Renault Twizy budget e-car

target market

I was in Paris last week. Loads of mopeds there, and parking for anything bigger than a mini is a nightmare! So I could see the target market for this, especially if you think of it more compared to 2 wheels, where braving the elements is nothing new.

One question though: how would it fair for tax and insurance, given it's got 4 wheels? Would the lease plan include those too?

I love the idea and it's getting close but still too expensive given that you can get a Toyota Aygo a year old for that price and £45 would more than cover the petrol costs for the distance you are planning in a Twizzy plus you have a car with windows.

Maybe its more attractive on HP but where it really seems to be lacking is that it has most of the disadvantages of scooters - no windows, low speed and in this case low range combined with missing one of their big benefits of lots of available parking.

Battery tech is a big problem here - at £6k without the extra battery charges and upping the range a little the equation would probably start to change a lot.

It looks (and seems to perform) a bit like my mother's mobility scooter. She was bloody lethal on it, mowing people down in the supermarkets. I had planned to get a set of cow horns to stick on the front to encourage people to get out of her way. Had also thought about getting a leather jacket for her and put studs on the back saying "Born to Gran". 8-)

I like the idea, but think that it seems too expensive for what you get. Still, anything to start encouraging people to move away from reliance on current modes of transport.

But where do I charge it?

It looks like a good thing, if you have a garage or a drive to park it on. I have neither. Indeed, so days I can't park within 200m of my house. I live in a semi in a medium sized market town and this sort of vehicle would deal with 70% of the journeys I make.

But I can't charge it, and probably never will be able to. I'd like to be more enthusiastic, but it still seems like something for a small minority of people unless someone is prepared to spend a *lot* of money on infrastructure.

Marketing idea.

Offer a prize for the first guy who can get laid driving one of these.

lease for £100?

Not any time soon with a £45 surcharge for battery. Perhaps a lease for £100 +£45 then you'd be better off with a Kia (no car tax either). Interesting to see what insurance group it will be as I guess it will be classed as a cabriolet. Just buy a motocycle and sidecar, at least they look better.

Glorified Golf Cart

So, this is a glorified golf cart then? Seriously: when I visit family in Phoenix, you see this sort of use-case all over, filled by golf carts.

This may be a bit faster than a golf cart, but not much.

And sadly, the price isn't that far out of line with a new golf cart, either.

Doesn't look too bad for a city ride - but why no windows? Surely that wouldn't have added much to the weight and price of the thing (can't quite call it a car) - and open it up a larger demographic (pun not intended)?

Just like a G-Whiz

It may ,look better than a G-Whiz (hard to imagion anything looking worse), but the lack of windows probabaly kept it under the weight limits for being classed as a quadricycle.

The main thing being that a "quadricycle" does not have to pass ANY road safety tests.

The main problem with these is that the owners "feel protected", but are in fact no better off than if they were on a scooter. Infact they could be more dangerous as they have just enough car like features to trap a person, without those same feature providing any significant protection.

Chimp from the front

Frankenstein's monster from the back.

I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Is there some EU law against making electric cars (or whatever this is) that look like cars?

Oh My God!

I saw this in the Dail Mail! On Saturday! Children as young as 16 will be driving these! There will be carnage everywhere! Swathes of youths! Everywhere! Think of the danger! To themselves! And others! They are not save! DO SOMETHING!!!!

It may have doors

But I'd still wear protective gear and a full face helmet - see comments about what happens when hit by range rover pretending that anything smaller doesn't exist (or BMW driver with broken indicators)

That's if I can find a way of it not being used as a urinal (or worse) by the local Yuuffs (Don't leave motorcycles on the street around here!)

Good review, and a cute little car. But even with all of the pictures in the article, I can't get a sense of how big (small) the Twizy is. Can you please ensure that your reviews include at least *one* picture containing an actual human being to establish the scale?

Oh do be quiet

Matt Bryant, the Reg Hardware forums resident know it all.

I don't get it

It's got 2 seats (like a 125cc bike), does 50 mph at the top end (like a very slow 125cc bike) does 50 miles for a quid (like a 125cc bike) and costs twice as much as a 125cc bike. Ignoring the green super rich (who lets face it will buy anything that says zero emissions on the side and costs 3 times as much as the alternatives) who do they think they're going to sell this to? Buy the bike and spend the extra cash on the right protective clothing and you'll probably be better off in an accident (and better weather protected too).

mopeds and crash stats

Mopeds are involved in higher crash rates in 2 signficant areas.

1: Car turns left across their path

2: Moped crashes into left rear corner of the car (swap sides for the rest of europe)

Both of those happen because moped riders tend to travel in bicycle position on the road at 2-3 times the standard bike speed - AND inexperienced riders leave themselves without adequate safety margins - mopeds can only brake, not accelerate out of trouble.

I rode a moped for a year before going to full license. Never had a crash, saw some pretty stupid stuff being done by moped riders and anticipated more than a few idiot motorists pulling out of driveways.

The best advice I ever got was "Wear bright clothing, a FULL FACE(*) helmet, lights on at all times and ALWAYS ride in the right wheel track of the cages where they can see you"

Same holds true with larger bikes. Riding in the "oil slick" is plain stupid, but many riders seem to do this by habit and the ones who sit in my left track clearly have no idea about blind spots, regularly leaving me looking about for where they've managed to put themselves.

(*) The best argument I've seen for full face helmets and decent gloves was one of my high school teachers who in his youth had the misfortune to have an "off" at speed without gloves and in an open face helmet.

CBT is a great idea and I wish it was around when i was a learner, however it's not necessary to have a certificate before riding a moped - It should be.