I purchased a used Zoe in June a 2021 with less than 3000 miles . It's our first step to EV and is our only car I can honestly say WOW its amazing and I come from a world of I.C.E. But will never go back Definitely an electric future for me....😊
Mine was a pre-reg and so about 10000 cheaper than list price. No problems with reliability, unless to do with the inexperience of nearly running out of electric and finding busy chargers or apps not working late at night. Slow charging, yes, but I try to keep above 50% so charge more often when doing that rare long trip, when this is possible. The satnav maps always load the update onto my music-filled usb stick, a bit weird. Safety features help the driver and road-users, but you have to drive safely anyway. The NCAP result does shoo away some.
I have bought the used Zoe 2022 at price 23k. This is my first car and perfect for me 😊. The Renault customer service provider pentagon at Rochdale, Great Manchester, Uk are friendly. The only few issues I encountered is 1)punching tyre and the weld tyre sensor warning at rainy weather. 2)The sensors always give you a strange and odd “bit” sound while fault motion detection. 3) acoustic insulation could be improved. I can clear hear the songs played inside my car at outside. 😅 Otherwise, this is a high CP car with all the necessities and which luxury band car BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz can cost you the nightmare as options.
Great video. I have recently upgraded my Gen 1 Zoe to a ZE50 Iconic and it is a totally different beast altogether. It's a great car that is very energy efficient and comfortable to drive as well. With the CCS and the increased range it is a car I shall be sticking with for many years before I even think of changing it.
I've had the Zoe GT LINE now for the last 15 months! It's a really good car! Looks good, practical, economical, great acceleration. Cheap to buy and I've found the 22ac charge very useful!
I bought our ZE50 110 with 250 miles on the clock in 2021. After 3 years, I still enjoy driving it. It's also more economical on battery than the 135. I'm seeing an annual average of more than 5.3 miles per kilowatt hour; a range of 275 miles or more. In Summer I'm seeing over 300 miles on long runs with 2 people and holiday luggage. On motorways at average traffic speeds I see at least 4.8 miles per kilowatt hour in Spring. I don't like the facts that we have no indication of recharging speeds, and we don't have Car Play. Renault Customer Services have been exemplary, but the dealer keeps trying to persuade me to downgrade to a hybrid. They must be desperately trying to shift those frankenkars before it's too late!
My friends had theirs fail to charge, needed 30 error messages cleared and Renault could only take in a month later, then charged for investigation. No problems with Leaf for 10 years!
Our Leaf 24kwh is 9 yrs old with 90k mileage. We also never had an issue with our too. It was rated the most reliable used EV by which a few year ago. It's perfect as our second car for local runs, etc
Bought the Zoe GT LINE for £15k at two years old 9.5k miles "& free 7kw wall box fitted. It's been brilliant very under valued. It's my third EV SINCE 2014. It just might be my last car ever at 68 years old.
Great content, thank you. I wouldn't consider one after learning about the following: Most unreliable used EV according to Which. N-Cap rating at a Zero - I'd consider safety highly with children. Test drove a ZE50 prior to the NCap rating change and found the driver seat causing lower back pains (at 36 yrs of age, lol). Finally, when driving at slow speeds, the pedestrian warning noise (VESS) was intrusive from within the cabin.
It's definitely well past its sell by date. I suppose it would be fine around towns and stuff, but I wouldn't want it for anything else. Renault also own the Dacia brand and the Dacia Spring is another EV (an electrified Renault Kwid, a crappy vehicle sold in China, India & Brazil) has a 1 star NCAP rating. There are a lot of decent & affordable Chinese EVs heading to Europe and Renault need to up their game.
I'm in the market for small used EV for my wife as our 2nd car but I couldn't bring myself to have a Zero NCAP rated car. So it's a no from me for the Zoe. However, I'll be interested in the other models you review as we are very close to getting an EV with the proceeds from our Skoda Karoq which will be up for sale shortly. Sad to see it go but it's time for us to get an EV for local trips which will be charged from home only. So far we are drawn to a 1-2 year old facelift Kona with the 64 kWh battery so I'm hoping this is on your list of reviewed models. Subbed & liked.
