Latest news with #Renault5
The Independent
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
The Updated 2025 Nissan Micra That No One Expected!
Nissan 's iconic supermini has gone electric. Steve Fowler gets his first look at the brand-new Micra EV. In this episode of Drive Smart, The Independent's EV Editor Steve Fowler is among the first to see the new Nissan Micra EV on camera. He walks around the all-electric supermini, takes a close look at its styling, interior, and practicality — and draws comparisons to one of its closest competitors, the Renault 5. Is this the compact EV that will win over UK drivers?
Auto Express
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
The Renault Clio Williams is back…almost
The new Renault 5 has received plenty of attention since it returned last year thanks to its retro style, but a coachbuilder has decided the electric supermini could do with some influence from the Clio, too. While the regular Renault 5 EV is dripping in design touches that mimic the original, the Monte Carlo Edition gets plenty of bespoke tweaks. Partnering Dutch car dealer Zeeuw & Zeeuw, Re-volve – a coachbuilder in the Netherlands – has added a Midnight Blue paint finish with a contrasting black roof, plus a gold livery within the grille that flows down the sides and onto the rear hatch, broken up by 'Monte Carlo' lettering. Just like the Clio Williams, the Renault 5 Monte Carlo gets gold wheels, plus there's a neat little gold 'R5' emblem on the front wings. The colour theme continues to the cabin where you'll find black leather and Alcantara upholstery, with stitching in gold as well as a special gold plaque on the centre console displaying 'Re-volve' and 'Monte Carlo'. Advertisement - Article continues below Unlike the Clio Williams, which gained a more powerful 150bhp 2.0-litre engine and tweaked suspension in the name of rallying homologation, the Renault 5 Monte Carlo Edition comes with the same underpinnings as the regular Renault 5. In fact, it's not even based on the more powerful 148bhp variant of the R5 EV; the model chosen is the 121bhp edition with a smaller 40kWh battery. That means the new car covers the 0-62mph sprint in nine seconds flat – 1.2 seconds slower than the Clio Williams in 1993. It's unlikely we'll ever see a Renault 5 Monte Carlo Edition here in the UK. Not only are 25 being built, they're also only going to be sold in the Netherlands. Prices start from 37,995 Euros (roughly £33,000), which also makes it around £7,000 more expensive than the standard car. Configure your perfect Renault 5 through our Find A Car service now. Alternatively, check out the best deals out there on a new Renault 5 from stock or top prices on used Renault 5 models... Find a car with the experts New Xiaomi YU7 2025 review: a world-beating new EV to worry the establishment New Xiaomi YU7 2025 review: a world-beating new EV to worry the establishment BMW or Mercedes would do anything to keep the new Xiaomi YU7 from sale in the UK and Europe, and this is why The Electric Car Grant is here: Government's new £3,750 EV discount in detail The Electric Car Grant is here: Government's new £3,750 EV discount in detail The government has set out its plan to help reduce the cost of affordable EVs by introducing a new £3,750 Electric Car Grant for new EVs sold under £3… New MG IM5 has the Tesla Model 3 beaten on price and range New MG IM5 has the Tesla Model 3 beaten on price and range The all-electric IM5 brings new technology and design to the MG line-up
Top Gear
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Renault 4 Driving, Engines & Performance
Driving What is it like to drive? It doesn't drive quite like the Renault 5, but its character is similar. The suspension is a little calmer than the 5's, while the steering remains quickish and accurate, working in harmony with the suspension to feed you smoothly into and through a bend. To begin with that steering feels remote, but push the cornering effort harder and sensory messages start to come up from the tyres. Messages of the sophisticated multi-link rear suspension keeping everything nicely precise and balanced front to rear. It's properly enjoyable and serves you with a smile. Advertisement - Page continues below In town or on tight rural lanes, you might want to set up a personal drive mode that softens the initial accelerator response. That makes it smoother to drive in traffic. It also lets you meter out the torque gently from a corner, not that you'll be wheelspinning much. Is it comfy? Not unexpectedly, that firm-ish setup translates into a somewhat busy ride. But it's not harsh or distracting, and shrugs off big bumps and dips extremely well. The tyres and suspension are also quiet, which helps you ignore the road-level perturbations and wind noise at higher speeds. And bumps don't knock you off line. You just point and steer. Power is more than enough for suburbs and B-roads, and there's just enough to avoid being bullied on the motorway. The 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds is the sort of thing that'd be considered lively in a sub-£30k petrol family car: there's no particular need for it to be quicker. The brakes are pretty sensitive at low speed, but in solid stops they're reassuring and consistent. There are four levels of regen – including a one-pedal mode – and you'll quickly get into the habit of flicking away at the paddles to gently slow the car without the brake pedal. Advertisement - Page