Is life a beach with the Renault 4 or another EV wipeout? We test the £27k practical electric family car – and its claim to swallow a surfboard

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside… especially at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend break.

And where better to test drive the new Renault 4 E-Tech electric family car than on the edge of the wave-crashing Atlantic Ocean in sunny Portugal.

Priced from £27,000, the new R4 is a contemporary reincarnation of the classic practical and economical flat-floored Renault 4, which in 1961 revolutionised the car market – selling more than 8 million in 100 countries up to 1994.

Built on the same bespoke electric platform as its smaller (22cm shorter) – but funkier – 5 E-Tech supermini sibling, the new 4.14-metre-long R4 is the more practical option.

From its very first unveiling by Renault CEO Luca de Meo in the presence of France’s President Macron at last October’s Paris Motor Show, bosses boasted of the R4’s flexible seating that folds to extend load space sufficient to carry a surfboard.

Ever up for a challenge, there was only one way to find out. So as well as driving it on the road, I’ve stopped off to test the bodacious claim…

What’s it like to drive?

If the Renault R5 electric hatchback is the fun, funky and cheeky member of the Renault family, then the R4 is the bigger, more sensible and versatile sibling.

I put it through its paces on a wide variety of roads and conditions – from fast-flowing motorways to twisty mountain routes via sweeping ocean-side highways – and found it an easy and delightful drive with enough energy to keep me fully engaged.

Powered by a 52kW battery with 150hp electric motor, there is plenty of acceleration at your demand when needed – such as overtaking – with an official 0 to 62mph figure of 8.2 seconds and a top speed governed at 93mph.

It also has a very good and tight turning circle of just turning circle is just 10.8m which makes for great manoeuvrability in car parks or doing U-turns.

There are four driving modes including Eco, Comfort and Personal. Comfort is fine for relaxed driving. But my own preference was for Sport mode with the added engagement provided by sharpened responses and extra oomph.

Paddles on the steering wheel control four levels of regenerative braking – helping keep your battery charged – with the last making it a ‘one pedal’ operation by acting as a brake the moment you take your foot off the accelerator. 

Personally, I love it and it makes for smoother and more efficient driving. There are also 26 advanced driver assistance systems.

Official driving range is up to 247 miles – which should just about get you from London to Middlesbrough on one charge. But not the way I drive.

The R4 even has its own ‘nanny’, which monitors your driving performance and gives a read out at the end. 

I was unsurprised that my ‘eco’ rating was a lacklustre 62 per cent. But my ‘safety’ rating was a satisfyingly high 88 per cent. I’ll take that.

The price is right

Price-wise, the new R4 range is keenly pitched between £27,000 to £32,000 to attract potential buyers away from rivals in a highly competitive middle-market electric car segment.

It goes toe-to-toe with cars including Tesla’s Model Y, Mini’s Aceman, Fiat’s 600e, Citroen’s e-C3, Kia’s EV3, Jeep’s Avenger, Vauxhall’s Mokka and Ford’s Puma.

Exact prices will be announced later in May ahead of UK order books opening in July – first deliveries will land on these shores from September.

Customers can pay £150 for a priority ‘R Pass’ to queue jump and pre-order a car two weeks before order-books officially open, and be at the head of the queue for deliveries.

Keeping it simple

Renault wants to keep things simple so there is just the one EV power option – 52kW battery with 150hp electric motor – with three trim levels: evolution, techno and iconic.

A shorter-range 90 kW/120bhp version with a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery won’t be offered for sale in the UK as Renault chiefs in Britain said experience from R5 sales showed demand was clearly for the more powerful longer-range example.

The option of an open-top R4 with a retractable canvas roof – which opens at the touch of a button or by voice control – is set to follow later, even though it was unveiled at the same time as the standard hard-top at last October’s Paris Motor Show and on show as a static example in Portugal.

Renault calls the roof its ‘plein sud’ – translating to ‘due south’ – which is a nod to touring on the South of France.

