Do you remember the Le Car, from Renault? It was a slow, unreliable little thing, just a nick above the Yugo, fading rapidly from our shores after slow sales here. But it sold over 5 million copies in Europe from 1972 through 1984, when the first series ended production. Called the R5 overseas, it was designed to compete with the Fiat 127 and others of its ilk. Turns out that beneath its unassuming sheet metal, the promise of greatness lurked. That promise was ushered to fruition in response to one of the most thrilling events of the 70s – the establishment of the World Rally Championship series. The WRC was formed under the aegis of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in 1973 from the amalgamation of several individual rallies. Its inauguration kicked off an intense competition among manufacturers, including Renault. Successful with its Alpine A110 only in the first year of the WRC, Renault sought to improve its standing by entering Group 4 with a turbocharged car. To homologate that car, it transformed the lowly R5.
The heart of the R5 Turbo is its longitudinally mid-mounted (yeah, back there where the Le Car’s rear seats were!), Garrett turbo-charged, Bosch fuel-injected, 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Generating 160 hp, capable of a top speed of 125 mph, and posting a zero to sixty time of about 7.5 seconds, the R5 Turbo looked great “on paper.” But it is an unruly ride. Its five-speed gearbox is nothing special, derived from Renault’s 30 TX sedan and powering the rear wheels. Turbo lag is legendary, and while handling is satisfactory at low speeds, the car becomes tail-happy when the boost comes on, making it difficult to drive at the limit. This car shows only 23,000 miles on the clock. It comes to its new owner completely stock down to the correct tires (on staggered rims, designed to mitigate the weight in the rear), and of course, it runs very well.
The interior has a veneer of civility – after all, the homologated cars were “road-going” versions. (Works rally cars built for privateers were far more serious machines, some generating more than 400 hp.) That doesn’t mean it isn’t ready to rally; if you’re so inclined, get yourself an intercom, the right restraint belts, rally instruments, a fire system, maybe a roll bar, and have at it. For a taste of the ride, check out this video.
Marcello Gandini at Bertone penned the lines of the R5 Turbo, with its boy-racer-cool intakes, fender flares, and hunky stance. To reduce weight, most of the panels were made of aluminum; the fenders, sills, and bumpers are polymer plastic and were deliberately made in a shade slightly lighter than the rest of the car. T.J. found this R5 Turbo 1 advertised here on craigslist, but more information is available at Euro Classix, located in San Mateo, California. The price is not disclosed, though that won’t stop us from speculating. People wanna pay about $145k for these cars! How do we know? Well, you can barely turn around without finding an R5 Turbo 1 for sale, and this market overview shows that two just sold for right around $145k. Let’s give this car a few grand for originality and exceptionally low miles, and call it $165k, to be generous. I’d own this car in a heartbeat, but I’m crazy for race-bred cars with small motors that go fast; what about you?
Well, let’s call a spade a spade, and comparing this to what we had as LeCars is like, IDK, a top fuel funny car compared to a stock Camaro. Not much. A LeCar on steroids, and then some. All the cars that race in this class, are mere shreds of the original. I’ve seen some wicked performing Pintos too. I think this car would be a handful at speed.
And for the record, I disagree with the author, the LeCar wasn’t necessarily a bad car, and to put it one above a Yugo isn’t exactly fair. To be clear, as mentioned, Renault sold over 5.5 MILLION R5s, one of the best sellers in Europe. Conversely, only 9600 were sold in the US by 1976, I think like 26,000 total, so it was understood, sadly, like the Yugo, it just wasn’t what Americans were looking for. Besides there were far better Asian cars to be had, but I thought were good cars in their own environment. I can only imagine this car runs poorly at anything below 100.
Have to agree, HoA, the R5/Le Car was a better piece than now given credit for. Ask the man who owned five…. Dealers were, of course, the real downfall of these cars.
But on to the Turbo: I drove one of the first in the U.S., and it was an absolute blast. Made all the right noises, handled like a slot car, and was faster than you’d expect for 160 bhp.
Yes, it could get a little tail-happy, but for anyone who had driven an early 930, it was duck soup. There was a little turbo lag, and anticipating that was a key to not exiting corners sideways.
The Turbo was fun to just look at. The early red exterior-red/blue interior or blue exterior-blue/red interior cars were exuberant. The later Turbo 2s, which had essentially “normal” R5 Alpine interiors, weren’t as jazzy.
Almost bought a Turbo 1. Went so far as to get my company’s credit union to okay a loan, but an unexpected career change put the kibosh on that. The only consolation is I would have wound up with a multi-hundred-thousand mile car, faded, worn, and probably off the road waiting for gotta-come-from-France expensive parts.
