The Renault 5 is the most exciting new car of 2024 - First Look detailed review

Truly innovative car design. I think it's a little scarce these days. There are a lot of manufacturers that are just phoning it in, but I've come to Paris to see a car. A new car that is the renewed version of this one. They say it is. It's not retro as such, but what it is is a car that has many aspects of the Rena 5, the car that is now over 50 years old and promises to take you straight into the

2024

2025 era, it's fully electric, it's practical, it's

exciting

. It's colorful and it's very charismatic and I'm going to see the finished version that actually just started quietly going into production and it's behind this wall, oh, I like it.

And subscribe five here, it's the new and long-awaited Ed revamp of Renault's Rena 5. R5 and in this episode I'm going to tell you everything they just told us about the production ready and that's what the production ready R5 is. I'm Johnny Smith, you're watching the late break show and this episode. is backed by blackcircles.com, Britain's largest online tire retailer, so where does the R5 sit in Renault's line-up? Well, let's do a quick

review

. The meani ech, which is a fantastic electric car, I actually

review

ed it. Already there. The Scenic Scenic has just continued. I sell that car.

I hope to soon review the Zoe, which is an electric car that has been in production for many years. In fact, it could be 10 years since the car is about to be retired because this car will effectively replace it, but not this. I don't actually wear any of the pieces associated with Zoey, which is what I assumed was going to be the case. This is a completely new platform, a completely new platform, a different suspension system in the rear, especially uh and of course a different size before we talk too. much more, this falls in size between the twingo and the Cleo according to Reno and I will put the dimensions over my head to see how it differs from those two cars now that Renault knew that the original Renault 5 had a recognizable face with character that children and adults liked. and they saw it sold in several original colors, so Renault is going to do this again.

He has a distinctive face and I love that. I love the fact that they are going to sell it in some decent colors, six different colors of which. This is probably my favorite front end here because it's electric, it doesn't need a regular grill. Renault has this new badge that it's had for a couple of years now and I actually think it's quite stylish. I like it a lot inside this. Be careful, inside the headlights there is another little mon that is similar to this one down here and Renault says that this here imitates the fog lights of the Rena 5 GT Turbo, which is the latest version of the Rena 5, it has a water-cooled battery pack We'll talk more about this in a minute because the center of gravity is low, it's in the middle of the car, between the wheels, as you'd expect, and there will be some active air flaps here somewhere that will force the air in or cut it off. consequently, there is no frunk. fruit, there is no storage underneath, this is a front wheel drive car, as far as we know it will only be available in front wheel drive form, uh that's what's underneath talking about there are three different power outputs from the R5.

Same engine and apparently it's a smaller version of the engine, meaning Zoey had a continental engine. This is a Renault-built engine designed by Rena and, to that end, there is a bit of sustainability history in the R5, but they say no. Only this will be made entirely in France, but all the parts it requires will be sourced within about 300km of the factory and the factory is the same factory that made the zo's and as I speak there is a crossover. in the Zoe production ending and in the R5 production ending or starting another thing I must mention about the front design, this here is off-center and on the original Renault 5 this was a grille with louvers that allowed the heat from the engine. to disperse, but they have taken it as a design feature so that when you are charging and the charging port on the R5 is here for all models, it will be on this side, that is, the driver's side in Europe and in our country . in the UK it's on the passenger side and it's a charging status bar, so it says five, it's got some lines that will light up accordingly to give you a quick visual reference of the charging status.

I like it, I think it's really cool. It doesn't feel too forced and it's actually raised off the hood, it's al

most

like an off center lump of power, so the charging times the

first

thing I would say before is that it will launch with two different battery packs. Take note, Honda, because this is what could. I have done it with the Honda e, so the five will be available with a 40 KW hour battery that offers up to 300 km of wltp autonomy or and that is called urban autonomy or Comfort Range for Beyond City jobs, which is a 52 battery KW.

The package would last up to 400 thousand, so it has a range of 250 M. The standard Rena 5 has a heat pump. Yes, really good for colder climates like the UK. It makes more efficient use of that battery. It has a built-in 11 Kow AC charger which was optional on The Zoe from the memory can do fast charging from 80 to 100 Kow DC depending on whether you choose that small battery or the larger battery. It can also tow up to 500 kilos, which is pretty good, so that's your charger now. I said why isn't it on the nose like Zoee was and they said it's because they wanted to get that profile, that slightly retro nose and it wasn't possible any other way.

