59: Renault Zoe – impressive range but price is an issue

The little plugin Renault has beaten a lot of the bigger boys to the punch when it comes to offering some serious electric car range. While the likes of Hyundai, VW, and even BMW are all still noodling around the 300km one-charge mark, the Zoe 4.0 claims that it can go for a massive 400km without visiting a plug point.

It won’t, of course, but it will probably put an impressive 250-300km between charges (at least 50km better than the opposition) and it looks rather appealingly smart into the bargain.

Bargain is not really the word we’d choose to use, though, as there’s no getting away from the fact that the Zoe is very, very expensive for a car of its size. In fact, to get that 400km range, you have to pay €27,390 which is almost as much as the larger, more sophisticated Hyundai Ioniq. The Zoe’s rather narrow, and slightly cheap-feeling cabin simply can’t compete at that level.

Which is a bit of a shame, as there’s much to like here, from the easy-going thrust of the electric powertrain to the surprisingly nimble and enjoyable handling.