You Can Finally Order A New Renault 5 In The UK

We can’t remember the last time a fairly normal car drummed up as much excitement as the new electric Renault 5 has, which has made it all the more painful waiting for the little cutie to arrive on our shores.

Fresh off it being the least-surprising winner ever of the European Car of the Year award, though, UK orders are finally open to everyone, after those who pre-purchased Renault’s R-Pass getting access two weeks ago. Pricing kicks off at the previously announced £22,995.

For that cash, you’ll be picking up an entry-spec 118bhp Evolution (sadly no, not the rally homologation kind). For that, your R5 will come with 18-inch alloy wheels, a 10.1-inch infotainment system, automatic air conditioning and some rear parking sensors. It’s not exactly loaded with tech, given what you can have.

Step up to the £24,995 Techno, and you’ll get a 10.1-inch digital instrument cluster too plus adaptive cruise control, a rear-view camera, selectable drive modes and ambient lightning. Oh, and a neat little charging indicator on the bonnet.

Topping the lot is Iconic, bringing with it a heated steering wheel and heated front seats, lane centring for the adaptive cruise system, blind spot monitoring and self-parking tech in case you’re struggling to get your 4m-long city car into a space. Yours for £26,995.

Put an extra £2,000 onto either of the Tecno or Iconic and you’ll get an extra 30bhp to play with, dropping the 0-62mph sprint from nine seconds flat to 7.9. Both cars will top out at 93mph, though.

More importantly, though, that also gets you a larger-capacity battery – 52kWh, in place of 40kWh. That’ll offer a quoted range of 248 miles on a single charge, compared with 190 from the smaller pack.

We’ve got a full breakdown of the Renault 5 already if you’re keen on more details, and we’ve had a go in its sporty cousin, the Alpine A290 – and came away rather impressed. Pricing for that kicks off at £33,500, and deliveries of both are set to begin in the spring.