Styling
OK, we'll hold our hands up here: we fully accept that you might be of a similar age to us and you can remember the original Renault 5 being an extant car on our roads, the sort of run-of-the-mill biffer that didn't deserve a second glance. For instance, we had a friend at school (many aeons ago, in the late '90s) who had a 1.1-litre TL on the C-plate, in that strange, faded blue colour the Diamond did back then, and we never once lusted after it - with every fibre of our being - for even the briefest of brief split-seconds. If you take the outlandish, mid-engined Turbo and Turbo 2 cars out of the mix, mainly because they're weren't really 'Super-Cinqs' in the traditional sense, then even the Ali-G-beloved GT Turbo didn't exactly get our juices flowing. It was just... a small, cheap French hatchback. And that was it.
So quite why we think the new 5 E-Tech is close to visually perfect, we're not sure. But it is. It's just sensational, even better to look at in the metal than it is in pictures. Both Green Pop (we'll drop the punctuation of that from hereon in, mercifully) and Yellow Pop are obviously not going to be all tastes, but they seem to be oh-so-right to match the joyous way the Renault has been styled. The proportionality and stance of it is just so. The detailing is all superb, namely: those square daytime running lamps (DRLs) in its chin; the 'smiley' headlights; the italicised '5' logo that sits on the black strip on its bootlid and which can also be found in the dreamy 1980s graphics on the leading edge of its front doors; those truly lovely 18-inch alloy wheels, which look anything but entry-level (but they are); and then, optionally, things like a black roof with a contrast red pinstripe running along its edges; or, on one-step-up-from-base (a spec known as Evolution) with this Techno, that standard-fit and excellent '5' battery status/charging indicator light on the bonnet. It's offset here, like some sort of air outlet for a turbocharged engine beneath, which could be seen as a cringe-inducing affectation in a car with no such thing fitted. Yet it delights us for its asymmetric positioning, in exactly the opposite way that a similarly lopsided, purely aesthetic detail on the
Land Rover Discovery 5 felt clunking and needlessly contrived when it first appeared.
It's therefore maybe not rational to adore the way the Renault 5 E-Tech looks, but there it is - we think it's utterly marvellous. And it has a huge sense of presence and occasion about it, as you walk up to the car to get in and drive it, which belies the fact it is small (3,922mm from tip to tail, 1,774mm across the beam and less than 1.5 metres tall), it is affordable and it is, at the end of the day, a basic shape with which we've been familiar since 1972. Quite extraordinary.
Interior
If you think the cabin is about to let down the 5's exterior theatrics, think again. It's maybe not quite as knockout in here as the bodywork (how could it be?), but this is not some plain-plastics, dullard interior that you might expect in a car pitched at the budget end of the automotive sphere. There's so much to appreciate inside the small Renault, and it's incredibly hard to believe the contrast between the 5's passenger compartment and the boring effort you'd find within the
predecessor Zoe.
In the 5 E-Tech, there's a lush two-tier dashboard covered in classy fabric, designed to echo the eco-sourced upholstery of the brilliant seats in the Techno-spec car. The air vents have white bracket 'frames', to mimic the look of the DRLs at the front of the Reggie. The twin screens, 10 inches for the instrument cluster (it's a seven-inch item in the base Evolution cars, mind) and 10.1 inches for the R-Link infotainment, look splendid, work beautifully and bring a technological edge to what is, at its core, a city car; the cluster in particular is a real highlight. Physical switchgear on the centre stack helps with ergonomics. There's even an interesting pattern embossed into the headlining, purely to ensure it's not a featureless expanse of grey fabric. It is, in short, a triumph inside the Renault 5 E-Tech and the only thing we'll grumble about is that the gearbox doesn't have a 'Park' or 'P' function - it's a column-shift and that appealing-looking Renault emblem on the end of the stalk, with its glass-appearance mounting, ought to be able to be depressed to engage Park. But that's it - that's the sum total of our interior gripes when it comes to the general cabin ambience of this small EV.
