The Homologators – Renault 5 Turbo

With Renault unveiling its revival of the iconic 5 last week at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show, albeit now predictably in fully electric form, our thoughts here at Car & Classic, as we’re sure was the case for many of you lot too, turned to the original Renault 5 that debuted all the way back in 1972, specifically the Renault 5 Turbo – the greatest incarnation of the perennially popular petite pocket rocket.

Before we get into the original Renault 5 Turbo in all its forced induction glory though, let’s have a little look at this new Renault 5 E-Tech, as it is to be known. Based upon a 2021 concept by the French manufacturer the E-Tech, available to the public next year, is unusually similar to that initial design, reinventing a host of the details of its ‘70s predecessor whilst retaining many of the original model’s characteristics, including its diminutive stature, to compete with the likes of the Fiat 500 and MINI Electric.

Available to UK customers with either a 121bhp or 148bhp motor, the more powerful model will be able to hit 60mph from parked in under eight seconds. A similar time to the original 5 Turbo then. We doubt it will feel quite as nimble, however, due to it weighing almost 500kg more and being front-wheel drive as oppose to rear, but we’ll reserve judgement for now. Complete with the now ubiquitous app connectivity and AI integration it ticks all modern boxes and it does look pretty good, we’re not going to lie, but if we had to pick between a brand new Renault 5 E-Tech and a rattly old Renault 5 Turbo, we’d pick old school. Every. Single. Time.

You see, what makes the original Renault 5 Turbo such an iconic car that continues to withstand the test of time is simply how much bloody fun it is to drive. Not only that but it was also a supremely competent car in period. With Rally ace Jean Ragnotti behind the wheel the competition spec Renault 5 Turbo would achieve decent success, especially on tarmac, before the all-wheel drive dominating Group B cars arrived and rewrote the rule book, effectively putting a stop to the R5’s fledgling motorsport career. Big boys came and the little Renault was forced to take its ball and run on home.

Inspired by Lancia’s Stratos, Renault’s VP of production at the time, Jean Terramorsi, asked the good folk at Bertone to design a rally specific version of the Renault 5 Alpine, and the renowned Italian design house certainly delivered. Despite its zany new box-arched body penned by the dynamic duo of Marc Deschamps and Marcello Gandini, the Renault 5 Turbo still looked somewhat like the car upon which it was based but lurking underneath was a completely re-engineered drivetrain. What Renault managed to do was nothing short of spectacular, turning a front-engined, front-wheel drive mini hatchback into a rear-engined, rear-wheel drive fire breathing rally weapon. Bravo.

Gone were the rear seats in favour of a longitudinally mounted, fuel injected 1.4-litre four-cylinder, complete with Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger which was capable of almost 160bhp in road-going spec. Various other parts were poached from sister models in Renault’s oeuvre at the time, all bolted to a modified 5 chassis, and the results speak for themselves. Here was the most powerful French production car ever as well as the first mid-engine hot hatch ever built.

Complete with weight-saving aluminium doors and roof, along with an interior coming straight out of left field, 400 road-going production Renault 5 Turbos were built to comply with Group 4 homologation rules in order for Renault to compete with the car on the international rally circuit, subsequently winning the Monte Carlo Rally on its first outing in the WRC at the hands of Ragnotti. Validation indeed.

Such was the positive reception upon release, that initial number of 400 ballooned to almost 5,000 as more and more people wanted to get their hands on this truly exciting new car. Most of these, however, were the later, revised Turbo 2 models.

The Turbo 2 was the successor to the original Renault 5 Turbo (obvs) and came along three years later in ’83. Eschewing some of the modified homologation parts in favour of more standard 5 fare (including the aluminium body panels and sadly the interior) the Turbo 2 was cheaper to make and to buy but nevertheless didn’t sacrifice any of the car’s performance credentials.

It may not have been the all conquering, dominating rally force it was hoped to be but its influence can never be understated. You just have to look at the MG Metro 6R4 and Peugeot 205 T16 to understand the effect the Renault 5 Turbo had and it would later go on to inspire its spiritual successor, the Renault Sport Clio V6, and indeed, its DNA can be felt in no small part in the new Renault 5 E-Tech mentioned earlier.

There are plenty of Renault 5 Turbos to chose from here at Car & Classic currently, predictably the more numerous Turbo 2, but whichever version you decide to indulge in what you’ll have is a brilliantly fun, collectible and inherently hoonable iconic hot hatch that rightfully deserves its place among the other bastions of the class; the 205 and Golf GTIs and Lancia Delta Integrales for instance. The plucky Renault 5 Turbo can go toe-to-toe with them all, giving as good as it gets in every round and it will continue to draw a crowd whichever ring it decides to step into.