessor, but due to a longer wheelbase, the cabin length has increased by 130mm. Luggage capacity is 219-litres and can be extended to 980-litres by folding the 50:50 split rear seats. There is also 52-litres of personal storage space within the cabin, including a removable 2.6-litre compartment at the bottom of the centre console, 29-litres of space beneath the front seats - with nets available to hold items in place - and a 6.4-litre glovebox.

Market and Model

Prices open at around £9,500 for the entry-level Expression SCe 70, with the Play model bumping that figure up by £500. The model to target is the Dynamique, which for around £11,000 adds the Start & Stop system, driving down the bills quite noticeably. Even the Expression model gets body-coloured bumpers, door handles and exterior door mirror shells, a rear spoiler and LED daytime running lights. Then there's electric power steering, electric front windows, remote central locking, a speed limiter, a height-adjustable steering wheel, a trip computer and gearchange indicator, a lane-change function for the indicators and the automatic activation of the rear screen wiper when reverse gear is selected. Safety kit includes Electronic Stability Control, Hill Start Assist, Emergency Brake Assist and four airbags as well as front and rear headrests and a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System. Step up to a 'Play' version and you can add air conditioning, a height-adjustable driver's seat and steering wheel, and 15-inch black two-tone wheel trims in place of the grey ones on the Expression. The Dynamique gets pinstripe shoulder-line decals, front fog lamps, electric heated door mirrors, cruise control, a lane departure warning system, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and gearshift knob, white instrument backlighting, a folding key and storage pockets in the rear doors.

Cost of Ownership

Economy is very much a tale of two parts. Go for an Expression or a Play model and you can expect to get 62.8mpg economy and emissions of 105g/km from your Twingo SCe 70. In this day and age, a citycar that can't dip under 100g/km really isn't cutting it. So what should you do? Buy the Dynamique model that's what. Yes, it adds another £1,000 to the price of the Play version that you're probably not going to make back via the marginally better fuel economy and lower emissions of 67.3mpg and 95g/km respectively, but it's also a nicer drive and gets usefully more equipment. But by now, I guess you know where we're going with this line of reasoning. If you're going to drop another grand for the Dynamique model, why not spend another £700 and get the markedly better 90PS turbo engine? We would. Residual values ought to be very good, as the Twingo has created quite a buzz and the personalisation options available allow second owners to customise the car to their requirements. The one thing the SCe engine does have firmly in its favour is its insurance rating; Groups 2-3 as opposed to Group 8 for the TCe 90.

Electric front windows + one touch + anti-pinch, ABS/EBD, Smartphone cradle, Crosswind Assist, Trip computer, Electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, 2 USB ports, Rear spoiler, Front fog lamps...

Performance

Performance
0 to 60 mph (secs)
0 to 62 mph (secs)	14.5
Engine Power - BHP	70
Engine Power - KW	51
Engine Power - PS
Engine Power - RPM	6000
Engine Torque - LBS.FT	67
Engine Torque - MKG	9.3
Engine Torque - NM	91
Engine Torque - RPM	2850
Top Speed	94

Green Stats

Emissions
CO2 (g/km)	95 (g/km)
HC+NOx	N
Particles	N
Standard Euro Emissions	EURO 6
Fuel Consumption
EC Combined (mpg)	67.3
EC Directive 1999/100/EC Applies
EC Extra Urban (mpg)	76.4
EC Urban (mpg)	56.5