In the past, Renault has had several types of its Twingo city car on sale all at once, but that very much isn't the case now. At the time of writing, the 1.2 16v Dynamique tested here represents the entire range, and the only model due to join it on sale in the UK is the much more powerful Renaultsport (but not the Gordini, since that sub-brand has been abandoned in the restructuring process which also saw the withdrawal from the UK of the Laguna, Espace, Wind, Modus and Kangoo, along with one-third of the dealer network).For the moment, then, and until April, this is the only Twingo you can buy. Costing £10,350, it has a new-for-2012 look (intended, Renault says, to make it appear "cheekier" than the outgoing model) and comes as standard with 15" alloy wheels, manual air-conditioning, electrically adjustable door mirrors, electric front windows, cruise control, a speed limiter, remote central locking and four airbags.If you want more, there's more. You can, for example, have a other wheels of the same size but a different design for £200, metallic paint for £460, climate control air-conditioning for £295, a panoramic sunroof for £650 and an "emergency" spare wheel for £50, the last of these being not merely the cheapest but also the most necessary, since as standard the Twingo has nothing but a puncture repair kit, and as we know those are the work of Satan.Also well worth an investment - in this case of £425 - is the Security Pack, which might more reasonably be called the Safety Pack since it consists of curtain airbags and the Electronic Stability Programme which will one day surely be a legal requirement on all cars. For a further £250 you can have the rear privacy glass and leather-rimmed steering wheel which together make up the Style Pack.If you've been keeping score you'll realise that it's therefore possible to spend well over £12,000 on the Twingo. This is a slightly alarming statistic, since the new Twingo does not feel anything like a £12,000 car. Like its predecessor, it feels as if it's made of cheap stuff, and it's quite noisy (though to nothing like the same extent as the Renaultsport we reviewed last year).It's also not as practical as it might be. Luggage volume is 230 litres with the rear seats in place, and that's beaten by the 251 litres of the forthcoming SEAT Mii, Skoda Citigo and Volkswagen up!, though all of them offer 950 litres or so once the seats are folded.I'm not greatly fussed by all this, though. After it was nationalised after World War II, Renault - which had previously turned out some far more luxurious models - became a specialist in manufacturing small, cheap cars, and it's still very good at it today. It may be noisy, it might even be described as crude by today's standards, but it's a lot of fun.The engine has something to do with this. Though only a 1.2-litre (actually 1149cc) it produces a maximum of 75bhp, which isn't bad at all, and although you have to rev it hard to make this happen the Twingo is the kind of car in which you might be happy to do that now and again. Admittedly you won't come close to the official 55.4mpg combined economy if you do that, but since the Twingo is more of a local than a long-distance car this isn't as big an issue as it might be.Another reason you might want to use the engine to its full potential is that the handling is tremendous. In the right circumstances you can have a lot of fun through a demanding series of bends if you want to. And if you don't want to, the Twingo is a very easy car to drive in town, as is right and proper.It's not exactly the last word in small-car design, but I do like the Twingo. More than half a century after the Renault 4 was introduced, it has something of that iconic model's character. I think my ideal Twingo would have 10" steel wheels, a 750cc engine, canvas doors and a three-speed column-change gearbox, but since Renault is unlikely to offer one of those for sale (not outside France, anyway), the 1.2 Dynamique will do nicely as an alternative. Engine 1149cc, 4 cylinders Power 75bhp Transmission 7 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 55.4mpg / 119g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.3 seconds Top speed 105mph Price £10,350 Details correct at publication date
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