Zoe had five stars when it first appeared. The only difference now is they took the side impact curtain airbags out, they still have front and front seat side impact bags, instead they put in lane assist, and collision avoidance systems in. According to their data the curtain bags were unnecessary, but then so were the electronic aids they put in. But the car is as strong as any small car in the market in a crash. If I was to trade in the Zoe now I would buy a nearly new ora cat. Nearly new are selling for around £13k unbelievable value and so many functions even though the battery is only 48kw. Look at the price of the 61kw version. The Zoe is not worth buying brand new! But at two years old great value, but now because the trade has a lot of unsold Ora cats for sale with the smaller battery they are unbeatable value and a great safe car to drive.
Well, here's an update on my above post 1 year on. We did indeed get a 1 year old '22 plate 5k mile top spec ex Motability 64kWh Kona EV for less than half of it's price when it was new (probably helped by the new model which was due to launch a few months after we bought ours). We also got a good trade in price for our 2019 top spec Karoq. I was sad to see that go but Skoda has no small mid size car or crossover EV offering yet). The Kona has turned out to be a great "Goldilocks" car, being not too big (smaller than my wife's previous Karoq) so easy for town driving & parking, & not too small as a 4 /5 seater with a reasonable boot (no frunk though). My wife loves the remote warm up features on these cold winter days & it has loads of buttons & a HUD so no searching for stuff in the infotainment system screen while driving. The 64kWh battery gets charged at home (not used a public charger yet & not plans to do so) & it's good for nearly 300 miles in summer or 250 in winter (no HP on ours). Current average economy is 4.3m/kW. The only thing I would criticise is it's ride quality on poor roads which is a bit hard & choppy. That aside it's been a fab car & my wife loves it. As for me I'm still keeping my petrol Skoda Superb 4 x 4 estate which gets used for longer trips, holidays, trips to the dump & Ikea. There really is no substitute for a big estate car & until some makes a large EV Estate that doesn't cost the earth I'll be keeping my Superb. Best of both worlds really.
Indeed the MG4 is a great package. The take from this used series is not necessarily new vs new, even though price comparison is important to understand, it’s about getting into a good used vehicle at an attractive price more people can afford.
@@stuart_thomas True. Sadly, here in France at least, an used Zoé with the same range as a brand new MG4 SE is still the same price. It's completely outmatched.
Test drove Peugeot e208 and Zoe r135 on the same day. Peugeot was head and shoulders ahead, with ride, quality and overall package. Zoe was much noisier at speed and had a tinny feel. Definitely not a bad car, but I did actually buy the Peugeot
Magic words ‘Chinese’, electric’ I’m not convinced of their build quality and potential longevity. Time will tell but I think I would stick with Renault.
It’s totally different. Cold Ethylene Glycol running through channels around battery cells is completely different to cold air over the battery pack. Renault are doing the best with what they have available to them but they’re totally different things
The Zoe could've been great but it's not. It's rubbish. I've been driving Zoe since 2018, first the old 41kWh for 30.000 miles and since 2020 the new one with 52kWh and CCS for 40.000 miles (currently). Quality is atroctious, service is bad, charging is often finnicky and throws errors and safety is on par of a 2013 car. The passenger doors (front right and both rear) on mine make a loud noise as if something were to break when closing. Renault says if they change the springs it will reappear. The steering makes noise while turning because the strut bearings have plastic that starts rubbing and it sounds like it's breaking. The motor makes noise as if a bearing is damaged at 30mph. Renault says it's normal. Steering wheel buttones were unresponsive at first. Renault said that there's no fix. After a year I asked again, they replaced my steering wheel and forgot to plug in the steering wheel position sensor which resulted in an extra day in the shop. The car is advertised for 50kW charging but only receives 46kW. It's almost 10% less than advertised. You cannot heat or cool your car while charging. Turning the climate control on will only turn the fan on, regardless of the set temperature. You need to set preconditioning or leave the car to be able to start it from the app for a few minutes. Also the fan speed is at maximum the whole time. The software is a desaster. Reversing camera doesn't always work, the audio shuts off randomly for the whole drive, radio turns on randomly instead of my selected input, random error messages flash when opening the door, the trip and consumption meter resets randomly, the consumption is given in kW and not kWh/100km, consumption is also wrong most of the time, BMS has faulty software on the 22kWh (battery won't be balanced especially in winter) and on the 52kWh (false degradation and range reporting) models, you can't turn off automatic brights and when the camera fogs up you can't turn your brights on anymore. After 40.000 miles I feel like the steering has to be checked because it's starting to feel loose. I could go on, it's a rubbish car.
