No one likes getting stranded in another city because of bad weather and flight delays when you’re just trying to get home, especially when said city is halfway across the world, but in the grand scheme of places to get stuck, the City of Love is probably one of the better ones. As you can probably surmise already, I spent an unexpected night in Paris on my way home from the Genesis Magma reveal event (thanks again to Genesis for taking good care of the six of us that got stuck), and aside from the general magic of being in Paris when it’s snowing, there was one real highlight of the detour, something that I am endlessly thankful for: the new Renault 5.
Really, this year as with every year I’m thankful for all French cars, because they’re just the best, but the retro 5 is absolutely perfect. There are so many new Renault 5s running around Paris, as there should be, and each one brought a smile to my face. But the best moment was when I, wearing the yellow Renault 5 sweater I bought at the Munich auto show earlier this year, came across a street-parked 5 in a matching spec.
I apologize to the Parisians in the neighborhood who heard my loud gay gasp and the excited pattering of my feet as I briskly walked over to the yellow 5, but can you blame me? It’s a bright ray of joyous light on a dark street, a grin-inducing beacon of hope in a sea of normal vehicles. (Well, most new French car designs are far from normal, which is why I love them so much, but the 5 is still on another level.) Over the past few decades we’ve seen a lot of retro new car designs that evoke iconic models from that company’s past, but this latest crop of Renaults — the 5, the 4, and the recently unveiled Twingo — might be the most successful. It’s instantly recognizable as a pastiche of the original, but even if old Renault 5s never existed, this new car would be a fantastic design.
It looks really fantastic in motion, too, especially at night with those rectangular LEDs in the bumper turned on. Base model 5s have a hubcap design that’s actually really nice (seen above), while mid-range trims have an excellent three-spoke design. Renault offers contrasting pinstripes, fantastic graphics packages, denim interiors, and some fun colors like a bright froggy green. A Roland-Garros special edition came out earlier this year with its own tennis-themed design cues, and I’m sure Renault has plans for tons of new styling features and special editions in the future.
Sadly I only spotted one Alpine A290, the performance version of the 5, but it was at least a very picturesque moment, with the white hot hatch zipping around the Arc de Triomphe. Though clearly a variant of the 5, the A290 has its own lovely design with unique elements like the X-shaped lights in the nose, air vent–aping sculpting on the rear fenders, and a more dramatic stance. Hopefully next time I’m in Paris I’ll see some Renault 5 Turbo 3Es, the carbon-tubbed supercar with in-wheel electric motors.
But like I said at the top, I’m thankful for all French cars. Their designs are simply better and more interesting than those coming from any other country — save for the ingenious Koreans — and that’s true across all segments, sizes and price categories. From city cars like the Citroën Ami, to “normal” vehicles like the Peugeot 2008 crossover and luxury cars like the DS N°8, no one does it like the French.

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