Renault Zoe - Is It Any Good?

Is the Renault Zoe any good? Today I find out!

[johndouglas]

Although I am a fan, I think EVM must have got out of the wrong side of the bed before doing this review which started as a bit of a rant about how to operate some elements of the Zoe.
Spending 5 minutes reading the manual would have resolved some of the problems encountered, the same applies to any car you haven't driven before.
Personally I am a big fan of the Zoe.
If you want to get from A to B or even further and don't want to carry a vast amount of camping gear, get a Zoe, if want to pay more money, carry loads of camping gear, have less range and have the inconvenience of rapidgate, get a Leaf

[antoinem]

We have two Zoe's running in an share program: they are great! Very easy to get used to for novice EV drivers and very little to go wrong or break. Love them!

[eDriver]

The Renault Zoe Q90 is a great car.Q90 mans Quick charging with 43 kW, not only 22 kW. I also have the Z.E: 40 battery, with 41 kW/h. The car is build may 2018.

[mysurlytrucker]

Why did you not think to look at the control's before moving of ?.

[NicolasRaimo]

psst key doesn't need to go in slot its wireless, and as per my video you can change the indicator noises there's lots to choice, and cruise is same as all other Renault models the symbol near the gear stick match's the one on steering wheel you need to select either limit or cruise 🔋🚗🔌

[sleekitwan]

Thank you for making this video. Yes, the survey of the Zoes on sale, is sobering once you twig the battery-leasing is rife. Basically, under £6, 000 there's dozens of Zoes - and every one is a battery-lease model. Minimum about £60 per month, probably seemed okay for a twenty grand car new! But on a ten grand car used, it's suddenly a lot of dosh - basically, it seems IMHO like paying Renault all the money you saved in petrol (gas)?! I agree, but it is more than irritating - it is a deal-breaker. The prices reflect people's views on this surely?

All the lease ones, are £5k to £9k, with a few fantasists trying for more. All the battery-owned ones are over £10k, except one solitary one I saw, it was £8k or so, and I knew it wouldn't be up long (3 weeks and gone, that's short for an autotrader advert, plus it was a private sale.)

Loads of the lease versions, are with dealers. Why? Because Renault do not charge the dealers the battery lease while they have the vehicle, it seems to be dormant. The previous owner, MUST get the new owner, to take the lease deal on board before daring to part with the vehicle or do the V5 !!! There's a horror story waiting to happen there, no wonder dealers end up with them. Incidentally, the penalties are pretty horrible if you go over the mileage - so when people say the battery lease is £59 per month, they are talking about quite limiting mileage - if you want to err on the side of caution, it's more like £80 per month.

That, is simply not viable in the used car market, especially as these older Zoe EVs are only good for 100 miles ish per charge. That was ok 2 years ago, but I wouldn't pay £50 to £80 (more than I pay in petrol) per month, when my entire point of moving to an EV, is firstly it has to be economically viable compared to a cheap old Clio that is paid for.

The interior looks lifted from a Clio mk 4. We have one of these too. The car is incredibly well-made. I don't know where you initially were imbued with the view French cars are bad for wiring or whatever, we have an 18-year old Clio 2, and I just changed the HT leads at 129, 000 miles, as they made a lambda sensor light come one - so I am pretty sure it's not that oxygen sensor that the OBDII system says it is at all.

Contrast this with the substantial number of people stating Mercedes cars have the most terrible tendency to pop an electronic fault, and Renault and peugeot etc come out shining? I keep hearing that refrain when I go to buy a used car, and there's some such 'niggle' with the vehicle as a warning light etc 'It's nothing that, an easy fix'. Patently, if it were an easy fix - it would be fixed. Walk away. I did, with a damn good Mercedes, because it drove massively well, loads of push and lovely inside, but two issues: seemed oddly cramped; and a handbrake warning beep or light kept coming on, I couldn't shut it up.

Maybe it was a brilliant car, but electronic sensor faults, are potentially days of fault finding and part-swapping. I would feel like a fool for actually buying myself into such a situation, no matter how cheap the vehicle. I went on to buy a lovely but unreliable Volvo (blame Ford who owned Volvo at the time), which had no warnings but actually had hidden faults galore waiting to pop as soon as the weather got warmer.

We tried the Zoe, when wife wanted a Clio replacement - Clio is dead (actually, still alive) long live Clio sort of thing! So wife tried the Zoe with me and salesman in it (brand new) but it was doomed to suffer three issues: First it actually IS awfully like a Clio, so there's no USP there; Second, the Zoe somehow FELT slightly smaller; Third, the range issue is a killer for somebody who is used to 250 miles without breaking a sweat. 100 miles and then charge for an hour, is a hard sell (it is an hour - they don't refill to the same level in 30 minutes at all, which is not fine, when you were already keeping speeds down to 50mph, and freezing your feet off to save energy, and so on, and counting on every one of those advertised and entirely fictional 100 miles in winter!).

So, as a car, we loved the Zoe. But as a solution to family motoring, where my car will be the big old one that tends to be breaking down more but we try to rely on for family journeys, it needed to be able to step in as needed. 125 sold cast-iron miles, would do it. But that is a lot harder to obtain than you might think...

It means in practice, 150 miles being the range (because motorway services to charge at are maybe 20 miles apart if you are lucky). Then, all the caveats come pouring in - even that 41kWh Zoe, I can run flat in maybe 70 miles. How? I will drive at the unofficial 90mph m-way speed, and just watch that battery range plummet. I will treat the heater like in a petrol car, have it blasting hot air while climbing a huge hill section of Cumbrian motorway, with 4 people on board and tyres we forgot to pump up. And so on.

