Riding shotgun in the 555hp Renault 5 Turbo 3E
Still think an electric R5 Turbo sounds all wrong? A few laps of Goodwood Motor Circuit say different...
For many valid reasons, electric cars aren’t exactly welcomed with open arms on these here forums. Now, there are exceptions to the rule, most notably cars where the powertrain is of no great significance, like the Volvo EX90 or Dacia Spring. But try replacing a Ferrari V12 or Mercedes-AMG V8 with batteries and, as the Luce and AMG GT Four Door have shown, you'll have people reaching for the nearest torch and pitchfork.
Then there’s the curious case of the Renault 5 Turbo 3E. The standard R5 has proven a smash hit for Renault, frequently topping the EV charts, and, according to its maker, is one of the best around at converting petrol and diesel car drivers to EV ownership. So it only seemed logical that Renault would revive the legendary Turbo name to serve as the firm’s halo product, the hope being that a wad of nostalgia and retro looks would help reel in the lucrative enthusiast crowd. Of course, scrawling Turbo down the side of a car powered by batteries isn't necessarily the ideal way to do that, even if it hasn’t stopped Porsche from selling a bazillion Taycans.
On the flip side, the Turbo 3E isn’t just an R5 with glued on arches. As we discovered at the car’s launch a year ago, the 3E mimics the original’s rear-wheel drive setup with a pair of electric motors housed inside the rear wheels, as opposed to the more conventional inboard layout used by most EVs today, which combined produce a punchy 555hp (up from the 540hp quoted at launch). A torque figure of 3,540lb ft may sound ridiculous, but a reading at the wheel will always be higher than those measured at the axle. Needless to say it’s brisk, with a 0-62mph time taking less than 3.5 seconds, and should comfortably swing its back out without snapping like a short-wheelbase, mid-engined rally special would.
Development is still ongoing and first deliveries aren’t expected until next year, but Renault brought a handful of prototypes along to last weekend’s Festival of Speed and offered us a couple of laps from the passenger seat around Goodwood circuit for a taste of what’s to come. To its credit, you can’t knock the Turbo 3E for its looks. My goodness does it have presence, with broad shoulders, a low stance and 20-inch dinner plate wheels filling its box arches. Renault says the length-to-width ratio is close to 2:1, as was the original’s, which not only adds to the R5’s stockiness but it should also lend itself to greater stability. For reference, the last rear-wheel drive Renault that got close to a 2:1 ratio was the Clio V6, and that was famously stable at speed. No, that’s not right…
Anyway, step inside and you’re treated to beautiful carbon bucket seats with suede-covered padding and Sabelt harnesses. It’s a wonderfully minimal cabin, with a relatively low-slung dash housing the familiar Renault steering wheel and screens. There are buttons for the climate settings and drive controls, but the best bit is the massive, carbon handbrake that sticks up perpendicular to the centre console. It’s a nice nod to the Turbo 3E’s world debut as a carbon-bodied drift machine in 2022, and will require an immense level of will power to suppress the urge to pull off handbrake turn after handbrake turn.
For all the theatre both inside and out, the Turbo 3E lacks the fizz you get from a performance car that’s about to head off for a flying lap. That’s stating the obvious perhaps, as there’s no engine to fire up, no vibrations to soak up and no sound of a four-pot turbo engine ticking over in the background. It is, granted, a little anticlimactic, because you so desperately want the Turbo 3E’s powertrain to be as loopy as the design - yet, as a passenger, you do at least get a grain of anticipation that the driver could floor it any moment without any prior warning.
That punch of acceleration will have to wait, as the test driver decides instead to gradually bring the car up to speed while weaving to get some heat into the tyres. What’s immediately noticeable, mind, is that it’s a surprisingly noisy thing. Not from the powertrain, but rather the wind battering against the upright windscreen and the various aerodynamic flicks dotted around the body. And the faster you go, the more intense the wind noise becomes, so much so that you almost forget that there’s no combustion engine rumbling away behind you. That’s more an indictment of the whisper quiet engines of today, although just because the Turbo 3E is electric doesn't mean it’s completely devoid of sounds and sensations.
Goodwood’s short, 2.4-mile course is full of long, sweeping corners, which are punctuated by three proper braking zones. Keen to show off the Turbo 3E’s responsiveness on turn in, the driver aggressively tugs the wheel on corner entry and the nose immediately snaps into action. Obviously, it’s impossible to know what that’s like from behind the wheel when you’re sat on the wrong side, but what is evident is how composed it is in the corners. The Turbo 3E tips the scales at 1,450kg, which may sound beefy for a hatchback but by EV standards it’s positively featherweight. To put that into context, it’s only 50kg heavier than a Phase 2 Clio V6, and while it doesn’t have to lug around an engine, there’s still a 70kWh battery to cope with. That, combined with the bespoke all-aluminium chassis and double-wishbone suspension, makes the Turbo 3E feel surprisingly agile and assured. At least from the passenger seat.
However, once fully up to speed, the Turbo 3E begins to reveal itself as a bit of a handful. Of course, the driver's booting it mid-corner to provoke a slide and the assists are off, but it’s more than happy to kick its backside out during the rotation phase as well as on corner exit. The production model will come with a Drift Assist mode, allowing a degree of slip without any nasty surprises, but these two short laps riding shotgun suggest Renault has prioritised fun over outright lap times.
Admittedly, it’s difficult to get a solid reading on the damping, partly because Goodwood is short of curbs to clatter over, but officially the cars remain in development and are still some way off production-ready. On some of the faster corners, the rear squats down and rubs against the inside of the massive wheel arches, and our final lap is ultimately curtailed by the underfloor abandoning ship somewhere between Fordwater and St Mary’s. These will doubtless be addressed by the time deliveries get underway next year, but the fact that Renault was willing to let us loose in a car that's still actively being fettled speaks volumes about its confidence in the Turbo 3E.
Only, orders are open now and you’ll surely be wondering whether you should add your name to the books. It certainly isn’t cheap at £140,000, and that’s before you dig into Renault’s extensive options list. And while a 249-mile range is perfectly fine, it’ll gobble through a full battery’s worth of electrons in 15-20 minutes on track - or so Renault’s engineers told us last year. But the price wouldn’t be a turn-off if it came with an engine, and more circuits are installing EV chargers by the day.
So does the R5 Turbo 3E make me want to turn my back on piston power for good? Of course not. But two short passenger laps were enough to leave me itching to drive it properly. And if it can do that, the Turbo 3E clearly has the core ingredients to be an engaging performance car - with or without a combustion engine.
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