Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £8,785 to £10,585
Great handling, terrific rear space, versatile cabin, very economical, lively GT version, good value.
Not as cute as the original, GT engine sounds rough, interior a temple to hard plastic.
With the new Clio upsized, the second-generation Twingo is Renault's proper supermini. It's all the car most of us ever really need, and a lot of fun with it.
You sit high in the Twingo, even with the seats wound right down, so you have an imperious view over the expanse of grey dashboard and the two dial binnacles. The central one contains a digital speedometer and all the subsidiary information including stereo read-outs, while the radio/CD player sits unfashionably low ahead of the gear lever. The switchgear is as simple as a modern car's can reasonably be, and the steering wheel adjusts only for rake, not reach.
There's a good view out all around, helped by the low-cut side windows, and the snub-nosed, square-tailed Twingo is very easy to place in traffic. City driving is helped by quick steering and a light, precise gearchange with hardly any springiness or lost motion.
Out on the open road, the steering proves precise, well weighted but a bit short on proper road feel in common with other electric systems which have the motor on the steering column. The suspension soaks up bumps quietly and effectively, a welcome surprise given the steering's accuracy, but initially you feel a touch underwhelmed.
This all changes as soon as you get the chance to exercise the Twingo in some good corners. That's when the old-Clio genes shine through. Turn into a brisk bend and the nose points nearly as keenly as a Clio Trophy 182's. Keep the power on and the Twingo shows just how much grip its tyres - 185/55 R15, the same as a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 - can generate. And if you back off, the nose tucks in and the tail edges out in endlessly entertaining fashion, crisply and controllably and with no worry of threatening a spin. For a car not to have stability control but to have such an 'adjustable' handling balance is a rare joy today. The brakes are mushy underfoot when used with vigour, though.
The Twingo we tested was the GT, which has stiffer springs and dampers than the Dynamique. But it's unlikely the cheaper car will feel dramatically different, especially as it runs on the same-size tyres. It will just be a bit softer and looser.
Turbocharging a small engine is the future, and ever more carmakers are doing it. Renault's little 1,149cc unit runs at quite a low boost and a high, 9.5:1 compression ratio, but it lacks the direct injection found in the highest-tech interpretations of downsizing. Still, it has very little turbo lag and a broad band of accessible pulling power, which is just as well because the power fades at high revs and the sound the engine makes is not pleasant.
One car we drove was noisier than the other, with a pronounced turbo whistle which sounded like the siren of a pursuing police car, and an underbonnet fuss under duress which sounded as if another, disharmonic engine had joined the first one's efforts. The second car was sweeter but still far from silken. Both had a mushy throttle response, too, calling for a big prod on the pedal to synchronise engine revs correctly for a smooth downshift.
The performance figures aren't bad, though. From a standstill to 62mph takes 9.8 seconds against a Panda 100HP's 9.5, while the top speed is 2mph ahead of the Fiat's at 117mph. Things go a bit flat in fifth gear if you're climbing a long incline, but the Twingo GT is perky enough to be fun.
