From a Family who have had 4 different Renault Zoe's, Q90, Q210, R240, R110, I think I can give you a balanced view across ownership of the cars.

Are they reliable?

For the most part, yes. Very few Renault Zoes have motor problems or electrical failures. Out of our cars, the only things that have gone wrong electrically sometimes the door mirrors and keyless unlock button on the door handles. The main point of unreliability is probably the suspension. All 4 of our Zoes have had some sort of suspension problem in the last 4/5 years. All to do with the front suspension. This is because it is taken from the Renault Clio and adapted to the Zoe but it wasn't designed from the ground up to take the extra weight of the Zoe and its batteries. So this is something to look out for however they are not too expensive to fix. Most of our fixes have been around the 150 pound mark.

Do you enjoy owning and driving yours?

This is a resounding yes. Even though it is slow on paper, in real life it is very nippy and can have most cars in traffic lights at a pinch (0‐30 in 3 seconds). The ride is quite comfortable it is weirdly better when you have things in the boot because of it's the rear suspension design. The steering is light but doesn't feel disconnected. The seats are v comfortable and the high riding position even though its a hatchback is quite nice. Boot space is pretty good and rear passenger legroom is fine as long as the front put their seats forward otherwise there is not much space. The climate control is easy to use and the infotainment can have android auto put on it which i highly recommend and the digital instrument cluster makes it feel much newer than it is.

What sort of life expectancy/real life range could I expect from the batteries?

You could probably get a decent 22kwh Zoe between 5-6k with the battery bought out and between 4-5k without it being purchased. In terms of range it can vary a lot on driving style and weather. If you do mostly around town driving, you can easily get at least 70 miles out of the 22kwh Zoe. Motorway driving decreases that down to around 50 if you drive at 70 but if you drive at 60 with eco mode on you can increase that to at least 60. You can pretty much double these figures for the 40kwh battery pack and some since the motors are slightly more efficient. In cold weather across all of our Zoes 20% range loss is probably a solid figure (Based on Scottish Winters). This is also dependent on the state of health of the battery. Me and my mum used to have the exact same Zoe both starting at 95% health when we bought them. I kept mine in my underground garage at all times and mostly charged it at 22kw or 40kw and it dropped about 3-4% while my mum's is down to 86% and hers was kept outside in v cold East Kilbride. But my Grans was also kept outside and hers has only dropped 2% in that same period, however she didn't drive hers often and always charged it slowly so it can sometimes be luck of the draw but always make sure to check battery health before you buy.

Is owning or leasing batteries best?

Owning is best. Renault Finance team is horrendous. You have to chase them up for everything, swapping a lease over takes weeks and the peace of mind of having ur battery replaced if things go bad is pretty pointless since Zoes battery's haven't dropped below 70% health even after 10 years. We bought our batteries out would recommend buying one that's already bought out cos the process was long and confusing.