Nearly ready to buy a 133 Cup. Advice welcome!

[cleggmeister]

So I'm nearly 40, have two kids (one nearly four, one eight months), my beautiful 26 year old Merc W124 has just been written off hence it's time for a new car at around £5k. It's either a Twingo 133 Cup (preferred), and older S Class or a Jeep Wrangler 4.0. Seriously.

Two child seats will be fitted to the rear, I don't need any toys apart from handsfree phone (bluetooth) preferably and I don't need much boot space.

Short journeys to and from work (Jackton to Finnieston nr Glasgow, around 13 miles each way), And most importantly I need to have a big smile on my face when I look at, drive or talk to my friends about my new car

Pretty much ready to pull the trigger on a Twingo (I've wanted one for years) but some questions (and general buying advice welcome).

Cambelt - should be changed when?
Balljoints - a weak spot?
Engine RPM at 65mph - bearable?
Points of failure - known or regular faults - water ingress under the scuttle panel for example?
Tyres - 195 or 205?
Sunroof - I'd love one but can't find any Twingos with that option?
Servicing - interval, Renault main dealer or safe to take to a well-reputed independent?
Any major revisions/improvements during the range (I'm after a 2009-2010 as I don't like the styling of the newer ones).

I appreciate this is my first post and I've come on here looking for favours already. Rest assured I'm good for it!

With warm regards, looking forward to joining the team.

Cleggy.

 

[Twins go]

Hi Cleggy,

We've had ours for just over a year now so hope this helps:

At the sort of age you're looking at, the relevant change will be 6 years/60,000.

Balljoints are regrettably a weak-spot. It's the gaiters that are bad, they split and allow grit into the joints. If you're handy with a spanner, there's a guy on here that sells them, otherwise it's not too expensive to get a garage to do it.

At 65mph engine is just over 3000rpm. I don't find it bad if you're just doing that commute (we do Paisley to Glasgow city centre 6 times a week). If you're planning a long journey it can get tiring - 7 hours from London to Glasgow wasn't great - but as long as you accept the car for what it is, it's fine. Might be a bit of a shock though coming from a W124!

As far as I'm aware there aren't any other usual points of failure, aside from the balljoints. Heard chat about the scuttle panels before but not experienced it and can't say it's a terribly widespread problem. I'm sure someone will be along with a horror story in due course! Overall ours has had very little trouble: ball joints went and tyres wore out, that's it!

Tyres are up to you. 195s are the stock size, but they're quite expensive (circa £100 a corner for the OEM Contis) and it's a bit easier to kerb the alloys. 205s are a more common size but it depends what you want.

Never seen it with a sunroof. Imagine that would have to be a Full Fat with the Cup Pack, and I'm sure it would be great for the kids, but they'll be like hens teeth.

Servicing is every 12k or every year. I've always gone to Renault main dealer, purely to preserve the FRSH on my car and because there's no indy garage that I trust! But they're relatively simple cars so I'm sure indy would be fine (and cheaper, although we got a restaurant voucher with our last service, so that was a wee treat!).

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along, but I don't think they changed much aside from a facelift and some interior revisions.

As I said, hope this all helps and best of luck with the purchase! They are great cars, totally under rated, and you'll be grinning every time you drive. There's quite a few of us from around Glasgow so I'm sure we'll see you hooning around!

Oh, and there's a pretty nice looking red one for sale up north on Pistonheads just now.Doesn't have the sunroof but looks pretty smart.

Andrew

 

[Owain]

Welcome,

Most of your questions have been answered above.
Other weak spots, include the boot catch, but it's cheap and easy enough to replace.
I would avoid a sunroof like the plague (if you find one), the car is based on the MK2 Clio, so no doubt it would squeak and rattle especially with the Cup option.
Driving style, to get most out of it make sure you use the Rev range then the smiles come.

 

[cleggmeister]

Sincere thanks Andrew and Owain! Great news that there's a strong fraternity locally, very excited about enrolling. I shall ditch the sunroof requirement (summer's finished here anyway!) and get on PH, auto trader et al.

Will report back soon, hopefully with pictures!

 

[cleggmeister]

Groovy, just read up on all the stickies here and feeling pretty confident. Also popped out to take a look at one locally for boot space etc. All good!

As soon as the insurance pays out I'm going shopping for a 133 with Cup pack

 

[charlie46]

Hello and welcome! You`ll love one when you get one! I`ve got a cup version and to be honest, there`s not that much omitted from it over a full fat. So if you can find a good cup or full fat with cup chassis, you`ll be happy!

 

[cleggmeister]

Thanks Charlie!

Question re the stereo - I need hands free as I'll be using the car for company escapades from time to time. Is the standard stereo bluetooth enabled, or can I drop in a standard DIN sized unit with little fuss? I notice none of the stereos fitted as standard have an inbuilt display - my guess is that they display via the console near the speedo? So am I limited in this regard or do the new "ISO plug" stereos all share this standard?

Cheers!

Cleggy.

 

[Owain]

Some OEM stereos are some aren't, mine wasn't and I really don't like after market stereos they look pretty tacky, I installed a XCarlink, which allows me to operate my iPod through the steering controls and has a Bluetooth option which integrates with the OEM stereo allowing me to use my phone through the cards audio speakers, you can see it in my progress thread.

 

[cleggmeister]

Erm, might need to duck at this point but I just bought a V reg Wrangler. Twingo next, I promise.

 

[charlie46]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

 

[cleggmeister]

Holy old thread revival Batman!

Wrangler has been epic but it's time to go. Chap coming up from Manchester tomorrow, I expect him to buy it.

Link here in case anyone feels in a "Lee Majors" mood https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201606235186449

Anyway, I have my eye on a couple of 133's. Some facelift and some Gordinis, which are growing on me

The plan is to have one by next weekend. I'll either buy a £3k 60000 miler or a £6k 20000 miler, no real preference either way.

V Excited

 

[cleggmeister]

Woo hoo, Jeep sold for my asking price and now negotiating a deal with Arnold Clerk on a facelift 12 plate RS133 in red. Mmmmmmm!

If it all goes well I'll deliver my Jeep to the buyer in Cheshire, jump a train to Salford and tear back up the M6 on Sunday, all in time for tea

Exciting times ahead. Going to stop at tebay services and do the air box flap mod

 

[Universe]

Very nice with prices as low as they are now you can't say no

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[babybluemaxer]

Morning.

I've recently purchased a 61 (2012) Twingo 133 with the optional panoramic roof.
As nobody seems to have one to put in some viable input, i'd like to say that i experience 0 rattles from it & find it a fantastic option to have!

I've recently completed a cambelt kit, aux belt kit & water pump.
Unfortunately mine has the dreaded leak from the scuttle panel also, so my plan is to get that sorted next week.

I replaced the coil on no.4 last weekend & she now drives a dream!

Revs on the motorway on fairly tedious but like yourself, i tend to do much shorter journeys so it doesn't bother me.

All in all, once all the essentials are done, it's a lovely car to drive!

 

[cleggmeister]

Thanks all for your input. And would you believe my Jeep sale fell through - guy from Stockport phoned me, asked if I would move on price (I said no), he came up to Glasgow and viewed, agreed it was lovely, the best he'd seen and perfectly as described, then tried to move the price down. What a timewaster (mine and his)!

Anyway, just took a call from a lovely sounding older gent in Yorkshire who plans to visit and collect the Jeep next week. The red Twingo in Salford is now gone but there's a nice white facelift in Leicester for £5821. She will be mine I hope!

Will report back when I get my hands on one!