Shame you've had so many problems. I've had three Zoes, 22, 41 and now 52 and they have all been reliable with very few problems. The only major expense has been the replacement of a lower suspension arm. The charging on 22 kW AC can be temperamental, but often that's down to the chargepoint, a problem at one and absolutely final another. And yes, 22kW is slow and one of the reasons why I got a 52 kWh with 50 kW DC charging - and a lease at a ridiculous price compared with other new EVs (I think it was a cancelled leae order).
@@mikec2505 maybe it wasn't clear from my comment, I had one with 41kWh (phase 1.5) from 2018 until 2020 which I replaced with the 2nd one (phase 2 and 52kWh) since 2020. The first one was absolutely fine and had no notable issues with it (except the issue with the doors which has been sorted by the dealership). The 2nd one however was the one described in the above comment.
@@phillipjones7752 it's great to hear that I'm an isolated case, but nonetheless it's important to let people know that some cars are prone to issues. My first one was very nice and I loved it, that's why I wanted to get the revised version with CCS and bigger battery, expecting a better, if not the same experience. I sadly didn't get that. :(
I purchased a used Zoe in June a 2021 with less than 3000 miles . It's our first step to EV and is our only car
I can honestly say WOW its amazing and I come from a world of I.C.E. But will never go back
Definitely an electric future for me....😊
I will pick mine tomorrow , can't wait !
Ive used 22kwh Zoe for four years now and want to upgrade it to 52kwh
Mine was a pre-reg and so about 10000 cheaper than list price. No problems with reliability, unless to do with the inexperience of nearly running out of electric and finding busy chargers or apps not working late at night. Slow charging, yes, but I try to keep above 50% so charge more often when doing that rare long trip, when this is possible. The satnav maps always load the update onto my music-filled usb stick, a bit weird. Safety features help the driver and road-users, but you have to drive safely anyway. The NCAP result does shoo away some.
I have bought the used Zoe 2022 at price 23k. This is my first car and perfect for me 😊. The Renault customer service provider pentagon at Rochdale, Great Manchester, Uk are friendly. The only few issues I encountered is
1)punching tyre and the weld tyre sensor warning at rainy weather.
2)The sensors always give you a strange and odd “bit” sound while fault motion detection.
3) acoustic insulation could be improved. I can clear hear the songs played inside my car at outside. 😅
Otherwise, this is a high CP car with all the necessities and which luxury band car BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz can cost you the nightmare as options.
Great video. I have recently upgraded my Gen 1 Zoe to a ZE50 Iconic and it is a totally different beast altogether. It's a great car that is very energy efficient and comfortable to drive as well. With the CCS and the increased range it is a car I shall be sticking with for many years before I even think of changing it.
I've had the Zoe GT LINE now for the last 15 months! It's a really good car! Looks good, practical, economical, great acceleration. Cheap to buy and I've found the 22ac charge very useful!
I bought our ZE50 110 with 250 miles on the clock in 2021. After 3 years, I still enjoy driving it. It's also more economical on battery than the 135. I'm seeing an annual average of more than 5.3 miles per kilowatt hour; a range of 275 miles or more. In Summer I'm seeing over 300 miles on long runs with 2 people and holiday luggage. On motorways at average traffic speeds I see at least 4.8 miles per kilowatt hour in Spring. I don't like the facts that we have no indication of recharging speeds, and we don't have Car Play. Renault Customer Services have been exemplary, but the dealer keeps trying to persuade me to downgrade to a hybrid. They must be desperately trying to shift those frankenkars before it's too late!
Recent owner of the much older Q210. Honestly, it has been great, it's such a nice car!
My friends had theirs fail to charge, needed 30 error messages cleared and Renault could only take in a month later, then charged for investigation. No problems with Leaf for 10 years!
