2025 Renault 5 Review // Everyone Loves It
[Music] You’re watching Throttle House Express and I’m James. And if you’re wondering where Thomas is, he’s just had a baby. Where have you been? Okay, this question did have more relevance when we first filmed this video, which was now a few months ago, I’ll admit. So, you’re all off the hook and you’re all devilishly handsome. and I’m on my England trip. And this has been a silent hero of the England trip because yes, we came here to film an Audi S5 and an Aerial Atom, but in the background has been hovering what might be the antidote to all of our problems because Thomas and I have suggested quite recently that EVs have been getting too big, too heavy, too expensive, too ridiculous, and they don’t make any sense. And yet, in the background, we’ve been thinking maybe this is the answer. This is a just over £3,000, under30,000 British pound affordable, greatsized, reasonable EV and it’s called the Rena 5. The Rena 5 name is 50 years old and so manufacturers have to be quite careful because the Mustang marquee met resistance because it was a disgrace to the Mustang name. In England, I speak to people, the Ford Capri is a disgrace to the Capri name, the Explorer. Wow, it sounds like Ford are messing up a lot. But for Renault, this apparently, according to public opinion, actually holds a candle to its predecessor. Everyone loves it. So, we had to know what it was like. We’ve been living with it for a week. And yeah, I think it’s pretty good news. First of all, look at it. Really stylish. It’s a five-oor hatchback. It’s got a bunch of dads going on that, you know, pay homage to where it’s from. We’ve got a French flag here. We’ve got cool designs, things that hark back to the Renault 5 Turbo. The tail lights look amazing. We have a lit up five here that actually lights up to show how much charge you have. I like it. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I went on holiday and the challenge was to find as many Renault Twingo as you could. And the Renault Twingo had three little intakes and that was how we knew. And that was where my car enthusiasm didn’t begin because that’s not a good enough reason. It was years later. They’ve also brought out in bright colors. I actually really like it in the yellow, but this green pops just as hard. I love it. I think they’ve styled it. It looks a little bit like a hothatch, but it’s by no means a hot hatch. I think it’s a huge success from a design, a price, a numbers standpoint. Let’s hope it doesn’t fall down when I drive it. [Music] Okay, I’m in the Renault 5 and I’m joined by EV extraordinaire Jack Scarlet who you’d normally find him as host of the Fully Charged show. Um, but now I’ve got him in my car captive and he was recently in a catering room on one of our videos and did very well in that. That was exciting. And just to pull the curtain back, we filmed that about 5 minutes ago. I’m still sort of picking bits of rubble out of my eyeballs from the atom. Yeah, sorry about that. Um, this we’ve been living with for a week though, uh, as a team and Jack’s been on camp Throttle House, which has been interesting. Has it been interesting? Oh, it’s been so fun to watch the way you guys work. It’s a welloiled machine. There’s been But the house, well, about the management of the house. There’s been smells. There’s been Yeah, there’s been smells. Um, Caren. Caren. Stinky boy. Hell of a driver though, eh? A brilliant driver. Carson could drive for sure. I like how you saved him there because you realize you just on national television you just shamed him. It wasn’t even him by the way. I I will say I was sharing a Jack and Jill bathroom with Carson and I may have put the blame. Anyway, I brought you here because you are knowledgeable and I need an adult quite. So, the Rena 5, now that we’re in it, the interior, there’s style going on. Effort has been made, right? Effort has been made. I like the stitching here. I like the I like this the fabric’s being used. I’m not expecting massively expensive materials. This car gets a a get out of jail free card because of how much it costs, just like the Corolla Hybrid did. Whatever that thing did wrong, we forgave it because it’s just so good at doing what it does. And now this is the people’s EV in that sense. It’s cheap. The range is pretty good. 250 mi. This is the bigger battery, so it’s got 150 horsepower. So, if I floor it, something happens. 