There’s a trend among carmakers to use historic icons as revival touchstones.
BY BRIAN BYRNE
Ford did it a few years back with the Puma and more recently, with the Capri. Opel has a new Frontera upcoming, and Renault has revived two nameplates from its past, 5 and 4.
However, I’m not sure that those old enough to remember the originals are people who would be buying the new versions, and I wonder if much of the marketing hype they’re accompanied with is redundant?
Not least because the revived models are quite different in most respects to those which originally carried their monikers.
The new Capri is a large SUV with a coupé roofline; the Frontera was originally a working SUV, returning as a small crossover.
Maybe the new Renault 5 is closest to the size and buyer cohort of its original. Certainly, I got comments from guys driving large family SUVs that they remembered their 1970s R5s with affection, even longing.
But none of them are in the business now of going back to their youthful driving roots.
That said, the new 5 is a snappy little thing, and no doubt there will be a version with more power to try and capture the original Gordini variant’s hot hatch ethos.
That did come before the Golf GTI, after all.
That the car is now only an EV is simply a powertrain matter, for it’s easy to dial up electric power.
There’s a no-nonsense boxy style to the 2025 car, which suggests good people packaging.
But in one key respect that doesn’t work, in that the rear seat space doesn’t offer enough knee-room behind the driver for any long-legged person.
But for any owner who is a singleton, and better yet a bit on the shorter side, that’s not going to be a concern.
Certainly, they’ll like the style, with the copper-gold adornment on the gutter-line nicely setting off the midnight blue of the review car., funky front running lights, the clean treatment of the rear, and a variety of tilts at legend with ‘5’ decals and badging.
Even what used to be an air intake on top of the bonnet harks backs to Le Cinq; it now serves as an external charging indicator.
They’ll probably react well too to the interior design, following in many respects the styling and graphics of other recent new models from Renault, which I’ve already said are on a design roll.
The diffused yellow trim in my review car was to me cheerful, but to another journo was considered brash and ugly.
Taste is always individual.
The two screens are conjoined in a one-piece housing, with the infotainment part angled towards the driver.
This allows good sight-lines for both and deals with what could otherwise be a glare problem.
Proper switches for climate control, under the centre air vents, are welcome.
There’s the usual chorale of beeps from the mandatory ‘driving aid’ tech, but it’s muted enough to not annoy, and there’s a single switch to turn off the ones you don’t want.
I liked also that there’s an actual start-stop button: I’m really unimpressed with the trend across the industry to switch everything on when you sit into a car.
The transmission shift is that Renault steering column stalk, but I miss the ‘Park’ button that’s not part of it.
There are two battery options, 40kWh and 52kWh with rated ranges of 310km and 410km respectively.
Mine was the latter, and around 370km did seem to be probable.
Certainly if most of your motoring is in city traffic, it will be quite frugal and long-travelling.
The battery difference cost, grade for grade, is €3,000.
The drive was perky, with a respectable eigh seconds 0-100km/h capability reflecting the 150hp offered in my review car, and helped by a multi-link rear suspension it didn’t have the somewhat ‘dead road’ feel that some EVs give in certain conditions.
The smaller battery version offers 120hp, and still reaches the ton in 9.2 seconds.
The look of the new-era R5 cheers me, as does the cabin ambience and the quality and design of the trim and controls.
I had a constant smile as I tipped around my homeplace in a car that is styled to feel fun as well as being practical.
Now that my family is long scattered around the globe, it would be fine for the pair of us.
I never owned an original 5, but we rented one once while on holiday in the Netherlands, so it does prompt memories.
Next up, a regenerated Ford Model T? All the fun of the Flivver...