HoA makes a good point-these were to the original concept LeCar what the Eddie Lawson Replica Z-1 Kawasaki was to the real deal. Though in both cases the looked cool and might fool the uninformed, they took a lot of wrenching to make it a bonafide racer.
“That doesn’t mean it isn’t ready to rally; if you’re so inclined, get yourself an intercom, the right restraint belts, rally instruments, a fire system, maybe a roll bar, and have at it.” And don’t forget your navigator must be someone that doesn’t get carsick, can read a map with the car bouncing around like a bb in a boxcar while giving clear communications and keep watch on a stopwatch all at the same time. And that’s just the local version, never mind the pit crew needed for semi-or professional.
Must say though these are definitely cool in their own way. Not a Sport Quattro S1 Replica maybe but far easier to find and much more affordable!
These did well in tarmac rallies; Tour de Corse and the like. The proportions are not far off a kart, so that’s unsurprising! I don’t remember them competing on loose surfaces.
I’ve a feeling that the Turbo 2 coincided with Group B. I saw two of them at a car dealer in London in the ’90s; £8k each, as I recall. I wish I could’ve bought them, but I barely had £16 at the time, never mind £16K!
Cheers 🍻 Howard.
This is a drivers car
You’re wrong about the R5 Le Car. I had two and they were completely reliable, fun and inexpensive to operate. The only thing they needed was undercoating.
This is what homologation is all about. These are so cool and all business. I remember looking at R5s, both new and used before buying something more conventional; a Plymouth Volare. I still think they’re neat and would wad myself up getting inside for a chance to drive.
I lived in Mexico City late 70s early 80s and the R5 was popular there. It was a clever design which was one of the best Superminis. Crucially, it was not the LeCar version sold via AMC dealers. Once again, America got a very bad makeover of an essentially good car. We can’t sat that of the Yugo.
Turbo I was a beast, carries a big premium over Turbo II. I wouldn’t want one, but prices are high and steady for those who do.
Having owned a LeCar from new, and having beat the living daylights out of it in autocross and generally hard driving, I take exception to the writer’s assessment of the R5’s reliability. My experience may be anecdotal, but the US market R5 never let me down, and while I could regale you with tales of its uncanny performance from a tiny 4-cylinder, I will spare you the walk down memory lane. The LeCar/R5 didn’t sell well in the US mainly because American drivers are allergic to small cars, the current trend of behemoths roaming the land is but the latest iteration. It is no accident that Renault managed to sell some 5 million copies beyond US shores.
I’d give you an upvote if the site would let me (is it EVER going to be fixed?) as my R5s collectively gave me less trouble than friends were experiencing with Japanese imports. My only “issues” — except for a pushrod I bent by over-revving the daylights out of my original car at ~90K miles — were in my used examples, and those I have to attribute to ham-fisted drivers.
I found the soft, overly compliant suspension was easily brought under control with Renault Racing antiroll bars and wider tires. After fitting those bit, the little beast stuck like glue.
I will, however, still attribute much of the Renault troubles in the U.S. to dealers. The dealer who sold my first one dropped the franchise practically as soon as I drove away. I found a better one, but even with a hard-working and interested parts guy, they couldn’t get me some things I wanted/needed in reasonable time.
It was dealers who made the Japanese imports successful in the beginning.
+1… Also, does no one remember that Renault had an IMSA race series with the LeCar? Paired as the opener for Camel GT it only lasted a year, but had some great drivers. Renault kept the cup going with the Alliance, it was fun to watch because the fields were often 30-40 cars. Anyway, the R5 Turbo is a different beast and IMHO a bargain compared to it’s competitors. Shoulda snapped one up twenty years ago when they were relatively cheap.
We had a great little Red LeCar and loved the little thing, it really leaned going around corners but the fuel economy was the best of any car We ever owned! But over $100 g’s, even for the race pedigree? Not for the average guy unless you have lot’s to just throw around.
I had a four door LeCar. When the A/C compressor would kick in it felt like an anchor had been thrown out the back of the car.
Unreliable? I owned two R5’s, and never had any issues with reliability AT ALL. Perhaps your sources are the ones who are unreliable.
I have had an R4, R5, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 Wedge, and the best of the lot, an R16TS, and have never been let down by any of them. Great cars, apart from the rust problem.
These are absolutely fantastic little cars, and their uniqueness and quirkiness just make them even cooler. The R5 Turbo had no federally mandated safety or emission systems and was never certified for sale in the US, making the 100-200 that showed here “gray market” vehicles. It’s not an issue any more since imported vehicles over 25 years old are now exempt from federal regulations, but it was challenging to import, certify, title and drive one of these here when they were new.
