Renault Twizy: Is The CHEAPEST EV Still Relevant In 2021? 4K

[Music] this is the renault twizy and i'm willing to bet you've seen it on the internet but maybe haven't seen one of these things in real life and that's because as of 2019 renault have only sold around 30 000 examples of this car but why is that why isn't it more popular is it a bit too weird to succeed are people missing out on an awesome electric city car is it still relevant in 2021 [Music] so what exactly is the twizzy well it's actually a quadricycle and not a car so technically it's kind of classified as a four-wheeled bicycle almost it has an open wheel design a bit like a formula one car so you can see a lot of the mechanisms that operate behind the wheels they stick out so you can see the dampers the springs the steering arm plus it's got these really really cute looking 13-inch alloy wheels behind which you'll find the dinkiest brake discs in the world apart from that not a lot going on really um it doesn't come with doors as standard but this one has the optional scissor doors which open vertically you can get in and out on either side it has a windscreen wipers indicators mirrors and just behind here is where you find the built-in three-pin socket or plug rather for charging the car plus a bottle for your washer fluid apart from that it's just a very simple very minimalist very stylish looking quadricycle [Music] inside the twizy it's all very minimalist really you get a little bit of netting for storing things i guess you can call that your glove compartment you get a nice looking dashboard with a bit of carbon fiber effect paneling just up here and there's a little storage compartment just up here for keeping your valuables but apart from that no creature comforts to speak of no radio no sat nav no rear view mirror if you can call that a luxury no heating there is in this car an optional parrot bluetooth module which is designed to let you make hands-free calls but i think most people are probably going to end up using the speakerphone on their mobiles as for the seats actually i think they're pretty cool they look a bit like seats from a racing car and this car is actually a two-seater you can get a passenger just behind you sitting tandem it's a little bit weird because when you drive like that you feel a bit like you're either spooning or being spooned so this car is designed for people who know each other very well or want to get to know each other very well bit of trivia for you the name twizzy comes from twin as in twin seater and easy as in easy to feel freaked out by someone sitting that close to you as for storage well just behind you on that back rest there's a removable panel which has 31 liters of storage space and that's designed to accommodate apparently a briefcase although can you imagine the type of person who carries a briefcase driving around in a twizzy can't see it myself before we go and drive this car quick reminder every single month autotrader are giving away an electric car for free last month it was a tesla model 3. this month we're giving away a renault twizy that's right this car could be yours hit the link down below and the details are all there right let's go for a drive so what is the renault twizy like to drive i tell you what it is exactly like a mclaren f1 okay that is a bit a bit of an exaggeration but it does have the same centrally mounted driving position you're sat right in the middle of the car so you get a great view all around you i can even see through a couple of glass panels in the floor the edges of the wheels so this car is incredibly easy to place on the road it really is it's probably easier to drive than the mclaren f1 as well because all you got to do is press d or r for drive or reverse or press both at once to go into neutral press the accelerator give it a good stab and then you move it and that is pretty much it this car does not have power steering so turning the wheel at a standstill or at very low speeds is a bit more difficult than it is in a car with power steering obviously but because the wheels and tires are so narrow that once you're on the move it's just super easy to turn the wheel in terms of acceleration oh big corner here this car has a naught to 60 time of never that's because it has a top speed of 50 miles an hour i'll keep my foot pinned to the floor right now and see what we get out of it 44 miles an hour 44 45 okay it's a slight hill 44 uphill is the maximum you'll get oh 43 but this isn't a very fast car let's put it that way having said that i'd say it's certainly nippy enough around town pulling away from a stand still up to say 30 miles an hour there's there's enough grunt there for it not to be unsafe or feel a little bit like you're getting in people's way but once you're up at speed say 30 miles an hour onwards overtaking it's not going to be on your agenda trust me but how about drag races how does the twizy compare with other forms of electric mobility for outright speed well this quadricycle isn't gonna hold its own against proper electric cars but maybe it can hang with other types of cycle this is the matebike mate x which coincidentally also has a 50 mile range it also offers very little protection