Renault 5 E-Tech Review & Prices

The Renault 5 is a fantastic small electric car. In fact, it’s one of the best cars you can buy full stop thanks to its blend of retro styling, decent electric range, fun interior and that rarest of qualities - it’s a properly charming little thing. It isn’t very spacious, however.

Choosing a Renault 5 is like choosing a Smeg fridge or an Airstream caravan over other modern alternatives. Sure, under the skin it’s as up to date as the rest, but it oozes style compared to the cars which look like they’re from this century, such as the Citroen e-C3, Hyundai Inster and BYD Dolphin.

That’s not to say the Renault looks dated - it certainly doesn’t - but you can clearly see the 1970s design influence in the body shape, stacked taillights and even the cool battery level indicator on the bonnet. The Mini Cooper Electric isn’t quite as retro, but if you fancy the same proportions with a futuristic look, the Nissan Micra is also available.

Renault 5: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 192 - 252 miles
Efficiency: 4.1 - 4.3 miles per kWh
Battery size: 40kWh / 50kWh
Max charge speed: 80kW / 100kW
Charge time AC: 3h 59m - 4h 51m 0 - 100%, 11kWh
Charge time DC: 30 - 31m, 15 - 80%, 80-100kWh
Charge port location: Right side front
Power outputs: 120hp / 150hp

The interior is another retro-futuristic triumph, because again it’s clearly inspired by the original Renault 5. Not only does it look good, but the stepped-back dashboard means there’s a surprising amount of space in the front. There’s a pair of displays mounted on top of the dash, one for the infotainment and one for the driver instruments, but only the upper trim-levels get the excellent Google-based fare.

Renault has fitted the hatchback with a pair of comfortable, supportive front seats, but they don’t leave any real room for grown-ups in the back. Even if you’re not the tallest of adults, your rear passengers won’t be comfortable with very little legroom and foot space.

The trade-off is the boot, which at 326 litres is far more cargo capacity than in a Mini, BYD Dolphin Surf or Citroen.

You can choose from a pair of battery and motor options, with the entry-level Evolution model offering 192 miles of range, while the upper trim levels can manage 252 miles on a full charge. A Peugeot E-208 offers a touch more range at 268 miles, but a Citroen e-C3 can only travel 199 miles before running out of volts.

No matter which version you choose, the Renault 5 excels at town driving. It doesn’t have particularly soft suspension, but it’s still comfortable over bumps and rough roads. The darty steering and peppy motors add a little ‘joie de vivre’ to the city commute, while the brakes are easy to judge and mean it’s a breeze coming to a smooth stop.

Even on the motorway the Renault 5 feels stable, with standard-fit active cruise control taking the strain out of long drives - though there is a touch of wind and road noise at high speeds. Turn onto your favourite B-road and you’ll be beaming from ear to ear, because the little Renault feels like a hot hatch in the way it carves through corners.

Verdict

There are few small cars which are as accomplished as the Renault 5. It’s more stylish than a Hyundai Inster, better to drive than a Citroen e-C3 and better value than a Mini Cooper Electric. Sure, it’s lacking in back seat space, but as a city runaround it’s pretty much in a league of its own - aside from the near-identical Nissan Micra.

All in all, the Renault 5 is just a fantastic electric car. It oozes charm, and will put a smile on your face every time you get behind the wheel. You can check out the latest and best Renault 5 deals here on Carwow, or find a great Renault 5 leasing deal. You can browse used Renaults for sale from our network of trusted dealers, and remember that you can sell your old car through Carwow too.

The Renault 5 is one of the most affordable electric cars you can buy. With a starting price in line with the Hyundai Inster and Citroen e-C3, which one you go for largely comes down to your wants and needs – and potentially it’s as simple as which one you like the look of the most, because our expert reviews team rates all the three highly.

Top-spec, big battery versions of the Renault 5 cost more than the equivalent version of the Inster, but go further on a charge too. The Inster’s clever rear seats mean you can choose between massive rear legroom or a really big boot. Meanwhile, the Citroen e-C3 only has one battery option, but it is the cheapest of the trio.

If you’re going for the Renault, the entry-level Evolution trim is only available with the smaller battery and 120hp motor, while the Techno and Iconic Five trims can also be specified with the big battery and 150hp motor.

Nippy about town and fun on a twisty road, but the Renault 5 isn’t particularly refined at higher speeds

In town

The Renault 5 was made for the city. The electric motors are smooth and silent, and provide a kick of power that means you can nip out of junctions in heavy traffic with little stress. Its tiny dimensions mean it’s easy to find a parking spot and you’ll never stress about width restrictors.

Broken Tarmac can jostle you about a bit and it feels like you crash through potholes rather than smoothly drive over them, but it’s rarely enough to make you grimace and the car is never unsettled.

Rear parking sensors come as standard, but if you step up to the Techno trim you also get a rear-view camera, while Iconic Five models get front and side sensors, too.

On the motorway

Motorway speeds highlight a few issues with refinement, though again, that’s just small car things. There’s quite a bit of road roar from the tyres, and the wind rushes over the pillar ahead of you. It’s not unbearable, but the Citroen e-C3 is perhaps a fraction quieter on a long drive. That said, the suspension smooths out a bit at higher speeds, which helps with comfort.

Cruise control comes as standard, but the Techno trim comes with adaptive cruise control to maintain your speed and distance to the car in front. Top-spec models add lane-centring to help you avoid drifting over the white lines, as well as a blind spot indicator.

On a twisty road

The Renault 5 lives up to the sporty heritage of its legendary badge. The steering is quick so the car feels eager to turn into a corner, and there’s no body roll which gives you confidence to have fun in the bends.

