Renault 5 E-Tech review: rebooted hatch driven in the UK

Reboots aren’t always successful. BMW’s masterful reinvention of Mini has been a huge success, and you could probably say the same for the Fiat 500. But Volkswagen’s modern-day Beetle? That didn’t do quite so well.

It seems like forever since the 2021 unveil of the Renault 5 concept, but three years on we’ve finally driven the production version on UK roads – and it’s brilliant. For all the excitement around the car, it’s not perfect, but the maturity of the drive, with a comfortable ride, and the blend of retro styling with modern tech inside make the new 5 hugely appealing, especially at a starting price of £22,995. For what it offers, it makes other budget EVs like the Hyundai Inster and Citroen e-C3 look expensive.

We do feel that the performance doesn’t quite live up to the pizzazz of the car’s style – it’s not especially quick. That’s probably because Renault is keeping its powder dry for the hot Alpine A290, which is based on the new 5 and following down the tracks very soon.

Our test car in the UK still had lots of wind noise on the motorway, the brakes feel a little bit grabby at first and take some getting used to, while there are a few foibles with some of the interior controls – the customisable gear selector, for example, which you can use for drive, reverse or neutral, but there’s no park option. You have to select neutral and make sure you apply the parking brake. The selector is also one of three stalks on a crowded right-hand side of the steering wheel.

But with that starting price of under £23,000, topping out at under £29,000, with loads of fun customisable features inside and out, and with decent space for a sub-four metre-long car with a real big car feel, we wouldn’t blame you one bit if you fall in love with the new Renault 5 and have to buy one.

We collected a new 5 from Renault HQ in Hertfordshire and spent a day driving the car on familiar roads in and around the South East. We took in the M25 and other motorways, plus A- and B-roads and drove it around towns and villages where the 5 turned as many heads as it did on the original launch of the car in the South of France. We also got the family involved to check out the space inside and how much stuff you can fit in the boot.

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Independent rating: 9/10

Initially, just a 52kWh battery will be offered with a likely starting price of just under £27,000. The cheaper 40kWh battery versions come online soon after.

The bigger battery cars will go for around a 250-mile maximum; the smaller battery models up to around 190 miles. Neither figures are bad when compared with similar-sized and priced city cars. Our tests in cold weather in the UK revealed those range claims to be reasonably realistic.

Fast charging rates are fair, too – 100kW and 80kW for the 52kWh and 40kWh batteries respectively, meaning a 20 to 80 per cent charge in around 30 minutes. And as an option, you can have bi-directional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging, so your car battery could potentially run your home during a power cut.

The 5 is the first car to make use of Renault Group’s AmpR Small EV platform and it gets multi-link rear suspension, which is normally found on bigger, more expensive cars. It helps give the 5 excellent agility through bends and decent composure over bumpy British roads – it does feel like a bigger, more mature car to drive.

It lacks a little of the fun factor you might find in a Mini, mostly because the acceleration just feels a little blunted. A 0-62mph time of eight seconds isn’t that great in this EV world. And visibility out isn’t that great either – the front windscreen is quite shallow, as is the rear screen. Cameras do help when parking, but their resolution and image quality, especially of the rear camera, is noticeably low.

The brakes, keen to send as much energy as possible into the battery, are a little sharp as you come to a halt meaning slow, gentle stops will take practice.

If you love the retro looks of the outside, complete with clever bonnet-mounted charging indicator where the old car’s air outlet used to be, you’ll love the interior, too.

There are nods to the original 5 with the old-school H-shaped 5 Turbo bucket seats that are comfortable and supportive, and the striped, padded dashboard shelf ahead of the passenger.

But the twin 10-inch screens are bang up to date, as are the customisable 3D printed options for the centre storage between the front seats and even for the gear selector. Renault plans to offer a whole range of colourful, 3D-printed optional extras, and there’s even a baguette holder that attaches to the centre console and has proved popular among French pre-orders, the manufacturer says. Interior quality is impressive for such a small, well-priced car, too.

Space in the back is better than you might expect in a compact city car, helped by a flat floor, but it’ll be tight for taller adults unless the front seats are pulled slightly forward. There’s no storage in the rear doors, though, and space in the front doors isn’t especially generous, either.

A 326-litre boot is very good for the class, though, while access is good and there’s extra storage space underneath the boot floor for the charging cables.

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Two crisp and clear ten-inch screens sit relatively high on the dash, and they provide a modern juxtaposition to the retro looks elsewhere in the cabin.

The killer feature is having Google built into the Android Automotive infotainment, allowing you to sync your Google life (and home) with your car. There are 50 apps to play with, too, plus Spotify for music streaming, Google Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice control, backed up by Renault’s own Reno digital assistant, complete with its own avatar.

You can use Apple CarPlay if you’d rather (wired or wireless, plus there’s Android Auto), while a handy wireless charging pad sits below the centre screen.

A full suite of climate control functions are accessed via the screen, but work simply, and there are physical toggle switches on the dashboard for distraction-free adjustment of temperature and fan speed.

Sadly, there’s no premium audio option and the standard stereo we’d only rate as so-so.

The pricing for the 5 shows that its appeal reaches beyond those cute looks. For the quality, kit and range, it looks like great value, with a starting price of £22,995. The tempting array of bodywork colours (yellow, green, blue, black and white) and roof graphics – a total of 200 combinations, says Renault – could push the price up somewhat, though.

Our mixed route showed efficiency that came close to the claimed 4.17 miles per kWh of battery power, meaning a 200-mile-plus range should easily be within reach.

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Both battery options should, on a fast charger, be good for a 20 to 80 per cent charge in around 30 minutes, at a maximum rate of 80kW for the 40kWh battery and 100kW for the 52kWh battery.

Starting at £22,995 and going up to just under £28,995 (plus options) – and below the starting price of the Mini Cooper E – we’d say the Renault 5 is great value. But be aware that some of the customisable options and vehicle-to-grid tech will push the price up.

The batteries come with a full eight-year warranty, as long as the car has been properly maintained during that time

Having driven the car in the UK, we can confirm that the new Renault 5 is a great car to drive and fun to live with. It’s hugely appealing now, but we’re still not sure that retro charm will still feel as fresh in a year or two’s time.