REAR engined, turbocharged, rear wheel drive - sounds like the perfect set up for a supercar.

How about such a configuration in a car costing less than £15,000?

Well that's what Renault is offering with its spiced up new Twingo GT - a fiery little hatchback that is great fun to drive.

Nifty handling, a smashing rasp from its three cylinder engine and a sting to the acceleration push this latest Twingo towards hot hatch territory.

Factor in some sporty design inside and out and the Twingo GT will keep many an enthusiastic driver happy.

The GT is a tweaked version of Renault's baby model which also forms part of the Mercedes stable where the car is badged as a smart.

Priced from £13,755 the GT comes with the same 898cc engine as the Twingo TCE Dynamique but is boosted to 110bhp.

In a little car that is enough to feel lively and although on paper the Twingo GT's 0 to 60 time of 9.6 seconds and top speed of 113mph is some way off true hot hatch territory, it is feisty through the gears and nimble too.

The rear wheel drive and engine bias give it a touch of purity which puts it out on its own in this class of car.

As with the rest of the Twingo range it is a five door model and the GT is manual only, fitted with a five speed box and a metal topped gear lever that's nice to the touch.

Even driven hard it will return around 35 to the gallon and overall an average of 45mpg is realistic. Officially the fuel return is 54.3mpg with emissions of 115g/km.

On the outside the Twingo GT gets twin exhausts, a rear spoiler and side vent while on the kick plates there are Renault Sport logos.

There are also Renault Sport badges on the side and on the tailgate to set the GT apart.

Inside, there's sports seats, orange trim and stitching and a sports-style steering wheel.

It looks the part all round and is bang on trend.

The car we sampled came with Renault's R-Link multimedia system which includes sat nav, Bluetooth and audio streaming plus a high definition reversing camera.

That added £600 to the price and with other additions such as a vibrant orange metallic paint job, special GT decals and storage panniers under the rear seats the actual cost was £15,070.

Those extras are likely to be a must for the younger audience at which the GT is aimed and as such it is a cute and capable little number.

It's also going to be the quickest the current Twingo is going to get in production form.

With the engine slung below the boot floor there is no room available for anything bigger to be slotted in meaning the prospect of a true Renaultsport variant - as available on the last generation of Twingos - is a non-starter.