The highlight is the brakes, though; plenty of electric cars struggle to blend regenerative braking and the use of the actual brake pad, but in the Renault 5 you get a firm pedal with a consistent travel, which makes it second nature to judge how much pressure to apply whether coming to a smooth stop in town or scrubbing off speed on the way into a bend on your favourite B road.

The boot is just about roomy enough for a weekly shop, but this is not a practical car overall

The trade off for a small, nippy car is that you’re never going to be blessed with loads of space inside. There’s a decent amount of adjustability in the steering wheel and seat so you can get comfortable, but if you have long legs it can feel pretty cramped around your lower half. There’s impressive legroom for your passenger to stretch out, though.

Storage is pretty good, with shallow door bins, a couple of cup holders between the seats and a deep area to store things out of sight in the armrest. There’s also a wireless phone charging pad on all but the entry-level trim.

Space in the back seats

It’s not great in the back seats, where a six-footer won’t want to sit behind another six-footer for long. Kneeroom is tight, so you’ll struggle to relax your thighs on the cushion, though you can at least put your feet under the seats in front to rest them flat, and the rear doors mean you’re not clambering behind the front seats like you do in the two-door Mini Cooper Electric.

Most small cars have tight rear seats, to be fair, but if you regularly carry people in the back the Hyundai Inster is your best bet, because the rear bench can be pushed back for massive legroom (at the expense of boot capacity).

Storage options are limited, with small door bins and no pockets in the seat in front, nor an armrest with extra cup holders. There are no USB-C slots in the back either. ISOFIX anchor points are really easy to access, though you’ll probably have to put bulkier child seats behind an empty passenger seat that’s pushed forward.

Boot space

At first glance the Renault 5’s boot looks quite tight, but its capacity is respectable compared with alternatives, and the square shape means you can maximise the space on offer. At 326 litres there’s more space than the 310 litres you get in the Citroen e-C3. With the rear seats pushed forward, the Hyundai Inster offers 351 litres, but if you push them back to make room for passengers, this drops to just 238 litres. The BYD Dolphin has 345 litres but it does cost a bit more, while the Mini Cooper Electric trails behind all with 210 litres.

There is quite a chunky lip to lift items over, which means putting heavy suitcases in the back of the Renault 5 could be a bit tricky. The rear seats fold from a catch that’s easy to reach, but doing this does create quite a ridge. Underfloor storage is useful for cables, too.

Cool materials and a slick infotainment system are good, but you can find cheap plastics here and there

Despite its affordable price, the Renault 5 doesn’t feel cheap inside. The design is cool and characterful, with air vents mimicking the broken square shape seen on the daytime running lights, while clever use of fabrics and synthetic leathers (depending on trim) mean there are no cheap plastics falling to hand.

All models get a twin-screen setup for the infotainment and driver’s display, but the latter is a 7.0-inch unit in the entry-level trim, and 10.3 inches in the rest of the range. The highlight is the 10.1-inch infotainment screen though, because it runs Google software, which means you have lots of useful apps like Maps with optimised routes for EV driving. The graphics are blocky and therefore easy to use on the move, and loading between menus is snappy. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard-fit, too.

There’s a bank of physical controls beneath the screen for the climate controls, which is much easier to use than the current trend for doing everything through the screens as you’ll find in many other cars.

Material quality is largely decent for the price – there are some cheap plastics to be found but you do have to go searching for them. Most of the stuff you see and touch is a mix of interesting fabrics or leather, depending on the trim, which feels much more fun and adds character in a way a sea of black plastic trim never could.

You have a choice of two batteries and two motor outputs. The first is a 40kWh battery with a 120hp motor, which returns a range of 190 miles, while the 50kWh battery with its 150hp motor can go up to 252 miles.

During a week with the big-battery model we found 200 miles in the real world was achievable, with most of that being motorway driving - stay in town and you'll find it even more economical. That's about on par with the Vauxhall Corsa Electric, which has a slightly larger battery and longer claimed range.

The Citroen e-C3, meanwhile has one battery option and a range of 199 miles, but it’s not available with a heat pump so your range is likely to drop a lot in cold weather. The Renault gets one as standard.

Compared with the Hyundai Inster, that has two battery options, with the smaller one able to go up to 203 miles and the bigger one up to 229 miles. In the real world the difference between comparable models will be negligible, though.

The other thing to note is that the smaller battery doesn’t top up as quickly at a public fast charger – 80kW compared with 100kW. However, because of the difference in battery size both will go from 15-80% in about half an hour.

The Renault 5 is a great option for company car choosers because electric cars face the lowest Benefit-in-Kind rates. It’s a similar story for private buyers because EVs fall into the lowest first-year car tax bracket, and it avoids the expensive car supplement in years two to six.

The Renault 5 scored four stars out of five in Euro NCAP safety testing, though it didn’t score particularly poorly in any of the four categories.

It comes with all the basic safety kit such as emergency lane-keeping, intelligent speed assistance based on road signs, and active emergency braking. Iconic Five models get extra kit such as front, side and rear parking sensors, hands-free parking assistance, rear cross traffic alert and blind spot warning.

The Renault 5 has not been on sale long enough to get a good picture of its reliability, though it is worth noting that Renault didn’t perform brilliantly in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming 28th out of 32 manufacturers.

All Renaults come with a three-year warranty, which is unlimited mileage in the first two years or up to 100,000 miles in the third. The electric powertrain is covered for four years/100,000 miles, while the main traction battery is covered for eight years/100,000 miles with a guarantee that it will retain more than 70% of its original capacity.