Long-term test: Renault 5 month 4 – going the distance
The Renault 5 faces its toughest task yet – a trip to another country
This month marked a bit of a milestone for me and my Renault as I took it on its first “proper” drive.
In keeping with the whole supermini vibe, until now the R5 has been the go-to choice for school runs, local shopping trips and regular 70-mile round trips to Edinburgh. However, for anything longer, I’ve turned to the bigger-batteried ID Buzz or whatever test car is parked on the driveway that week.
Of course, most owners won’t have that luxury and will rely on their R5 to do the occasional long journey as well as the day-to-day running around. So an invitation to Northumberland to drive the new Polestar 3 seemed like an ideal opportunity to see how the Renault 5 coped on these longer runs.
My route was around 150 miles with just under four hours of driving on the famously winding and undulating roads between the Scottish Borders and Newcastle. They’re not the best for efficiency, but the wee Renault coped well, even with my sometimes enthusiastic driving. I got home with 20% battery remaining, meaning a real range of around 200 miles. While that’s not stellar, it shows that the R5 can still serve for those bigger trips as well as being the exemplary commuter car.
Interestingly, I had toyed with the idea of using the Renault for a two-day 700-mile round trip a few weeks ago. My route planning app insisted that its better efficiency compared with my 86kWh ID Buzz would offset the smaller battery and slower charging. In the end, the lure of the Buzz’s faultless 200kW charging, ability to go further between stops and bigger, comfier seats won out, but if the Renault performed as predicted, the entire trip would only have taken 30 minutes more.
The longer drive over some fantastic and familiar roads was useful in highlighting what a fun, lively little car the Renault 5 is. Its 150bhp might not be much in this age of 450bhp family SUVs, but it makes the most of it with a positive throttle response and good pick-up. Yes, it will run out of puff a little at higher speeds, but for some B-road fun, it’s punchy enough. More importantly, bung it in sport mode and there’s enough weight to the steering to give confidence in the twisty bits, backed up by a chassis that feels like it could handle a lot more power.
In fact, while showcasing the potential of the chassis, that drive also showed the limitations of the efficiency-focused Continental EcoContact tyres. Yes, they’re great for eking out miles, but on the twistiest bits of Northumbria’s brilliant roads, the chassis felt it had a lot more to give than the rubber.
Of course, if such things are a massive issue, there’s always the Alpine A290, which takes the basic R5 and adds an extra 70bhp, an even tighter chassis and some Michelin Pilot Sports for better traction. It also deletes the cupholders, which just proves, you’ve always got to compromise.
Renault 5 Iconic 5+
- Price: £28,995 excluding ECG (£30,045 as tested)
- Powertrain: Single-motor, front-wheel-drive
- Battery: 52kWh
- Power: 148bhp
- Torque: 181lb ft
- Top speed: 93mph
- 0-62mph: 7.9seconds
- Range: 251 miles
- Consumption: 4m/kWh
- Charging: up to 100kW
Long-term log
- Arrived: January 2026
- Price as tested: £30,045 (excl. ECG)
- Mileage since arrival: 2,049
- Average consumption: 3.8m/kWh
- Monthly charging costs: £10.98
- Costs: None
- Faults: None
