New Renault 4 2025 review: as good as the Renault 5 with the bonus of extra space

Verdict

We’ll reserve our full judgement until we get the Renault 4 on UK roads, but early impressions suggest that Renault is onto another winner. It addresses the one gripe we had about the 5 - practicality - housing a practical cabin and boot within a body that has plenty of design appeal of its own. It's better to drive than many of its rivals, it’s loaded with standard equipment, and based on our pricing estimates, the £2,000 step up over the equivalent 5 looks fairly reasonable, too.

While driving the all-new Renault 4 along winding roads on the pretty Portuguese coastline, we approached an original 4 travelling in the opposite direction. We gave the elderly man behind the wheel a cheery wave, but he didn’t return the compliment.

Ironically, he was one of a very small minority not to notice the new 4. Judging by the sideways glances and looks of admiration it was generating, this reimagination of one of the French brand’s most famous past hits looks set to be a popular one. 

Of course, this all sounds very familiar for Renault, with the R5 having only just burst on to the scene with show-stopping retro looks of its own. The 4 is here to fulfil a slightly different brief; while the R5 is set to take on the premium supermini class, this car instead attempts to draw on its more rugged roots by taking aim at the small SUV crowd. Think of it as an alternative to the new all-electric Ford Puma Gen-E and the MINI Aceman. 

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While the jazzy 18-inch wheels and chunky arches dwarf the rims on the classic model, there’s clear inspiration taken from the original elsewhere. It’s most obvious in the side profile, where the shape of the glass area and those corrugated-effect bulges across the doors make the 4 hard to mistake for anything else. Elsewhere, the lighting at the front and rear – including the illuminated grille (standard on all but the entry-level trim) housing round LED lights, plus the split tail-lights – really does help the 4 to stand out from the crowd. 

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At a later date, Renault will even offer a retractable canvas roof, which will present an 80x92cm opening to the sky above – another nod to the classic 4. There are six exterior colours to choose from, too.

Step inside, and things start to look very familiar, because the interior design is lifted almost wholesale from the Renault 5. While we’d often cry out for a little more individuality between two models which look so different on the outside, the 5’s fantastic cabin is a pretty strong starting point. There are some new materials – we’re fans of the denim-like one offered in mid-spec Techno trim – and the seats themselves are slightly softer thanks to different padding.

Drivers get a funky-looking dash which feels as expensive as anything else in the class, and has been designed with some genuine thought about usability. The climate controls take the form of a bank of physical switches, while those who find modern driver-assist features a little irritating can engage as few or as many as they choose with a double press of a programmable button to the side of the steering wheel – still among the most intuitive workarounds of the regulations that mandate these systems must always turn on when the car is started. 

We have one or two minor gripes, though. The column-mounted gear selector is a little easy to confuse with the wiper stalk during parking manoeuvres, causing some inadvertent windscreen swipes rather than a change in direction, while the rear quarter windows are pretty much useless, so there’s a reasonable blind spot over the shoulder. On the plus side, the squared-off bonnet helps with positioning the front of the car in tight spots.

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The 4 and 5 get the same infotainment set-up, too, and it’s comfortably the best to use in this segment. The Google-based operating system looks great, loads quickly and is easy to figure out. Route planning displays the estimated battery percentage left at the end of a journey, and can pre-condition the battery if you’re navigating to a charging station – ensuring the charge speeds are at their best when the car arrives. 

But where the 4 really sets itself apart from the R5 is in the back. At 4.1 metres long, the 4 is still no giant – its dimensions are within millimetres of the Ford Puma in every direction – but that makes it 222mm longer than its rangemate, and 83mm of that increase sits within the front and rear axle. It’s enough to transform the second row from one that’s a bit of a squeeze for adults, to a space that’s quite easily usable – there’s much more room here than in a MINI Aceman or Jeep Avenger. Thanks to a soft centre seat, it’ll even hold three people fairly comfortably on short trips. 

