Renault Twingo review

On the road it feels more expensive than it is. The suspension is plush and quiet over coarse zitty surfaces, and supple and nicely damped in swallowing bigger upsets.

Acceleration is at leisure. The 82bhp motor gives you 0-62mph in 12.1 seconds. So you won't be doing much open-road overtaking but it's fine for daily biffing around, and the proportional calibration of the pedal doesn't tax your nerves.

Top speed is limited to 81mph, because it's geared for efficiency, and anyway high speed is a range assassin. At speed there's some wind noise but otherwise life is quiet.

Here come corners. Load the tyres up and the steering weighs in with good feel. It talks of its grip and the cornering stays pretty neutral. The meek torque means no traction loss or writhing of the wheel.

You get regeneration paddles, and mostly the brakes are well integrated. But regen level four is one-pedal driving, activating the discs at low speed, and you can feel the automated transitions.

That simpler rear suspension – torsion beam instead of multi-link – brings a different character versus the R5. It's not as agile or precise in bends and you can't use the accelerator to tighten or free your cornering line. The more straightforward and gentler input-output protocols of the Twingo perhaps make it more relaxing for everyday driving.

Besides, versus the rest of the world's cheap baby cars, this thing is a paragon of decorum.

And the driver aids?

As with any Renault you set up a custom bank for your own settings for lane keeping, speed warning, following distance and so on. Then after they've defaulted on when you start the car, it's just one physical button to re-set it to your liking.

As with Chinese and Korean but not European opposition, the top spec has full adaptive cruise with lane following, and cross traffic alert and blind spot assist. Unlike most Chinese cars, they're well calibrated.