Renault Wind Roadster (2010) CAR review

The Renault Wind has caused quite a lot of excitement in the CAR office, and not (as you might be thinking) because it gives us a legitimate excuse to make flatulence-based puns.

Silly name aside, the Wind is a good looking little coupe-convertible, with a clever flipping roof and a chassis tuned by Renaultsport. Add in competitive pricing – the range starts at £15,500 ­– and Renault potentially has a bit of gem on its hands. Plus it’s on sale now in the UK (and Slovenia, of all places), just in time for the summer sun, while the rest of Europe must wait until September before they can buy one.

So, is the Wind any good or is the hype a lot of hot air? Read on for CAR’s first drive review of the new Renault Wind.

So what is the Renault Wind, a Twingo or a Clio?

Both, effectively. The second-gen Twingo was based on the Mk2 Clio, so deep down it’s a Clio. However, just as that Clio platform was tweaked to become a Twingo, so the Twingo chassis has been adapted to become the Wind. And Renaultsport has been solely responsible for developing the Wind – the current hot hatch kings have done all the tuning and tweaking on their own, away from Renault’s main engineering team, so we’ve got high hopes.

So the chassis is sorted, and it looks pretty good too…

It does, at least in pictures where it appears squat and purposeful. Everything seems just right – the 17in wheels more than fill the arches, the hidden door handles are cool, and the rear styling (from the sloping B-pillars, to the flying buttress deck) is particularly interesting and attractive. It’s very stylish.

But in the metal it’s just a bit too tall and a bit too narrow, the nose looks like a bad copy of the Ferrari California, and when we passed an old 206CC near Nice (the launch location), the Peugeot suddenly seemed rather attractive.

Inside you’ll find Twingo bits and pieces (steering wheel, air-con controls, door handles, etc) but the dash architecture is unique and so are the dials. But it feels built to a price – the plastics aren’t brittle, but they are hard. There’s also a terrible reflection off the instrument shroud and onto the windscreen in bright sunlight, and with two big blokes on board it feels rather cramped. Plus you sit too high (as in a Twingo) so if you’re tall like me you’re going to headbutt the windscreen header rail in a crash, before snapping back and smashing your head on the rear rail. Then again, I’m not the target market and shorter, skinnier women will be fine.

What about stuff like the spec?

Apart from a limited edition Collection model (just 200 are coming to the UK), the Wind is available in Dynamique and Dynamique S trim levels, both of which are offered with either engine. The base model is the £15,500 1.2 TCe Dynamique, undercutting the cheapest 207CC by £1595 and the most basic MX-5 by £1745, while another £900 nets you the 1.6 VVT engine. The Dynamique S with the turbocharged 1.2 is also £16,400, and again another nine hundred notes will upgrade you to the more powerful 1.6.

Dynamique cars come with 16in alloys, ESP, air-con, electric and heated door mirrors, cruise control, fog lights, and an AUX input, while the S adds inch-bigger wheels, an alarm, auto lights and wipers, a better stereo, a USB connection and Bluetooth connectivity. The only notable options are metallic paint (£405), and heated leather seats (£950).

>> Click ’Next‘ below to read more of our Renault Wind first drive