FRENCH CONNECTION

Models Covered:

2-door citycar

Introduction

Defining Renault’s Twizy isn’t easy. It has four wheels – but isn’t really a car. There’s space for two – but only one front seat. There’s a roof – but it’s open at the sides. And it’ll match the flow of traffic – but won’t use an engine to do so. This was Renault’s electric technology at its most extreme, offering perhaps the ultimate answer for city motoring. Perhaps even the kind of second car that all future families should have.

The History

To be sustainable for the future of mankind, the automobile has to change. Maybe not change as much was is the case here – but all the same, it has to change. This is Renault’s Twizy, automotive transport, but not as we know it. The name is a supposed blend of the words ‘two’ and ‘easy’, the badge for this innovative French brand’s solution to the issue of how people should get around their urban environment and complete the short, everyday, one or two-person journeys we all make that, if we’re honest, don’t really require a proper car.

You see, this isn’t really a proper car, even though it has four wheels and a steering wheel. As the looks suggest, it’s actually a cross between a car and a scooter, something the motor industry calls a ‘heavy quadricycle’, the name defining a four-wheeled vehicle that weighs no more than 650kgs with a power output that’s usually less than 20bhp. Not the kind of thing the average person would feel comfortable about driving. But is this? You might be surprised.

With the Twizy, launched in 2012, we were offered an entry-level point for a range of electric vehicles in which Renault by then had invested over £2.5 billion in - and it was certainly a varied one. The supermini ZOE for small families, the Fluence ZE (shortly afterwards deleted) for larger ones and the Kangoo ZE van for eco-minded businesses. All these vehicles had to try and justify their existence as alternatives to normal combustion engine models. The Twizy’s advantage was that it didn’t have to do so, for so unique, so outlandish was it that no conventional rivals existed. So you’ll either like it or you won’t.

One thing’s for certain: our cities will be crammed with vehicles like this in all our EV futures. But the market wasn’t quite ready for an EV as outlandish as this in the 21st century’s second decade, so after years of slow sales, the Twizy was finally deleted from the brand’s line-up in 2021 – and not replaced.

What You Get

The Twizy's styling looked like nothing we had ever seen before. The wheels flung out at each corner, the two seats in tandem and the way the wedge-shaped passenger cell sits nestled into the chassis – all of it marks the Twizy down as something resolutely unconventional.

Getting in is relatively straightforward. Most new owners got this model with the optional flip-up doors fitted and they're almost fingertip light on their gas struts but when in place, still only cover half the door height, partly explaining why, once you’re seated behind the wheel, there's a rather odd arrangement of twin seat belts to contend with. The first is a normal diagonal inertia reel belt, while the second loops over your right arm. At first you think you'll feel trussed up like a Christmas turkey, but after a while you stop noticing them.

What To Look For

In our ownership survey, there were few owner problems. One reported a sticking accelerator; that was about it. To be fair, there’s not very much that can go wrong with a Twizy; its underlying drive technology has been around for ages. Owners report that the range falls dramatically in winter weather. And the protruding sections of the body work are prone to damage – especially the wheels, so check them carefully. There was a recall for models made in September 2020 for an improper electric traction reducer. As a result, the speedometer may indicate a lower reading than the real one.

On The Road

There were two models, the Electric 45 and the Electric 80, the latter being by far the most popular and the one you should insist on. You get a combination of conflicting emotions when you first slip behind the wheel. It does seem a little odd to be inserting a Clio key into the ignition and grasping an old Laguna steering wheel in such a futuristic car. The fussy four-point seatbelt is initially awkward too, necessary to stop you sliding out of the slide of the car. Stranger than all of this though, is the feeling of sitting alone, scooter-style, up-front and hearing precisely nothing after apparently firing the Twizy into life.

You actually need a boot full of throttle to activate meaningful forward motion, but once your right foot’s firmly planted, the Twizy displays the usual all-electric car feeling of up-and-at-‘em performance, as all 57Nm of torque is delivered to the tarmac in one fell swoop, firing you to 30mph in around 6 seconds. Which isn’t bad, considering that the electric motor generates only seventeen braked horses. But then it doesn’t need much power to punt this little thing along, given that the kerb eight is only around 475kgs, less than half that of a conventional city car.

This thing’s so much fun to drive, the temptation is to throw it around at max chat almost everywhere, or at least as much at max chat as a top speed of 50mph will allow. Which of course, isn’t the cleverest thing to do if you want to maximise the necessarily meagre operating range – which at around 60 miles, is around 40% less than you’d get from other, larger electric cars.

Overall

If you spend your life nipping around town but can’t bring yourself to buy the scooter you know in your heart of hearts would make more sense, then this Renault offers the answer. And, unlike most sensible solutions, it’s affordable, it’s desirable and it’s fantastic fun. A scooter for people who like cars or a car for people who like scooters. We’re not sure which. But the definition doesn’t matter. The end result does. The future – re-defined.