Coming around again

The Mini Cooper has seen many reinventions during the past seven decades, and now Renault's much-loved small car of the 1970s is following suit-exclusively with electric power. We test the two back to back

- WILL NIGHTINGALE

MINI COOPER E

Classic (Level 1)

List price £32,000

Target Price £30,036

Minisells two Cooper hatchbacks that look similar but are, in fact, completely different. This one's the fully electric version

NEW

RENAULT 5

52kWh Techno

List price €26,995

Target Price £26,995

New Renault 5 is achingly desirable and undercuts the Mini by thousands-despite having a longer range and faster charging. Is there a catch?

DON'T WORRY: YOU haven't picked up a copy of What Car? from 1973 by accident, although these two nameplates did start duking it out more than 50 years ago.

You'll doubtless know plenty about the Mini already. This British icon was originally built by a British company in (yep, you guessed it) Britain. However, after changing hands several times throughout the years, the Mini brand was acquired by BMW at the turn of the millennium, and it immediately set to work building a retro take on the classic 1950s design. This is the latest generation of that car; it's fully electric and built in China to keep costs down (or there's a British-built petrol version if you prefer).

You might be less familiar with the Renault 5, but it was an equally celebrated small car in the 1970s and 1980s-especially in France. It's just been reborn as a fully electric car, and because Renault is still owned by, er, Renault, it's built in Douai in the very same factory as the original model.

So, there's a bit of background. Now, which of these electric hatchbacks is the better buy?

DRIVING

Performance, ride, handling, refinement