That's what happens. Under the same circumstances there is no chance at all of a petrol car leaving us stranded in the dead of night, you will make changes and allowances all over the place. I still intend buying an EV, but it is with the experience of a 500-mile round trip that my family absolutely hated and detested. The quality of that drive, was apalling, so bad in fact I won't mention the vehicle make and model, because it is not fair, any EV would be the same until you get to about 60kWh of battery capacity I believe.

The bigger the battery, the less the issue of emptying the charge quickly, matters. In short, here's the issue: there is a law that says the faster you drain the battery, the less kWh it actually can give! In other words, when quoting kWh of battery the EV has, it could be argued, the maker ought to tell you, what rate of usage of energy, that kWh capacity, is stated for.

Do 50mph or less, on A-road Britain, in a perfect 16 degrees centigrade (Goldilocks temperature!) and you will get the stated range. Do a motorway blast like most British people drive (X0mph with occasional bursts to XX0mph) and from my experience with 30kWh or less battery says it will die in 50 miles. I did 70mph ish for less than 10 minutes, because the range meter plummeted. Within 15 minutes of setting off, we got lost. It burned ten percent of our energy to get back on track.

I get lost in new places all the time. We can't have that happening on a holiday.

My strategy then, is to buy a small cheap EV (and even that is twice what I would pay for a gas/petrol runabout the same age), and it has to be a second car or a third, for definite. We will have to accept, this vehicle can NEVER step up to the plate, in the stead of a gas/petrol car. It will be resolutely useless if you ever end up needing it for more than dropping the petrol car off to get fixed, or getting parts for that petrol car to repair it.

Town driving, and recharging at your own home, my strategy works. The precision of that prescriptive use, automatically will ruel an affordable EV out I think, for anyone divorced or single, who ever would dare contemplate a long drive. Sure, they can hire a gas/petrol car, but then you have that battery lease just using money the entire time you are away.

So, it's careful, prescriptive use if you are like us trying to get a used, slightly-older tech and range EV, and it has notable limits. If you can live with those limitations, then it can work. Also, lastly, there is a kicker for me too _ it is my belief, manual clutch vehicles, cause a lot of hip and back problems, and I am certain from experience, I have none, if I drive automatics. That, alone, makes EVs a whole lot better in my view, they are all automatic transmission in effect.

I do hate people claiming they are CVT though - that really has gotten old and are they not embarrassed to claim this?! No EV yet produced I believe, has ever had a CVT, and they never will. Funny.

[andyn]

I have a Captur with basically the same interior, no problems whatsoever and definitely no electrical faults.Great video, will definitely look to hire one, see if it fits my needs.

[GeoffJonesEsprit]

There's another bunch of controls behind the steering wheel on the right side (yup out of sight) this includes an entertainment presets scroll wheel, volume controls and also that illusive mute button you where looking for, also has variable regen this is part of your braking, the first part of travel increases the regen then as you press further the brakes join in.

[RZOCUK]

I am shocked :) you liked it.... agree with a few things like split seat etc but as you say for the price :) it’s a winner

[MrBobitsabc]

Just viewed this after buying a ‘leased battery’ Zoe, and it was great entertainment. After all the criticism you said you quite liked it - I came to same conclusion too and for the price it is probably the cheapest EV you can get.

[teaky]

We have a 22kwh Zoe and rent the batteries, it was £3k less than a Clio of the same age and mileage, its the only car I've ever own that is worth more now than a year ago and Its saved me £500 in fuel bills. Charging it take minutes (you get home, plug it in, go inside, its ready when you need it, just like a mobile phone).

[TheBeggFamily]

Quite a helpful video. I want a new 2020 52kWh battery one, but since they’re all based on the same design, its very promising!

[rosco]

Had our 41kw Zoe for a couple of months now and for a second car it is brilliant. You are correct with some of your comments but just consider it as a town or city car and all becomes clear. You are not going to get all the bells and whistles on a relatively inexpensive vehicle. My wife and I love it. As usual good video though.

[tobiallich]

Driving Zoe R90 (40kWh) for a year now and pretty much agree each and every point.

[taztaz]

one of the best features with the Zoe according to me is the autolock feature.. i always have the key in my pocket and the car auto locks itself when you leave it.. i really really like that feature! I have been driving 24kwh leaf for 3 years and zoe for 1 year.. i cannot really say wich one is best.. both have disadvantages and advantages.. the range of the 41kwh zoe is really nice though! I can drive 185 miles without problems in the summer..

[edwardpurkis]

Great video really enjoyed it, I'm due to college my new 40kw Zoe in a few weeks. Yes it's has a few cheep issues but when the dealer offered me the mid spec brand new car for £13, 600 how could I say no? I can't wait for the technology and companies to start making hot hatch electric cars.

[mbak]

I have got my new Zoe today. Passed on the guided tour as I enjoy finding out everything myself. Like here every ten seconds I am saying "How the hell to you turn that off"? Or where are the volume buttons? There is a lot to these cars and the manual is not that great. Next time I will have the tour. Great car though.

[karlowen]

200 miles in summer on urban trafik easy piesy. greatings from Germany

[sweetbon]

I love the Zoe, but the positioning of the cruise control is really weird. Why not activate it on the steering wheel, where your hands are? Instead you have to reach down to activate and deactivate.

[iro-huncarguy]

You should test a BMW I3 94AH REX. We had a 30kwh leaf and now have an i3. It's a day and night difference.