Tuesday 18th March 2014

Renault 5 GT Turbo: Spotted

The legendary 80s French hatch that isn't a Peugeot; there can't be many left now!

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'Frosty' has been the general opinion as far as the latest Renaultsport Clio is concerned. Gripes surrounding the gearbox, styling and five-door format have vastly outweighed those positive voices who may dare to have enjoyed driving it. There will be a Clio 200 EDC on the PH Fleet soon; hopefully a few months with the car will reveal its true colours.

Elan and 5 Turbo? Great garage

But until then, how about the last Renault hot hatch with a tiny turbo? 5 GT Turbos are very seldom seen today, and what a sweet little thing this 25 year-old car appears to be. Yellow fog lamps are of course de rigueur for French hot hatches but the red dissolve graphics, starfish alloys, side skirts... it couldn't be more 80s, and looks great for it.

Alright, it's not as pretty as a 205 GTI or as iconic as the Golf but it's just cool in its own right. Just like the Clio now (for good or bad), it won't be mistaken for anything else.

Moreover, with so many having been sacrificed to the gods of Max Power during the 90s, it's brilliant to see a (nearly) standard example. This has a couple of tweaks (is any 5 Turbo unmodified anymore?), most obviously the KTec exhaust. The other upgrades, including a turbo, intercooler and flywheel, reputedly take power to 150hp. That power in something that must be comfortably under a ton sounds very amusing, doesn't it?

Because red is faster, right?

Five thousand pounds for a 5 Turbo seems a lot initially. But taking into account the values of its contemporaries, it looks great value. Heck, when a 90,000-mile Escort RS Turbo can be offered for £8K (admittedly at a dealer), the little Renault with fewer miles appears a steal. Other options? This Mk2 Golf GTI is also being sold privately, but its price still begins with a '4' and has another 50,000 miles. The 205? Tempting, especially at the same price and still under 100,000 miles. See this gorgeous Cherry Red 1.9. It has still had more use than the 5 Turbo however.

Value for money should always be a secondary consideration to entertainment with a hot hatch though, shouldn't it? The 5 will surely deliver on that front too. The immediacy of low weight, anticipating the boost, the feel of non power-assisted steering; it promises to be a right giggle.

150hp and c.850kg? Yes please!

Though coming across another 5 Turbo for comparison seems unlikely, it's reassuring to know this one has apparently been cherished. And owned by a petrolhead of the finest taste if the Elan belongs to them too. Selling because of little use is a shame, but at least it opens up the opportunity for someone else to enjoy it.

So Renault can clearly do dinky hot hatches with small turbos. The latest Clio may not quite be so small any more, but it could well join the ranks of legendary fast Renaults with a dose of the 5 Turbo's spirit. Let's see what Dieppe can produce.

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RENAULT 5 GT TURBO
Engine: 1,397cc 4-cyl turbo
Transmission: Five-speed manual, FWD
Power (hp): 122@5,750rpm (standard car)
Torque (lb ft): 121@3,000rpm (standard car)
MPG: 28
CO2: It was the 80s
Year registered: 1989
Recorded mileage: 74,000
Price new: £7,360 (1986)
Yours for: £4,795

See the original advert here

[dukebox9reg]

Friend used to have a maxpoweresque one in 2002 in white. Was a cracking little car for what it was. Always preferred over the Pug 205 but was brought up on Renaults.

Also much prefer the 21 turbo over the Mi-16.

[daytona111r]

manic

[Oz83]

Once had a drive in a friend's modified 5 Turbo.

Put my foot down...nothing...check I haven't set off in 3rd gear by mistake...still nothing...then WHOOOOSH...AAHHHHHHHHHH....PTSSSSSSS. And repeat.

It was a memorable experience and I definitely have a soft spot for these.

[Planter]

My dad had one when I was younger, only now do I appreciate why he loved it so much, awesome car!!!

[anonymous-user]

If ever a car needed an LSD, it was one of these.

Fantastic little things, I love them. Especially the wiper stalk coming out of the dash. And the vertical stereo positioning.

