Renault 4 - long-term review

In a world of spitefully inoperable screens, we need to commend Renault's information and control layout. All those physical controls! Yay! But I'm not saying it's perfect, even when you've had time to practice.

For a start, those controls' distribution is uneven. Your right hand has to negotiate no fewer than three column wands. First the wipers/washer, bien sûr. Second the stereo controls. They've lived on a stalk in Renaults since the Fuego in the 1980s, so I'm used to that. Number three is the DNR selector. This operates with a slight delay, which can trip you up when you're manoeuvring and you set off in the wrong direction.

Then you've got the wheel buttons. Some control what you see on the driver info screen, others are buttons for voice command and a star (configurable favourite) which you hardly need because you have so many other buttons. Then mounted Porsche-style off the hub is the drive mode button, which Renault grandly calls multi-sense.

Other hard buttons let you switch off ADAS, level the headlamps, control the climate and open the sunroof. Also motor the windows and adjust the mirrors. It's surely a mark of civilisational decadence that the presence of these off-screen items is noteworthy. Soon some manufacturer will be hailing wind-up windows as 'digital detox'.

Another reason you don't want to rely on screens: they throw the odd fit. I was manoeuvring to take photos and every time I walked away with the camera the car's key-proximity system caused it to lock. Eventually with all this lock-unlock frenzy the driver's screen went black, depriving me of the speedo. I left it overnight and it self-healed. A week later the centre screen lost its sensitivity to touch. Again, it was fine in the morning. Renault support says you can soft-reset with a five-second press of the screen's on-off button, so I'll try that next time. If there is a next time; screens on Renault's EVs have always been more faithful than VW's.

Renault's Google integration is terrifically well done, albeit this is a grudging admission from me because I dislike Google's harvesting of my personal data. Once your phone's MyRenault app is linked to the car, just go to Google maps on your phone, hit a destination, hit 'send to car' and the phone tells you, quite accurately, how much charge you'll have when you arrive. Then when you get in the car you just accept that pre-sent destination. If needed it'll also divert you to available rapid chargers en route.

For voice command of phone and texting and music I stick to Apple's Siri. Renault supplies an "AI avatar", a cheesy animated cartoon called Reno. I don't know if that's pronounced the same as the casino town in Nevada, but using it sure is a gamble. It's supposed to be able to control car functions but is pretty hopeless. Save us from all this Artificial Indumbigence.

I haven't done any lengthy noteworthy trips this month, so here instead are shots of moving a free secondhand desk just a mile for our friend Beth. It was an Ikea self-assembly item but once you've disassembled those things they're never coming back. So we had to shift it intact. If this were a normal R4 we'd have been using the roof bars. But with the soft roof wide open, in it went.