Renault 5 Electric at €230 per month? Beware of the conditions!

Why buy a car outright when you can lease it? Renault has just unveiled the offer dedicated to its new Renault 5 electric.

To say that the new Renault 5 E-Tech electric is highly anticipated would be an understatement! Renault has teased the model extensively, and the popular reception it has received suggests promising prospects for the five versions proposed by 2025: five, evolution, techno, iconic five, and the special Roland-Garros series. For the launch of the model, the French manufacturer has decided to initially limit the offer to the techno and iconic five versions, both equipped with the comfort autonomy battery of 52 kWh, which offers up to 410 km of range in the WLTP cycle.

We hoped, perhaps a bit naively, for a base model at 25,000 euros, but if that’s still planned, it’s not coming any time soon. The Techno variant starts at 29,490 euros, after deducting the ecological bonus of 4,000 euros, while you only need to pay 2,000 euros more for the much more interesting Iconiq Cinq version. However, the psychological barrier of 30,000 euros is then crossed, and that’s not very appealing. On the other hand, a rental of 230 euros is much more glamorous, so let’s examine the offer in detail.

Asterisks and Conditions

From July 1 to July 31, 2024, the Renault 5 E-Tech 100% electric iconic Cinq 150hp comfort autonomy is offered at 230 euros per month under a Long-Term Lease for 37 months and 30,000 km. So already, when we see LLD for 37 months instead of 36, it invariably rhymes with an increased initial payment. You need to pay an initial rent of 4,500 euros to access this rate. Let’s assume you have some cash available and really want a Renault 5 but don’t have a car to return… Well, too bad for the 1,500 euros conversion bonus, which will be added back to the first payment!

So if you don’t benefit from the conversion bonus, the initial payment rises to 6,000 euros! If we spread the contribution over 37 months, that means it’s still more than 390 euros per month for a Renault 5 that you don’t own! We’re not saying it’s too expensive; we’re just stating that consumers deserve to see clear rates without conditions and to be allowed to choose as adults.

When manufacturers like MG display their entire range with Long-Term Lease without any contribution and without conditions, it’s quite frustrating to see the French still using this tactic of an increased initial payment to attract us with offers that look great from afar, but are far from great. We recently unraveled the Citroën ë-C3 offer, and you’ll see it’s not any better.

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