2026 Renault Twingo review

Le Quément had a desire to repeat the success of the Espace monospace concept in a small car. Soon after arriving, he went to the design department basement where two of the Vestas prototypes were rolled out. It was a eureka moment, with Ploué’s concept looking like a possibility. Le Quément ordered work to (re)commence. Early clinics showed it to be a marmite proposition but Lévy stuck by his mercurial design chief.

Equally important to the success of the first Twingo, however, was the smashing interior penned by Gérard Gauvbry and the sterling work by project manager Yves Dubreil who took the uncosted project X06, halved the budget, stripped out the unnecessary, innovated to save cost and man handled the spec and figures to turn it into the Twingo.

The radio aerial was mounted on the door mirror, the controls were simple, there was one engine and one transmission and it was left-hand drive only, so it never came to the UK, but it sold – wait for it – over 2.6 million examples before it was replaced with the vastly less memorable Mark II in 2007. When that car’s parlous sales figures became public I asked then boss Carlos Ghosn about the Mark II.

‘It is a car my wife likes very much,’ he told me. ‘Unfortunately there simply aren’t enough people like my wife.’

The third Twingo was launched in 2014 and is perhaps best left to the history books. It was basically a rebodied Smart with a rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration – in other words it shared nothing with nothing. And as we all now know, Smart was a financial black hole for Mercedes and also Renault.

So, if the small car past is any guide, this new Twingo couldn’t have had a more auspicious start: no money, oil prices spiking and a recession in the car industry…

It’s basically a cut-and-shut Renault 5, last year’s highly deserved Car Of The Year winner and with just 720 parts, it has approximately half the bits you’d normally expect.

There’s a lithium-iron phosphate 27.5kWh battery pack and a 79bhp/129lb ft motor driving the front wheels via a step-down gear. While LFP is a more robust technology and treads more lightly on planet Earth than lithium-ion nickel manganese cobalt (Li-ion NMC), it still needs careful management and because the Twingo’s prismatic battery cells are uncooled, it will only charge at a maximum of 50kW DC, which means it’ll take half an hour to get a full charge even running flat out. If you repeat charge it, the software will slow the charge rate to protect the battery.

On a gentle run around the Balearic island of Ibiza, I achieved an efficiency of five miles per kWh against Renault’s claim of 5.1, although on the motorway you would see that figure drop rapidly. But if all you’re doing is short distances in good weather in flat urban areas, you should see a range of over 140 miles. If not, you’ll need to manage your expectations and keep your eyes on the range meter accordingly.

At 3789mm long and 1953mm wide with the mirrors out, the Twingo is firmly in the A-segment known as ‘City Cars’ in Europe, an endangered species as environment and safety legislation has made them uneconomical to make. The Twingo is one of the first of a new breed and Renault has thrown redolent detail at the outside with those smiling headlamps, pad-style rear bumpers and peaked rear lamp covers. But it also claims practicality saying that the Twingo is an A-segment car with the interior space of the B-segment class above, in precisely the same way as did the original all those years ago.

Certainly the front driving seats are generous and there’s a lot of storage space around them. With heavily stuffed cushions they feel quite roly poly and there’s an odd shape to the upright part of the seat, which isn’t uncomfortable but is odd. You also sit quite high, which some won’t like.

The interior trim is plastic and a bit scratchy, but nicely designed with a mottled finish, lined centre storage bin, patterned carpet, red stitching and black-and-white detailing.

In the back, space is restricted. I’m six foot and sitting behind myself, my knees were in the seat back and my head touching the roof lining. The rear seats adjust fore and aft and fold to increase boot space from 360 litres at most to 1010 litres.

As far as the fascia design is concerned, think Fiat Panda or Cinquecento, the latter coincidentally developed under the watch of Luca De Meo, who also oversaw the development of Twingo before going off to head up Kering.

