Renault 5 Turbo
Renault turned its small front-engine family hatchback idea inside out: it removed the rear seat, placed a turbo engine behind the driver and sent power to wide rear tyres.
1980 Renault 5 Turbo · Dennis Elzinga · CC BY 2.0
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.
More than a set of wheels.
Renault officially launched the 5 Turbo in 1980 as a road car that could underpin a rally programme. It looked related to the ordinary Renault 5, but the rear seat was gone and the turbocharged 1.4-litre engine sat behind the two occupants, driving the rear wheels. Building it required a three-stop journey: Flins made the shell, Heuliez widened and adapted it, and Alpine at Dieppe completed assembly, paint and road testing. Renault's archive says 802 examples were built in 1980 but carried model year 1981, so this profile keeps calendar launch and model-year identity separate.
Look a little closer.
The original road cars were built in three places: Flins, Heuliez in Cerizay, and Alpine in Dieppe.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
A three-factory route created a very different Renault 5
Flins supplied the basic shell, Heuliez lengthened and adapted it and fitted aluminium opening panels, then Alpine installed the composite outer panels, turbo engine, five-speed gearbox, trim and paint. That chain explains why the 5 Turbo was much more than a wide-body version of the ordinary hatchback.
Source: Renault Classic · Renault 5 Turbo dossier ↗Calendar year and model year are not the same thing
Renault says the car was officially launched in 1980 and that 802 examples were built during 1980, but those cars carried model year 1981. Joyride should retain 1980 as the calendar launch identity while displaying the model-year note so a visitor is not told that every launch car was officially a 1980 model-year car.
Source: Renault Classic · Renault 5 Turbo production chronology ↗Where these facts come from
- The Originals Renault Museum · R5 Turbo
- Renault Classic · Renault 5 Turbo dossier
- FIA Historic Database · Renault 5 Turbo Group 4
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed 2026-10-02.