Our Leaf 24kwh is 9 yrs old with 90k mileage. We also never had an issue with our too. It was rated the most reliable used EV by which a few year ago. It's perfect as our second car for local runs, etc
I love my LEAF. I was looking at the ZOE used as a replacement. I saw the NCAP rating and crossed it off my list. You cannot put a price on safety.
Bought the Zoe GT LINE for £15k at two years old 9.5k miles "& free 7kw wall box fitted. It's been brilliant very under valued. It's my third EV SINCE 2014. It just might be my last car ever at 68 years old.
Great content, thank you. I wouldn't consider one after learning about the following: Most unreliable used EV according to Which. N-Cap rating at a Zero - I'd consider safety highly with children. Test drove a ZE50 prior to the NCap rating change and found the driver seat causing lower back pains (at 36 yrs of age, lol). Finally, when driving at slow speeds, the pedestrian warning noise (VESS) was intrusive from within the cabin.
It's definitely well past its sell by date. I suppose it would be fine around towns and stuff, but I wouldn't want it for anything else. Renault also own the Dacia brand and the Dacia Spring is another EV (an electrified Renault Kwid, a crappy vehicle sold in China, India & Brazil) has a 1 star NCAP rating. There are a lot of decent & affordable Chinese EVs heading to Europe and Renault need to up their game.
They have. It is called the R5@@drxym
I'm in the market for small used EV for my wife as our 2nd car but I couldn't bring myself to have a Zero NCAP rated car. So it's a no from me for the Zoe.
However, I'll be interested in the other models you review as we are very close to getting an EV with the proceeds from our Skoda Karoq which will be up for sale shortly. Sad to see it go but it's time for us to get an EV for local trips which will be charged from home only. So far we are drawn to a 1-2 year old facelift Kona with the 64 kWh battery so I'm hoping this is on your list of reviewed models. Subbed & liked.
Thanks for the sub Colin, I have a few I’ve filmed in the last few weeks including the Kona, e-Niro and ID.4 so watch this space 👍
Zoe had five stars when it first appeared. The only difference now is they took the side impact curtain airbags out, they still have front and front seat side impact bags, instead they put in lane assist, and collision avoidance systems in. According to their data the curtain bags were unnecessary, but then so were the electronic aids they put in. But the car is as strong as any small car in the market in a crash. If I was to trade in the Zoe now I would buy a nearly new ora cat. Nearly new are selling for around £13k unbelievable value and so many functions even though the battery is only 48kw. Look at the price of the 61kw version. The Zoe is not worth buying brand new! But at two years old great value, but now because the trade has a lot of unsold Ora cats for sale with the smaller battery they are unbeatable value and a great safe car to drive.
Well, here's an update on my above post 1 year on. We did indeed get a 1 year old '22 plate 5k mile top spec ex Motability 64kWh Kona EV for less than half of it's price when it was new (probably helped by the new model which was due to launch a few months after we bought ours). We also got a good trade in price for our 2019 top spec Karoq. I was sad to see that go but Skoda has no small mid size car or crossover EV offering yet). The Kona has turned out to be a great "Goldilocks" car, being not too big (smaller than my wife's previous Karoq) so easy for town driving & parking, & not too small as a 4 /5 seater with a reasonable boot (no frunk though). My wife loves the remote warm up features on these cold winter days & it has loads of buttons & a HUD so no searching for stuff in the infotainment system screen while driving. The 64kWh battery gets charged at home (not used a public charger yet & not plans to do so) & it's good for nearly 300 miles in summer or 250 in winter (no HP on ours). Current average economy is 4.3m/kW. The only thing I would criticise is it's ride quality on poor roads which is a bit hard & choppy. That aside it's been a fab car & my wife loves it. As for me I'm still keeping my petrol Skoda Superb 4 x 4 estate which gets used for longer trips, holidays, trips to the dump & Ikea. There really is no substitute for a big estate car & until some makes a large EV Estate that doesn't cost the earth I'll be keeping my Superb. Best of both worlds really.
I was considering a Zoé, actually. Then, I found out about the MG4, which is cheaper AND superior to the Zoé in every way except not being Chinese.
Indeed the MG4 is a great package. The take from this used series is not necessarily new vs new, even though price comparison is important to understand, it’s about getting into a good used vehicle at an attractive price more people can afford.
