Renault 4 long-term test

The car Renault 4 Techno+ Run by Allan Muir, managing editor

Why we’re running it To see whether this keenly priced small electric SUV can prove to be better value than more expensive alternatives and offer more than just charming retro looks

Needs to Be comfortable and easy to live with, nippy around town, reasonably practical and efficient enough to deliver a respectable range for occasional longer journeys

Mileage 890 List price £25,945 (with £3750 grant) Best price £25,945 Price as tested £26,695 Official range 245 miles Test range 177 miles 

16 April 2026 – What's past is prologue

As an expatriate Kiwi living in the UK, I’ve sometimes wondered why so many new-build houses look like they belong in a bygone era. Surely it would be better to leave the past in the past and move on to something more original and modern? But now that I’ve thought about it, I can understand the appeal; it’s easy to relate to such familiar designs, and when you’ve got a time-honoured portfolio to fall back on, it would be a shame to let any of it be forgotten.

There’s no danger of that happening with Renault’s back catalogue. The French brand is fortunate to have several popular and endearing small models from the past to draw inspiration from, and it’s making the most of that fact. I'm a big fan of the latest Renault 5 (R5) hatchback – our 2025 Car of the Year – but the reborn model that appeals to me the most is the Renault 4 (R4). 

Harking back to a model of the same name that was made from the early 1960s through to the early 1990s, the new R4 follows a similar neo-retro pattern to most of those new-build housing developments, combining nostalgic aesthetics with up-to-date technology and functionality. It hardly matters that I’ve had no experience whatsoever with the spartan original. All I see now is a great-looking small electric SUV that stands out from the crowd and promises to be virtually as good to drive as the R5 (with which it shares its underpinnings) but a bit more practical, thanks to a bigger boot and more rear leg room. 

As with all of Renault’s electric models, the R4 is very keenly priced. It qualifies for the Government’s top-tier Electric Car Grant of £3750, bringing its price down to £25,945 in the mid-level Techno+ trim I’ve chosen.

Of the six body colours available, I’ve selected Hauts-de-France green with a diamond black roof – a £750 option. Techno+ and top-spec Iconic+ trims come with black roof rails that add to the R4’s chunky looks, and the Y-spoke diamond-cut 18in alloy wheels you can see in the photographs are exclusive to the Techno+ – and much more stylish than those available on the other two trims, if you ask me.

This trim level comes with a respectable amount of equipment, including automatic keyless entry, climate control, adaptive cruise control and a Google-based infotainment system. Much of the interior is covered in a recycled blue ‘denim’ fabric that’s soft to touch and looks really smart, and it’s complemented by slivers of antique brass-effect trim and matching stitching on parts of the dashboard and seats. The instrument panel and most of the physical controls on the dashboard and steering wheel are familiar from when I ran a larger Renault Scenic in 2024-2025, but the infotainment screen is smaller and in landscape rather than portrait orientation. 

Unlike the R5, the R4 isn’t offered with a choice of batteries. It comes only with the larger of the R5’s options, having a 52kWh usable capacity. That gives an official range of up to 245 miles in Techno+ form – which translates to less than 200 miles between top-ups in real-world use. That isn’t as far as I’ve been able to go in one stint in most of the other electric vehicles I’ve run, but it’s still a competitive figure for a small electric SUV. I guess I’ll have to readjust to plugging it in a bit more regularly, that’s all.

With that battery comes a 148bhp electric motor that drives the front wheels and delivers a 0-62mph time of 8.2sec. That’s nowhere near as quick as the Volvo EX30 I ran previously – but then again, the R4 is far cheaper to buy, so it’s probably a fair trade-off. So far, I’d say the R4 feels pleasingly nippy around town and can cruise along comfortably at 70mph on the motorway, even if there aren’t huge reserves of acceleration at those speeds.

Another way in which the R4 differs from the R5 is that it comes with paddles behind the steering wheel for adjusting the strength of the regenerative braking system (which harvests energy under deceleration to help eke out range). The strongest setting can bring the car (quite aggressively) to a full halt when I lift off the accelerator pedal. This ‘one pedal’ mode can be handy in urban driving and means I don’t have to press the brake pedal all that often.

So far, I’m completely charmed by the R4. It would be unfair to keep comparing it with the EX30 – my favourite electric company car so far – but I’m hoping that the R4 will show that you don’t have to spend £35k or £40k to get a great small electric SUV, and that there’s more to it than its retro looks.

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