Renault 4 E-Tech | UK Review
The R5 is converting petrolheads like nothing else, says Renault. Can the R4 do the same?
Once in a long while, a car comes along that has such immense appeal that it defies the boundaries of class. The Volkswagen Golf is the absolute master of this, looking just as at home shuttling kids off to school as it does parked up in a quiet Knightsbridge street, as does the Fiat 500, which has been the go-to runabout for all tax brackets for almost 20 years. Now Renault has gone and built what is arguably a classless EV with the new R5, following in Fiat’s footsteps by rebooting its classic hatch for a swarm of new buyers - 84 per cent of whom had never bought a Renault before, while a good chunk were diving into electric ownership for the very first time.
So it only makes sense to revisit other models from yestercentury and give them the EV treatment. But, you know, it’s got to be one people remember fondly. No point in reviving the Renault 9. The Renault 4, however, possessed the right mix of cute styling and ruggedness to prove incredibly popular throughout the latter half of the 20th century, with Renault shifting eight million of them between 1961 and 1992. So it’s an ideal candidate for an electric reboot, and that’s exactly what it’s done with the Renault 4 E-Tech that we have here. Well, sort of.
See, the Renault 5 closely follows the original formula by being a small hatchback, albeit with an electric motor and proper safety gear. To prevent the R4 from stepping on the R5’s toes, Renault’s reimagined it as a compact crossover, which makes sense in the fact that a) the original car was famed for its hardiness and b) crossovers still reign supreme in the sales charts, so whacking some plastic cladding down the sides and raising the ride height does make quite a lot of sense.
True, that does mean it loses the old car’s sit-up-and-beg silhouette, nose hunkered down with its backside in the air, but Renault’s otherwise managed to cram the R4 full of nods to the past. The circular headlights are among them, and they’re hidden within a black visor that follows the look of the original’s grille. The ripples at the base of the door, meanwhile, are a modern spin on the old model’s plastic protectors, and the rear is mostly flat and slopes downwards for that bread van-like appeal. It looks good, especially in one of the pastel colours, but it’s missing some of the magic that made the electric 5 so magnetic. The optional retractable fabric roof, which will be available from summer 2026, should bring a dash more character, which is probably all that's needed for parity with the affable cinq.
Speaking of the R5, the R4 is based on the same AmpR platform as the hatchback. Being the workhorse of the range means Renault has stretched the wheelbase to 2,624mm, around 84mm longer than the R5, while the height is up by 72mm to 1,570mm, all of which aims to open up interior space so five occupants can comfortably fit in. Now, being a family of two does make testing the 4’s practicality a little tricky, but then I got a call from my brother who’d had a few drinks at the beach and needed me to give him, my brother-in-law and nephew a lift home. All fit in the back row just fine, with no complaints about space. Okay, so it’s a little tight on legroom if you’re over six foot, as my brother is, but not to the point where it becomes uncomfortable.
The Renault 4 comes with a decent amount of boot space, too. At 420 litres, the 4 trumps the Fiat 600e and Jeep Avenger 4XE, though the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross and Ford Puma Gen-E are more cavernous. Still, there’s 55 litres of storage space underneath the boot floor for things like charging cables, and you can drop the rear seats for 1,405 litres of storage space. What’s more, you can fold the front passenger seat flat for, I dunno, book shelves or cupboards or skis. The boot floor is also incredibly low, meaning lifting stuff in and out requires minimum effort, and the whole car’s littered with cubbies and elastic belts so you can put stuff away and forget about it until your PCP deal comes to an end.
Being a stretched Renault 5 means you not only get an identical dash layout, but also the same 52kWh battery as the range-topping hatchback (we’re not taking the 40kWh battery here in the UK), which has a claimed range of up to 247 miles. Driving this in the middle of a heatwave meant I had near-perfect conditions for the battery, with 240-ish miles displayed when all juiced up. Driving between my home in Berkshire and Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex could easily be done on a single charge, air con blasting all the way, with an average power consumption of comfortably north of four miles per kWh is seriously impressive, especially for a car with such boxy proportions.
Charging up, however, is still a hassle if you don’t happen to have a driveway or a convenient on-street charger. I have the latter, but it’s used so little and isn’t especially well signposted that there are always non-electric cars parked in front of it. Not wanting to be that person who leaves notes on windscreens, I was forced to use public charges in and around the area, which was easy enough, although the cost to top up is just silly. That’s nothing to do with the R4, of course, and being compatible with 100kW charges means it’ll go from 15-80 per cent in 30 minutes, which is just enough time for a coffee break on a long journey, but you really need a home solution in place before committing.
Anyway, it’s quick to charge and doesn't burn its electrons all at once, but is it any good to drive? Unsparingly, yes. It’s a Renault 5 underneath, after all, which has not only been lauded here on PH but across the board as well. Naturally, the taller ride height means there’s a hint more roll in the corners, but it otherwise steers with a good (and surprising) amount of weight and glides over rough surfaces in a way very few electric cars can. That’s partly down to the 4 being a bit of a lightweight, especially for an EV. At 1,462kg, it’s only a smidgen heavier than the R5 and a good deal lighter than the aforementioned ë-C3 Aircross, Puma Gen-E and Fiat 600e. It also doesn’t have stupidly big wheels, with my range-topping ‘Iconic’ model equipped with 18-inch rims wrapped in densely-sidewalled rubber.
Straight-line performance won’t set your trousers on fire, because there’s only 150hp and 180lb ft of torque to play with, but it’s enough to get you to 62mph from a standstill in 8.2 seconds. If anything, it’s refreshing to drive an EV that isn’t trying to constantly rip your face off. You’ll need to be in either comfort, sport or perso (Renault speak for individual) driving modes to get everything the motor’s got to give, mind. While it’s tempting to drive about in eco, performance is significantly reduced and a 72mph speed limit is put in place. Not that you’d have any need to go any faster, to any police folk reading this, and you can temporarily disable the limit by pressing the accelerator all the way to the floor, where you’ll feel a slight ‘click’ and a sudden swell of power, but that in turn flings passengers to the backs of their seats. And when you’re constantly overtaking slow-moving traffic doing 69mph, it tends to get a little wearing for all involved.
Of course, it’s absolutely brimming with autonomous safety systems that, thankfully, never interfere with the job of driving. Words I never thought I’d write. Even better, you can assign all of them to a button located just to the right of the steering wheel. With a double press, all the systems you want off will instantly return to their box. You’ll need to do so every time you start the car up, and you can thank the bureaucrats for that, not Renault, but it boggles the mind that more manufacturers don’t offer such a solution, because it makes modern motoring a lot more bearable. Even digging through the (wonderfully simple) menus is a doddle, courtesy of a Google-powered infotainment system that’s got enough processing grunt to feel slick and speedy.
Then there’s the price, which starts at £26,995 and tops out at £30,995. That puts it on par with a hybrid Dacia Duster, and undercuts a good chunk of the competition, too. The only downside here is that heated seats are reserved for top spec models, and you can’t option them in a lower grade, either, which is a bit of a let-down. Otherwise, Renault’s gone and hit the ball out of the park again. While it’s not quite as charming as the R5, it’s a darn sight more characterful than the majority of B-segment crossovers on sale. Most of which I can’t even picture, let alone name. But the R4 is here to make the cheap family runabout fun again, and it does just that with flying tricolors.
Not particularly exciting looking in the same way the 5 is but a very sensible EV from a company I have a bit of a soft spot for despite never owning a Renault. Tres bien.
About the safety systems that Renault admirably allow you to bunch to one switch and turn off, if you have an accident and your insurance company finds these systems disabled, will it affect your cover?
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