Practicality
Perhaps not so hot is the 5 E-Tech's interior practicality, but given the diminutive size of the exterior, neither is it significantly flawed inside the Renault. Rear-seat space is adequate, nothing more, and if four tall adults all clamber aboard then there could be a dearth of legroom in row two. But for most average-height people, or even for two tall parents with younger kids, there's more than enough room inside the 5 for four people to get comfortable. Up front are some useful storage features and a neat incorporation of the wireless smartphone charging pad (which is standard equipment on the Techno), while the boot measures a reasonable 326 litres with all seats in use. Granted, the floor of the cargo area is set very low relative to the bootlip and the base of the 60:40 split-folding rear seats, so you have to heft luggage up and over the lip when loading and unloading the car, while the floor is not 'flat' if you drop the second row to liberate the claimed maximum capacity of 1,106 litres - but unless you're planning to tour Europe with three weeks' worth of clothing packed into a flotilla of large suitcases, then the boot in the Renault 5 should more than suffice for most people's everyday needs.
Performance
Fitted with either a 90kW motor, delivering 120hp and 225Nm to the front wheels, along with a 40kWh battery pack for a maximum claimed range of 190 miles, or this 150hp/245Nm set-up (in other words, the 110kW propulsion unit) with a 52kWh battery and theoretical 248-mile one-shot driving capability, the Renault 5 E-Tech is neither massively powerful nor massively long-legged, as EVs go. But that's kind of the point: to keep the costs down and make it as accessible to as many people as it could be, the decision was made to keep it as a mid-range electric car. In fact, Renault refers to the 90kW/40kWh car as the 'urban range' and the 110kW/52kWh tested here as the 'comfort range'.
There's also a benefit that the 5 E-Tech is accordingly light. Maybe not when compared to the original 5, sure, but at just 1,449kg as this 52kWh car, it's properly trim by modern standards - and the 40kWh urban range comes in at a scanty 1,412kg. That means, with well in excess of 200Nm apiece, both variants are nippy: the 120hp car will run 0-62mph in a reasonable nine seconds dead, while this 150hp car is more than a second swifter at 7.9 seconds. And, in practice, the comfort range 5 E-Tech is all the on-road performance you could need. It has beautiful throttle grading and blended brakes that are a cinch to use, so that you soon get into a naturalistic, near-one-pedal driving style in the Renault that makes it stress-free. It's also properly brisk around town and when trying to scoot out at busy junctions and roundabouts, yet - at the other end of the scale - it has enough midrange muscle about it that the 5 E-Tech is not completely lost on the motorways; in fact, it's quite adept up to 70mph, and can surprise a few bigger cars with the way it bursts from 50mph back up to the national limit.
And then there's its superb efficiency. Which, in turn, leads to the realisation that it will get far closer to that claimed 248-mile maximum on a regular basis, without any real need to adapt your driving style to suit. The first thing the Renault 5 E-Tech did in our car was a long motorway run from Rickmansworth back to north Nottinghamshire, involving the north-west quarter of the M25, the M1, the A46 from Leicester towards Newark, and then the A6097 from Bingham back towards base. We mention all the roads because some anti-EV people got
very upset with the following claim on social media and basically called us liars - but the Renault returned a fabulous 4.4 miles/kWh here, across 132.3 miles. And, aside from a SPECs-enforced 50mph run up the last road listed above, the rest of that route (about 110 miles of it) is either motorway or 70mph dual-carriageway. We didn't sit at 56mph behind a lorry for the entire route. Granted, there were sections of the M1 under 50mph enforcement (there always bloody are these days). But wherever possible, we were driving the 5 E-Tech at higher motorway speeds, matching most other cars on the M1 for pace. It was, admittedly, a warm day which helped with the electrical economy, yet we think a city-focused EV doing that sort of consumption at a sustained 70mph is nothing short of tremendous.
It meant that by the time we rolled up at Ollerton roundabout's InstaVolt chargers (they're just behind the McDonald's restaurant, apropos of nothing), the Renault reckoned it could do another 85 miles on the 37 per cent of indicated battery remaining. So that's in the region of 217 miles, altogether, which is about right as 4.4 (miles/kWh) x 52 would equal 228.8 miles. This means two very important things about the 5 E-Tech: one, you can take on reasonably lengthy motorway runs in it with confidence, knowing it will manage 200 miles without difficulty (or without you having to crawl along at 40mph in lane one throughout); and two, you can trust its trip computer readouts, specifically its distance-to-empty reading, as being accurate.