7.9 seconds to 60. I don’t even need you. You very, you know, you’re my friend. No, I just ran out, actually. Oh, that’s it. That’s your data. Yeah, I’m getting four miles per kilowatt hour. You are indeed. Uh, which is better than three. That’s right. It’s pretty good actually. It’s one of the things that’s good about this Renault is it pulls a lot of range from a smallish battery, which means you get decent range. They’ll say they claim 250 on our current efficiency. We get 200 miles from the battery, but we’ve been razing up and down the mountain all day. And I’m in sport mode at the moment, which by the way, the steering is far too light. Far far too. I wish it weighed up more than this because I can’t feel anything. The car is the car feels light. I really like that. The turning we’ve, you know, driving this around motorways and mountain roads like we are right now. It’s nimble. And here I’m just going to stop here. Nice on the brakes. The turning circle. I shouldn’t make that and I didn’t. But that’s the thing. This gives you a confidence. Okay, this is an annoying thing. It does. Let’s talk about this. Normally in EVs, I can go reverse and then drive easily. But for some reason, this car you have to really be is it stopped and purposeful. So I’ve done a lot of those little extra jogs forward or backwards and sometimes in some scary moments. I’m glad I did that in a controlled environment. But yeah, well, um, nimble. Very nimble. Golf GTI weigh less than a Golf GTI. And as an EV, I’m so not used to saying that. No, you’re right. And, you know, one of the benefits of it not weighing a million tons, is it doesn’t need horribly firm suspension to cope with all its weight, which means there’s a suppleness to the ride that you often don’t get on electric cars, even ones that are supposed to be comfy family cars. Yeah, the ride. The ride is good. All right, I’m going to use your knowledge here. Whenever I hear about this car, this is the car that’s crossed the ocean in terms of news, the cars it shares its class with, when I see it, when I, you know, because I was trying to do some research, they’re they’re gobbledygook. They sound so bor, you know, the MG4 and the something something and the BYD something, they all put me to sleep. What? The Rena’s broken through. Is it just style? Is that all it ever needed? I think yeah, just being interesting makes a big difference, doesn’t it? When the design first came out, the concept uh in 2021 got all the headlines. Then it came out a few years later actually looking like the concept, which never happens. The other really cheap, really cheap electric vehicle that I’d call your attention to, which you should drive next time you’re here, is the Daca Spring. That’s 15,000. I’m not I’m not going to drive that. It’s it’s it’s like it’s like if you put a roof on a golf buggy. £15,000. It’s actually uh we actually uh became the first people to crash one of those on the international press launch. How did you crash it? We in we crashed it into the head of products car which so we borrowed we we needed a camera car. Yeah. The the sort of European head of product very kindly donated her Daca jogger or whatever it was. Did the follow shots. Came back into the car park. I think a Dutch journalist had just come in behind us in a dacer spring. was looking down at his phone, rear ended it. Uh, didn’t do well in the crash. I can confirm even at low speed. It was like, uh, tin foil. Oh, by the way, I, you know, I said that the car feels light and that the steering’s too light. But what I do absolutely love are these seats. Oh, so good. Right. Bolstered. Yeah. And they, well, they look fantastic. They look straight out of the R5 Turbo from back way back when. And especially in the yellow. These these are the sort of a toned down spec, but the yellow and gray they it’s and and and the base trim has them. That was what I was surprised to find out. Uh are they heated? You know, I got a heated steering wheel. There’s comforts in here. It’s not. And what’s the dash spring got? What’s that? Door handles, few seats, heated seats. It’s got nothing. Heater steering wheel. The the entry- level trim version, which they didn’t bring to the UK, doesn’t have a heater, right? And I wonder if this actually does have all the things that America would want because I and people are saying they want this and and this is the second Renault product we’ve had in England because we had an Alpine A110 last time which was a brilliant sports car that everyone all the enthusiasts say they want in North America and then it’s just a question of who would buy them because they barely get bought here. But I think a cheap EV, I think people want that now. And especially since the reputation of one particular brand of EVs that would monopolize a lot of them has gone absolutely down the that people are looking for alternatives. But you have a Polestar 2. I do. I do. I love that car. Discuss. Oh, it’s fantastic. It’s uh it’s just Swedish excellence. I always think of Polestar as like the SA of this decade. The electrics