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  8th May 2008

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Twingo wings

Renaultsport is establishing quite a reputation for cracking sporty hatches. Renault’s go-faster crew now turn their attention to the Twingo. Andy Enright reports

When the cutesy Renault Twingo first appeared, few thought it could be morphed into something quite as lairy as the Renaultsport Twingo 133. With a perky engine, beefed up suspension and a whole heap of attitude, this hot Twingo shows that Renault hasn’t forgotten its younger customers.

When it comes to hot hatches, there’s one manufacturer that time and again has served up the goods. Peugeot has been off the boil too long, Ford is hampered by a lack of decent small engines, Volkswagen usually prices itself out of contention and Vauxhall all too often substitute power for control. No, the hot hatch king is undoubtedly Renault. Cars like the 5 Gordini, the 5 GT Turbo, the Clio Williams, the Clio 172/182, the 19 16v, the latest Clio 197 and Megane 225/R26 variants show an almost unerring ability to hit the bullseye when it comes to fun, fast hatchbacks. With the Renaultsport version of the Clio, the company is hoping to add another name to that list.

The ingredients look promising. A tiny citycar with an engine of quite some heft is a good start and if any company can turn a promising power to weight ratio into something that works as a marketable product, it’s Renault.

We thought the Twingo’s sporty seam had been mined with the 100bhp Twingo GT, but the Renaultsport model is the real deal. As its name suggests, it packs a 133bhp punch which is quite a hit in a car this small. The engine, a 1.6-litre unit, delivers its peak power at 6,750rpm, so you’ll need to be quite aggressive with the throttle if you want to extract optimum performance. You’ll be rewarded with a decidedly rude exhaust note from the four-into-one system and a deep-chested timbre from the induction system up front. This is not your average warmed over shopping trolley.

Many manufacturers juice the engine up, add a few sports trimmings inside and leave it at that. Renault distinguishes itself by sweating the details. That’s why this Twingo Renaulsport 133 features bigger brake discs and callipers, and a track width that has been increased by 60mm at the front and 59mm at the back over the Twingo GT. There’s even an optional Cup chassis available with even more focused springs and dampers, bigger alloy wheels and a lowered ride height. This is designed largely for track use although it’s easy to imagine this Twingo getting rather dwarfed by the wide open expanses of many circuits. Coming to a go kart track near you maybe.

"Above all else the Twingo Renaultsport 133 is a car that puts a smile on your face…"

When the concept of a Renaultsport version of the Twingo was first mooted, I groaned inwardly, thinking the end result would sully the Renaultsport badge and look a bit, well, dorky. The results are anything but and the Twingo actually looks more aggressive than the Clio and the Megane. It’s said that little dogs are more likely to bite and this Twingo isn’t shy of baring its teeth. The exterior highlights would take some time to cover in detail but include 16-inch alloy wheels, a wide air intake in the front bumper, side sills, front and rear wings, a chrome tail pipe, dark grey detailing for many body parts and the no-cost option of Renaultsport chequered flag details. Twee it is most certainly not.

Build quality seems decent enough, the Slovenian factory where the Twingo is built enjoying a decent reputation for low warranty claims. The car’s interior is also spacious for the citycar sector with the available room maximised by clever split rear seats that individually slide and recline. Push these right back and you’ll get proper sized adults in the back with ease, while head and legroom for those in the front is also generous. The boot is a bit pokey but can be extended when you’ve no rear seat passengers by folding the seat backs down.

The car’s interior gets the treatment as well. Sports seats, a perforated leather-trimmed steering wheels and a rev counter located in the straight ahead position are all integral to the experience. Some of the boy-racer accoutrements are a little OTT but the Twingo Renaultsport is too likeable to get sniffy about. How many other cars combine a rev counter with a number font that gets bigger as you approach 7,000rpm, Blood Orange seat belts, a stitched marker on the steering wheel to indicate the straight ahead position and gearshift up warning lights?

Aside from the go-faster parts, the Twingo Renaultsport also includes a few convenience and comfort refinements.You’ll find rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlamps and air-conditioning. Then there’s front lateral airbags to the driver and passenger airbags, ABS brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution.

Being a compact city car as well as a hot hatch, the Renaultsport Twingo was developed with the big environment issue very much in mind and that means Twingo buyers should be able to run one with their green conscience and their bank balance relatively intact. Achieving around 42mpg on the combined cycle, the 1.6-litre engine has one of the lowest fuel consumption figures of any petrol-powered shopping rocket and relatively tax-friendly CO2 emissions of around 160g/km will also benefit the car’s bottom line. The Renaultsport Twingo also falls under Renault’s eco2 initiative which aims to manufacture and recycle vehicles in as environmentally-friendly a manner as possible.

There’s not a noticeable shortage of small hot hatches on the market, all vying for the hard-earned pounds of young buyers who have just won a measure of independence. There are even some quite good ones that are worthy of your attention. There aren’t any, however, that attack the market with quite the eye-popping 100 per cent commitment of the Twingo Renaultsport 133. By comparison, even the best of the rivals seem half-baked. Of course, this approach is not going to curry favour with those looking for a measure of subtlety but there’s a time and a place for being low key and if you’ve read this far, you’ll realise that it’s not when behind the wheel of this car.

What Renaultsport has done with this car is just turn the volume up to 11 on all the controls. It’s brash, it’s overdone almost to the point of self parody, but above all else the Twingo Renaultsport 133 is a car that puts a smile on your face. That’s a criterion forgotten by so many manufacturers and a key reason why Renault remains the best in the business when it comes to hot hatches.