There are little things that are really big in satisfaction impact in the car business, writes Brian Byrne. One of these is the button that Renault and its Dacia subsidiary provide — a simple system to switch off annoying ‘driver assistance’ settings. It’s a single button, a real one, to the left of the steering wheel in most of their cars. You tap it twice to slip into a ‘personal’ selection of ADAS features, which leave out selected annoyances such as the attention monitor camera and the lane departure ‘assist’. You can also switch off the speed warning, but perhaps with the new 30 km/h urban limits coming in, it might be wise to leave that operating. Besides, most of us, including me, don’t particularly want to drive at speeds above the limit.
Why do I like this button so much? Because it is just that. There’s no need to tap through several layers of the screen menu, either before you drive away or when you already have and forgot to make the switch.
This whole thought was prompted by my recent excursions with the new Renault 4 E-Tech Electric, the French carmaker’s less sexy-looking of two related B-segment electric cars, the other being the 5 E-Tech. Mind you, beauty is, as always, in the eye of the beholder, and for my look, I’m probably more attracted to the R4. It may seem a bit more square than the R5 hatchback, but then I was never a boy-racer type even when that was a thing in my earlier driving years. And the original Renault 4 of the 1960s through the mid-80s had far from any racing ideas, as a frumpy but nevertheless visually engaging family carry-all. An automotive tote bag, if you like.
The new R4 E-Tech is, in its class, also geared towards the family need rather than the sporty hatch R5. It’s longer, taller, and with some extra wheelbase, it also offers more rear legroom than the other. In addition to extra headroom inside, it stands higher, thus making for easier entry and egress. In the cargo stakes, you can load 29 per cent more stuff in the R4. To further distinguish it, they call it a crossover, verging on a small SUV. The to-me cheerful turquoise of the review car might not be to everyone's taste, but I thought the whole thing looked really good along with the contrasting black roof and wheel arch covers and the roof rails.
Inside, apart from the extra space as mentioned, and of course model badging, the R4 is identical to its companion car, in style, controls design, and fittings. There's a solid look to the housing for the combined infotainment and driver instrumentation screens, a slight bend in the middle allowing the former to tilt towards the driver. There's a good set of real toggle switches on the centre stack for climate control, while the screens themselves have what are currently my favourite graphics designs in the business. The gently hexagonal style of the steering wheel is actually more comfortable to use than it looks. Renault is also maintaining its reputation for comfortable seating here. Anyone who got in for a look was genuinely pleased with what they saw, even one person who drives a substantially more expensive EV.
The powertrain motor outputs 150hp, which offers a peppy 8.2 s to 100km/h. My calculations over my time with the car suggested a real range in or around 340km. Which worked out quite well for me in a period where I had to do a number of longish runs, including an airport drop-off that left me with 13 per cent battery when I got home. A colleague said she would be freaking out at that, but because the operating system is by Google, it tells you when you start out what charge will be left at the destination. So I wasn't worried. Just to note that the car's 75kW charging system gave me a 70 per cent top-up in 30 minutes.
I left it back with a lot of positive things to ponder. Not least that there's now really good competition in reasonably priced, small family electric cars.
PRICE: From €26,995 after grants. WHAT I LIKED: A modern automotive family tote can look and feel pretty cool.
