Abarth 500E vs Renault Scenic E-Tech

What's the difference?

It’s not perfect, but it’s everything a hot hatch should be in the electric era — engaging, exciting, and, above all, fun.

The Renault Scenic E-Tech is lining up against some heavy-hitting competitors, but Renault Australia admits it has one top of mind - the Kia EV5. The Kia’s a quality package and if you’re in the market for a mid-size electric SUV, you’ll no doubt have it on your shopping list. And you should have a look at this slightly smaller car, as well. It has the refinement, practicality and safety to stand up confidently in a rapidly expanding segment.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

I’m just going to come right out and say it — I love the look of the Abarth 500e, even if the colour of our test car should be renamed Acid Trip, rather than Acid Green. 

I love its perfectly proportioned, hunkered-down hot-hatch styling, the new ABARTH lettering on the body, and the new scorpion logo pasted to the side.

Basically, if you can look at the Abarth and not smile, then you need to find more fun in your life.

Inside, it’s a predictably cramped-feeling space, but it’s all nicely laid out, and the more I use them, the more I like the horizontal drive controllers that don’t eat up the little space you have with a traditional shifter. The materials are a bit hit and miss, though.

There are some design tips of the hat to Scenics past in this latest electric version, including blacked-out door pillars and a recognisably angular C-pillar treatment.

But despite the fact it debuted at the Munich IAA Motor Show in late 2023, from its slimline headlights and jagged grille to its sculpted flanks and saw tooth rear end, this fifth-generation Scenic looks contemporary from every angle.

A highlight is the large Renault diamond logo sitting at the centre of a faux upper grille, surrounded by a multitude of the same elongated hexagon shape as a cool recurring graphic, the pattern merging neatly into the headlights.

Speaking of which, the LED beams can be set to produce an elaborate welcome sequence as you approach the car.

The interior feels slick and screen-rich but not at the expense of user-friendly physical controls for audio, ventilation and other commonly used functions.

Recycled fabric on the dashboard and headliner looks and feels good while doing its bit to suppress cabin noise.

Speaking of which, the Scenic is Renault’s poster child for the use of recycled materials in its construction and end of life recyclability.

Everything from ferrous components consisting of 37 per cent recycled materials to a bonnet and doors made of up to 80 per cent recycled aluminium.

The dashboard cowling is made from kenaf, a plant fibre similar to jute; the steering wheel cover is 51 per cent bio-sourced; the cockpit uses 26 per cent recycled plastic; the storage bins in the door panels are 45 per cent recycled fibre, the floor mats are 54 per cent recycled plastic bottles and the seat upholstery is 100 per cent recycled fabric. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

While I like the addition of the central screen, it’s surprisingly annoying to use — I found myself jabbing at the buttons again and again before it reacts. You need a Stephen Hawking-level intellect to figure it all out.

I was trying to turn off the Abarth Sound Generator, which I'm reliably informed is possible, but after about five minutes digging through sub-menus, I abandoned all hope.

Normally I’d spend a bit of time exploring the back seat, but frankly, once in there I didn't really feel like spending excess time back there.

The Abarth 500e is only around 3.6m long, 1.7m wide and 1.5m tall, and suffice it to say, the space is tight, and you’ll only be using the two seats in the back in an emergency, or for the smallest of kids.

The boot is pretty tiny, too, starting at 185 litres (VDA) with the rear seats up, but growing to 550L (VDA) with the split-fold rear seat lowered. 

So, not much to write home about. But criticising the tiny Abarth for a lack of practicality is like criticising a horse because it can’t swim – it’s not really in its job description.

In terms of how it all works in practice, at just under 4.5m long, close to 1.9m wide and less than 1.6m tall with a 2785mm wheelbase, the Scenic is more compact than the larger BYD Sealion 7 or Zeekr 7X, for example.

But there’s plenty of breathing room up front, with the centre screen angled towards the driver enhancing the cockpit feel for the one doing the steering.

There are large carpeted bins in the doors with room for bottles and a lidded storage box between the seats doubles as a centre armrest. That lid slides forward by 70mm to cover a small storage cubby under the front of it, which is a handy trick.

Locating the gear selector on the right-hand side of the steering column liberates extra space for a centre cupholder and large console storage bin. There’s a generous glove box and a wireless smartphone charger under the centre screen includes a rubberised base and two lugs to stop devices sliding around. Power and connectivity runs to two USB-C ports and a 12-volt socket.

Moving to the second row, sitting behind my 183cm driving position, while toe room is a little tight (with the driver’s seat set low down), there’s heaps of leg and headroom as well as enough shoulder room (and foot room thanks to a flat floor) for three adults on short to mid-length trips. A pair of adjustable centre air vents is also a welcome inclusion.  