Renault got heavily involved in racing in the early 80’s, in an effort to improve US sales.There was a yellow factory backed R5 Turbo being campaigned in IMSA’s GTU class. “Regular” Le Cars were racing in IMSA’s RS class and Champion Spark Plug Challenge series and the SCCA’s SSC class, where they were quite successful. There was even an all Le Car race series in 82, the Renault Cup. These were hilarious races made up of 50 basically stock (except for safety equipment) Le Cars driven by maniacs. Many never made it through a races first lap, often ending up on their sides or roofs. For 83-84 the Le Car was replaced by the AMC built Alliance in the series resulting in somewhat milder races.
R5 Turbo….Arnold Schwarzenegger in a clown suit.
These were tough little cars, designed for the rigors of rural French roads. They weren’t all that unreliable, but parts and service were always an issue, even when AMC took over distribution. There wasn’t much profit to be had in a car at the LeCar’s price point, so AMC dealers weren’t interested in either sales or service.
I’m going to cut Ms. Rand some slack, many times the author picks a subject, from a long list, and may have no knowledge whatsoever on the car itself, and can only go on what mainstream views were. The LeCar had some dismal reviews. Personally, I think just the name was stupid, and should have stayed with R5. The LeCar, like all small cars, had some mighty big shoes to fill, as many Americans were still pining from the loss of their LTDs, and had little, if any experience in small cars. That and our roads weren’t geared for puddle jumpers, and most still upset that this is what they were relegated to drive, in America, and most took out their frustrations on the gas pedal, shortening their lives considerably. Being a member, the site is like a club, and the writers are what makes the site great. Tip of the hat to all that helps take our minds off of what’s happening, an oasis indeed.
Comparing the LeCar to the Yugo is ridiculous.
Uh, no. Don’t know the origin of the myth of unreliability of the LeCar. But to a newly married couple having bought a house the LeCar was a miracle. Never a problem, nice compliant suspension over winter ravaged streets and a peppy engine which made it fun to drive.
@Michelle Rand You should do a little more research when you choose something exotic to write about. The Turbo 1 is a lot different than the Turbo 2: different interior(including unique seats-that can go for $5k+), aluminum doors, roof and rear hatch, no power windows. Turbo 1’s rarely come up for sale and can go anywhere from $20k-$40k or more over a Turbo 2.
The Turbo 1 was actually called a “R5 Turbo”-no “1” reference. Factory uprated power kits were available from Renault to up the stock hp from 160 to 180, 200.
The final version of the R5 Turbo was called the “Maxi” and put out 350 hp. This was a full on factory race car-but still street legal per Rally(FIA) requirements.
Looks like a fun car, but I have to keep telling myself “Not another project!”.
Hahaha Nuk!Nuk!Nuk! Pardon me while I laugh!!!
On a positive note, thanks for the extra lug on the wheels, I feel so much safer with 4 logs tha……uh Three?
Simple economics 166 divided by3 , let’s say 54k gets me a non numbers matching driver quality Ss454 clone, driver quality I can do a lot with 54k.
54 K I can probably get me a non matching 426 Hemi or a clone, I can do a lot with 54k
While I’m at it a 427 ford, no match number, I can probably do a lot with 54k.
While this is a great ale-Car( why am I thinking inspector Cluezoe?) it fits with the Porsche 356 and the stud a baker Avanti, cars I just don’t get. I have Zero use for this car, for that I respectfully say to me this is Le-Crap. I’m gonna have to call the Kings clothing on this one
Problem with this logic is you’d find yourself stuck behind the wheel of the 3 cars you mentioned. Let’s put it this way… Merican muscle is akin to a framing hammer while the R5 Turbo is an air-powered nail gun.
Had a friend in automechanic school that had a LeCar. He said they were good cars but just needs a special person to work on them.
When I see a R5 Turbo I can’t help but to think of the Ford Fiesta Shogun with the SHO engine out back.
No dog in this fight. I just remember these.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/in-the-1970s-police-departments-relied-on-the-renault-le-car/
For all those not aware or doubting the street cred of the R5 Turbo, just google R5 Turbo Pike’s Peak!
The bog standard R5 was one of the most reliable small cars Europe had and is actually a precursor to the first VW Golf.
I had an R5 when I lived in Rome. That thing went everywhere, cruising at 90 mph on the A1 to Florence, or just on the GRA around the outskirts of the city. My mechanic was a magician… kept it running for peanuts. I always felt bad pulling the car into his garage. He had Alfas, Jags, etc., classic cars from wealthy clients, and me. He was actually doing my neighbor a favor.
I would buy one again in a heartbeat.
I barely remember the cari l lived around the corner of an AMC dealer . I drove a 6cyl. Malibu. But now I wished I had on.