Buy This Renault Twizy 'F1' For Ultimate Quadricycle Bragging Rights

Last week, many were falling over themselves with excitement thanks to the incoming UK arrival of the Citroen Ami. The trouble is, it’s looking like we won’t get the option to pay to drive them by the mile as you do across the Channel or lease one for a low monthly fee. Instead, we suspect you’ll have to buy one up front, which could cost as much as £6000.

Yes, you’ll have something that’ll turn plenty of heads, but it’s not the ultimate attention-grabbing quadricycle out there. This is.

What you’re looking at isn’t, as you might have initially thought, the Renault Twizy F1. That car was a one-off which, as far as we know, is still owned by Renault. Instead, this is a regular Twizy given an expensive makeover inspired by the F1.

Now-defunct British firm Oakley Design made just five of these cars using the standard Twizy as a base. The transformation involved 2015 season F1 wing mirrors, magnesium wheels from a Formula Two car with centre-locking hubs, and a whole load of expensive pre-impregnated carbon fibre. The front/rear wings, the aero elements at the side and the rear diffuser are all made from the stuff.

The whole shebang looks great in its green, gold-flaked paint. Other neat aesthetic touches include an LED rain light for the full single-seater racing car look and a Lexan roof with a chequered flag design. It also sits a lot lower than a standard Twizy.

Renault‘s Twizy F1 had KERS and a significantly uprated motor producing 100bhp, but Oakley’s car makes do with the stock powertrain. That means there’s a 6.1kWh battery pack under the front seat, which is hooked up to a motor at the rear axle producing a mere 17bhp. There is a ‘power box’ which allows the driver to activate a ‘sport’ mode, but we suspect that won’t make much difference to the performance.

The Twizy is available via online auction platform Collecting Cars. The current owner seems to have struggled to shift it on - it failed to sell when auctioned on Trade Classics last November, and it’s previously been listed on eBay for £22,995.

At the time of writing, the Twizy had received 16 bids and was sitting at £11,000 with six days to go. It’s worth noting the winning bidder will have to take over the Renault battery lease tied in with the car, which costs £55 a month.

Tempted?