In a car landscape where small French popular models have essentially Citroën 2CV and Renault 4 names, the new little Renault will represent modernity even.Within the Renault Régie, there are many of which are on the Renault 6, led to supplant the aging R4, which appeared in 1961.A model, launched in 1968, whose childbirth was laborious, and which will never manage to replace the 4L.The same “visionaries” does not reach a franc on the “project 122”, in particular because of its two-door only.In the particular economic and social context of seventies, the advent of the 30 glorious, an economic crisis marked by two consecutive oil shocks, political and social movements, women's emancipation, sexual liberation, the return of liberal ideas or evenThe beginnings of ecology, it is as difficult as it is exciting to interpret the expectations of a clientele that has just lived May 1968 ... This is what Gaston Juchet, the boss of style,From his stylists, Michel Boué, supported by a certain Bernard Hanon who, after having held many positions within the Régie since 1959, was also a time responsible for the United States.He came back convinced that there is now a second car market with the advent of women's work.He became, in 1981, CEO, appointed by a certain François Mitterrand.Hanon was the first to believe in a small car that was not only utilitarian like the R4 and R6, but “pleases women, offers a comfort of mid -range sedan to rally Paris in Marseille, while being able to accommodate different mechanics”.In short, the first little "versatile" had just been invented.
The first drawings go back to… 1967!
Among the many ideas, only two doors, a tailgate, no “real” grille, and plastic bumpers that will become shields, which all our cars are now equipped.A choice imposed by a certain Claude Prost-Dame, manager of the bodywork.The first drawings of Michel Boué date back to ... 1967! If the shell is new, many elements are borrowed from the 4L for obvious reasons of cost.The R5 (3.52 m) includes the platform in particular, the torsion bar suspensions and the lateral camshaft engines.And even the gear lever on the dashboard, which allows direct access to the box, located at the front, at the end of the engine.The floor lever will not appear until 1973, optional on the TL!Aesthetically, its two large doors, without handles, allege its line while its “armed” polyester shields give it a real personality;They will also be seconded in 1976, on the GTL, by lateral protections of the same metal, further strengthening its invulnerability in the "urban jungle".A European first, which appeared in 1968 across the Atlantic on the Pontiac GTO.Another first, on such a small model, the tailgate, already seen on the 4L.Its main competitor of the time, the austere Peugeot 104, launched in 1972, will not adopt it until 1976.Heave which is accompanied by real modularity thanks to the folding bench folder which increases the volume of the trunk from 270 to 900 liters.What to reassure the sellers, little inclined to sell a 2-door ...
Let's go back to the style, simple and refined, with a limited number of parts.At the front, the hood falls on a tiny ABS grille, framed by two small rectangular headlights which overlook the famous shield.Optics that the advertisements of the time staged by sticking their eyes to transform the R5 into a comic strip, nicknamed Supercar!At the back, the large vertical lights are framed by air outlets drawn as an element of style and not hidden.The main difficulty was to succeed in "rounding" the forms starting from a steep model, while composing with flat ice cream, curved windows would have been too expensive.In the passenger compartment, also very dapper, not to say “yé-yé” with its seats in orange vinyl matching the shade of the body, on the very first models, the adoption of a monobloc instrumentation handsetallows you to release the dashboard, which receives a padded plastic coating, adorned with vertical streaks.In short, the R5 - which draws its surname from tax horses from the TL version - marks the end of the small utility and sad car.She was undoubtedly the first “car to live”.A blow that will reissue, very exactly 20 years later, the no less famous Twingo!
Under the hood, nothing revolutionary ...
Under his small hood, on the other hand, nothing revolutionary, to say the least we can say.The 5 adopts the Billancourt engine of the R4, a 782 cm3 of 34 hp, which will not be replaced by the 845 cm3 of the R6 until 1977.The TL does little better by taking up the old Cleon Fonte of 956 cc 45 hp of the R8.After a first try with the LS and TS versions, more generously motorized, Renault quickly understands the importance of a sports version as a locomotive in the range.Especially since a certain Volkswagen Golf GTI was revealed in September 1975.This is how the R5 Alpine was born in 1976, designed and produced in Dieppe.His old Cléon-Fonte 1.4 liter comes out 93 hp thanks to a hemispherical grille and pistons, distribution and specific collectors.A cavalry which, if it already animates this little featherweight very well, is not enough to face the competition.This is how, doped by a blown turbo, it became, in 1981, the Alpine Turbo with 110 horsepower under the hood.A model that won many success in rallies, supported, in 1980, by the 5 Turbo, a “bodybuilded” monster, propulsion, including 1.4 liter turbo, in the central rear position, released 160 hp on the serial version, 250 on the competition versions, and even 350 on the “maxi turbo” of 1984.A model that definitively assumed the image of the 5 with many other successes in rally, especially in the hands of the fiery “Jeannot” Ragnotti which won the Monte-Carlo 1981 and the Tour de Corse 1982 and 1985, facing the monsters that wereThe Peugeot 205 T16, Audi Quattro and other Lancia Stratos Group B.Nothing less.A model, produced in less than 5,000 copies, whose rating is now around € 100,000!
