El local L’Atelier Renault de París fue el primero en recibir, en una exposición pública, al primer modelo de Gordini, el Twingo, del cual os hablamos aquí.

Con una enorme acogida tanto de afluencia de público como de medios de comunicación el Renault Twingo Gordini se acompañaba de una buena parte de su equipamiento (guantes, bolsas Gordini, cazadoras…), mientras que la unidad presentada lucía las llantas decoradas en negro (y no en azul como hemos visto en las imágenes de su lanzamiento).

Well, as Igor wrote earlier, Renault was planning to revive the Gordini brand and now they’ve released their first model. It’s the Renault Twingo Gordini RS and with such an important name in the car industry you might think it’s a lot better than the normal Twingo. Well, unfortunately, it isn’t. Renault has decided that the Gordini badge will remain only that, a badge, so all you get is metallic blue or black paintwork, two white racing stripes, gloss black front and rear bumper sections, and a white finish on the fog lamp surrounds, exterior door mirror housings and rear tailgate spoiler. Oh, and the inner rim on the alloys will be painted black. I don’t really like this whole Gordini tuning house that Renault has launched but I have to say that this little hatch looks good. If you just want to pay £1600 for some stripes and minor changes, it’s your choice – except the looks, Renault doesn’t get the thumbs up from me.

Source: Autocar

Peugeot may be killing off the GTI badge, but another French company, Renault, is reviving one of their badges, Gordini, and will be badging various hot hatches with it.

Rather than being completely new hot hatches, these will be Renaultsport cars, but with many personalization options, a bit like the Ferrari One-to-One program.

The first car to be released under this name will be the Twingo Gordini RS, based on the Renaultsport Twingo 133. This is presumably the car under the cover in the picture above. It will be revealed on November 25th, and will go on sale during the Spring of 2010. A Clio Gordini RS, based on the Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup, will follow a few months after.

Just a shame that these Gordini cars don’t come with some added performance.

Source: Evo

Brooklin Velho, SP.

Contribuição de Felipe Olivani.

Curiosamente, este já é o terceiro registro de Twingo órfão no mesmo bairro.

Afortunados serán los habitantes del Reino Unido. No lo digo porque hayan sufrido una reducción en los impuestos, o porque en sus calles vaya reduciéndose el índice de criminaliadad día a día. Lo digo porque Renault va a lanzar en aquellas tierras una pelotilla de las que a mí me gustan. Del estilo del Abarth 500, pero con el escudo del rombo en su parrilla delantera, el Renault Sport Twingo RS 133 Cup se convertirá en un perfecto rival para el modelo italiano, pero con un diseño y unas líneas completamente diferentes.

Su denominación lo deja bastante claro. El nuevo coche de la francesa Renault tendrá una potencia de 133 caballos. Esto lo conseguirá gracias a su propulsor de 1,6 litros. Otros elementos por lo que destaca este vehículo son la suspensión deportiva -con el consiguiente aumento de prestaciones en agarre, paso por curva…-, llantas de 17 pulgadas, defensa trasera modificada y cristales tintados. Respecto a elementos de confort podemos destacar el sensor automático de luces, sensor de lluvia, aire acondicionado…

Hablemos ahora de sus zapatos. Se puede optar por escoger las llantas en negro brillante por un precio de 175 libras. Escojas esta opción o no, todos vienen calzados con neumáticos Continental Sport Contact3 en 195/40/17.

El precio recomendado en el Reino Unido será de 11.795 libras, que en euros son casi 13.000. Renault UK comenzará a admitir pedidos el próximo 1 de octubre, aunque las primeras unidades se entregarán a partir de noviembre. Espero que en Top Gear (BBC) prueben pronto este vehículo. La verdad es que dudo que haya alguien mejor que ellos para saciar mi cotilleo respecto a esta pelotilla de Renault.

Asa Sul, Brasília.

Indicação de Josué Pinheiro.

I currently drive a Mazda 3 on a lease plan. When I got it nearly 2.5 years ago I had just spent a couple of months without a car.

At the time I decided that I didn’t particularly want to ‘own’ a car, but was happy to pay to have use of one. Which is what lead me to looking at leasing. That and my employer provided a discount deal with a leasing company as one of many various benefits available.