So there’s bare body metal (charming), body colour panels, a cross-cabin panel rounded at the ends containing the major controls, and simple digital instrument binnacle. The rotary heater controls have digital displays in the centre, which was a design we all swooned at when introduced by Audi a decade ago. There’s a 10.5in crashed iPad in the centre of the dash, but the graphics are clear and the control system is Renault’s familiar openR link with Google navigation Android Auto and Apple CarPlay along with ChatGPT if you fancy conversing with a box of computer chips

Our top spec Techno version had rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, all the ADAS you can throw a stick at, Renault’s Perso system to switch some of it off, adaptive cruise control and a speed limiter. Heated seats are an option, though the UK won’t get the fold forward front passenger seat so the Billy bookcase will have to be delivered and the surf boards will go on the roof.

On MacPherson-strut front and a twist-beam rear suspension (note the independent rear end featuring on Renaults 4 and 5 has been ditched, presumably for reasons of cost), this is small hatchback ubiquity and while the Twingo rides pretty well, it weighs 1200kg and the roll resistance is strong combined with quite tough bushes from the rear, which transmit a bit of noise. While the 18in wheels look great, you might be better served with the 16in rims as the 18s clout a sharp-edged bump with a fair old impact.

If you’re cornering a car like this on the door handles you’ve completely missed the point, but the steering is light and accurate, the roll eventually well controlled and the front end is quite pointy. It dives into a roundabout and holds on quite well, though the Continentals eventually give up their grip quite noisily if you deign to lift when committed – we do it so you don’t have to…

Talking of which, there’s a fair bit of noise in the cabin, roaring from the tyres, bustling from the wind round the tall body and whining from the motor. One wonders just how much insulation wasn’t in that list of 720 parts…

The saving grace is that electric motor which as we all know gives most of its torque as soon as it starts turning. So despite the modest 0-62mph time, it feels quite eager away from the lights. It runs out of puff at 50mph. This isn’t a car for motorways.

There’s the usual Renault steering wheel paddles to increase and decrease regenerative braking and a one-pedal operation, which isn’t particularly convincing as it tends to vary in its braking so you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen when you lift.

Prices as I write are still being finalised. There are two versions, Evolution and the top model, Techno. Privately Renault is indicating its hopes for a full Government grant of £3750 bringing the Evolution close to £15,000, making this comfortably the cheapest proper car on sale in the UK. Likely on-cost for the Techno would be £2500, which I’d argue was worth it.

It’s made in Slovenia and Renault says 75 per cent of sales will be within 620 miles of the plant – read former Eastern bloc, then.

Renault says rivals include Fiat’s 500e from £20,995, Hyundai’s Inster from £23,755; Citroën’s eC3 from £19,995 and BYD’s Dolphin Surf from £18,675. I’d add the Dacia Spring, a cross between a crashed deckchair and wheelie bin from Renault’s Romanian subsidiary but built in China priced from £14,995, and the Leapmotor TO3, another Chinese pretender with terrible handling and a super bossy ADAS system priced from £15,995.

Even without Calvin Harris at Pasha, dancing in foam as the sun comes up and a few recreational drugs, the Balearic Islands have a quality of light, clear water and Mediterranean climate and food to make one wonder how different one’s life could be on this planet. If a 160-mile range runabout with a fun design, good handling, controls you can understand and an affordable price was built 10 years ago, would we have flocked to it?

Two big ifs in there. First, it’s unlikely it could have been done, since LFP batteries, battery systems control and motor tech were in their infancy and costs were high. The 2020 Honda e, for example, had a range of around 130 miles, but cost from £26,660; the 2020 Smart EQ Fortwo cost £16,850, but had a 70-mile range and neither made their makers any money.

At around £15,000 this is a terrific little thing, a proper car, beach ready, simple, fun and appropriate. I wanted sand in my shoes and treasured sea shells in the centre console and row of grandchildren in the back. Believe me, it’s that sort of car.

Let the hard times roll…

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