We rented a Renault Megan electric for a two week trip on Corsica and even though it wasn’t our first choice, we loved the car. Driving on the narrow Corsican roads went really smooth and I really enjoyed the feeling of an electric car. We used the “eco-mode” (this was the setting when we first got the car) and that felt nice and controlled.
The lady at the rental company did mention something about other modes, but we really didn’t get around to learning all of these settings. Mostly because the interface was quite overwhelming for me. There were two big screens and a lot of additional buttons and handles that made little sense when seeing them for the first time. I’m used to driving a Volvo (2019 model) and that interface feels older, but also simpler than this 2022 Renault. My impression is that there are more tactile buttons and less visual distraction in the Volvo. I must admit that after driving a week with my own car, I still needed to check the manual for some details, but the overall interface did felt more logic and the onboarding sure was easier (even though features are comparable).
For two weeks in the Reanault I did not touch any of the more “complicated” buttons, because I was unsure what it would do. There were “flippers” behind the steering wheel with a battery indicator on it (I think), but that looked different that the interface I was used to, so I didn’t touch it. Multiple times I accidentally activated the windscreen wipers, when I wanted to put the car in reverse (classic….); …you could see driver in front of me shaking his head…
The whole trip the “Multi-sense” button drew my attention, but I did not dare to interact with it until the last day. Then I decided to do some interface exploration and I tried turning the button. My initial though was that it was a wheel that was going to unload new sensations.., but it was less exciting.. Pressing the buttons switched the button to other modes (“Eco” > “Sport” > “Comfort” > “Perso”).
The Sport-mode gave some extra spice to the trip back to the airport, but I’m glad to be back behind the wheel of the Volvo. The interface you understand is probably always more favourable than onboarding something new…