Prior to the Mazda 3 I’d had a mazda2, and before that an mx-5 and a rover 25. All of which I had from new. Prior to those I had a daewoo something or another. And my first car was a Rover 314 which had previously been my Mum’s.

I had various problems with the older cars I’d owned, and also been in other peoples old cars when they broke down etc. Enough that I decided to accept the premium of owning new cars, for the sake of warranty and a high likelihood they won’t go wrong in the first place. As someone that likes driving, I found that once a car had broken down on me, I no longer enjoyed driving it. I was always slightly tense that it would fail on me again. And as such tended to get rid of them shortly after any problems.

With the new cars I’ve not had any problems, and have moved from one to the other for various reasons. The mx-5 was great fun, but completely impractical. but I had it at the same time as the Rover 25 so that was fine. But running 2 cars became an unnecessary expense, and so they were replaced with the more sensible Mazda2.

And after some months without a car, I craved something of the larger car again and got my Mazda 3.

It’s been a good car. When I originally test drove it, I tried a 2.0l sport and the 1.6 ts2, and ultimately decided that whilst the sport was great fun for the 7 or so seconds of acceleration. I really didn’t have that much use for it, and so settled on the 1.6

Now a couple of years on I started to think ahead to when the lease expires, and planning what I wanted to do. I could buy it at it’s guaranteed final value. And I have liked owning it, so that was a real option. But I realised that even this 1.6l mid size car is really over kill for my needs. Most of the time all I do is drive to and from work, about 14miles per day. And that is mostly following other cars. So none of the power is terribly well used. However the weight /size does mean I’m getting about 33mpg. Not awful, but certainly not great.

So I decided that I would not buy the mazda, but instead find something smaller to down size to. And having made that desicion I realised there was no point waiting. My lease costs me £260 per month. However, like most lease contracts, now that I’ve paid over half the value of the contract, I can walk away. They don’t tend to point that clause out, but it is normally there. After you’ve paid 50% of what you would be paying on the lease. You can just hand the car back and stop. (presuming you’ve not gone way over your mileage limits)

So since I wanted to down size, why wait? the sooner I swap the sooner I can reduce my car running costs.

So last Saturday I set off around all the local dealers that I could find. And looked at what smaller cars they had, what features they had and of course, what they cost.

I visited: Renault, Nissan, Ford, Mazda, Citroen, Skoda, Vauxhaul, Mini, and Kia.

The intiial pass was to get an idea of which I like the look off, and which I could sensibly afford. And hope there was an overlap of the two sets.

I had thought the Renault clio would be hte obvious option. But they seem to of made it a slightly larger car, and brought in the ‘twingo’ as the smallest car. The twingo looked good, so was a possibility

At Nissan I saw the micra which I thought I could learn to like and the new one that had a 0% interest deal came with sat nav etc, At ford I saw the fiesta, and again realised that these days the small one is the Ka, but both are relatively expensive . The new mazda 2 looks much nicer than when I had one before, but again is bigger and there is no real small car in the line up and the 2 is over 10k for a basic model. Citreon had some nice cars, but a fairly grotty garage. At the time I was there I was mostly just asking if they did any 0% interest deals (as a couple of dealers did on specific models) Which they did not, but I picked up info for the c1 and c2 and left.

I should also note it rained all day, which did not promote loitering in forecourts.

Skoda I don’t really like the shape/style of the fabia. I realise it’s basically a VW golf behind a cheaper badge. But no finance deals and not a car I personally rated.

The Corsa looked nice, but I was by now realising there were basically 2 sets of small cars. There where the ones that I’d have to spent over 10k to get the features I wanted. And the ones that could be had for more like 9k. The corsa is definitely in the over 10k set.

Mini’s are just crazily over priced. How did that happen? I remember my brothers old mini, in fact both my brothers had old mini’s as their first cars. And somehow they are now some sexy ‘brand’ and command a premium. The show room looked like a high end jewelry store, all slick and shiny with sparkling lighting. I took a brochure, but it was already in the no pile.

Lastly Kia seemed to make some pretty nice little cars, at good cheap prices. But no finance deals because of it.

So step 2 was to book some test drives, I liked the twingo and the micra in terms of price/deal and features. and they are just 2 sides of the same dealership so it was easy to go try both.

Kat came with me and we took each on the same test ‘circuit’ Firstly the twingo.

