With the R5, Renault is bringing back its classic supermini from the seventies. Compact, agile and, of course, fully electric. We took it for a spin on the streets of Nice, winding our way through the narrow alleys and cruising along the broad promenades – and found everything about the car and the city to be just right.

Except, perhaps, for the price of coffee in a very famous hotel.

Nice is a traffic nightmare. Everyone knows it, but nobody talks about it, and for good reason it isn’t mentioned in any of the tourist brochures. The streets in the old town are narrow and winding, while the main roads and thoroughfares are clogged by tourists and all sorts of delivery and parcel services. As a result, most of the locals navigate the city on foot or by moped, and anyone who buys an SUV or a luxury sedan here either has good nerves or good -automotive insurance – ideally both.

On this friendly fall day in the French city, we don’t need either. For one thing, we’re driving the new all-electric Renault 5 E-Tech, which everyone just calls the R5, and besides, Nice is almost deserted by off-season -standards. It’s easy to meander through the alleys and narrow lanes and – mon dieu, c’est incroyable! – we find a small parking space almost -everywhere that we can easily squeeze into.

Anyone who buys an SUV or a luxury sedan here either has good nerves or good automotive insurance – ideally both.

The city’s most famous street is the Promenade des Anglais. If you’re wondering how it got its name, we can help by going back to 1820. Legend has it that several harsh winters further north brought an increasing number of beggars to the city, and some of the wealthy English people living there decided to put these beggars to work building a seaside promenade. When  it was  completed four years later, the walkway was named -Promenade des Anglais by the locals. Also interesting to know: In the 1930s and 1940s, the promenade was used as a racetrack, with the Circuit de la Promenade des Anglais hosting the Grand Prix de Nice for cars and the French Grand Prix for motorcycles in 1938.

This is where we are now cruising along with the little R5 from Renault. Not at racing speed, of course, although, as mentioned, there is little traffic to get in our way today. But the lack of traffic allows us to drive “La Prom”, as the locals call the promenade, more than once. It is just so pleasant to glide along here between the sea and the palm trees and the old houses. The promenade is seven kilometers long, and the only time we have to stop is because of a red light. No traffic jams. When we’ve had our fill, it’s time to take a detour into the old town. It seems to be the exception rather than the rule that an electric car that is so incredibly yellow such as ours strays into the narrow alleys of Vieux Nice. Anytime we stop, we are immediately surrounded, stared at and photographed. That can be a bit exhausting in the long run, so time for a break.

The best place for this is Le Negresco, right on the Prom. This proves doubly true at the moment, as we can find a parking space for the R5 right out front. The good thing about Le Negresco is that you know it without ever having been there. Many Hollywood films have been shot here, and from Greta Garbo to Michael Jackson and the Beatles, it feels like every celebrity in the world has stayed here at least once. Apart from the luxurious ambiance of the hotel, the private beach is an argument for staying here as well, especially in the summer. After a quick café au lait (health tip: don’t look at the bill, the prices are out of this world), we want to give the Renault a bit more of a runabout. One last time along  the promenade, enjoying the sea and the  coast – and then it’s off to the mountain roads of the hinterland. We’re amazed at how easily and elegantly the R5 takes the bends. And at how much power (148 hp including 52 kWh battery) the little car has to offer. The R5 is supposed to be a tribute to the Renault 5 from 1972 – and it certainly lives up to it in terms of agility and space.

Apart from the luxurious ambiance of the hotel, the private beach is an argument for staying here as well.

Steering through the bends and hairpin turns at high speed, it’s important to remember that the R5 is a subcompact. Perhaps this is a sign to return the “Renaulution” proclaimed by the manufacturer to its original habitat. So back to Nice it is, into the evening after-work rush. The previously empty city is now as bustling as ever, with lanterns and strings of lights illumi-nating the narrow lanes. No getting through. We look for a parking space one last time, get out and stroll through the streets. It seems like we are magically drawn towards the beach again, but to be honest, we are just being dragged along by the stream of people. There’s music playing on the Prom, inline skaters and joggers are doing their rounds, and we find ourselves a nice place to sit on a white bench with a view of the sea. After all, when in France, you’ve got to enjoy these French moments in life.

The R5 is supposed to be a tribute to the Renault 5 from 1972 – and it certainly lives up to it in terms of agility and space.

Text: Martin Trockner
Photos: Oliver Gast

ramp #66: Drive My Car

A three-hour Japanese drama where nothing much appears to happen other than endless car rides and which is somehow about the multilingual production of a stage play may not immediately seem like something that could arouse your curiosity. Though it should. For us, these 179 minutes served as inspiration for the title to our latest issue of ramp. Find out more