It’s still not quite perfect, though. Headroom is merely okay, foot space under the front seats is tight and the flat floor is a little high relative to the seat base, which makes the bench a little short on under-thigh support. Still, if the Renault 5’s tight rear quarters are a deal-breaker, then the 4 is enough of an improvement to provide an ideal alternative. 

At 420 litres, the boot is very spacious for a car in this class, too. Renault has given a genuinely practical nod to the original 4 here by making the opening as low as possible, similar to an estate. There’s a 55-litre space for charging cables beneath the main load area, and the false floor is split in two, so it’s a little easier to reach in there if the boot is already packed with other stuff.

On the road, the R4 and R5 feel very similar – not surprising given that both cars are based on Renault’s AmpR Small platform. The 4 gets some subtle changes beyond that extended wheelbase; slightly softer springs are also taller, allowing for both a subtly raised ride height and a little more suspension travel, but the end result isn’t hugely different. Much like the cabin similarities, that’s no bad thing. 

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The mix of extra ride height and softer setup introduces a little pitch and dive into the springs, though through that slight softness there are still some smaller bumps that are transmitted into the cabin. We’d still like a little more softness – it would feel appropriate given the way the original 4 wafted over bumps – but it’s much more compliant than, for example, the needlessly stiff MINI Aceman. Thanks to its fairly modest 1,462kg kerbweight (by EV standards), the 4 feels fairly agile through turns, helped by fairly darty steering and a modest amount of body roll.

While the 5 comes with two motor options, the 4 just takes the more powerful of the pair. The lone offering sends its 148bhp and 245Nm to the front wheels, and delivers decent performance; 0-62mph takes 8.2 seconds, which is plenty for a car in this class. We’d steer away from Eco mode – it makes the throttle response very soft and lethargic – but otherwise the acceleration feels lively and responsive. The 4 is the first Renault to feature one-pedal driving, which is the strongest of four motor regen levels that can be easily selected on the move through paddles on the steering wheel. It’s not as strong as some systems of its type, but it brings the car to a very smooth stop.  

The 4’s extra size relative to the 5 has only slightly dented the overall range. Officially, the 4 can cover up to 247 miles between charges – just five miles short of what the R5 can achieve. Our Portuguese test route couldn’t have been more flattering for an electric car; temperatures were warm and there was little to no motorway driving, so the 5.6 miles/kWh we achieved is very much a best-case scenario. It largely tallies with what the 5 can achieve in similar conditions, and in our hands that managed 4.1miles/kWh in more mixed conditions. 

At 100kW, the Renault 4’s charging speeds are comparable to its closest rivals – identical to the Puma Gen-E and the various Stellantis compact SUVs, plus marginally quicker than the MINI Aceman.

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As with the 5, there are three trim levels to choose from – Evolution, Techno and Iconic – and kit levels are generous from the bottom up. All cars get the 10.1-inch touchscreen, a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, keyless entry and a heat pump. 

The Techno builds on that with wireless smartphone charging, adaptive cruise control, front parking sensors and those steering-wheel paddles with the one-pedal driving mode. The range-topping Iconic gets a heated steering wheel and front seats, a powered tailgate plus extra driver assistance tech such as blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert. 

But the crucial thing here is the price, where things are looking promising for the 4. While the figures are still to be confirmed, we expect that it’ll cost roughly £2,000 more than a Renault 5 in the equivalent trim level, which means that the range will kick off from around £27,000 for the base Evolution and stretch to about £31,000 for the Iconic trim. We think the sweet spot in the range is the Techno, which is set to sit right in the middle at roughly £29,000. 

Those prices work out pretty favourably against its closest rivals. The Ford Puma Gen-E starts from a fiver under £30,000, while the MINI Aceman ranges from £28,905 to £36,905, and buyers of those cars have to live with compromises. The Ford’s interior ergonomics, quality or infotainment tech aren’t a patch on the Renault’s, and while the MINI has a stunning interior design, its ride is too firm, its cabin too cramped and its range too poor to compete with the 4.