It was pretty nippy for a 1.2 in the lower gears, it felt quite ‘grabby’ as slipping into gear and accelerating you could feel the gear stick pulling under the torque. The ride was pretty hard, and the cabin pretty basic. I found myself easily losing speed when driving along a duel carriageway. and having to drop gears to get it back.

I did really like the look of the twingo. and it has great back seats. They are 2 independently sliding chairs. Rather than a bench. So if you want to have adults in the back, they slide back, sacrifice some boot space. and give them leg room. If you want more boot space you slide them forwards. And if you *really* want boot space each chair, runners and all, can be flipped up against the back of the front seats. Leaving a pretty large flat boot space. I really liked this feature and wish more cars I looked at had the same.

Next the Nissan. it felt much more ‘civilised’ the cabin was more standard.  The ride much smoother. Less torque at the low end, but handled itself at speed in high gears. So well in fact that compared to the previous I was prepared to believe it was actually a bigger engine. However the back looked small and inflexible compared to the Twingo, and the exterior shape is not that great. That said the deal being offered on the new one was quite attractive.

I came away very much undecided. I liked elements of both, but wanted them in a combined vehicle rather than choosing what to have and what to sacrifice.

And so I twittered about my search for a car, and asked for recommendations. To which I got a response that I should try the Toyota Aygo. Whilst a very small car, with a 1l engine. The low weight apparently meant reasonable performance and a reasonable price. Also the 1L engine means £35 per year road tax, and a claimed 62mpg.

And so last Monday I left work a little early and headed to the local toyota garage to take a look.

Picture by 'Matthias93' available from wikipedia under a CC licence

Immediately I liked the look of it, it has some things similar to the Twingo. Small with afairly squared off back. I chatted to the salesman and said I’d like a test drive. Specifically the one I’d seen had a ‘multi-mode’ transmission. So that it can be used in fully automatic mode, or you could take control of when the gear shifts happen. But not have a clutch pedal. I hadn’t really thought much about it until I saw the car with that option on it. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for ages, the idea of something I can be lazy in most of the time in traffic etc. but can, if I really want to, take more control from, really appeals.

As it happened the one I’d been looking at was a loan vehicle, and it was available so I was able to take it there and then. Good start. So I went off and drove a few miles, round some roundabouts, to a pub carpark, then back again. On the way out I used the full auto mode. and on the way back I took control. I liked both. The auto mode took a little getting used to. But it seemed a nice option, and not lacking for power.

Back at the dealership I decided to get some numbers. For that model car, the aygo ‘blue’ with the MMT the list price was £9205. And they could do a PCP deal over 2 years with a low 3.9%APR. This meant I could put in maximum deposit of 35%.  pay just £88 per month for 2 years, then put in another lump to own the car if I wanted. I’d not really been looking to go back into this kind of deal, but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. I spend more of the time with money in my account. And the interest is low. So low that actually by the end of the two years I’d of paid out less than if I bought the twingo out right.

And so armed with this information I left and went to think some more. It seemed to me that it was a good combination of the features I wanted. pretty nice ride, small, reasonable sized back space if I did need to carry passengers. Air con (a must for me) and an aux in on the stereo. After 2.5 years with a 6 cd changer, I’ve been craving some way to just plug an mp3 player in. I’ve tried fm transmitters, but they tend to be hopeless at holding signal. So aux-in was a must.

The boot on the Aygo is tiny. I mean really tiny. But then again most of the time I just need to put a couple of laptop bags in it. and If I really need to do more shopping, flapping down the back seats is a reasonable option. I vary rarely need to carry extra passengers AND baggage.

So on the Tuesday Kat and I took a quick trip back at lunchtime so that she could take a look at this new contender. We got the sales guy to let us poke around another car in the forecourt, and I decided it was time to make an offer. It went something like this…

Me: Ok, so I like the car, and I like the multi-mode transmission. I’ve been looking at the optional extras, and I’m interested in the Xtra protection pack, and the glove-box lid, I want a whole glove-box not just a hole. And I am interested in both of those at the price you quoted me yesterday… If you can do that for me, I’ll walk in and buy one right now. Otherwise I’ll have to go think about it.

Salesman:...erm, ok well I’ll have to go look at some numbers…

Me: Ok, I’ll wait here.

