Last month I finally got to see a Zoe ‘in the flesh’ at my local Renault dealer. It was a left-hand-drive example that I understand was conducting a familiarisation tour of dealers. I only had a brief time to take a look at it as it was on a tight timetable – there was unfortunately no time or opportunity for a test drive.

I was given a brief tour by Andy Heiron, who took time to me show me around it and to describe some of its key features, including the charging system, EV tyres and R-Link.

I learnt some interesting points of information:

• Although this Zoe was fitted with 17” alloy wheels – as are many of the examples seen in publicity shots – the special EV tyres developed by Michelin for the Zoe are only available for the 15” and 16” wheels. These EV tyres can give up to 10% improvement in range compared to other tyres.

• Deliveries will take place in the fourth quarter of 2012 in France, but will not happen in the UK before the end of the first quarter of 2013.
• The Zoe is currently ‘on tour’ as part of the Z.E. Tour 2012 but is only on static display at those events. UK customers will instead get a chance to see the Zoe close up at official dealer ‘VIP’ evenings during November.
• Orders for the first UK deliveries will be taken in January and February.

My personal impressions of the Zoe were very positive, though I didn’t have a lot of time with it. I sat in the back and found it fairly spacious and overall the vehicle seemed slightly bigger than I expected. It seemed smart and well made.

The boot, though full of a variety of charging cables, was a good size. I also liked the rear door handles which are very neatly built in to the window frames. Overall I was very pleased with what I saw and look forward to getting my own Zoe as soon as possible.