Renault 5 Turbo: The renaissance of wide cheeks

Names are smoke and mirrors: officially, the new high-flyer in the Renault range is called Renault 5 Turbo 3E. Why? The "3" because there were two series of the original from 1980 to 1985. And the "E" for, logically, electric. So that's that. And from now on, we'll call it what it will be called on the road: Welcome to the freshly unveiled R5 Turbo. What, if I may say so, a simply awesome thing Renault has put on fat 20-inch wheels here.

After all, names are not just smoke and mirrors: the original was built exactly 4870 times and, with its mid-engine and 118 kW/160 hp for less than a ton of weight, thundered across the posters in the boys' bedrooms of the 1980s. And with even more power and success on the circuits and rally stages. In between, there was a kind of light successor in the form of the Clio V6. But just light, it wasn't an R5.

Now the R5 Turbo is back. And just like the "normal" electric new R5 (available from 24,900 francs) and its sports brother, the Alpine A 290 (from 37,700 francs), it strikes that fine line between history and the future that makes a retro car coherent and a sales hit. Now Renault completes the trio with the new edition of the R5 Turbo, on its own chassis and with a great deal of Alpine know-how, as a legend from birth and a genuine icon.

The R5 Turbo of modern times uses electricity instead of fuel, which is why the term turbo is nonsense in itself. But justified: The wheel hub motors (!) push a whopping 400 kW/540 hp onto the track. The torque of the rear-wheel drive? Almost terrifying: 4800 Nm! How is that possible? Thanks to the two wheel hub motors in the rear wheels: In these, the rotor (i.e. the moving part) of the electric motor is the wheel itself, so that no power transmission in between can be pulverized by the force and no Nm is lost during transmission. The racing car races to 100 km/h in under 3.5 seconds and up to 270 km/h on the racetrack. If recharging is required in view of the 400-kilometre WLTP range, this can be done at home using an AC wallbox and a leisurely 11 kW (0 to 100 percent eight hours), or at the DC fast charger with a rapid 350 kW (15 to 80 percent 15 minutes) - no turbocharger, but a "turbo charger", so to speak.

The charging speed makes what we will soon see in other Renaults possible: The R5 Turbo is now the company's first model with 800-volt technology. And heavy as lead? Nothing there: despite a 70-kWh battery, it should weigh less than 1450 kilos. Only in highway construction zones should the racing car avoid the left lane: The turbo has a 2.03 meter overtaking advantage in the rear-view mirror. It is only 4.08 meters long and 1.38 meters high. Speaking of design: the rear of all R5s is the "Schoggi side", but the front of the R5 Turbo with its lowered hood is even closer to the original and therefore, in our opinion, even more harmonious than the "normal" R5.

We only miss one detail on the series Turbo that we liked on the first design study: as in the past, there were ten individually framed control instruments, all digital. Now, as in the "normal" R5, there are two large displays (10.1 and 10.25 inches). "For series production, this development would have cost as much as the entire car," reveals Advanced Head of Design Sandeep Bhambra with a grin at the exclusive pre-reveal on site and tells us that none other than Renault CEO Luca de Meo gave the impetus to venture into a turbo.

In addition to everyday practicalities such as an astonishing amount of luggage space where only the engine had room in the original R5 Turbo, or Google Maps in the infotainment, the wild rear-wheel drive car offers a racing atmosphere inside: bucket seats, Alcantara and carbon fiber galore. And three special insignia of horsepower power. As in rally cars, the handbrake is located in the middle of the car as a massive vertical aluminum handle - which, together with an electronic mode, is intended to satisfy the desire to drift. And there is a blue and a red button on the steering wheel. The blue one regulates the recuperation levels, while the red "overtaking button" activates full power.

Buyers can even choose the serial number from the 1980 numbered R5 Turbos and are free to paint, livery and design the interior of the road-legal racer as they wish - Renault already has cool suggestions, such as the yellow and white R5 look of the 1982 Corsica Rally. Individual and limited: No, it won't be cheap. Renault says that the price ratio is similar to that of the time (a Turbo cost four to five R5s) and the price is therefore similar to that charged for original Turbos. In other words, six figures, somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 francs. Autosprint is guessing at 140,000 francs. Orders can be placed in April, and prices will be announced then. Deliveries will start in 2027. We are already envious.

Unfortunately, exclusivity means that we will rarely see this grandiose model on the road or on the racetrack. But it doesn't matter: even its ancestor was more likely to haunt people's minds than the country road next door, and this will not detract from its fascination: In the future, we will see a bit of the glow of the new Renault 5 Turbo in every R5 and even more so in the power brother Alpine A290. Welcome back, Breitbäckchen - and we hope to see you around. Very quickly.