All generations and engines together · 20,417 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 35k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 8,251 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The little three-cylinder 0.9 TCe turbo petrol, used across late Twingo III, Clio and Captur, has a string of owner reports of the timing chain stretching and rattling on start-up. Symptoms are a tapping or rattling noise from cold, sometimes with a loss of power or a rough idle, and it can show up well inside 60,000 miles rather than at the end of a car's life. A chain and guide replacement runs a few hundred pounds if caught early; left alone, guides can fail and the chain can strip teeth, pushing the bill towards engine-out repair.
This is a city runabout that spends a lot of its life doing short trips, and that's exactly the pattern that lets rear brake cylinders and handbrake cables corrode or gum up rather than wear evenly. Owners report a handbrake that won't fully release, a pull to one side under braking, or a dragging rear wheel after the car has sat for a while. It matches the measured signature fault for this segment, brakes, and the folklore explains the mechanism: it's seizing from disuse and damp, not just pad and disc wear, so it can turn up on a low-mileage car as easily as a high-mileage one.
The Twingo II's 1.5 dCi uses the widely-shared Renault-Nissan K9K diesel, which has a well-known reputation for DPF blocking and EGR/swirl-flap gumming up when the car is mainly used for short, low-speed urban runs rather than regular motorway miles. Buyers notice a smoky exhaust, a warning light, or the car dropping into limp mode. Repairs range from a few hundred pounds for an EGR clean or delete to over £1,000 for a DPF or injector replacement if it's been ignored. Doesn't apply to the petrol-only Twingo III sold in the UK.
On the Twingo II, a recurring owner complaint is the linkage rod or clip connecting the clutch pedal to the cable/cylinder wearing or coming adrift, making the pedal feel light, sticky, or unresponsive, sometimes with a sudden loss of clutch action while driving. It's been reported at fairly low mileages rather than only on high-mile cars. Cheap to fix if caught as a linkage issue, £50-150, but a full clutch system replacement after a knock-on failure runs much higher.
The Twingo III's touchscreen and R&Go connected system attract a steady trickle of complaints: screen freezes, Bluetooth or CarPlay dropping out, and occasional failure to power up at all. Renault has pushed software updates through dealers for some of these rather than a formal recall, and plenty of owners report no trouble at all, so it's more a lottery than a guaranteed fault. Worth spending five minutes with the screen and a phone pairing before you buy rather than assuming it's fine.
Some owners report a knock or creak from the front end over bumps and uneven roads, blamed variously on top mounts, drop links or anti-roll bar bushes, occasionally on cars with only a few thousand miles on them. Others report none of this over high mileages, so it reads more like a batch or driving-style issue than a universal weak point. Parts themselves are cheap, but if a dealer needs to chase the noise the labour adds up.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (City cars), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.