4 hours ago, Ootohere said:

 

 

 

 

Bjorn took a while to recognise the V2L connector in the boot of the R5.

 

It was in the show room when we picked up the Megane last Friday.

 

Looks awesome, a bit small in the back seats. Not sure about the amount of 5 decals, a bit too much, but the car overall and inside feels very well put together.

 

Edited 3 March, 20251 yr by wyx087

Looked at the 5 over the weekend.

 

Quite disappointed.

Small infotainment screen.

Back seats small too.

Will try the Dacia Spring Exteme for my backup car for the Scenic.

Only a 30 kwh battery but better display and 10k cheaper plus better finance deals and V2L adapter chucked in I gather.

That or hold out for R4 or even go for a Sandero, third best selling car in Europe.

 

Edited 3 March, 20251 yr by lol-lol

On 03/03/2025 at 13:55, lol-lol said:

Looked at the 5 over the weekend.

 

Quite disappointed.

Small infotainment screen.

Back seats small too.

Will try the Dacia Spring Exteme for my backup car for the Scenic.

Only a 30 kwh battery but better display and 10k cheaper plus better finance deals and V2L adapter chucked in I gather.

That or hold out for R4 or even go for a Sandero, third best selling car in Europe.

 

R5 back on the replacement list for my Zoe ZE 50.

Drove a 150 hp one yesterday after driving the Spring.

Spring surprisingly nippy. Being so narrow and on skinny tyres it does lean quite a bit.

The deal breaker for the Spring was just the drivers seat, and the front passenger seat was just so uncomfortable for a tallish and biggish chap like me. I would struggle to drive this car for over 15 minutes without starting to feel quite uncomfortable. Otherwise car was pretty amazing in most departments for less than £17k and with very good finance deals etc.

150 hp Renault 5 felt quicker than my 170 hp Scenic which it is on paper and really feels so. The back seats are still noticeable short of space and I would have like a Frunk like the Spring has but the cabin feels quite classy IMO and the drivers seat 9 out of 10. Not quite long enough seat length to be perfect but I could see myself doing long trips ie down to Plymouth from Worcester no problem.

I can see why this car won Car of the Year 2025. It is not perfect ie rear seat space and it "only" got 4 stars on Euroncap but a worth winner, not driven or even seen lots of other 2025 cars but it is a very nice place to be and for prices between £22.5k to £27k or so a good price to attract lots of buyers. Would like to see finance APR drop for 5.5% to 5% with the scenario of falling central bank rates but we will see what happens in Q2 and Q3 on the deals on offer.

Zoe goes back in September and I will miss that diamond of a small EV but the 5 will be a good replacement and as a second EV to the Scenic.

Edited 8 March, 20251 yr by lol-lol

Good to see a review which is more Real Life than most if not all of the other 'See no evil say no evil' just ignore any glitches.

For collectors / speculators or just those with enough cash money..

@1 minute 50. They could surely have got a good detailer to get the swirls out.

Edited 17 March, 20251 yr by Ootohere

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Renault will be making the Nissan Micra EV in Northern France alongside the R5, as long as Nissan don't go out of business I suppose.

Looks good and with R5 internals might sell ok, if car buyers are willing to take a risk on a brand that may go in the next year or so. Then one might think similar for VW and other European legacy companies ?

If only Elon would sell Tesla that might recover it's share price too.

6 hours ago, lol-lol said:

if car buyers are willing to take a risk on a brand that may go in the next year or so.

What's up with Nissan?

I was actually talking to my wife about her next car, even if they go out of business and stop producing the car, parts should still be available for at least 10+ years after last car rolls off production line??

10 hours ago, wyx087 said:

What's up with Nissan?

I was actually talking to my wife about her next car, even if they go out of business and stop producing the car, parts should still be available for at least 10+ years after last car rolls off production line??

Nissan was cut to junk bond status by Moodys last month.......

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/nissan-cut-to-junk-by-fitch-ratings-days-after-moody-s-downgrade

Failure to merge, allow take over by Honda probably. Departure of Nissan CEO in Japan.

Nissan, as ever, have some good products but have looked disorganised and their debt very large but then so is Japan as a whole ie twice GDP I recall.

Companies are obliged to keep spares available for 7 years I recall rolling for 7 years I seem to recall but if your bust your bust. Be a lot more bankruptcies if these trade war tariff's bite.

.

8 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

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Not sure it is going to sell well in the 50 kwh guise at a price of £30k, maybe more of the 40 kwh nominal battery size will sell especially with some great finance deals.

@lol-lol 40 kWh version is not going to sell if they are not being sold in the UK are they?

It will be all about what people are going to lease / rent is it not.

Do many actually purchase them with the intention of them as a keeper or keeping a few years and owning?

Looks like it would be good as a Light Commercial. Nice low rear access.

Edited 3 May, 20251 yr by Ootohere

Not watched it myself yet, just dropping it here

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Edited 10 May, 20251 yr by Ootohere

Should rename his channel, 'Whatever Dave Takes on and says take with a pinch of salt'.

Loads Corsa E First registered through Covid years as went to NHS / Fleet etc, then continued as a best seller EV in the class / size.

Edited 10 May, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I was on my way to Aberdeen to roadtest an Alpine A290. When I was in a Renault 5 I was not wearing my leg and had got to it driving a BMW. So I stopped to try and 5EV on the way up the road and after getting straight out of the MINI. Glad I did as with the standard pedals I can not drive using my left foot. The seating is just too high, upright and hard. Door entrance dead tight.

Always gotta try these things before putting down the money.

I also found it very tight when sat in the showroom. But then I haven't driven many supermini sized cars.

Good finishes inside though, may be that's why moto-journo like it so much.

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The Twingo is coming too, hurray !!!

My cars are very very dusty inside and in this weather are parked with windows down a bit and sunroof a bit open.

The easy dust off or wipe clean is essential really and a fabric dash would be a no no as it fabric tops of door cards.

Edited 16 May, 20251 yr by Ootohere

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5 hours ago, Ootohere said:

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R5 is a very good all round small EV.

A290 is fair bit more money and whilst handling is even better the addional benefits over the R5 not substantial enough for me.

Would like to see and R5 with bit more power, 170/175 and base A290 with 200 plus.

The Cooper E we have just ordered is 181/185 hp. 0-60 in 7 seconds and seems to handle well and that is £31k with head up display and Adaptive lighting etc.

Still planning to trade my Zoe in for a R5 but it will be a 40 kwh LFP batteried car at £23k RRP and a good finance package I expect.

Maybe we will get a hot/warm Twingo offering too ie 120 hp plus.

I will need to try sitting in the other small EV,s other than the R5 & Sping which i have been in.

The Fiat Panda EV is the one i look forward to actually driving.