With roof open, the view of the sky stretches 80x92cm and extends so far back that it that can be enjoyed by all passengers, including those in the back.

The entry level evolution trim runs on 18-inch diamond cut alloy wheels with a large central display screen, keyless entry and a heat-pump.

Techno gets an illuminated front grille, a 10.3-inch screen driver information display, a wireless smartphone charger, Google-backed sat-nav and services, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, paddle-shifter levers and ‘one-pedal’ driving.

Top of the range iconic trim offers the full package including additional safety and comfort features such as blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, heated front seats and steering wheel and an electric tailgate.

Charging to 100 per cent takes four and a half hours using an 11 kW AC charger, or 30 minutes to 80 per cent with a 100 kW DC device.

The 11 kW AC bidirectional charger can replenish the batteries of your personal devices and (where possible) return excess charge to the grid when not required.

The inside story

Inside the smart interior I settled quickly into a comfortable driving position in sporty seats overlooking a pretty well thought out dashboard. 

Don’t ask me about wind noise – for most of my drive I had the windows down with my elbow on the sill to enjoy the sunshine and the warm sea breeze. Yes, that relaxing.

Dual horizontal screens comprising either a 7 or 10-inch digital driver information display and a 10.1-inch central touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to allow you to connect your smartphone.

Google services provided with the R4 from mid-range techno trim include Google Maps, Google Assistant and a variety of apps from the Google Play store, along with wireless smartphone charging.

Putting the boot in

The new R4 benefits from a bigger boot than its R5 sibling.

With the rear seats up there’s a generous 420 litres, increasing three-fold to 1,405 litres with rear seats folded.

There are also handy bag hooks and secreted storage cubby holes – including a 55-litre underfloor compartment.

A low-loading sill makes it easier to lug shopping, packages or bags into the boot

A hands-free power tailgate comes as standard on iconic trim models. As with the original R4, you can even sit on it – as I did – to watch the world go by or even have a picnic.

But the big question to put to the test is: can it take a surfboard?

I can categorically tell you that it can. And I did it myself to prove it – thanks to very helpful staff at the Surfcenter in Ericeira, which I spotted randomly on my drive. 

However, YOU won’t be able to do it if you order a Renault 4 in the UK… 

It does have a few niggles…

The weirdest thing for me is the lack of a ‘Park’ button option on the drive stalk – which offers only Reverse, Neutral and Drive. To be sure of parking correctly, you have to manually pull on the electronic parking switch.

Renault insists customers of the R5 (on which this system is also fitted) haven’t complained and quickly get used to it.

It’ll also default to park automatically they said, insisting it was designed to make life easier, not to save a few bob on manufacturing costs.

Me? I remain to be convinced. And I’ll admit to slight paranoia every time I left the car on an incline in case it rolled away.

Although there is plenty of headroom in the rear (85.3cm) once you get inside, you do have to duck down to avoid banging your head when getting over the lower than expected doorway threshold. 

Rear leg and kneeroom (given as 16.4 cm) still feels quite tight, especially if the driver and front passenger have set their own seats for maximum comfort.

UK buyers will miss-out on the option of having a fold-down front passenger seat, which is not available here. That’s a big shame. Renault should reconsider that decision. 

For now it means you’ll have to slide that surfboard in sideways between the two front seats – or stick it on the roof.

I’ve yet to test whether the R4 will take a ubiquitous ‘Billy’ book-shelf package from Ikea, but I’m hopeful.

The Google-dependent sat-nav proved a bit glitchy at times, too.

The Cars & Motoring verdict

The new Renault R4 E-Tech offers a very entertaining rounded-package for many motorists with a wide variety of demands, likes and needs. 

Not as funky as the R5, but almost as much fun and sufficiently more practical and flexible for the needs of modern families or leisure pleasure seekers.

Small niggles aside, it’s a car with real character that’s fun to drive, offers more practicality that its funkier R5 sibling, but isn’t so ‘sensible shoes’ that it becomes boring.

It will appeal equally to beach boys and girls. And on that note: ‘Surf’s up!’