RENAULT 5

We simply had to get our hands on our EV as soon as our ship came in

- JAMES ATTWOOD

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT To discover if Renault's retro-infused EV hit is as good to live with as it is to look at

We could wait no longer. When we found out the latest addition to our fleet, anew Renault 5, had been built at the firm’s Douai plant in France and was en route to the UK, we had to get our hands on itas soon as humanly possible. So we decided to intercept the ship.

Our 5 arrived in the UK, like thousands of cars do every day, at Royal Portbury Dock in Avonmouth near Bristol - and, helpfully for logistics, 15 minutes from my mum’s house. Which made me the ideal collection driver after we learned the ship containing our car would dock very early on a Monday morning. And while our 5 has been earmarked for Steve Cropley, I'd yet to try one so happily volunteered.

Once you clear security and enter itis the port, itis a car spotter’s paradise akin to Kensington in London. Except that while Kensington is wall-to-wall supercars, everywhere you look within the port are random unregistered new cars, many SUVs from Chinese firms you've barely heard of.

Renault has a dedicated processing facility run by BCA and it’s surrounded by a vast car park that on my arrival was largely empty. It wouldn't be that way for long, because a massive transporter had just arrived and several minibuses of stevedores were en route to drive cars offit.