And so I stood outside with Kat whilst the salesman went off inside. By way of background the Xtra protection pack is priced at £330, it includes among other things, floor mats, and rear parking sensors. The glove-box lid, they have the cheek to charge £70 for. Apparently with the lid on, the manuals don’t fit, and people were breaking the lids trying to force them…so now their an option…erm ok.

I had gone with the intention of asking for these things, and holding firm.

When the sales guy emereged a few minutes later he said

Salesman: ok, so I’ve looked at the numbers, and we can do the car, with the multi-mode transmission, and the Xtra protection pack at then 9205 price. but we can’t also do the glovebox lid, there just isn’t the margin.

Me: ok…so can you meet me anywhere on the glovebox lid?

Salesman: No, sorry.

Me: ok thanks, bye.

and I walked away.

One of the good things about making the trip over lunch, was I knew I couldn’t spend the time debating things, so I’d promised myself if they didn’t take exactly the terms of my offer I’d walk away.

I was slightly dissapointed, but I think salesmen rely on the fact that people *want* to buy, and leaving without having done a deal can be difficult.

None the less I left and went back to work, and later on started reading about the citreon C1 and the peugeot 107. These are identical cars to the Aygo. They are made in the same factory, and are litteraly the same except for some very superficail externals to fit with their own brand.

When I looked at the paper work I picked up from the citreon garage I found it included info for a special edition c1 which was almost the same as the aygo blue, but without the MMT option, and metalic paint as a priced option. But the basic model was nearly 1k cheaper than the aygo I was looking at. This was good news as it gave me more to think about, such as how much did I like the transmission, and how much do I rate the Toyta brand.

On Thursday I called back, and arranged another, longer, test drive for Saturday morning. I really wanted to take the automatic through it’s paces and convince myself one way or the other. If I really wanted it, then toyota was the only option. If not then I should see who amongst the three would give me the best deal.

On Saturday I returned, and went off for another test drive. This time I took it straight on the m27 and round a bit of the M3 before heading back into Eastleigh. It seemed to perform well at speed. Yes I had to keep my foot down harder to maintain speed, and to get a burst of acceleration I needed to use the kick-down feature to make it drop some gears. But once you’ve got used to it, that performs very well.

I’d read reviews that mentioned road noise/wind noise at speed, But I didn’t feel it was any worse than my existing Mazda3, and certainly not enough to worry me.

I picked up Kat in Eastliegh and we set off for what is out work commute. Since this is where the car would spend most of it’s time, I felt it was the most obvious thing to try. There is a nice ‘fast’ road on the way to work, and I drove it one way with full auto, and on the way back in semi-auto mode. Both were fun, and actually I was really getting used to the full auto-mode doing a good job.

Then I hit the motor ways back to the dealership and prepared myself for making a deal. I’d decided I do really like this multi-mode transmission. So now to seal the deal. I was considering that I’d probably have to accept the offer they made on Tuesday, but I wanted to push them a little first.

I asked about warranties, some dealers do 5 year, or even 7 year warranties. They said it was 3 year non negotiable. But those longer warranites often have terms that cover less and less in the later years. I could well believe it, but had no time to check. Besides the service costs seemed low, and I’ve not owned a car longer than 3 years in a while (possibly ever) so I probably shouldn’t get too hung up on it.

I brought out all the doucmentation I had on other possible cars. I flat out pointed out the Citreon c1 makes a car which is basically identical, without the MMT, but for nearly 1K cheaper. And I’d not even looked at the 107 yet.

He didn’t try to argue much, he said it is a matter of personal preference, whether you like the brands etc. He wasn’t sure what their availability would be like. He already warned me that the new Aygo’s would not be available until October! and that was likely the case for everyone (certainly I’d heard the same for the twingo).

It was now he mentioned that actually, the price is being put up by the manufacturer. For all cars registered in October and beyond. he wasn’t sure whether they’d be able to make a deal given I’d been in earlier in the week, when they were still avialable in Septemeber.

This I thought was a tactic, make me feel like actually the price is rising, so that when he ultimately makes me the same offer from Tuesday, I am supposed to feel like I’m getting a better deal, I should be grateful etc.

This is how the deal went down.