Bravo, PH, at last a french car WORTH the fawning!

[Frimley111R]

£4750? Sounds a lot?

[rb5er]

I love these cars now just like I love Fords RS offerings, but my experience of friends that had them were that they were never very reliable and constantly needing work even 15 years ago let alone now.

[RemyMartin]

My favourite car that I've owned and probably will ever own.

They don't make them like that anymore...sadly.

[GranCab]

Cracking little pocket rockets ..... and then this sprang to mind ...

[Pixelpeep]

Never mind not that many left - there are even fewer that haven't been striped of all original parts and replaced with ripspeed branded tat.

When i was a teenager i used to ache for one of these. Friend had a Dark blue 'raider' for a while, that was a lovely looking car.

[Fury RS]

Looks a really decent example that. Great little hatches these, very capable little cars.
Two of my mates had 5 Turbo's whilst I was running a S1 RS Turbo back in the early 90's, my old RST was circa 177 BHP back then, my mates cars were approx. 150 BHP and fair play they bloody shifted and handled brilliantly, I could never shake them off on the local back roads when we went for our weekend jaunts.
Would love to own this one if I had the space for another car.
Looks a good buy for somebody...

[Deebo007]

There's a 5 GT Turbo getting a full restoration here:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

Prefer the 205 GTI 1.9 myself, but always had a soft spot for these.

[Pixelpeep]

Deebo007 said:

There's a 5 GT Turbo getting a full restoration here:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

Prefer the 205 GTI 1.9 myself, but always had a soft spot for these.

One post, 62 months? top lurking!

I've had two 1.9GTi's and loved them, but always lusted after the 5. they were just so cool.

[toon10]

Oz83 said:

Once had a drive in a friend's modified 5 Turbo.

Put my foot down...nothing...check I haven't set off in 3rd gear by mistake...still nothing...then WHOOOOSH...AAHHHHHHHHHH....PTSSSSSSS. And repeat.

It was a memorable experience and I definitely have a soft spot for these.

My cousin had an older Gordini Turbo which he modified. The turbo kicked in at about 1400rpm if I recall. He'd be reversing off the drive and it would shoot backwards. Great fun though.

[ck76]

Also, isn't that one of the coolest steering wheels? I always loved those, and the one in the Clio Williams.

My mate had a R5 Turbo when we were 17/18...was lucky to make it to 19 tbh.

[DaveL485]

Come on over to the new site I set up with some mates, www.TurboRenault.co.uk, free membership and it's full of stuff like this. 5, 11, 21Turbo through to Megane and Clio Turbo and some custom stuff on top of that

[mooseracer]

Someone will be along in a bit to say how bad they are in a crash.

[Rollcage]

These are great fun, though I imagine by moden standards the build quality could be a little upsetting. Mine suffered from rickety seat folding mechanisms and the frame itself cracked a few times as well.

Quite expensive to run as well. Standard tyre size was pretty much unique to the GTT, and servicing every 6k. Still loved it though!

Getting rare in decent condition now though. 5k seems about right.

[blartbox]

This illustrates the opportunity missed in the first episode of the latest series of Top Gear. Putting this & a 205 GTI in similar nick up against the latest batch of 200+ BHP hot hatches would have been entertaining as well as raising questions such as 'where's the progress?' Instead we had a few minutes of juvenile idiocy. IIRC CAR magazine did a group test of this Vs Pug 205 GTI Vs Honda CRX in the mid-eighties (the issue with the new Rover 800 on the cover). The R5 was the victor as I recall. Bought a 1990 one of these when it was les than 2 years old for just over 4 grand, same spec & colour as the featured car. Why so cheap? - well, the seller lived in Sheffield & you just couldn't insure them in an urban environment in that era. Epic to punt around the Yorkshire Dales, especially for the first couple of thousand miles after fitting new boots. Always had to watch for the turbo pipe dropping off, returning you to R5 1.4 atmo performance. Wish I'd never sold it...

[tobinen]

The only car I owned that I regretted selling. It was 1990/H, ex-demo + 1 owner, white and unmodified. Sniff