I left the car parked in a place I considered safe enough. It was the first car from the street corner, fully flooded by a street light, and positively locked up.

It took me only 15 minutes to get back. I realized the passenger (right) door lock was forced but not opened. I thought: Damn! Somebody broke into! Yet, I noticed that the lock lever was down... Safe so far. I rushed to the rear of my dear Twingo and found the hatchback lock ripped up but the door was closed, too. I then ran to the driver's door and saw it broken, with the lever UP. Oh, oh! - I said. But, again, and thankfully, the guy was not able to open the door... because... a few days ago, that door puller got broken as I hit it harder than I wanted against a wall after parking. So, while the door was ready to let the thief in,......

I will be posting my experience to share with other car-lovers, no matter if you've chosen otherwise.

Mine is a 1997, 1.2 lt., dark green, all original Renault Twingo. It's now run 225 thousand something kilometers, about 140 thousand with me be behind the wheel since September 12, 2003.

Most of the distance was put by living outside the city of  Santiago, Chile, where I live and work. I passed  2 years and a few months living in a small town called Isla de Maipo, some 50 kilometers away from Santiago downtown. All in all, 130 kilometers in average per day, not bad for a car this size, power and age, with only 2 days of downtime because of failures (one was the alternator, the other, the first section of the exhaust pipe). 

Generally speaking, my car has been a tough one to beat, and by far the best car I've ever had. And I'm speaking of and......