Me: Ok, so I guess I’m still interested in the Aygo blue, I do really like the MMT, and I’m still interested in the Xtra protection pack and the glovebox lid. You mentioned prices might of gone up, so why don’t you come up with a quote for me

Salesman: ok, I’ll have to go talk to my boss (they always do)

He confirmed the PCP plan details I was interested in and he left.

Whilst he was gone I started talkig to Kat about what I’d accept. I decided that if he wanted to charge me *more* for the deal he offered on Tues, just because their availability was even later, then I’d walk. And go look at the C1.

He came back after a while.

Salesman: Ok so we can do the Aygo blue, with MMT, we’ll absorb the price increase, and we’ll throw in the Xtra pack AND the glovebox lid, at £9205

Me: Then you’ve got yourself a deal.

And that was that. We did some paperwork, there was a half-hearted attempt to sell me some kind of paint protection that is supposed to save my car from fading in the sunlight (not been an issue I’ve noticed on any of my prievious cars so no thanks) And of course the obligatory array of insurances you could have. again no thanks.

So I have to wait until October for my new car. But that’s not too bad. I’m sure I could of gotten more off, or more extras on, maybe pushed for more in the first place. But no matter, the game was played, and I got what I wanted.

Musculado e com voz grossa, o Twingo RS Cup é um verdadeiro diabrete quando a estrada enrola deixando muito senhor de maior gabarito a pensar como é possível um pivete ser tão rápido.

Diz-se que tudo o que é pequenino é bonito e no caso do Twingo o adágio aplica-se de forma quase perfeita. E nesta versão RS musculada e de voz grossa ainda mais pois os alargamentos das cavas das rodas, as jantes de 17 polegadas, a pequena asa traseira e os “bigodes” colocados no spoiler dianteiro, ficam-lhe a matar!

Lá dentro a coisa é mais pacífica, pois uma vez mais a Renault não embarcou em radicalismos. É verdade que os bancos são mais envolventes, os pedais são em alumínio e o conta-rotações parece ter caído em cima da coluna de direcção vindo do departamento de competição da marca. Ah! não esquecendo os cintos laranja que dão um toque de cor a um habitáculo predominantemente negro e as soleiras das portas com a inscrição Renault Sport.

Ficámos a pensar porque razão a Renault não foi um bocadinho mais longe e nesta versão RS Cup não colocou umas “baquets” rebatíveis, um volante mais desportivo e alguns pormenores mais virados para a competição? Não é este um carro apontado aos jovens? É que do lado de fora, a imagem passa de forma plena e toda a gente olha para o pequeno Twingo. É que ainda por cima, temos uma posição de condução demasiado elevada para um desportivo e o volante está muito horizontal.

Motor com voz grossa

O Twingo RS recebeu o motor 1.6 litros multiválvulas com 133 CV, valor não muito elevado mas que aliado ao baixo peso (não passa dos 150 quilogramas) permite um desempenho bem interessante. Atmosférico, este motor passa pelos problemas habituais, ou seja, uma faixa de utilização mais estreita (entre as 3500 e as 6700 rpm) que nos motores sobrealimentados e dificuldade nas retomas de aceleração. É verdade que a caixa é curta e esconde um bocadinho o binário mediano disponível a uma rotação elevada, mas percebe-se bem que o Twingo RS tem de ser usado sempre “no grito”.

A caixa, como referimos, é curta e tem um manuseamento não totalmente conseguido, sendo dura e algo imprecisa. Mas o escalonamento é bom e ajuda a retirar o que o bloco tem para nos oferecer. Pena que não haja uma sexta marcha, pois a quinta é curta e em autoestrada, o Twingo RS “grita” muito para chegar a uma velocidade de cruzeiro aceitável.

Aliás, a insonorização é um dos problemas do Twingo RS, nom eadamente, quando andamos muito tempo numa autoestrada ou numa via rápida. O agradável tom rouco e agressivo quando ligamos o motor ou andamos em cidade, passa a ser irritante e cansativo em tiradas mais longas como um Lisboa-Porto. Acreditem que é cansativo…

Óptimo comportamento

A base do Twingo é o anterior Clio (que também serve para a Dacia…) por isso as suspensões são um conjunto clássico de eixo de torção atrás e estrutura MacPherson independente nas rodas dianteiras. O chassis é rígido o quanto baste e com 133 CV raramente é colocado em causa. Para ajudar, a Renault calçou este Twingo RS com uns pneus Continental de perfil ultra baixo (atenção aos passeios e aos buracos!) que depois de quentes são verdadeiras lapas.

