Renault 5 E-Tech Iconic Comfort reviewed by The Field magazine

Following in the tyre tracks of BMW’s Mini, Renault has reimagined its bestselling 5 into a modern, all-electric vehicle that pays homage to its retro roots, says Nick Herbert

Renault 5 E-Tech Iconic Comfort

Price as reviewed:

£30,195.00

TAGS: motoring

Bristling with the latest technology

The chic design turned heads in Lavenham

My first car was a Renault 5. I adored it with the amour of a Frenchman. It was black with a white stripe, and in the early 1980s no one had a black car unless you were a London taxi driver – unlike today when every other car is a dull shade of winter grey. My cinq rolled joyfully around bends but never once lost its grip. It felt tremendously fast and seemed not to resent being thrashed through the gears. The Renault never once went wrong until one day, with five sporting friends on board and late to watch our very slow greyhound run at a local coursing meeting, we were at full throttle on the dual carriageway when the accelerator stuck. Somehow, we turned off without taking out a hedge and raced towards the running grounds, only able to slow the car by changing down through the gears. With the little Renault’s engine screaming we flew on to the stubble field, narrowly missing an elderly official who momentarily tried to collect our money before thinking the better of it and throwing himself into a ditch to avoid being killed. We circled the field a couple of times with the famously irascible Sir Mark Prescott, who was running the meeting, in furious pursuit. I only managed to stop the car by stalling it and by the time the great trainer caught up he was so short of breath that he couldn’t get out the words to send us home.

The Renault 5 was France’s bestselling car until production discontinued in 1986. They’re now a rare sighting here but in the south of France you can still occasionally see one parked modestly beside some brash new SUV. In the decades since, few cars have captured the Renault 5’s classless chic, as much at home arriving at a society event as doing the school run. Volkswagen’s Golf is one, the Mini another. BMW’s reincarnation of that iconic car was a stroke of marketing genius, paying homage to the original design while an entirely modern and capable new vehicle lurked beneath. VW’s Beetle and Fiat’s 500 follow the same retro formula.

Now Renault has done the same thing with its new 5. The fully electric E-Tech has taken the motoring world by storm, winning numerous accolades since its launch in 2024, including European Car of the Year and producing 100,000 units in just 15 months. These 21st-century editions are all much bigger than the little cars whose designs they echo and, where their 1970s grandparents had simple mechanics, the modern versions bristle with the latest technology and safety features. Yet still they all capture something of the spirit of their forebears.

The E-Tech is no exception. The Iconic model I drove had every gadget you could wish for, among them driver assistance, and its 52kWh battery delivered nippy performance. If you want to emulate the boy-racing Renault 5 GT Turbo of the 1980s you could buy the more expensive Alpine version, which is seriously quick and has beefed-up suspension, brakes and looks to match. But assuming that you’re happy with a smaller electric vehicle, the Renault 5 is all the car you could ever want. Its range, at around 150 miles, is perhaps disappointing but this is arguably more of an urban runabout than a country car. And like my black Renault 5 all those years ago, the E-Tech was striking in its canary yellow livery, standing apart and turning heads. Why drive some dreary clone in the same colour as everyone else? Release your inner Gallic flair and, to paraphrase the famous advert about another model, shake your ass in a Renault 5.