@@stuart_thomas True. Sadly, here in France at least, an used Zoé with the same range as a brand new MG4 SE is still the same price. It's completely outmatched.
MG4 lacks security with "stay in lane" function !
Test drove Peugeot e208 and Zoe r135 on the same day. Peugeot was head and shoulders ahead, with ride, quality and overall package. Zoe was much noisier at speed and had a tinny feel. Definitely not a bad car, but I did actually buy the Peugeot
Magic words ‘Chinese’, electric’ I’m not convinced of their build quality and potential longevity. Time will tell but I think I would stick with Renault.
What version is this, as the latest version received zero stars in the 2021 Euro NCAP safety rating assessments?
Hi Richard, it’s the current iconic model (2020-2023) ZE50 R135.
Zoe is water cooled via the AC
It does use the AC but it’s cold air, it’s not water cooled like most next-gen battery systems.
@@stuart_thomas tbh that's splitting hairs. Without the AC there would be no cold air. Zoe is water cooled.
It’s totally different. Cold Ethylene Glycol running through channels around battery cells is completely different to cold air over the battery pack. Renault are doing the best with what they have available to them but they’re totally different things
still not in the United States/
The Zoe could've been great but it's not. It's rubbish. I've been driving Zoe since 2018, first the old 41kWh for 30.000 miles and since 2020 the new one with 52kWh and CCS for 40.000 miles (currently). Quality is atroctious, service is bad, charging is often finnicky and throws errors and safety is on par of a 2013 car.
The passenger doors (front right and both rear) on mine make a loud noise as if something were to break when closing. Renault says if they change the springs it will reappear.
The steering makes noise while turning because the strut bearings have plastic that starts rubbing and it sounds like it's breaking.
The motor makes noise as if a bearing is damaged at 30mph. Renault says it's normal.
Steering wheel buttones were unresponsive at first. Renault said that there's no fix. After a year I asked again, they replaced my steering wheel and forgot to plug in the steering wheel position sensor which resulted in an extra day in the shop.
The car is advertised for 50kW charging but only receives 46kW. It's almost 10% less than advertised.
You cannot heat or cool your car while charging. Turning the climate control on will only turn the fan on, regardless of the set temperature. You need to set preconditioning or leave the car to be able to start it from the app for a few minutes. Also the fan speed is at maximum the whole time.
The software is a desaster. Reversing camera doesn't always work, the audio shuts off randomly for the whole drive, radio turns on randomly instead of my selected input, random error messages flash when opening the door, the trip and consumption meter resets randomly, the consumption is given in kW and not kWh/100km, consumption is also wrong most of the time, BMS has faulty software on the 22kWh (battery won't be balanced especially in winter) and on the 52kWh (false degradation and range reporting) models, you can't turn off automatic brights and when the camera fogs up you can't turn your brights on anymore.
After 40.000 miles I feel like the steering has to be checked because it's starting to feel loose.
I could go on, it's a rubbish car.
Shame you've had so many problems. I've had three Zoes, 22, 41 and now 52 and they have all been reliable with very few problems. The only major expense has been the replacement of a lower suspension arm. The charging on 22 kW AC can be temperamental, but often that's down to the chargepoint, a problem at one and absolutely final another. And yes, 22kW is slow and one of the reasons why I got a 52 kWh with 50 kW DC charging - and a lease at a ridiculous price compared with other new EVs (I think it was a cancelled leae order).
absolutely fine!
If it’s so bad, why have you had one for five years?!!
@@mikec2505 maybe it wasn't clear from my comment, I had one with 41kWh (phase 1.5) from 2018 until 2020 which I replaced with the 2nd one (phase 2 and 52kWh) since 2020. The first one was absolutely fine and had no notable issues with it (except the issue with the doors which has been sorted by the dealership). The 2nd one however was the one described in the above comment.
@@phillipjones7752 it's great to hear that I'm an isolated case, but nonetheless it's important to let people know that some cars are prone to issues.
My first one was very nice and I loved it, that's why I wanted to get the revised version with CCS and bigger battery, expecting a better, if not the same experience. I sadly didn't get that. :(
Ridiculous money for what it is .
But it does have a lovely credit card size 🔑