O eixo traseiro vivo permite esta agilidade ao Twingo RS, pois roda de forma rápida para ajudar a inserção em curva e o eixo dianteiro raramente dá parte de fraco. Quando isso sucede – a maioria das vezes por falta de motricidade – o ESP e o controlo de tracção entram em acção e tudo se resolve. Porém, devemos ter cuidado quando desligamos o ESP, pois a traseira é mesmo muito nervosa e alguns excessos de optimismo podem ter um final pouco feliz.

Uma das grandes virtudes deste Twingo RS é que podemos andar muito depressa – mais do que seria espectável – que a factura de gasolina não é tão elevada como se poderia pensar. É verdade que em ritmos elevados as contas sobem facilmente para os dois dígitos, mas numa utilização normal consegue fazer média de 8,5 litros tranquilamente. Assim sendo, os 40 litros do depósito permitem uma autonomia interessante.

O preço final desta versão RS Cup é de 19.810 euros, ou seja, abaixo de muitos dos seus rivais (há versão mais básica cujo preço é de 19.100 euros) e um valor razoável para o desempenho do Twingo RS. Mas lembre-se, especialmente se tem filhos, que o Twingo só tem quatro lugares e a mala oscila entre minúsculos 165 litros e os mais interessantes 285 litros, quando faz avançar os dois bancos traseiros sobre calhas. Mas ai, perde muito do espaço para as pernas…

Características técnicas

Motor 4 cil. 16V; 1598 c.c.

Potência (CV/rpm) 133/6750

Binário (Nm/rpm) 160/4400

Transmissão Dianteira, caixa manual 5 vel.

Suspensão (fr./tr.) Independente, McPherson/Eixo de torção

Travões (fr./tr.) Discos vent./Discos

Comp./Larg./Alt. (mm) 3607/1688/1460

Dist. entre eixos (mm) 2368

Capacidade da mala (lt) 165/285

Peso (kg) 1049

Velocidade Máxima (km/h) 201

Acel. 0-100 km/h (s) 8,7

Consumo médio (l/100 km) 7,0

Emissões CO2 (gr/km) 165 (Categoria D)

Preço versão base 19.350 Euros

Preço versão ensaiada 19.350 Euros

HOME-AUTOCARF1

Poznati engleski auto magazin AutoExpress je prestavio prve skice novog Renault Clia RS koji bi se trebao pojaviti 2011 godine. Do sada smo se sigurno nagledali mnogobrojnih skica i prijedloga budućih modela, od čega mnoga predložena rješenja su nas zavela na pogrešan tok , međutim mora se priznati da kada je rijeć o AutoExpress da su dosta vjerno pogađali dizajn istih u prošlosti. Dizajnerski AutoExpress je temeljito razradio dizajn koji je premijerno predstavljen u francuskom Auto Plusu dodavajući neke prepoznatljive detalje RS modela. Tako prednjim djelom dominiraju velika elipsoidna prednja svjetla koja neodoljivo podsječaju na ona iz novog Renault Twinga, te su udružena sa spliterom zraka u prednjem braniku koji neodoljivo podsječa na slično rješenju sa novog Renault Megan RS III na kojem se nalaze i LED dnevna svijetla. Stražnji kraj opet završava veoma agresivno sa svjetlima koja podsječaju na ona sa novog Megana i difuzorom sa centralno smještenim romboidnim auspuhom. Sve je to pračeno vrlo agresivnim branicima, spojlerima, ispupčenim blatobranima i oštrom bočnom linijom. Ovo je tek početak mnogobrojnih špekulacija o novom Cliu koje će se kako se budu približavao datum predstavljanja istog samo se povečavati u volumenu. O tehničkim informacijam novog Clia ne zna se ništa, a još manje o RS modelu, mada sam siguran da će Renault Sport zadržati isti motor 2.o L 16 V i za budući model, koji bi po trendu sve jačih i jačih motora trebao razvijati više od 200 KS. Dati motor je jedan od najrazvijenijih motora, te spada u sam vrh ponude za motore te zapremine, on već sada iz 1L zapremine goriva bez turbo punjača ili kompresora izvlači čitavih 100 KS, a sa takvim podatkom može se pohvaliti vrlo mali broj proizvođača možda još BMW ili Honda. Mnogi će sa velikim nestrpljenjem provesti naredne dvije godine očekajuči nasljednika najboljeg hothatcha B segmenta RENAULT CLIA RS!

