The 500bhp Renault 5 Turbo 3E is a rally icon revived
The Renault 5 Turbo is one of the most iconic hot hatches ever built, and now it’s being revived in rear-drive, EV-form almost half a century on
The Alpine A290 plugged the performance gap the ordinary Renault 5 left for it, and while both are excellent in their own ways, the lack of a Renault 5 Turbo variant seemed a missed opportunity. Now though, a whole 46 years since the Renault 5 Turbo made its first appearance, Renault has confirmed the new 5 Turbo 3E as an electric take on the R5 Turbo and Turbo 2 of the ‘80s.
If you think you’ve seen this car before, you’re not entirely mistaken. In 2022, Renault launched a model under the same name to celebrate its 50th year, but it was merely a concept. According to Renault CEO Luca de Meo, this new car is set to enter production, hitting the road in the not-too-distant future as a model to rival the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
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While it’s based on the underpinnings of the ordinary Renault 5, this is no half-baked special. Out goes the standard car’s single front-mounted motor and in go a pair of uprated motors, both powering the rear wheels just like the original 5 Turbo. The 2022 concept boasted an impressive 374bhp output, over double the output of the combustion-powered 5 Turbo, but this new model is said to produce even more: 500bhp to be exact, over twice that of the Alpine A290 GTS. The result is a quoted 3.5sec 0-62mph time, 2.9sec ahead of the Alpine and just a tenth behind the Ioniq 5 N.
The addition of two uprated motors, supporting hardware and uprated chassis components will undoubtedly add weight, but Renault has done its best to keep weight down (and rigidity up) with the use of a carbon superstructure. A weight figure hasn’t been disclosed, but expect this car to fall somewhere in the 1450kg region to match the Renault 5 it’s based on (quite some way from the 980kg quoted for the 2022 concept).
While it's not yet clear how much of this design will make it to the road, it borrows the boxy, enlarged arches, dual lower fog lights, triple intake slats and small, rectangular headlights reminiscent of the original R5. At the rear, the same vertical lights and contrasting horizontal bar as the ordinary 5 remain, but new aero elements, a vast new faux-diffuser element and bespoke new bumper hark back to the ‘80s. Despite the lack of an engine, it even features intakes forward of the rear wheels which are said to be home to the charging port. Neat.
It’s not yet clear how many will be made or how much the Renault 5 Turbo 3E will cost when it hits the road, but we do know that we’re rather keen to have a go when it does.