continues below The R4 is just 1.8 metres across the body and under 4.2m long, and sure enough feels handy when threading down narrow streets and lanes. It'll even tow a 750kg trailer. Good news if you only want to holiday within an hour's radius of your own bed. Does the range hold up? Expect 200-220 miles range; around 4.0 mi/kWh, obscure stats fans. And when we tested the car mid-heatwave we got close to the magic 5.0 mi/kWh at urban speeds. Inevitably those numbers will plummet in winter, but the standard heat pump and (relatively) low weight stand the R4 in good stead. What about driver assist? The base Evolution spec is standard cruise control and just a lane-departure warning system, while the Iconic spec comes with full adaptive cruise with lane centring. Both are pretty well calibrated. Anyway, the R4 has a hardware switch for the driver-assist. Double-press it and you get your preferred setup. So you can pick that preferred setup just the once, never to return to the screen menu. Ideal. Highlights from the range the fastest 110kW Iconic 52kWh Comfort range 5dr Auto 0-62 8.2s CO2 0 BHP 147.5 MPG Price £30,930 the cheapest 110kW Evolution 52kWh Comfort range 5dr Auto 0-62 8.2s CO2 0 BHP 147.5 MPG Price £26,930 the greenest 110kW Iconic 52kWh Comfort range 5dr Auto 0-62 8.2s CO2 0 BHP 147.5 MPG Price £30,930
Top Gear
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Renault 4 Review 2025
It's a new small electric crossover. Here at Top Gear we might as well have that sentence set up as a keyboard shortcut (cmd-alt-E-C) because we use it so often. New small electric crossovers keep coming, many from Chinese brands you haven't heard of. This one's different, because it has deep roots. Renault has been selling electric cars in Britain for more than a decade. And if the electric Megane and Scenic are anything to go, it's gotten rather good at them. Advertisement - Page continues below The 4 itself is closely related to the wonderful Renault 5 EV, but has an 8cm longer wheelbase so there's more room for the legs of the people in the back, and their stuff in the boot. That's why it's actually a little more expensive than the R5, even if their names might make you think the prices are the other way around. The R4 takes stylistic inspiration from the 1961 Renault 4: that was one of the first hatchbacks, before the term was recognised. It also, by decades, predated the word 'crossover', but it was one of those too. Which is why French farmers and all sorts of residents in North Africa and South America loved it. It needed only a track, not a road. So is it retro or not? Let's not get too carried away, because the original R4 was super-cheap and the new one is a bit more premium. Maybe if the original Land Rover had died in the mid 1990s, then the current Defender appeared now, you'd have a parallel. Here's how they've updated the old lines. The face was once a single chromed frame with the round lamps at the end, and grille in the middle: now the chrome is substituted by an LED perimeter track. A cut-line between this and the wings follows a gap between the original's wings and forward-opening bonnet-grille assembly. Advertisement - Page continues below On the tall flattish sides, you've ridged door panels, like the R4 GTL had. The reverse-raked rear door window and trapezoid rearmost side window keep the faith with the characteristic rhythm of the old car's fenestration. An upright tailgate and tall narrow little lamp clusters complete the picture. Our hot take? The design isn't as successful as the Renault 5, with more than a whiff of breadvan about it and palpable Mini Countryman vibes from the back. But it's friendly and accessible, and on balance we like it. And inside? Sliding windows? Rubber mats? Garden-implement gear lever? This latest Renault 4 is dripping with nods to the past. But it's not here to bait you with nostalgia, the detailing throughout is genuinely lovely and fully modern at the same time. The fabric seats (pictured) are ace, and you'll be noticing new details for ages. Look out for the Easter egg on the windshield… Renault's excellent interface includes well-organised screens and plenty of useful quick-access switches. In the back, two grown-ups can sit without much hardship. Three across would be a squeeze but doable for a short trip. The boot is surprisingly deep too. More about this under the Interior tab of this review. How does it drive? Brilliantly. It's a real pleasure to get along with. You drive it with your toes and fingertips, as the pedals and steering are light and quick-acting. But once you've acclimatised, that makes it feel perky. The single motor is 148bhp, but it's well under 1,500kg so gets along well enough: 0-62mph takes 8.2 seconds. The suspension is pretty sophisticated in design, with multi-link at the rear, so it's precise through bends and quiet when it hits bumps. The old R4 had a pillowy ride and leant pretty much onto its wing mirrors at the sniff of a tight corner. The new one is quite tightly sprung and very controlled. It's also pretty efficient. Both versions in the UK have a 52kWh battery, for 250 miles WLTP range. We saw 215 miles in practice, including some quite vigorous back-road driving. Cruising at motorway speeds will knock the estimate down to 180-odd miles, even in warm weather. The real test will come in the depths of January, when conditions are at their least agreeable. What about the rivals? The Ford Puma Gen-E is the most obvious, along