A new car isn’t something you tend to find wrapped up, nestling at the base of a Christmas tree, on December 25th.
They’re too big, too expensive and too prone to the whims of personal taste. Plus, who goes to trouble of giving someone a car for Christmas? Only the super rich or soon-to-be super bankrupt.
However, if people did gift each other cars instead of socks on Jesus’ birthday, the new Renault Twingo GT, which has just gone on sale, would be a decent shout.
With a height of just over 1.5 metres, it’s teeny-weeny, so actually has a good chance of squeezing beneath a Christmas tree, and at £13,755, it’s not hideously expensive, although not exactly pocket change either.
More power, more fun
In its standard guise, the second-generation Twingo city car was very well received, due to its cheeky looks and mega manoeuvrability and it had the unique appeal of having the engine under the boot, a move which improved interior space and cabin noise.
And now Renault has opted to warm up its kooky city car for the winter by fitting it with an 898cc TCe petrol engine, tuned to pump out 110bhp – 20bhp more than before.
This extra power means it can get up to 62mph in 9.6 secs, and from 50mph to 75mph in under nine seconds, before topping out at a maximum speed of 113mph.
While it’s not exactly a ‘pocket rocket’, those figures are a welcome improvement on the laughable 14.5 second 0-62mph dash in the entry-level 70bhp Twingo.
Other performance-boosting changes include a modified turbocharger, uprated fuel pump, revised engine mapping and a specially-designed, free-flowing twin silencer exhaust.
Like orange?
Riding on 17-inch wheels, the Twingo GT benefits from some interior upgrades with automatic climate control, automatic lights and front wipers, fog lights with cornering function and rear parking sensors all coming as standard.
The tangy exterior shade seen in these pictures, which is officially known as ‘i.d blaze orange’, is exclusive to the Twingo GT, but non-Tango fans can instead opt for tamer colours like crystal white, lunar grey or diamond black.
Inside, the colour scheme echoes the exterior, with orange trim detail on the part-leather upholstery, the air vents and the base of the gear lever. There are also grey touches to the interior surrounding the dashboard, air vents and steering wheel along with Renault Sport-badged door sills, aluminium pedals and a sport gear lever knob.
The Twingo GT is available now, with prices starting at £13,775.
For more articles like this, receive our weekly e-newsletter, including partner deals and all things motoring, register your email below.
Please note: You cannot subscribe to Smart-Motoring unless you put a tick in the checkbox below to indicate have read and agreed to our privacy policy.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.