Storage includes door bins (again with room for bottles), large and device-sized pockets on the front seat backs and the pièce de résistance is the evocatively named ‘Ingenious armrest’, which includes a storage area and two cupholders at the base of articulated horizontal arms that allow passengers to mount a phone or tablet at various angles in rubberised slots for joint or solo viewing.

It is, indeed, ingenious and four USB-C plugs (two in the armrest, two near the air vents) mean back-seaters won’t be short of power options.

Boot volume with the rear seats upright is useful at close to 545 litres (VDA), expanding to around 1670L with the 40/20/40 split-fold second row lowered. A power tailgate is standard across the range.

There are bag hooks, tie-down anchors, lighting and a 12-volt socket back there, although for V2L (vehicle to load) functionality you’ll need an accessory adapter to plug into the charge port.

Maximum braked trailer towing capacity is a handy 1100kg, but there’s no spare tyre, only a repair/inflator kit, which isn’t good enough.

The Scenic E-Tech starts from $55,990, before on-road costs, for the entry-grade Techno. Then there’s the Techno Long Range for $59,990, BOC, while the flagship Esprit Alpine comes in at $65,990.

That’s sharp relative to competitors and follows the brand getting a reality check with the Megane E-Tech after it launched here in late 2024, Renault shaving $10,000 off its price only a few months later.

Equipment highlights across the line-up include a 12-inch multimedia touchscreen, a 12.3-inch driver display, sat-nav, adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree surround-camera view, all LED exterior lights, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and six-speaker Arkamys audio.

There’s also dual-zone climate control, an electric tailgate, auto-folding side mirrors, cloth upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, 48-colour ambient interior lighting, keyless entry and start and 19-inch alloys (on the Techno models).

Then you can fold in over-the-air updates, access to remote services via the ‘MyRenault’ app and Google In-Built that enables voice-control for up to 70 car functions.

The Esprit Alpine ups the ante with 20-inch rims, nine-speaker Harman Kardon audio, synthetic leather and cloth seat trim, six-way power adjustment (with memory settings) for driver and front passenger seats, a massaging driver’s seat, brushed metal pedal covers and facial recognition for seat and mirror settings.

In short, the Scenic is well-equipped relative to its competitive set and cost of entry, with Renault confirming there are mainly demonstrator cars in dealers at the moment, with the majority of stock landing in late May or early June this year.

There are three optional paint choices - metallic ($800), two-tone ($1000) and matt ($1200), the latter exclusive to the Esprit Alpine.

There’s a single front-mounted electric motor providing the go here, with a total 113.7kW and 235Nm on offer fed through the single-speed gearbox, which is enough to push the 500e from 0-100km/h in 7.0 seconds.

Happily, the way that power is delivered makes it feel faster, and that Sound Generator does a pretty good impersonation of a petrol-powered hot hatch, rising and falling with your inputs.

Like its Megane E-Tech sibling, the Scenic E-Tech uses an excited synchronous motor which Renault says is more efficient than the more commonly used permanent magnet type, with the bonus that it uses no rare earth materials.

The entry-level Scenic E-Tech Techno's fitted with a 60kWh NMC battery. Its electric motor transfers 125kW and 280Nm to the front wheels and Renault claims a 0-100km/h time of 8.6 seconds.

The Techno Long Range and top-spec Esprit Alpine pack an 87kWh battery and a more powerful motor, raising outputs to 160kW/300Nm and lowering the 0-100kmh sprint time to 7.9 seconds.

Right, there’s one obvious downside to the Abarth experience, and that is that it is fitted with a 42kWh battery that delivers a claimed 253km of driving range.

It’s worth noting that there are three Drive Modes — Turismo, Scorpion Street and Scorpion Track — and that only the first one will deliver the maximum range, because it limits inputs to 100kW and 220Nm.

Engage the other two — I’ve had it locked in Scorpion Track, for example, which gives you all of the power and deactivates one-pedal driving — and you can expect those numbers to drop.

When it comes time to charge, the Abarth 500e is set up for 85kW DC fast charging, which should take you from flat to 80 percent charged in around 35 minutes, as well as a maximum 11kW AC charging, which takes just over four hours to get to fully charged. Or you can plug it into a regular socket, which means more like 15 hours to recharge.

One last caveat: I actually wasn't able to get it to charge, which curtailed my adventures a little bit. I tried three chargers, all of which conjured an error message on the screen, and after a quick call to the folks at Abarth it transpired that a quick software update is required.

Official energy consumption numbers for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle are close between the two powertrains at 16.3kWh/100km for the Techno and 16.8kWh/100km for the Techno Long Range and Esprit Alpine, which are bang on average for the class.

Range for the standard Techno is 430km, which is at the lower end of expectations for a medium electric SUV but adding the bigger battery pushes that number out to 625km, which is much healthier and useful day-to-day.

On the launch drive program, which took in some urban but mostly rural B-road running, we saw an average consumption figure of 17.1kWh/100km in the Esprit Alpine, which is pretty good in those conditions.

