With the local success of the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and Kia Picanto, it's little surprise that Renault are finally launching their little city runabout, Twingo, in South Africa.

Compact, with a wheelbase measuring 2367mm and an overall length of 3.6m, the car is built for threading through heavy traffic or tight city streets. So Twingo is easy to drive, precise and nifty in town, but reassuring on the open road, partly thanks to its 1.2-litre engine producing 56kW at 5500rpm, and 107Nm at 4250rpm.

The sylish, yet typically quirky city slicker intended primarily for "youthful, energetic, and style-conscious urban females", is available in South Africa in two variants.

The entry-level model gets power steering, a height-adjustable steering wheel with satellite controls for convenient operation of the Radio/CD/MP3 entertainment system, air conditioning, remote central locking, a trip computer and powered windows and mirrors. Safety factors are bolstered by the standard fitment of airbags for the driver and front passenger, as well as side airbags, and a braking system featuring ABS, EBD and EBA, while sporting attractive aesthetic addenda such as front fog lamps, body-coloured bumpers and mirrors all round.

The Twingo 1.2 Dynamic Plus package sees the standard 14” wheels replaced with striking 15” alloys, and this sportier road presence is further enhanced by the addition of a rear roof spoiler, darkly tinted windows and a selection of additional graphics. On the practical front rain and light sensors are added.

Of course there are extras like a custom interior Light-box, grass-mat dashboard trim, make-up boxes, and a wide range of exterior graphics from racing stripes to complex tribal designs. The entertainment system, with steering-wheel audio controls, can increase its functionality with the optional connection box enabling multimedia connection, such as USB and iPod connectivity. Also available is a Bluetooth telephony kit.

And while the car might be small — that's kind of the point — it's not short on space. Both rear seats slide forward and backward on individual sets of rails, and can be folded forward to grow boot capacity from a minimum of 165 litres to a maximum of 959 litres with these seats fully stowed. Regardless of the rear seat configuration, the boot has been designed to ensure that all those shopping bags will easily fit.

There are 11 stowage areas dotted around the cabin, most of which are in easy reach of the driver.

It’s a car with environmental credentials as well — the four-cylinder engine performs particularly strongly at low revs and idles happily at an unusually low 650rpm, which contributes towards consumption of 5.7l/100km and Co2 emissions of 135g/km.

The new Twingo also incorporates nine percent recycled material in its makeup, and at the end of its life 95 percent of the car can be reutilised, either through recycling the materials or via an energy-from-waste program.

Twingo will come standard with a three-year/45 000km Service Plan backed by Renault Confiance which includes a three-year/100 000km warranty.

Pricing:
Twingo 1.2 Dynamique: R124 500
Twingo 1.2 Dynamique Plus: R133 500


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