It then fully recharged (yeah, on a DC hook-up; we know that's not correct EV etiquette, nor is it good for the battery to rapid-charge to 100 per cent, but sue us - no one else was waiting so we just stayed on the charger) in little more than 40 minutes, at a hefty 87p/Kwh, costing us £27.87. If we'd dropped off the InstaVolt unit at 80 per cent, we'd have only been waiting about 25 minutes and it'd have cost us less too, and if you've got a home wallbox on a low nightly rate then the Renault would be even cheaper to run than this. And it then continued to stun us, because it eventually covered 364.5 miles in our care, including the return motorway run to Rickaaaay, and stuck at bang on 4 miles/kWh for the duration. Immense stuff from the little 5 E-Tech comfort range, it really was.
Ride & Handling
It takes about 50 metres in the Renault 5 E-Tech to know that the engineers have done a mega job on this car. Seriously, in the time it took the EV to edge out of the underground car park at Renault's UK HQ and then roll onto the surrounding, cratered roads, it quickly became apparent how comfortable and supple its suspension is. It soaks up those yellow-and-black, domed-metal speed bumps as if they were completely flat. It effortlessly oozes through modest compressions in the tarmac, limiting any thumping from the wheel wells to discreet background noises. It has light but pleasingly accurate and nicely weighted steering, so placing it on the road is enjoyable. It is, as you would expect, completely at ease at urban road speeds.
What's so nice, given that our initial impressions of it were then on the M25 and the M1 during the build-up to rush hour, is that it is phenomenally capable at motorway speeds, assuming a polished and dignified 'big car' feel when it's rolling along at 70mph. You're never acutely aware of tyre chatter from the 18-inch wheels, nor wind noise as it flows about the Renault's cheeky exterior; instead, it's hushed and smooth and assured. For rolling refinement and ride comfort, then, the 5 E-Tech is absolutely spot-on.
It's even a hoot in the corners, accepting that its handling dynamics are arguably its weakest suit (but only because it does everything else to such an exalted standard). You can hustle the 5 E-Tech through tighter flik-flak corners and the impromptu 'chicanes' of big roundabouts taken at pace with abandon, its agility and grip both direct corollaries of its admirable 1.4-tonne kerb weight. Ultimately, this is a front-wheel-drive hatchback designed for genteel commuting duties in the main, so it's not going to provide a scintillating steer, but the 5 E-Tech is so, so good in the roadholding department that it makes you wonder precisely what meaningful improvements the
Alpine A290 version will be able to bring to proceedings. In short, it doesn't matter what road you're on nor what speed you're travelling at - for a supposedly 'cheap' car that's only supposed to be good at biffing around in city limits, the Renault 5 E-Tech is sublime.
Value
So the Renault 5 E-Tech looks great outside and in, it drives great, and it uses its electrical reserves, er... great. Therefore, the price must be great, right? Wrong. Somehow, the French firm has managed to deliver all of this goodness in a compact and beguiling package, and it doesn't cost the earth in the process. In fact, it starts from an eye-catching £22,995. This must make some of Renault's rivals tear their hair out in frustration, because similarly low-cost, low(ish)-range EVs like the
Citroen e-C3 and
Hyundai Inster are either the same money or even cost more when specced up. And as much as we like those two, neither of them are anything like as classy or loveable as the 5 E-Tech. OK, in a higher grade like our Techno and with the bigger battery/more potent motor, you're looking at £26,995, and if you opt for an even grander trim such as Iconic Five or Roland Garros (be warned: you can't get Green Pop on either of those specs), you'll be pushing 30 grand. But, for precisely what you're getting for your cash, it still seems like a bargain. And it makes the R5 E-Tech comparable to upmarket petrol superminis, rather than just competing with other EVs in a loftier price bracket. It's genius work from Renault.
Verdict
In our opinion, the Renault 5 E-Tech 52kWh is the very best supermini or compact runaround on the market right now, irrespective of what fuel type powers said vehicles. It is just exceptional in all regards: styling, interior, efficiency, charging speeds, equipment, pace, rolling refinement, ride comfort, handling and, critically, value. We're honestly not sure what more Renault could have done with this car, because it has executed it to near-perfection; fit it with a 'Park' button for the gearbox, and we'd arguably be there. The revived 5 is an astounding little thing, a usable and desirable EV that's affordable and attainable, and it is surely a shoo-in to scoop up every contemporaneous 'Car of the Year Award' going. It's an absolute jewel and one of the best small cars we've ever had the privilege of driving. Yep, believe the hype, folks.