The car’s 400V electrical architecture allows for DC charging at up to 130kW for the entry model and 150kW for the bigger-battery variants.

At that speed, claimed 15-80 per cent charge times are 32 and 37 minutes, respectively. Not the best, not the worst. AC charge capability is 11kW on all models and a Mode 3 charging cable is included.

Remember what I said about how just looking at the Abarth should put a smile on your face? Well, driving it paints on an even bigger grin, and it starts as soon as you fire it up.

While most EVs start silently, leaving you wondering if they're on at all, the Abarth takes a different approach, instead leaning on its sound generator, modelled on the exhaust note of the 695, to give you a throaty rumble when you fire it up. It even revs! And yes, you can turn it off (apparently), but why would you?

On the road, electric drive has actually improved the Abarth experience, I reckon, because all the harshness of the drivetrain has been ironed out, instead just leaving this smooth, potent flow of power every time you plant your right foot, with no gear changes or harsh vibrations to get in the way.

The steering is predictably direct, too, and the whole vehicle feels nimble and quick to react to your inputs.

It’s honestly the kind of car that’s fun driving anywhere, be it suburban streets or twisty backroads, and despite having a couple of options parked at my house, I found myself pulled to the Abarth for all of my trips.

Downsides? The ride is firm but comfortable on most roads, but downright uncomfortable when you clang over bumps or road imperfections. You’ll have to decide if that’s a price to high to pay, but I can live with it for the trade off. And while the cabin tech looks nice, but is fiddly and annoying to use.

Finally, the range relegates the Abarth to a second car, or for those who rarely leave the city. Which is a big ask at the price point.

Renault says the entry-grade Scenic Techno will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds with the more powerful Techno Long Range and Esprit Alpine lowering that number to 7.9sec. So, it’s quick without being scary fast.

It’s certainly nippy in traffic and at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, quiet. Even in the context of premium EVs the Scenic is quiet and refined.

Suspension is strut front, multi-link rear and the car feels super planted. The launch drive took in some reasonably rapid twisting corners and there’s no hint of lateral movement in the car. Body roll is minimal, too.

Tyres are energy-efficient Michelin e.Primacy (Techno - 205/55x19 / Esprit Alpine - 235/45x20) and the steering is quick with a relatively low number of turns lock-to-lock. It’s never jerky or too sharp. Rather, it means the car starts to turn into a corner the instant you apply steering lock.

That said, the feel between your hands on the wheel and the front tyres on the road is less than intimate.

There are four drive modes - ‘Comfort, ‘Eco’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Custom’. None of them adjust the suspension tune, it’s more about accelerator response and we found Comfort delivers the best blend of right-foot urgency and overall composure.

Most of the braking you’re going to do will be courtesy of the regenerative system and there are five levels, adjustable via steering wheel paddles, including the most aggressive single-pedal mode.

The one-pedal setting pulls the car up nice and progressively and if you do need to use the physical brakes, they’re ventilated discs all around. Some bite on initial application, but even on downhill corner sections, leaning on them quite hard, they perform well without drama.

Under the heading of miscellaneous observations, you can sense the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) including functions like lane-keeping assist doing their thing occasionally, but it’s all quite subtle, which is a good thing.

The Esprit Alpine’s sports front seats remained grippy and comfortable after a couple of hours behind the wheel. And it’s worth noting the Scenic’s relatively compact 10.9-metre turning circle helps in slow-speed manoeuvring.

Speaking of which, some of the modes in the audio system and external warning sounds for pedestrian safety have been designed by French composer and performer Jean-Michel Jarre, noted for his electronic, ambient-style music. Hats off to Renault for commissioning him.

The Scenic E-Tech has a maximum five-star ANCAP rating from assessment in 2022 with active crash-avoidance tech including AEB (with pedestrian and cyclist detection and junction assist), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and lane-keep assist, blind-spot detection, traffic sign recognition, a 360-degree camera view, rear cross-traffic alert, driver fatigue monitoring and tyre pressure monitoring as well as front, side and rear parking sensors.

If a crash is unavoidable, there are seven airbags onboard including a front centre bag and for child seats there three top-tether points across the second row with ISOFIX anchor in the outer positions.

It’s an interesting ownership proposition, because the car is covered for three years or 150,000km, which is underwhelming and then some compared to the warranty offerings of its competition, but there is capped-price servicing, at $300 per visit, required every 12 months or 15,000km, which lasts 10 years.

The battery is covered for eight years or 160,000km.

Warranty is five years/100,000km, which is well off the market pace with many competitors at seven, eight and up to 10 years conditional. The battery warranty at eight-year/160,000km matches the market.

Roadside assistance is included for five years, service is recommended every 12 months/30,000km and fixed price servicing is available at a reasonably sharp average of $325 per workshop visit for the first five years.

Renault has 52 dealers across the country covering major cities and key rural areas.