Among the exotic versions are the electric 5, developed, in 1971, in the Lardy Research Center, in collaboration with EDF, and manufactured in only 7 copies!Or also, at export, the "car" and "the van car", characterized by its custody portholes and its aid wheel on the tailgate, two versions sold in the United States and broadcast at 125,000 copies.It was also declined, on our market, a limited series based on ts.Likewise in Quebec where the "La Five" represented up to half of the "urban" market and whose advertising was set to music by a certain Robert Charlebois.She was also sold in Iran, from 1975, where she was assembled under license, and continued her career there until 2008 (!), On a technical basis of ... Kia Pride!She finished her reign at the end of 1984, under the winning surname, before being supplanted by the Supercinq with a more conventional design, and which adopted a platform derived from that of the R9 and R11.This will also have great success, until 1996, with no less than 3,436,650 copies.In advertising that announces the arrival of his replacement, his character declares, not without humor: "Farewell Cruel World"!
But it would seem that the R5, born in 1972 and manufactured at 5,580,626 copies, did not say its last word if we believe the boss of Renault, Luca de Meo, who revealed, at the same time asits Renaulution recovery plan, January 14, 2021, the 5 prototype.A contemporary reinterpretation of the R5 which, like the future 4L, will be electric and should, in 2024, take over the Zoe platform or adopt that of the new megane e-tech.
Our memories at the wheel of the R5
My first memories in R5 date back to ... 1974, on the rear seat of the LS of a cousin who worked at Renault and which we were trying, with my brother, all the models.A Sunday, on the N2 on the side of Villers-Cotterêt, we had managed to exceed, in the coast, no less than three Citroën DS, the queen of the road.A feat !A few years later, in July 1979, I went on vacation with a friend in 5 tl metallic brown, sunroof canvas, windsurfing on the gallery, the class!Shortly after, the same boyfriend acquired a second used Alpine, as efficient (for the time) as lived to drive.Next comes the one who, for the young permits that we were then, represented the Grail, an Alpine Turbo that the mother of another boyfriend regularly lent me, making me absolute confidence.If she had known!A model that earned us, on the part of a good girlfriend, a reflection that has remained to us: "It works well your little R5"!I also had the privilege of taking the wheel of one of the 7 copies of the 5 Electric that a cousin, a true genius of DIY, had managed to recover, I don't really know how.Despite its 10 horses and 300 kilos of batteries, located in place of the rear seat, it left me an excellent memory in terms of pleasure.For the record, neither Renault, nor EDF - whose colors she wore - did not assume, at the time, paternity!Finally, being one of one in six French people to have had an R5, I could tell you about the 5 TS 1984 "petal seats", an indestructible, of which I was the happy owner for three years for three years.My only Renault!
The range, engines
Basic version, at launch: 4L billancourt engine, 782 cm3 4 CV - 34 hp, 4L wheels, no chrome rush;Engine replaced in 1977 by the 845 cm3 of the R6.
TL : moteur Cléon-fonte de R8, 956 cm3 de 45 ch et 5 CV, freins avant à disques avec jantes ajourées, accoudoirs de portières, dossiers avant réglables en inclinaison, plage arrière, lunette dégivrante.
LS : en avril 1974 avec 1 289 cm3 de 64 ch, échappement avec sortie arrière, et non plus latérale, freins assistés, phares à iodes, planche de bord et volant moussés, compte-tours, moquette ; elle devient TS dans la gamme 1975 avec sièges dits « intégraux » avec appuis-têtes ajourés intégrés.
GTL : en 1976, avec une version “économique” du même 1 289 cm3, bandeaux latéraux de protection identiques aux boucliers ; elle devient la version la plus vendue.
Alpine : moteur Cléon-Fonte de 1 397 cm3 et 93 ch, avec culasse hémisphérique, pistons, distribution et collecteur spécifiques, boîte de vitesses de R16 TX, freins avant de R12, rétroviseurs “obus”, bouclier avant aérodynamique, favorisant le Cx, la consommation et la Vmax,jantes tôle façon Gordini, puis jantes type bobine en 1978.Gordini in the United Kingdom.Moto-Lita sport steering wheel then ISO-Delta.Cup version (706 copies) for the Renault-Elf Cup, at the end of 1976.
5 Automatic 1 300 : en 1978 avec toit vinyle noir et boîte automatique à 3 vitesses.
5 portes en juillet 1979, version dérivée de la Fasa-Renault Siete (la Renault 7) espagnole 3-volumes.
5 Alpine turbo : septembre 1981, 110 ch, turbo aspiré, issu de l’expérience de la Formule 1, 185 km/h, jantes à ailettes, devenue Lauréate turbo à partir de mars 1984.
TX : en octobre 1981, version 3-portes luxueuse sur base de TS avec 1 397 cm3 de 63 ch, plus coupleux, avec, en série direction assistée, vitres électriques, volant cuir, moquette, banquette 50/50, jantes alu.
Fin de carrière, sous l’appellation 5 Lauréate, en décembre 1984, aux côtés de la nouvelle Supercinq.
Places of production: Flins and Valladolid.
To read also on Auto-Moto.com
The electric Renault 5
The Future Renault 5 Electric
Memories in Renault 5 Alpine Turbo
Memories in Peugeot 205 GTI
Peugeot 205 vs 208 & Renault 5 vs Clio
