Renault is going all in with the retro theme. The new 4 is coming while the new 5 is already here. I drove it. And liked it.
It seems the ban on ICE cars is definitive. The European Parliament formally approved a law to effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the European Union from 2035. To combat climate change, they say.
Meanwhile, ONE cotton t-shirt needs more than 2,500 liters of water to be made. Whatever.
With that ban in mind, there really is just two things we, the consumers, can do. One is to buy a petrol or diesel car today, if and while we still can, treat it well and make it last, because they will feel pretty special – and practical – in just a few years’ time.
Two is, obviously, focus on electric cars right away and start adapting our lives to this new, imposed reality that will apparently save the arctic seals. From that perspective, here is quite possibly the trendiest electric car of 2025: meet the new Renault 5 e-Tech.
The new 5 has recently won the European Car of The Year award, the most prestigious automotive award in the Old Continent. This is the French marque’s seventh win, having first taken victory in 1966 with the Renault 16.
Anyway, a curious fact about the 5’s win is that it is shared with the Alpine A290, the heated-up version of the Renault created by its motorsport department. Still, is this one car or two different cars? I struggle a little bit with the decision but maybe it’s just me.
So, the Renault is very likely the right car at the right time for Renault and, although yes, there is a lot to like in the small 5, as I will address in the coming lines, there is really just one reason why people will buy it, and buy it they absolutely will: because of the way it looks.
For some, it will fill them with nostalgia, and they will want it because it will take them back 40 or 50 years, to a time when life was simpler – and easier to understand. Those are the grandparents of today. For the parents – that’s my generation – it will remind us of the family car back then. In my case, it actually does, as we had one in Thunder Blue for a few years.
For the youngsters of today, well, they won’t have the same references of the previous generations, but the 5 is still making waves amongst them. It looks that good. And it has a cool story to match that pretty face.
‘The new Renault 5 e-Tech is a design masterpiece. Retro yes, but done exquisitely well. It’s hard not to fall for its charms’
It was 2021. Luca de Meo had just become CEO of the Renault Group, and he visited the design studio to see what was coming next in terms of brand aesthetics. He didn’t much like anything he saw. Except for a model of something that looked a lot like a reinterpretation of the old 5 that had not been intended for production. Why? It was too retro-styled.
De Meo thought otherwise, ordered the engineers to make it real and built his entire vision for Renault on the car. He’s not the boss for nothing.
The 5 is assembled in Douai, with most suppliers located within a 300km radius, including, from this summer on, the battery packs. Renault wanted to make significant gains in terms of sustainability and repairability, limiting the number of modules and enabling them to be removed separately for repair or replacement.
The electric motors are an evolution of the ones found in the Megane and Scenic, but smaller and lighter. And because they are separately excited synchronous units rather than permanent magnet ones, they don’t use rare earth metals. Thank you, Renault.
The magnificent exterior style’s retro theme continues inside. The ribbed stitching on the passenger side of the dashboard takes inspiration from the later versions of the first-generation 5, whereas the big instrument binnacle and the shape of the seats bring to mind the mid-engined Renault 5 Turbos. All fabrics are made from recycled plastic bottles and leather is amiss, even from the options catalogue.
The OpenR Link infotainment system is based on Google’s Android Automotive and uses a 10.1in screen. Responses are quick, there are still buttons for important features and everything is intuitive. Log in with your Google account and it gets easier still.
On the road, the Renault is a fun little car to drive around in, but not that different from most other battery electric vehicles. The enjoyment comes from knowing you are driving a car that is quite special in its approach to design and how it understands the visual codes that make retro styling so appealing.
With 120 horsepower, it is not slow nor especially fast. Adequate is the word. Range is 312 km and prices start at €27,500 for the Evolution trim line. 150 horsepower and 410km of range are available in the Techno and Iconic Cinq lines, but prices can rise up to €35,000.
I guess that, if we all have to drive around powered by electricity, well, a Renault 5 would be a rather cool choice.
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