Now, because you're at this angle, you can probably see this. crease and this type of shoulders there is a crease that goes down and then goes along the door and then goes up and over so it has these little slightly square arches like the Renault 5 turbo, but this is not the hot hatch that they say it is It's fun to drive and it's playful, but it's not crazy, in fact you can get a 70, 90 or 110 kilowatt state of tune out of that engine, the engine stays the same but the software has changed, and the higher spec car high is 150. equivalent in horsepower, all R5s are five-door, so in the original 50-year-old Rena 5 you can choose a three- or five-door.

These are five and similar to the Honda e and many others, you have a fairly hidden handle for Access, but what I really like is that it is 1.5M tall, it is not a tall car at all and it hides that battery that sits in the belly of that new bespoke EV platform whose name I've completely forgotten. It's just that I'm small, but anyway all you need to know is that it's basically not shared with any other car. They are going to make more EVS using this floor and while you are in profile, see how far each wheel is pushed.

This has a long old wheelbase for the entire overall length with hardly any overhangs and, according to Renault, every five will have 18-inch wheels. There are three different versions of wheels. You can get a steel wheel with a hubcap which is pretty retro. level, then you get this one called Techno and it's kind of an Arrow alloy wheel and then you have a Chrono which is like a 10. I think a 10 radius al

most

look

s like an analog clock. In fact, I think these are the best of the alloys, but I like the hubcaps. As for the tires, they all come in the same size.

Tire with a nice profile, actually a nice profile, not too low. 195 5518 Cony Eco contact 60 now when it comes to needing new tires for your car whether your car is an electric car or else go to blackcircles.com head to the black circles website enter your vehicle registration number and your zip code and then you will find the most suitable tires for your car and your budget there are thousands of reviews from different tires real customers to help you choose the tires for your car and, with the black circles, click and click on the service assembly with more than 2000 tire assembly partners.

There will be a workshop or mobile tire fitter conveniently located near you that now moves to the rear of the R5. I love the fact that the two-tone roof really pops with this kind of satin red line and Renault says they took design cues from two things: the real red line on the Turbo 2 and the big wide mid-engine box on the intro that you saw me go through but also the original Rena 5 from the 70s had a chrome strip on the gutter because old cars have rain gutters and this goes into a subtle roof spoiler here and then you have the part rear, I mean the rear is so close to the concept, I love these taillight clusters.

I thought originally they were all smoothed out, but now when I touch them and

look

at them, they're actually completely 3D, full 3D, but the back is very, very illuminated with Hallelujah, a real wiper blade. and they've really gone to the effort of making the five a kind of distinctive design piece and that rear window just sits there, it almost looks like it's floating, it's brilliant now, I really think this is Renault's moment when it's similar to when Mini launched the model in 2001 and perhaps when Fiat launched the 500, which is still Fiat's Cash C car. I really think this could be Renault's moment because not only is this car interesting and it's not just being launched. in fantastic colors like this green, it's actually very well priced, you know, they say the starting price is €25,000, which is £22,000 at the time of this, which is actually very well priced for what which is a car that can reach a range of up to 250 M and is electric.

That's all new, it's got multi-link rear suspension which you probably can't see now, but there's another cutaway of a car in another studio near the dark gray parts of the metal front suspension turret, stuff like that, the dark gray means it's shared with Cleo and captures the same models as the crash bar here behind the steering column, so it's all generic Renault, but there's not much, everything else is new, it's a steel car, like I said, it has less weight, 1450 kilos of mass on the average wheelbase is really as big as possible without overhangs, but the really interesting part, I think, of the Rena 5 is the fully independent multi-link rear suspension because you don't often see this in a car from segment B;

It is usually more expensive and larger. segment cars like the C segment and that means it promises to handle very well but also maybe leaves the door open for a twin engine version or a twin engine version talking about twin engine if you haven't seen my video where I drive an original Citron. 2cv 4x4, which is probably the only factory production car you could buy that had two full engines. Check it out if you haven't already. It's charming. It was one of my favorite days of

2024

3. I actually don't remember when I filmed it. It's a very important point - this is a class-leading boot size, now that you think about the Honda Ear Car which I really like - but it's flat in two key areas.

