RENAULT Twizy EV Review

The Twizy is one of the best students in the EV class and, for this chapter, it has managed to get an A+, mainly thanks to the fact that it has shown the world that electric cars can look revolutionary without being pieces of visual exaggeration.

Take a look at many EVs and you'll notice how not even their powertrains are as innovative as their styling cues are trying to be, with this of course leading to disappointing sales, as appearance is known to be a key decision factor for acquiring a new car, regardless of what it feeds itself with.

But the Twizy, with or without its optional scissor doors, shows a presence that manages to appeal to all. It's literally funny how the designers have managed to dress a development that's basically centered on the "form follows function" principle as somethings that receives positive feedback, from skater sneakers and pocket money to high heels and cigar humidors.

What do we mean by "form follows function?" For example, an important part of the car's presence is given by the exposed suspension and you can ask any designer, aiming to make four naked MacPherson-like struts please the eye of the urban public is quite a challenge.

Since we mentioned the optional scissor doors, we'll tell that we see these as a sine qua non. In theory, they do not enhance the car's crash behavior, but they do offer protection from the elements and a sense of security that allows one to enjoy the driving experience.

This is also what Renault is telling us to do, have fun behind that actual car wheel the Twizzy is fitted with. The automaker brags us that it has conducted its own safety tests, assuring us that the Twizy passed these with flying colors.

We'll have to trust the engineers on this one because you'll never see the Twizy entering the Euro NCAP crash test facility, as its quadricycle status doesn't require this. But the automaker doesn't just offer us (no) smoke and (rear-view) mirrors, the car has crumple zones, seatbelts and even a driver's airbag.

Renault doesn't offer any windows and the carmaker will probably tell you that, in the case of the driver, normal raining conditions don't bring water on his clothes, but this doesn't apply to the passenger. As you may or may not have expected, the aftermarket world does offer solutions, but our test car hadn't been gifted with such developments, so we can't tell you if they work in the real world.


Behind closed doors

As you approach the Twizy, especially if you're looking into its hypnotizing taillight, you're expecting to see the interior and conclude that mankind has finally established a connection with an extraterrestrial civilization, but this is not the case, as the cabin is much more down to earth.

The interior, if we can actually call it this way, feels like it was created by a car designer, who then handed the project overt to a colleague from the moto department. First you open the scissor doors, salute the people as you slide into your seat, fasten the first seatbelt, subsequently the second one and then close the door.

This is the point where your true nature is revealed. Once you get used to the door closing mechanism, the way in which you close them can reveal that you're the military kind, a refined man, uneducated or maybe just excited.

The plastics around you have been made to offer easy maintenance, since they're semi-exposed to nature's will, but they're not unpleasant to touch.

In a normal car, it is very common to see the driver being treated with more SRS (supplementary restrain system) labels than the passengers, especially when we're talking about affordable vehicles, but the Twizy takes this to a whole new level, also offering the person behind the wheel a superior... basic restrain system.

Thus, the driver is not just the only one to receive an airbag, but while the passenger gets a standard three-point seatbelt, the driver has two of them. One is the usual 3-point belt, while the second brings the total to five points, simply securing the arm that was left to roam free.

There's also a launch procedure: you take the key, which is your average small Renault key minus the buttons, you turn it once, the system does a quick check, then you turn it again and you're almost ready to go. Almost ready, because you have to release the handbrake, which does require a bit of coordination. You can now press the "D" button and prepare for take-off.

Houston, we have a problem! Your friend, whom you forgot about completely, has been sitting outside the car watching you all this time. You have to slide your seat forward, with or without exiting the car, depending on your level of flexibility, in order to allow your passenger to get in tandem formation.

Before he or she installs in the back, you can us the 31 liters (1.09 cubic feet) of the luggage compartment, which can be accessed by removing the backrest of the passenger seat. For more accessible storage, you can rely on the two glove boxes on each side of the dashboard, but these are small, as if Renault wanted you to put each glove in its own compartment.

The information that you can find on the digital display in between the two storage compartments is straightforward and simple. You'll see the speed, range, battery level, as well as an indicator that shows you how hard you're whipping the electric motor.

Now that we've familiarized ourselves with the cabin, it's time to get into the seats. Both look like pieces of public transportation, with the driver's one also having a plug for water drainage in its base, but the backrest of the front one reminds us of the Recaros we used in the Megane RS. Yes, Renault Sport actually worked on the Twizy and we're not referring to the seats here, so we'll see what impact this has had on the quadricycle over the course of the following chapter.