Renault Twingo Review (2014-2019)

When Renault started to develop the third-generation Twingo city car, it went back to the drawing board and started with a clean sheet of paper. Out went any trace of the older, more conventional Mk2 Twingo, and in came an unusual setup: the engine sat at the back of the car, under the boot floor, and powered the rear wheels.

There was method to the madness of this rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive layout, though. It meant the front end of the car was relatively free of mechanical gubbins, allowing more space for the front wheels to swing with the steering, and increasing the tightness with which the Twingo could turn.

There are other benefits to this layout, too. Pushing the engine to the back has left lots of room up front for occupants; there’s seating for four, and an adult can sit happily in all four positions without feeling cramped.

Mind you, there is a downside to sticking the engine in the back, which is that it impinges on boot space. The Twingo’s luggage compartment is therefore rather tiddly, and while you can tilt the back seats upright to create more room, that does make life rather uncomfortable for the rear-seat passengers.

This mixed bag of talents continues when you get the Twingo out on the road. As you’d expect given its design, the Twingo feels as if it can turn on a penny, and that makes it terrific in tight urban spaces. Parking is a breeze, as is squeezing down narrow alleyways, and nipping into gaps in traffic becomes child’s play.

Sadly, the rest of the car doesn’t feel quite as smart. The Twingo isn’t all that comfortable, for one thing. Its slightly bouncy ride quality makes a meal of town centre potholes, and also makes the car feel jangly and unsettled out on the motorway.

At these speeds especially, it’s noisy, too, with lots of roar from the wind and the tyres, and the engines are quite vocal, too, especially when you rev them, which you tend to do a lot given that the Twingo - whichever of the three engine options you plump for - never really feels urgent enough.

City cars should be easy to drive, and unfortunately the Twingo falls down here, too. At fault are its clunky-feeling five-speed manual gearbox and a clutch pedal that doesn’t offer much feel; that makes it tricky to get moving smoothly. What’s more, the steering is pretty vague, so the Twingo never feels as much fun to drive as, say, a Hyundai i10 or a VW Up.

For such a small car, the Twingo range is pretty expansive. You can pick from five ‘ordinary’ versions, as well as the more potent GT, which sits at the top of the range.

Expression models are the most basic, with no alloy wheels or air-conditioning, though you do at least get Bluetooth connectivity and a DAB radio; Play versions adds the latter, and both these models are only available with the 1.0-litre engine.

Dynamique brings the option of the turbocharged engine, and adds aircon and cruise control as standard. Dynamique S then gets a smattering of extra styling features like decals and colourful interior touches, while Iconic adds satnav, climate control, and automatic lights and wipers.

In addition to its more powerful engine, the GT model gets sportier suspension, bigger alloy wheels and a beefier bodykit.

It’s worth keeping in mind that having a Twingo with the stop & start system installed makes a big difference to fuel economy. This isn’t available on either Expression or Play models, which is just one more reason we don’t recommend these versions: you probably won’t see more than 45-50mpg on average.

By contrast, the most economical Twingo of all is the 1.0 SCe 70 Dynamique, which should see 55-60mpg in real-world everyday driving. Having said that, the penalty for upgrading to the 0.9 TCe 90 version should only be a couple of mpg, which we think is a sacrifice worth making for the more potent engine’s flexibility, which makes your life a lot easier.

Automatic versions don’t come with stop & start, which means they suffer on fuel economy; reckon on seeing around 50mpg on average, while GT models will probably see around 45 mpg in daily use, maybe less if you use their extra performance.

Twingos that are more than four years old can benefit from Renault’s cut-price Essential servicing scheme, which looks like particularly good value, while all Twingo owners can benefit from the option to pay up-front for two or more services, in return for a discount.

Also in the Twingo’s favour is the fact that every engine uses a metal timing chain that should last the lifetime of the car, rather than a rubber belt that needs changing every few years.

Strangely, Twingos registered from 1 February 2018 onwards had a shorter warranty, as Renault reduced its warranty period from four- to three years on that date. However, that won't adversely affect anyone these days, because the cover on all used Twingos will have expired by now.

We don’t have much data about the Twingo’s reliability as it’s relatively rare, so sample sizes are quite small. However, what we can tell you is that Renault finished in a below-average position in the 2019 JD Power UK Vehicle Dependability Study, while in the 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey, the manufacturer fared even worse, finishing second-from-bottom.

Happily, common problems are relatively rare, but given its manufacturer’s reliability record, you’ll probably want to check any potential purchase over closely. Some owners have reported electrical and quality glitches, too, so make sure there are no odd lights on the dashboard, that there’s no strange behaviour from the engine or electronics, and that the interior and bodywork look to be in good condition.