The trunk of the Honda E is horrible and also the Honda e only comes in one battery size, as I said before, which is a shame they didn't offer it with two battery sizes. This and the fat 500 E have two battery sizes and the trunk of this 326 L and there is even under the trunk floor immediately. in the back here it looks like half a spare wheel, but it's an extra 27L apparently to store cables and maybe muddy shoes. I think it's a good boot siiz considering the size of the car and its 640 competitors split the rear seats and Speaking of rear seats, the interior of this thing is really special, really special.

I mean, it looks like the 80's Rena 5 to me, looks brilliant right? And there is a Rena 4 coming, a new Reno 4 that will be interesting, oh I forgot. To say that the electric motor with which it works does not use any rare earth materials, it does not have magnets, so it uses fewer materials in that sense. The other thing I want to mention is that this cool little sticker here again makes a real thing about the number five, they're really doing it with the graphics and I like that I finally forgot to mention here that the Rena 5 comes with two things: standard vehicle for charge and vehicle to the network.

What do they mean? Vehicle to load. It means you can. plug it in and turn it off, like an air dryer or a vacuum cleaner, or you know, an electric barbecue or go camping so it uses the battery as a vehicle to grid source, meaning you plug in the car and can effectively power your house o Using the right wall box and the right app, you can sell power to the grid at peak times and then you can charge the car during off-peak hours, and there are apps to help you decide if that's a good idea or not. but it's a

first

for Renault, the R5 weighs less than 40 to 50 kilos and that was really important, that it didn't feel too bloated.

The other thing I just heard is quite annoying is that Jean Michelle Jar, one of the most French in the world. world was involved in the graphics and sound design for the welcome sequence in the car and Jean Michelle J also designed the sound for The Pedestrian Consciousness of the 30 km thatthe car has to do is mandatory Anyway, let's go to the cabin, now it's amazing. According to Renault, this car will be made from 85% recyclable materials and 22% will come from a circular economy that includes 41 kilos of recycled polymers. There is great sustainability, as is the case with many manufacturers.

There is a great history of sustainability with everything and that includes. this looks like denim but when it's denim it's not denim well when it's made from 100% recycled plastic bottles that's when and that's what this is the shape of these seats they look very sporty but they have been designed to be comfortable and the shape of Apparently it has been inspired by the original Renault 5 turbo which has an incredibly cool interior, it has to be said now sitting here, the first main things that greet you are yes, it has a center console, it has wireless charging and it has a couple of cup holders and you know, the plastic.

I think they have little diamonds on the plastic but the plastic doesn't feel particularly amazing but I love the fabric and then you realize there's a basket here on the side and this is one of the quirky options. This is a wicker basket. This is a baguette holder. I'm not kidding again, one of the most French things you mention. Jean Michelle Jah and baguette in the same paragraph is very French. That's what the screen is and the center console here is actually angled towards the driver and This is a 10-inch multimedia touchscreen that uses a Google interface, which I'm very pleased with because the Google gole works exceptionally well, there's even a character, a small infographic character, Avatar, if his name is Reindeer, that has been presented, it is all new. and apparently Reno is really helpful, although I don't have a great track record with those kinds of voice commands, but rest assured, he's there if you want him.

Those almost illuminated camera viewfinder front DRL monikers, they are also hinted at here on the edge of the two-outlet and if you remember the original old school Renault 5 from the 70s, it had this big vinyl padded dash, I think it was and they have imitated it here in the Reno 5 and this part here I think also lights up. I think the dash is really cool, although the lighter colored interiors look even more original and if I were to buy one I would definitely go for the lighter colored ones to celebrate all these interesting fabrics. This car is 100% leather free, apparently the R5 interior has patented smart cocoon soundproofing and an acoustic windshield.

Well, maybe the soundproofing has something to do with the headliner. This headliner is very exclusive, so the original Renault 5 had a diamond embossing like the Renault diamond badge, but look at this, look at this so that the little one The joystick that selects, you know, reverse gear, Park Etc, it's shaped like a lipstick, a traditional lipstick with the Renault logo at the end, the steering wheel isn't completely circular I don't think, although I can't make it out and it's a bit piano black. There is plastic and I'm pretty sure this switch has been carried over from the Zoe, but I ran a Zoe as a long-term test car and really enjoyed it.

