Renault 5

FIRST DRIVE We've been waiting to drive the reborn Renault 5 for what feels like years. Is it as good as we'd hoped it would be?

- Holger Preiss

THE excitement surrounding a new car has rarely been greater than it is for the reborn Renault 5. But the retro-inspired electric supermini is here at last, and after what feels like an awfully long time since it was revealed, we've driven it.

Shying away from new names, Renault has revived the classic model from the seventies.

And instead of the combustion engine under the bonnet that powered the original, there's a choice of 40kWh or 52kWh batteries powering a single electric motor on the front axle.

By today's standards, these are relatively small cells, meaning the range of even the pricier 148bhp model that we drove is only 252 miles, according to official WLTP tests. Furthermore, our drive around the Lausitzring circuit in Germany - although admittedly not that representative of everyday use in the real world - showed how that figure can drop dramatically during dynamic driving.

The R5 E-Tech is not intended as a track car, of course, but our test did show the supermini in a strong light, proving it's decent fun to drive quickly. The new architecture combines the front suspension set-up from the Clio and Captur with the direct steering from the latest Megane, in addition to a well tuned set of springs and dampers.

It's a shame the front-wheel-drive Renault 5 isn't faster, because from a chassis perspective we could see it standing proud as one of the besthandling small cars on sale today. It delights with decent stability and astonishing agility, which is also due to the kerbweight of just 1,524kgrelatively low for a modern EV. The brakes bring the vehicle to a stop with good control, and the ESC system ensures the car behaves predictably and doesn't end up in the gravel.