from the elements but crucially it has a 750 watt electric motor that gives it quite the turn of speed can the twizy compete [Music] that will be that'll be a no then is it comfortable it's not smooth but it's not annoying here's a more important question is it fun to drive that's an easy one yes 100 because this car isn't very fast at all and you tend to keep your foot flat to the floor the whole time because let's face it 50 it's not that quick you end up finding yourself trying to carry as much speed as possible through the corners and ultimately cornering maybe a bit quicker than you should in this car and it can actually cope with it it's actually a hoot right here comes a big left-hander chuck it in it grips really nicely a little right-handed to follow good stuff most of the weight in this car is mounted really low down in the chassis so even though the twizy is taller than it is wired or long and you'd think that it has a really high center of gravity because it's got so much weight low down it never feels like it's gonna topple over it's actually very very engaging to drive i i'm having fun one big thing you do notice though is that it's actually quite chilly in here this thing might be all right in the south of france or in spain or something but actually because it's got no windows i find that quite a lot of wind gets swept into the cabin especially on my ears my ears are actually a little bit cold right now but there's an easy solution to that just wear a scarf or one of those hats with the dangly things around your ears what happens when it rains you're going to get wet it's as simple as that but that's no big deal for the touristy because it's actually waterproof you can actually even hose this thing down or park it outside with the windows open the doors open and it'll get soaked but not damaged very cool just make sure that you wear something waterproof whenever you go out for a drive when the twizzy was launched originally it cost around seven and a half thousand pounds and that bought you the twizzy but not the battery pack the battery had to be leased for 49 pounds a month under a 6 000 mile 36 month deal but ever since 2020 renault has completely changed that so now when you buy your twizy you get to buy the battery with it obviously that affects the price the entry level twizzy now costs 12 000 pounds this one with the doors cost 13 000 pounds so even though it is the cheapest electric car on the market it's not cheap one big potential problem with the twizzy is the range it has a 6.1 kilowatt-hour battery pack and renault say that officially it will go between 31 and 56 miles but i fully charged this car last night and before i set off it was only registering around 20 ish miles on the gauge now realistically oh i'm overtaking your lorry here look at that you can overtake for most people i think between 20 and 30 miles is going to be absolutely fine in this car because why would you want to drive long distances in a twizzy no no ah someone else has got his own back on me it's well suited for short trips to the shops maybe on the school run and just generally putting around your own neighborhood as for charging but i don't think you're going to be treating the twizzy like you would treat an ordinary electric car this isn't something that you're going to be topping up away from home because the twizy only comes with a three-pin plug and that means that you can't plug it into a rapid charger like you would pretty much every other electric car out there you can only really plug it into a household plug and it takes around three and a half hours to charge which means that this is ultimately a car designed for very short trips around your local area and that's where the twizy excels it's a brilliant little city car it's ideal for those short hot trips pop into the shops doing the school run and generally having a good time while you do those things yeah you could argue that it's only ultimately as convenient as a bicycle or a scooter but i think it's more versatile than those and it also looks cooler if you're after a really funky looking fun to drive entertaining little car and you don't mind having cold ears and you don't mind the price get yourself a renault twizy on the road now for a little drivey drive [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: AutoTrader

Views: 609,661

Rating: 4.878799 out of 5

Keywords: renault, renault twizy, twizy review, renault twizy review, twizy drag race, renault ev, ev review, electric car review, 4k review, car review, 2021 renault twizy review, new renault twizy review, rory reid, rory reid autotrader, autotrader, auto trader, autotrader uk, cheap ev, cheap electric car, budget ev, cheap electric car review

Id: mIECtqau78g

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 04 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/leMatth]

Is it still the cheapest (≈10,000 € including bat.), if you consider the Citroën Ami (≈7,000 €)? The latter could be consider superior on the usability, as it has proper doors, passengers and drivers sit side by side and the storage is better and more practical.

[u/Feniks_Gaming]

It's glorified mobility scooter. It's not sill relevant because it never has been.