I'll put a link on the screen for that if you've done it. I haven't seen it before and they haven't used a ton of touch screen stuff, obviously there's the touch screen and one nice thing about Google using the Google interface is the fact that it has a trip planner for electric cars and apparently that It is very, very efficient. and it updates quickly and those are really the challenges that non-Tesla manufacturers face, making sure that it's as easy as possible to make a trip to charge on the go and have all of that set up in the car now purely.

Out of curiosity I wanted to pop the hood and take a quick look because the Renault 5 uses the steering rack and uses the front suspension and inner wing structure from the Capture and the Cleo, the rear suspension trick is tailored to the car, apparently I can see water bubbling in this coolant here because it obviously has a water-cooled system and it uses all of that cleverly to be able to heat the cabin and take heat off the engine down there, but it obviously doesn't have any storage under here, the hood on It actually weighs quite a bit, it feels quite substantial, which is a surprise to me, actually, it's something else when I looked at the corner of this lighthouse, there's a French flag right in the corner, right there, which is which is very clear and appropriately patriotic given that the car, I think, the modules, the engine, everything appears to be made in France and speaking of the U modules, three modules for the 40 KW battery, four modules for the 52 KW battery and they are made by nmc, this has Adas, which is various safety systems that Renault uses, so it actually has adaptive cruise control, steering assist and lane keeping assist, but it can also handle self parking, you can park the car , although I don't really mind the self-parking because it's a small car with a really good turning circle that's suitable for use in cities like Paris, which is very timely given that Paris is trying to ban large, heavy cars ​Like SUVs, this is surely born for Parisian life.

In fact, I remember that the original Renault 5 was one of the first cars to have plastic bumpers that were officially culled. I've actually noticed a few on the Rena 5. There's one etched into the glass here. There's another one on the tailgate. Don't know. I really know the meaning, I think it has to do with the proud French production, but apparently they are also in the middle ech, but when I checked that car I didn't notice sorry, we have managed to squeeze out a little more time to film earlier. They close and I wanted to see the yellow car, especially from the inside because the yellow fabric here is absolutely stunning.

Take a look, so of the five colors that are available, I think the yellow here and the green there are like the '70s. The colors are the ones that really pop and look fantastic, but it's this interior. In fact, I have a stool at home, a retro stool that is similar to this type of mled fabric and again, this fabric is made entirely of recycled fibers and that shape of the seat can be seen even better in the lightweight fabric, it mimics the kind of H pattern and that headrest from the original Renault 5 Mid Engine turbo, so on the back again you can see this kind of five logos that are really prominent.

It's a five seat five door car like I said unfortunately I can't sit behind me it's too tight it's a flat floor car because it's a custom made platform for electric vehicles if you were sitting behind me if I was a kid it would probably be fine but I need a little more leg room. I can't get my feet under the seat so it's probably not the best for a tall adult like me to sit in the back of the R5, but still there are three seats here and for kids and People like that one and maybe short trips or sitting behind someone who is short is probably fine in terms of rivals.

I mean probably the biggest rival is the mini electric that I introduced just before the world went out of control with the pandemic and I think it's a really cool car and then you have the Fat 500e which I also think is really good because it launched with two different battery sizes for the consumer to choose from and that's what they did with the Rena 5 and I'm really looking forward to it. Let's see how it feels with this multi-link rear suspension that leaves the door wide open for a dual motor version, maybe what could be an RS Renault sports badge, who knows, I'm excited, I'm really excited about what this is going to mean.

I drive like and I'm excited for Renault because this is a new era for them, not only bringing back an iconic name and using elements of it, but also building on that electric background where they've really become very successful with things like the Zoe we have. "I've seen it over the years, the bad and the quaint, so this is a bold New Era for Renault and the price they are going to sell this car at means it is extremely competitive and that addresses the complaints of many. people about oh I". Looks pretty much like an EV to me, but they cost too much money.

Well actually this is probably as interesting as it gets and then the range, there are two ranges to choose from and it gives you that from launch with things like a heat pump that In countries like ours, in winter, you really need to get the most out of it. efficiency of your electric car. What do you think of the new R5? I would love to know. If you're watching this on the day this video comes out, I'll be I'm pretty sure the order books open for an extra £150 or something. Either way, you can be at the front of the line to order one of these.

Thanks for watching this video and if you haven't seen my other electric car videos, I'll put a list up. for my playlist on The Late Break Show for all new electric car reviews, regards.