Why is the new Renault 5 seen on the road so attractive at first glance? “Because of its proportions,” explains Gilles Vidal, Renault design director, whom we met in Nice on the occasion of the test drive dedicated to the Car of the Year jury. “To achieve the ‘instant falling in love’ effect the right proportions were first top priority and we obtained them thanks to the work of our engineering team. On such a compact and electrically powered car, this was an even bigger challenge than with a combustion engine, but our Ampere Small platform allows us a lot of flexibility.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![](\"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/DPPIPRODUCTION_00002598_0052.jpg\")
<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>The formal reference for the car body \u2013 which is 3922 millimeters long, 1774 wide and 1498 mm high, with wheels positioned at the four corners of the silhouette, equipped with 18-inch wheels for all versions) comes not only from the 1972 Renault 5, but also from the Super 5 and the 5 Turbo, “three cars that people remember”, says Vidal,\u00a0 but the way in which he and his team have reinterpreted every single detail expresses a modernity and an aesthetic taste capable of captivating even the youngest audience who have no personal memories of the historic R5s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> We drove a Renault 5 E-Tech Electric Pop Yellow (together with Pop Green one of the colors directly inspired by the Seventies, but with a glitter effect that can only be discovered up close, while from a distance they look like pastel paints) and it is a catalyst of attention: many turn to look at it, at stops passers-by approach to take pictures with the car. The ride is very pleasant, the small R5 is easy to handle, precise in its trajectory and ready to overtake, with four driving modes that can be selected from the MultiSense button – Comfort, Sport, Eco and Lost – which in turn can be further modulated with different settings. Also remarkable is the range offered by the 52 kWh lithium-ion battery with NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) chemistry combined with the 110 kW \/ 150 hp motor: up to 410 km WLTP.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>