Renault Zoe Mk1 - A Used Car Review!

It's been around over a decade and there are a lot to choose from, but does it stand up in todays EV market or is it just, dated?

#electriccars #renaultzoe #cars

[StuartAT]

I watched a video by Jonathan Porterfield about a Renault Zoe he bought at auction. It's got over 100, 000 miles on the clock, he had the battery health checked, and the battery is at 89% state of health. It seems these batteries are better than the doom mongers would have us believe...

[keithasuncion]

Bring us more EV used cars reviews. They're very informative.

[peteglass]

Bjorn Nyland in Norway is also looking at how older EVs are holding up, esp. battery condition. You are both doing a worthwhile job on this, keep it up - it's important that not all content is puff pieces about luxury SUVs at the top of market. This seems to be the current focus of the major OEMs until the ZEV mandates drag them into the middle market.

[Petelmrg]

One of the surprising things about the Zoë is that you can put a wheelchair in the boot and still use the back seats as it will stand upright; I can't think of any other small hatchback where a wheelchair and four can travel.

[Knott]

This would be ideal for my mum and her trips to the shops, family and similar. Never ignore the shopping trolly segment!

[jonsykes]

We've got one as a second car and everything you say fits perfectly with our experience with it. Unfortunately that includes the fall to charge error. Local Renault dealer wanted £4.5k to fix the problem, HEVRA garage charged £1.3k to fix it. The dealer "fix" was the wrong part so would still have not worked after paying for that. Fortunately we'd taken out a warranty, and they paid the full bill. The dealer also buggered up the software, somehow deleting the heater, that'll be another £138 to diagnose, HEVRA garage can't do software updates to fix that problem. Dealer made a mess of reporting problem to warranty company so they refused to pay out, then took 3 days to update and total bill was £338.

Car is OK, Renault and their dealers are absolutely abysmal. Will never buy another Renault again.

[jvb]

Really useful video for a lot of people. Thanks.

[andycotton]

Our ZE40 2018 model, battery owned, we bought last october and haven't looked back. A great little runabout car, with 140 mls range in winter in ECO mode at 85% charge which is good for the very hilly area we live in. One thing about buying the lease out; our car came with the original invoice from Renault, where the previous owner bought the lease out last september- it cost £3304!

[timaustin]

I've had both a ZE40 and a ZE50 with CCS. Either are brilliant used cars. Loved driving them.

Rapid charging is the only real headache with either, now

[Joe-lbqn]

I test drove one of these about 5 years ago. As you say big boot for the size. A great local / second car.

[markottaway]

I have had a ZE40 with Type 2 43kw charging for 18 months and I fell in love. I have 150 Mile range and most Tesco and Lidl have 22kw chargers, so just plan a shoo on the way home on longer journeys. And BP pulse does 43 Kw.
I get 4+ Miles/kw in winter, 3.5 when below 0. And 5+ Miles/kw in summer.
2 full size suitcases just fit in the boot and 2 adults and a large bag on the backseat.
The main thing is its so much fun to drive and you can beat most idiots away from the lights, which is useful sometimes.

[darrensimon]

I have one similar age really great second car.

[animationcreations]

We've had a 2022 Zoe as a courtesy car for the last month and a half (and done over 2500 miles), and I must say I really do like it. It's noticeably smaller than our Leaf, but the boot is still a decent size. In fact, I'd say the rear leg room is on par, if not better in the Zoe.
The interior quality of the Mk2 Zoe is much, much better, and the 50kW CCS charging is well worth it.
In terms of efficiency, over the 2500 miles we've done in it, we've averaged 3.8mi/kWh, about the same as our 2018 Leaf.

One advantage the older Zoe has is the 'normal' keyless entry with the button on the door.
Our 2022 Zoe has the stupid proximity key that automatically unlocks the car when you get close. The best part is, if you have the key in your pocket and go to the charge port, it locks the car as you're out of range. Also, if you walk away from the car with the key, the car will automatically lock as soon as the doors close. It's frankly dangerous.

[richmaniow]

The battery lease was a good idea it just cost too much, if it had been around £30 a month most people would have jumped at the option.

[decimal]

Leaf 40kWh is dropping in price now, below the level of a comparable battery-owned Zoe with rapid charging. Zoe is a great option if you do a lot of urban driving and parking though..

[robertmellor]

My wife has a ZE40. We use it all the time around town. We have free 22Kw charging in town, so a visit to the shops gives us a full charge, for free! In fact I prefer to drive it rather than my I-Pace in town, and economy is sooo good. 14 Kwh/100 Kms. The jag manages 24Kwh/ Kwh.

[dennisharvey]

The whole point of the rumble strips at the end of a dual carriageway is to wake you up to how fast you are going: you don't want a car which makes them quieter!

[steveyoung]

I have had three zoes, two 22kwh and a 40kwh where i did 50000 miles in 2 years. the main weakness of early ones, heat pump failure, and i had a coil spring snap. Other than that no problems, great battery health and degradation. also buy yhr early batteries out for less than £2k and can pick up for £4k now

[MrGMawson]

13:45 I've told my dad loads of times to get a cheap EV but he is happy having to go to the Diesel station

[countertony]

When I started hiring EVs in 2019, I did so with the Zoe ZE50 (GT Line +), and it was great fun and exceedingly practical for two adults - now I'm looking to buy a car again, it seems like the perfect match....but now we have a baby, and I can't quite get over that zero-rating for Euro NCAP. While a lot of that's due to the new emphasis on safety-assist devices, I'm not a huge fan of its crash survivability scores either.