Renault 5 - Reliability & safety
The Renault 5 falls short of a top Euro NCAP rating, while it’s too soon to comment on reliability
The Renault 5, much like fellow EV rivals such as the Fiat 500, Peugeot E-208, and Vauxhall Corsa Electric, only received a four-star out of five safety rating from safety experts Euro NCAP. In the case of the R5, it was penalised because the company couldn’t demonstrate to Euro NCAP that the dashboard could provide the same level of protection to occupants of differing sizes, while there is no central airbag to prevent front-seat occupants from colliding with one another in a side impact.
However, there are plenty of standard assistance features on the R5 to hopefully prevent you from getting into a collision, including automatic emergency braking (which works both going forward and in reverse), lane-departure warning and emergency lane-keeping assistance. The top-spec Iconic 5 adds blind-spot warning to let you know of vehicles to the side of you when you go to change lanes, and a safe-exit assistance feature to help prevent you from opening the door into the path of approaching vehicles. In the event of a collision, the doors will automatically unlock, and the hazard lights will activate.
Active speed-sign recognition is also included, but Renault has integrated a clever single-button switch to overcome the issue of needing to dig into menus to turn off whatever system you wish to deactivate. This is in the form of a small physical button which, when pressed twice, activates a ‘personal’ mode for the safety alert systems. This allows drivers to switch off as many or as few of the individual systems as they like.
Used - available now
2022 Toyota
Corolla
19,300 milesAutomaticPetrol1.8L
Cash £16,750
2018 Audi
Q2
42,561 milesAutomaticPetrol1.4L
Cash £15,050
2017 Ford
Focus
39,320 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £9,800
2022 Nissan
Leaf
18,699 milesAutomaticElectric
Cash £10,900Renault doesn’t have a great reputation in the Auto Express Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, with the brand coming 28th out of 30 manufacturers in 2024. The brand’s best individual category score was 12th for running costs, with cheap servicing in ninth, followed by 16th for tax and insurance, and 18th for economy.
Owners rate their cars’ exteriors 16th, safety features 28th, and the infotainment systems 21st. The interiors don’t rank highly either, with front-seat comfort in 29th and visibility from the driver’s seat last, in 32nd. Powertrains also don’t fare well, with scores for acceleration and smoothness near the bottom of the table. These ratings are relevant to the existing Renault range of cars, however, not the latest models such as the R5, so there’s hope that its overall score should improve, especially in terms of the infotainment system, which is far better in the brand’s current generation of vehicles compared than in previous offerings.
| Key standard safety features | Euro NCAP safety ratings |
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Warranty
Renault offers a four-year warranty on its latest electric cars (including the Megane and Scenic models), with unlimited mileage over the first two years, and then up to 100,000 miles for the remaining third year, depending on which comes first.
