The Renault 5 is the Perfect Small Car

Coming at the dawn of the supermini, Michel Boue's Renault 5 nailed its brief in becoming indefinably chic and brilliant to drive. Quickly Europe's best-selling car, Renault sold around 5.5 million units between 1972 and 1984.

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[TwinCam]

Good morning everyone, I hope you enjoy this latest automotive retrospective. I'm just here to apologise to you all for the lens flare visible in the introduction - it's my fault for taking too long to get the take right, meaning the sun was just coming over the trees. If it's turned you off, be assured the rest of the video is fine!

[alanwayte]

My late Wife had a 1976 Renault 5 in 1983 as her first car, it was a horror to start on a damp cold morning, however in 1986 she purchased a turbo and in 1991 a phase 2 Turbo Raider, which was absolutely fantastic the only issue being the clutch cable slipping of the pedal, but easily fixed, she then had a 19 16V and finally a Megane RS R26 in 2008 before her death from Cancer in 2012, I still have this car in memory of her as part of a six car collection and Drive it every month ❤

[jeromeemmanuel]

A very interesting analysis, both historical, sociological and technical, of this iconic little car from the childhood of fifty-year-olds in France. Thank you for your work!

[SimonBanfield]

Your writing in these videos is exquisite.

[-DC-]

Superb cars they are a Absolute Design Masterpiece that still stand up over 50 years later ❤

[PeteHopkins-mu]

My old car! Used it as my French whip out in France for a year. Lovely old thing.

[grayfool]

Thanks Ed. Another very good video. Nice job. The best reaction to an R5 I heard at the time was the comment my friend got from his girlfriend, later wife, when he cam home in his much loved Gordini. She sat in the shotgun seat on her firat outing and, after about ten minutes in she said "this is like a real car just, uhmm, smaller". Pretty much sums it up, I think.

[fredknoch]

I don’t know what it is, but here I sit in the USA where most of the cars you review were either not available, extremely rare, or horribly federalized but yet I just can’t get enough of them. This particular one I remember because my French teacher in 1990 drove a Renault Le Car to work every day. I remember the thrashy engine sound and its small quirkiness (compared to American cars).

[jkeelsnc]

These were sold for a while even in the US. In fact, this was my first car. I enjoyed it very much!! However, a lack of parts and service being available brought this to an end. So the cheap and cheerful vibes of this nice little car were over. It rode like a carpet on air and had the most comfortable seats. I still miss it today. These had a unique driving experience. Yes, it did lean like a sailing ship at sea through curves and it had modest grip. However, within its limits I thought it had quite nice handling. Just because it leans to the door handles doesn't mean it wouldn't try. I do remember pushing this car HARD through curves on the mountain roads in Western NC. If I pushed it too much it would gently lose grip at the front and then the back right after. Generally, all you had to do was let off the gas a bit and it would just recover safely without drama. The one I had was the R5GTL which had the 1.2L engine. This engine was not sophisticated but it was no more or less underpowered than other subcompact cars from the 70's and 80's. Fortunately, even in the US most of these were sold with a manual gearbox. Mine had the floor gear lever with 4 forward gears which was adequate. It had some other quirks like an add on air conditioning unit that had a separate blower from the heater. The AC blower sounded exactly like a Hair Dryer when you turned it on! Exactly! That always made me laugh a lot. And no that was not the compressor making the noise because the pitch changed with the blower setting from lo, med, hi. The AC actually did work.

[philiprodney]

Ed- your best ever!
My mum bought an R5 in 1973. It was a TL but with the push pull gear change (which was really excellent). As I recall, a few months later, the floor mounted gearchange was offered as an option. Only at a later stage was the push pull phased out.
By the way, if you have the opportunity to drive an R16, grab it. Its suspension was better than any I have ever experienced.

[knottheadin]

Thanks so much for this video featuring the Renault 5 (LeCar here in the US). Back in the day I was as obsessed with the 5 like you have been for the Metro. Over the years I owned 4 of these beauties, loved them all.

[taxirob]

I always felt the 5 was the true successor of the Mini and progenitor of the hot hatch, beating the Golf to market by two years

[ccooper]

When you see cars such as this I wonder how many people think "why on earth are we driving these ridiculously huge cars of today" ? Even stranger, we are doing so while having environmental issues rammed down our throats on a daily basis. What the hell are we doing ? I would be very happy with a Renault 4 fitted with a modern 3cyl turbo (keep the dash gearstick and the vinyl seats though please).

[carlbebbington]

Another great video, I love the way you cover every aspect of the cars you review. As a designer myself (not a car designer though) I always loved the R5 and wanted one, your video has reminded me why. Thanks SO MUCH for making these in-depth car histories.

[nwlondontimemachine]

A very enjoyable video. My father sold his light grey Morris 1100, and bought a 5L in 1973. It was a showroom demonstrator car from the Renault dealer in Blackpool. It was bright orange with orange vinyl seat covers (a nightmare in the summer when I wore shorts!). It had a dash gear change, and it had the 'naughty' Renault diamond badge! I had no idea that the badge had that history. Oh, and the numberplate was UTC 5L.
My father (who was in the RAF) sold the car in 1980. His next car was a red 5 GTL. He stuck with 5s and Clios for the rest of his driving days. A very loyal Renault customer!

[jpmegane]

Love the video and love the car. It was a firm favorite in South Africa, selling by the thousands. We also had one in the family. Your journalism style is exquisite! Will definitely watch more of your videos.

[nickk]

Easily one of the highest quality car videos I've ever seen, in terms of the content/scripting and presentation. Sure, the video and audio could use a bit of polish to take it to the next level, but this such good content, it's incredible. ROCK ON!!!! BRAVO! ETC!

[SuperMcgenius]

I had a R5 in 1980 in NYC, It was great for the cities, potholes, and so small it’s great for parking. I later modified the car with Koni shocks and some engine modifications, along with exhaust, its original US spec horsepower was about 50 I got more out of that maybe a whole 10 hp😅. Yes, the shifting was like stirring porridge, but once you got used to it, you could make a go. I also increase the tire size from the stock 145 to a 175 which gave the car some serious grip given it weighed a little more than a feather

[p.informatico]

We had one of those when I was kid... I remember it almost indestructible... it was my mom's car first, and then she left it to my brother after buying a Citroën ZX hatchback.
My brother was a little over 21 back then, and he had it until he bought a used Opel Vectra B Hatchback, and the Renault went to a family friend's son who used for a few years more, until he sold it to a friend of him, and that's when i lost track of the car... Almost no problems at all after 20 years of use.
My mom recently told me than when she bought the Renault, one of the posibilities was the Honda Civic, but it had a reputation of being weird, and she decided to buy a "normal" car.

[xxrs]

1 of the most beautyful mini cars in my eyes. It's so simple and elegant, yet so common till the 90's. I had a 86 super5, when it was already 25 years old, really loved it.