Renault Zoe Hatchback Dynamique Nav R90 auto 5d Owner Review

Bought this car from new. £2000 deposit plus £190 pcm for 3 years. £4000 to pay at the end. I lease the battery which is a further £69 pcm. Initially loved the car. Great in Eco mode around town with braking and slowing down generally recharging the traction battery. Top speed in Eco mode is around 60mph so that took some getting used to and frequently took it off Eco mode. This makes top speed around 84mph but reduces the range significantly. Now I keep it in Eco mode and become one of those people that won’t go about 60mph irrespective of road conditions! It has had 2 traction battery faults in 3 years which has meant it has been sent to Wolverhampton twice. Once for a couple of months. I was given the cost of the traction battery hire back by Renault and given a courtesy car etc but I have little trust in the car now. The range of the car is also a lot lower than when it was new. Started off by having a range of 200+miles in summer months. Now probably gets to 150 miles if I’m lucky. The air con reduces range and the heater doesn’t get very hot at all in the winter. The boot gas struts have failed after 2 years. The torque means you can beat most things off the lights and the smug factor is high when friends talk about how much petrol costs although the cost of charging the car at home is higher than I imagined so my bills have increased. There are few charging points around and it’s incredibly frustrating when people hog the points in multi story car parks for a hybrid car which will only add a couple of dozen miles to their range meaning I can’t charge mine. The public car points in some supermarkets etc are not free and mean you have to pay a monthly subscription which I refuse to do. There is also a Renault subscription which is free for the first 3 years and then they try and charge you £200 per year. The sat nav update should have been a simply process but it wouldn’t work so that became stressful. I liked the novelty of having an electric car and the Zoe is an affordable option but the range means it is suitable for a second car at best. You will still need a petrol/diesel/hybrid if you want to go anywhere significant in your travels.