with a bunch from the Stellantis empire – Peugeot e-2008, and the electric versions of the Vauxhall Mokka and Jeep Avenger. You could also get into a slightly larger Chinese-branded EV for similar money, like the MG4. A base-model from the Volvo EX30 or Smart #1 or Mini Aceman line-up all cost more than an R4 for less range. The mighty VW group's small EVs are still stuck in the concept-car stage. Nope, a Skoda Elroq doesn't count because it's an order of magnitude bigger than this. The R4's battery range is on-target for those price rivals. Few have substantially bigger battery options either, except the MG4 for considerably more money. And on the subject of money… Ah yes, some numbers would help. Things kick off at a fiver under £27k for the base model, with mid- and top-spec trims pitched at £29k and £31k apiece. Like-for-like that makes it two Gs more than the Renault 5. And at the time of typing, it looks like both will qualify for a handy government grant worth thousands too. We'll explain what you get at each trim level on the Buying tab. What's the verdict? ' The interior is sublime, the tech is well executed, it's value for money and… unfailingly uplifting to drive ' A staggering eight million original Renault 4s were sold, but your memory of it is likely as rusty as they mostly are now. So don't worry if all this retro talk doesn't resonate with you. The new Renault 4 combines dynamic talent with an admirable amount of suppleness over the UK's often cratered road network. That's a hard trick to pull off. And while the design isn't as – how shall we put this – purposeful as the R5's, it's recognisably different from the waves of generic-looking stuff washing up in dealers all over the country, with marvellous detailing inside and out. If you're not keen at first, give it time… it'll grow on you. And there's goodness in the R4 that goes beyond design: the interior is sublime, the tech is well executed, it's value for money and (most importantly of all) unfailingly uplifting to drive. Renault has hit another home run with this.
Auto Express
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Car Deal of the Day: Hyundai Inster is cute, charming and cheap at just £175 a month
Cutesy styling 229-mile range; easy to drive Just £174.12 a month Not that long ago you could count the number of affordable small electric cars on the fingers of one hand. But now that's changing fast, and in recent months a whole wave of pint-sized EVs has arrived to cater for people on a relatively low budget. Advertisement - Article continues below Easily one of the most charming of this new crop of cheaper EVs is the Hyundai Inster. It's a Renault 5 and Fiat Grande Panda EV rival, and just as charismatic; it's also a bit of a bargain right now. Scouring the Auto Express Find a Car service, we found Lease Car UK is offering the cutesy Inster for just £174.12 a month right now. It's a three-year deal that requires a £2,437.44 initial payment, while mileage is capped at 5,000 a year. Rather amazingly you can bump this up to 8,000 miles per annum for only around a fiver extra a month. The Inster line-up is easy to get your head around, given that there are just three models – 01, 02 and Cross – and two battery sizes to choose from. With this deal you get the entry-level 01 but, very impressively, you nab the largest of the batteries on offer. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below The 49kWh 'Long Range' battery brings a claimed range of 229 miles, and if you live in the city and only travel short distances, you could likely cover 100 more miles than that before needing to top up. Power comes from a 113bhp electric motor, which serves up 0-62mph in 10.6 seconds – not outrageously fast, but plenty quick enough for most everyday driving situations. The entry-level 01 brings a 10.25-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a rear-view camera and parking sensors, heated and power-fold mirrors, along with 15-inch alloys. Surprisingly, a heat pump and a battery-heating system are thrown in, too. The Inster is a strict four-seater, but the interior is pretty roomy considering the car's dinky dimensions. That boxy shape means visibility is excellent, and overall the car is easy and very comfortable to drive. The Car Deal of the Day selections we make are taken from our own Auto Express Find A Car deals service, which includes the best current offers from car dealers and leasing companies around the UK. Terms and conditions apply, while prices and offers are subject to change and limited availability. If this deal expires, you can find more top Hyundai Inster leasing offers from leading providers on our Hyundai Inster page. Check out the Hyundai Inster deal or take a look at our previous Car Deal of the Day selection here… Find a car with the experts New MG IM5 has the Tesla Model 3 beaten on price and range New MG IM5 has the Tesla Model 3 beaten on price and range The all-electric IM5 brings new technology and design to the MG line-up New MG Cyberster Black is a dark sign of things to come for the brand New MG Cyberster Black is a dark sign of things to come for the brand MG boss thinks special editions like this might be the ticket to keeping up demand for the electric sports car Vauxhall Mokka vs Hyundai Kona: small hybrid SUVs in a big battle Vauxhall Mokka vs Hyundai Kona: small hybrid SUVs in a big battle Hybrid newcomers slug it out for family buyers' hearts and minds Car group tests 12 Jul 2025