Brooklin, São Paulo.

Indicação de Décio Costa.

Opel continue à améliorer son offre dans la gamme des compactes avec la Corsa et sa version un peu sportive en diesel, la 1,6L GSI de 150ch. CDTI rappelle l’appelation des modèles sportif de la marque mais a l’heure de l’écologie on remarque que le moteur n’a pas subit de cure spécial coté puissance puisqu’il n’arrive qu’à 150ch mais à l’intérieur on retrouve une ambiance plûtot sportive avec les sieges baquets de couleur rouge rappellent des anciens modèles de la concurrence des années 80.

opel corsa GSI

L’étagement de la boite de vitesse surprend par sa puissance à bas régime ce qui lui permet d’être agréable en ville. Ce modèle ne consomme que 7,9L au 100km/h mais son automomie avec son petit reservoir de 45l. Pour conclure cette version de la Corsa propose pour l’instant la meilleure prestation qualité/prix/prestation du secteur car elle est entre autre 1000 euros moins chers que les 207 THP 150 ou la Ford Fiesta 150.

The 3rd collection arrives, with new features :
New D7F engine : 60hp, lighter, more economical.
New colors: rouge vif (red), bleu myosotis (blue) and noir opaque (black) in non-metallic, and bleu methyl (blue), rouge coquelicot (red), jaune paille (yellow) and good old brume (dark purple) in metalic.
New upholstery (Poissons on Twingo and Pack, Elea on Easy and Twingo matic), accessories and buttons turn natural beige.
In addition : ventilation controls are now lighted, air recycling, 3rd brake light, emergency fuel stop, and improved structure.
 
 The Twingo matic appears with specific wheel covers and stripping.
 
?There are now over 800′000 Twingo sold in over 25 countries in Europe, Asia and South America.

1996 – 1998
A “Grease” edition was offered in Germany in lemon yellow. A cassette of the musical “Grease” came with it and a ticket for 2 for the performance in Duesseldorf. They all had a folding roof, a better cassette radio, electric windows and wing mirrors.

March 1997
?A special edition was presented during the “Salon de l’automobile” in Geneva : the Twingo Seventie. It was not an hippie version, but a twingo pack with full options, in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Renault Switzerland.
June 30th 1997
The one millionth twingo rolls off of the Renault Flins production lines.

 
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July 1997
A new option appears in the form of a reflective windscreen. It reflects more UV rays than a normal one, and protects the inside of the car against overheating in the summer. New four spoke alloy wheels are also appear.
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After cooperating with Kenzo and Benetton, the 3rd special edition twingo is, yet again, fashion related : the Twingo e (the “e” is for “Elite Models”).?

Elite Models, one of the most important model-house of the world (with famous names as Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbel and Karen Mulder) celebrated its 40est anniversary in the summer of 1997. At this time, Renault just delivered its 1.000.000th Twingo. It was a perfect opportunity to bring these two winners together !

The Twingo e is a twingo pack that has receives an “e” logo on the door handles and a very nice new purplish metallic grey and assorted seats. It also has an airbag and the new UV reflective windscreen and 4 spoke wheels.
 

Spring 1998
 The Twingo Jungle is a metallic yellow (jaune paille) twingo pack with another new deco, and power steering.
The Twingo Velvet (in Italy) is also a twingo pack, with velvet seats and power steering.

Another special edition is the Twingo Sari, with a soft top matching the car colour (a green Sari has a green top, a blue one blue,…).

Four new colors replace the old ones (magenta red, lemon yellow, cyan blue, yanos green) and new veronese metallic green.?
The dashboard buttons turn dark blue instead of light green.
Interior seat material changes to blue too.
Boot lock becomes a press button.
The ceiling light moves from over the door to the middle of the windscreen and the boot also gains a light.
An ABS option is introduced.

October 1994

Twingo Easy appears with it’s famous semi-automatic gearbox and cloud material seats. Say goodbye to the clutch pedal ! This innovation is rewarded with the Siemens Trophy award.

