Renault Twizy: what the papers say

This time next week I’ll be testing a Twizy, the little electric runabout from Renault that crosses a scooter with a supercar (well, it does have two seats and scissor doors, just like a Lamborghini).

OK, so Twizy might lack a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 0-60 time, indeed it runs out of puff at 50mph, but it offers things no supercar can. It’ll squeeze through tiny gaps in traffic and it will be super-easy to park.

This week the mainstream motoring press have been fooling around with Twizys in Ibiza, so before I jet off to test their second-hand leftovers I thought I’d see what they have to say.

A-Class, second hand

It’s a Saturday morning and the previously sunny weather has decided to take the weekend off, so while it’s dull and grey outside the colourful world of car buying has lured me back to my laptop.

Earlier this week I wrote about the outgoing Mercedes-Benz A-Class and what interesting second hand cars they might make. Time for some fantasy garage shopping.

Awarding myself a budget of £12,000 – about what I spent on my current car – and an age limit of just one year I turned up 22 cars within 25 miles of GreenMotor central, through the Mercedes approved used scheme. Of those, 10 were diesels, 12 petrols. Six were manuals and the rest automatics.

Living with a Nissan Leaf

Fortunately I haven’t been living in a Nissan Leaf – I’m not David Blaine – but I have put a few miles on the electric car that Nissan kindly loaned me last Friday afternoon. I’m participating in The Big Turn On – a 100-day effort to highlight electric motoring.

My first worry was recharging the car, after failing to get a specific charging point installed. A very helpful engineer from British Gas called at my home a week before the Leaf arrived, but after some torchlight prodding under kitchen cupboards announced that the fitment wouldn’t be a trivial matter.

The engineer was not allowed to start work until he’d verified that the gas supply to the house was adequately earthed. He must visually inspect the electrical connection to the copper gas pipe, which according to regulations is attached within 6cm of entering the building.

Unfortunately for me, the gas pipe enters behind a fitted cupboard, and checking the earth strap required dismantling half the kitchen. So after some struggling, covered in dust, we gave up.

Miss America 2012 - Laura Kaeppeler

 
Miss America 2012 ( Laura Kaeppeler )

 
Miss America 2012 ( Laura Kaeppeler )
 
Miss America 2012 ( Laura Kaeppeler )
 
Miss America 2012 ( Laura Kaeppeler )