Renault Twingo Renaultsport 133 ….
And it’s not much bigger than a shoebox. It’s barely 3.7 metres long and tips the scales at a mere 50 kgs more than a tonne.
The icing on the cake, as it were, so to speak, is up the front end – 133 hp of free-revving 1598 ccs breathing naturally without the aid of a turbo. Mechanically speaking, it’s the same spec as Garry Pearson’s British Junior Rally Championship winning car from last year. There was just one thing missing – Garry. So I had to drive it myself.
It’s so small, the driver sits on it rather than in it. There is nothing to sink into. The end result is a rather upright driving position, but it’s all the better for that, and very similar to the rally car. Mind you, it didn’t do much for my street cred – big bloke in small car.
But that is all forgotten when the 16 valve, 1.6 litre motor is fired up and prodded into action with the choochy little 5 speed gearbox. A six speeder would be nice, but it’s not really needed because of that sweetie of an engine. It’s quite a docile wee thing up to 4000 rpm, but it’s like a junior version of Usain Bolt when it’s ‘in the zone’, from 4500 to 6750.
It’s not a fast car by any means, but it provides impressively rapid progress on cross-country roads. The nought to 60 time of 8.7 seconds is no real indicator of the car’s speed, it is the speed through the gears that makes it feel quicker than it actually is.
And with a wheel at each corner, it just loves twisty roads. The test car had the optional 17 inch rims with 195/40 Continental Contisport Contact 3 tyres as opposed to the standard 16 inch rims so the ride was firm and quite choppy at slow speeds over bumps. But get it wound up, and the wee thing darts across the countryside like a bee with its bum on fire.
Front end grip was tremendous and had the inside rear wheel in the air at times as it turned in and clung on, so although the rear end felt a bit skittish at times, it never felt unsafe. That was probably down to the modest engine power output, just enough to be fun and not enough to be frightening. That also meant there was no arm tugging going through corners and getting on the gas, although the flickering traction control light let you know that the front end was working well.
The Twingo Renaultsport 133 also has an optional ‘Renaultsport Monitor’ system which can provide the driver with real-time data. Operated using the remote controls on the steering wheel it can display Information shown on the main dashboard which includes additional performance data such as oil temperature, torque, power and brakes. It also measures transverse and longitudinal G-force and Acceleration times and has a lap timer, with memory function. Plenty of toys for not so little boys!
And to round it all off, the four into one exhaust has been tuned by the fun loving French to provide the perfect soundtrack to reward the enthusiastic driver’s efforts.
Loved it.