Twingo Pack (Comfort in the Netherlands) appears with power windows, power mirrors and power locks.?
Utility version with no back seat is introduced (white colour – 1m3 – 135 Kg load).

There are now 260′000 Twingo on the roads of Europe.
June 1995
The ventilation switch becomes four speed.
The seat tilt lever is modified to have smoother handling.
Steering wheel is redesigned.

March 1996
Twingo’s second special serie is the Twingo Benetton. It is based on a Twingo Aliz

Twingos sourced in EC states are built to a centralised type-approval specification, so all you need to worry about are left-dipping headlamps, a rear foglamp centrally mounted or on the right side of the car and conversion of the?speedometer and odometer to read miles.
for mor details visit our site
http://www.twingo.com

visit our site for more information
http://www.twingo.com

I just came across what has to be one of the coolest applications for Papervision3d out there. A car configurator!
The project was done by Fullsix Paris, and it’s one of coolest websites out there, it has all the nice bells and whistles, lots of humor and a really cool model of the Twingo that even shows minute details, an awesome job!

Be sure to check it out here:http://www.twingototalperso.com

Props to: Bertrand Larrieu, Florian Garcia, Florian Bernard, Mikael Bouchez.

As global economies continue to teeter on the edge of oblivion, consumers everywhere are being more conscientious about spending. The auto industry is being hit particularly hard, especially in the U.S. Drivers are traveling less to conserve on gasoline spending and trading guzzling SUVs for more practical, gas-sipping alternatives.

It seems that as vehicles become more fuel efficient and practical, they also move further away from the sexiness of, say, a Lamborghini or Ferrari. So, what’s a marketer to do? The last time I checked, talk of fuel efficiency didn’t get the average consumers pulse racing in anticipation.

French automaker Renault, known for fuel efficient, yet otherwise uninspiring cars that are sold primarily in Europe, is taking a stab at sexing up one of its compacts, the Twingo, in a new integrated marketing campaign. It is driven primarily via online videos and a racy website and is supplemented with print and TV ads. To me, it seems that they’re taking a page from the Mini Cooper playbook in making compact sexy.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article about the forthcoming campaign that focuses on the theme of being “in tune with today” and markets the Twingo through ads that inject sex, cross dressing, and even stripping to push the car that otherwise doesn’t appear to have had major redesign or look much different than the average compact.

Like it or not, porn has helped to drive the growth of the Internet, for better or worse. Renault has taken this concept and integrated it into the site that’ll launch to promote the Twingo.

It will apparently feature an age verification landing page where users confirm that they’re at least 18 years of age, a la porn sites, and then, upon clicking yes, are greeted with envelope-pushing (at least by U.S. standards) video clips and risque shots of the car itself, complete with pasties over the headlights, as seen here:

One of the viral videos that is launching to promote the Twingo features a guy driving the car to a nightclub with a group of friends, who, upon arrival, see the guy’s father dressed in drag waiting in line to get into the club. Despite what the viewer thinks will happen next, the guy asks his dad if he can get he and his friends into the club. Then, the Twingo tagline “In tune with today” runs to further promote the cars alleged “edginess” and hipness. Give it a look, and decide for yourself whether you think this viral tactic will actually convince consumers that the car is hip.

I think, from an integrated marketing campaign perspective, Renault is taking a unique approach in using humor and sex to change perceptions about an otherwise practical, yet uninspiring, car. It will be interesting to see if the campaign gets legs and helps to boost sales especially given the state of the economy. If nothing else, I think the videos that will be tied to the campaign are humorous enough to build some buzz and pass along.

If you can manage to squeeze yourself and three of your nerdiest buddies into this tiny car, y’all are going to have the one of the most gadget-laden rides ever perpetrated by man. From the pics you can tell the Renault Twingo concept is bristling with iPod docks, and a dashboard mixer puts them all to good use, but there’s plenty of other stuff going on here. The car sports USB and Bluetooth connectivity, and each seat gets an audio jack for listening to an independent source, in case the front seat DJ isn’t mixing it up well enough. There’s also a 15-inch LCD, which is backed by an in-car PC with internet access of some sort. When you open up the hatch, there’s some chilled beverages awaiting, and the speaker system points backwards to blast sound into the quickly assembling crowd of Very Cool People that suddenly will want to be your friend. Check out plenty more pics after the break.

for mor details visit our site
http://www.twingo.com