are they’ve got that uh unreal build quality. Interesting. They’re going to say schwadada vivra but in Swedish. I was about to say in perfect Swedish. Yes. Um Oh, I love that car. It mine is kind of outdated now. It’s prefaceelift. So the efficiency is horrible compared to this thing. Compared to most new EVs. It’s got some 20 kilowatt hours more battery than this Renault, but doesn’t go further, which again shows you how far we’ve come. Yeah. But I love it. It’s And we get the Pstar, too. Yeah. It’s a great car. I’m a big fan. And there is an Alpine version of this car, which you’ve driven. I have. Except that defeats the object, doesn’t it, if it gets expensive or is it just so good? It’s tricky. I weirdly drove the Alpine before I drove this and I was like, this is the best thing since sliced bread. They’ve really done a number on it. So, it’s all new suspension. It’s not just a body kit and some more horsepower. Um, and it’s the ride is so good. The suspension is so clever. But it is like 10 grand more. Right. But here’s here’s a big thing though. We’re not going to get this in North America. We are rumored to be getting Alpine’s EV stuff, the big crossovers. Yeah. Yeah. So, does that mean we’re not going to get the A290 then? I’m not sure. I would sort of be surprised. Seems European car brands are just allergic to bringing anything small to North America despite the fact that on all the videos that we post about small EVs, it’s just Americans going, “Please, we want this.” Well, when Alpine, that’s if Albine brings over the bigger crossovers and they haven’t brought anything new to the table. They’ve just brought an alternative French thing. I have no interest in Alpine electric crossovers, I have to say. Have you seen the new Rena 5 Turbo? The 3E. That’s very silly. I have, but that is next level. to I’ve been posting about it cuz it it weirdly excites me as much as it doesn’t. Is that a thing? I I think I understand what you mean. Like I I see it. It looks amazing. I The performance sounds incredible. I’m very excited about a fully rear wheel drive, very powerful EV with a factory fitted hydraulic handbrake. How many cars have had those in history? And I don’t even mind that it’s limited production because it’s limited to the to the thousands, right? It’s not 12. 1980 of them. which is amazing. That is a lot. But then but that defeats like everything we were saying about how £26,000 for this you don’t mind the depreciation demand for EV supercars and hypercars you know even the rim you know or rimats as they say he mate said that people aren’t don’t want a hyper and the nea isn’t s isn’t selling out so who wants basically if that Renault turbo 3 had come along with a nuts you Aryan Atom style turbocharged engine that was wild. Everyone it would be people queuing up. There’d be people, you know, but it’s not going to happen. No, it was never going to happen. The turbo is basically like a PR stunt to boost sales of the normal five, right? So, it’d be absurd to put a petrol engine in it. You’re right, though. The the one thing that electric has not yet conquered, has not yet proven its ability to do is thrill and excite you like a great petrol car. is the one thing that we really haven’t cracked yet. Well, that that was why I was excited to try this because the Ionic 5N did it at an expense. It’s like 70 $80,000. It was really fun. So good. But, you know, get rid of the theatrics, make it small, make it frontwheel drive, make it cheaper, and that’s this. This is next to the 5N. This is my favorite new EV. I did really love the G Wagon that just But the range was crap. If it had good range, that would probably be number one. But yeah, I I really like this. I’m hoping it’s good news. I’m hoping that we bring it over. But uh yeah, it’s been good. Thank you. Oh, thanks for having me. What’s your What’s your most embarrassing car moment? Uh I spat on the waitress. That That’s got nothing to
The 2025 Renault 5 E-Tech iconic five 150hp (£27,495 starting in the UK) is a compact EV with a name that carries a strong motorsport heritage. It has a range of about 405 km (250 miles) in this comfort range spec and boasts unique styling that harks back to the legendary R5 Turbo of yesteryear. But how does this electrified Renault do as a daily driver? And how does it compare to the competition? To help James out today, we have a special guest appearance by Jack Scarlett. Let’s see what the guys think! We hope you enjoy the episode. Subscribe!
Special Guest Presenter: Jack Scarlett
Videography: Karston Chong and Daniel Mason
Editing: Daniel Mason
Sound: Harrison Dickson and Daniel Mason
Magical Genius Logistics Planners: James Engelsman and Joey Alford
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