Ever since they showed us the Twin'Run concept with its V6 engine mounted at the back, we knew the next Renault Twingo could be something special. Thanks to their partnership with smart, the French changed their orientation in a big way, launching a city car driven by the rear wheels, not the front ones like all its competitors.
It's all too easy to imagine the all-new Twingo as a sort of Porsche 911 on a very small budget. There you are, carving a mountain road in your turbocharged sportscar that you payed pennies for. But the fact of the matter is that it's been designed to be practical, not a sportscar. So, with a maximum of 90 hp available from a 0.9L engine, can you still drift the littlest of Renaults?
The hooligans (we mean that in the most polite way) at Braquages tried their luck at getting the Twingo to act like its pants were on fire with mixed results. This is brutal stuff, one shot showing the car cornering using the trench, like a Group N rally car or something from an episode of Initial D.
We don't know which engine this particular car has under its cargo bay, but it probably isn't the base 1-liter unit, which has under 100 Nm of torque and would have a tough time spinning the wheels. No, this has to be the TCe 90 model, which has a respectable 0 to 62 time of 10.8 seconds.
But even with the ESP turned off, the Twingo refuses to hoon about. The lesson? You can't make a Porsche out of a Renault just by putting the engine at the back. Also, short wheelbases and underpowered engines aren't a an ideal combo. Want to drift? Get a Miata or a Toyobaru.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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