When the Renault 5 hit the streets almost exactly 50 years ago, it was mainly used as a small but modern utility vehicle without luxury. It is precisely this renunciation of luxury that makes you smile today and makes you happy to be on the road in the tiny witness to contemporary automotive history.
With small dimensions, but by no means too little interior space, Renault redeemed the promise from 1972 of being able to travel compactly without having to do without. From the point of view of the time, that is correct - especially since the new R5 as a TL, for example with 43 hp, had significantly more power than the older, larger and four-door R4 with a maximum of 34 hp.
Incidentally, the R5 is not to be understood as the successor to the R4, but as a compact addition. Then-Renault CEO Bernard Hanons was a progressive marketing man with a part-time professorship in New York, and he used modern methods to find out what his customers wanted. Including market surveys.
Incidentally, four doors were not even planned for the newcomer R5, the parking lot in the city was secured for that - because an exterior length of 3.51 meters was rather minimalist five decades ago. It's interesting what comes out of listening to potential customers.
And because minimalist can also be exciting, the first drive for this story takes place in the early R5 L with only 34 instead of 43 hp (in Germany there was 36 hp for the base). Quickly thrown into the small can and started. Rather: a first start attempt. The little engine initially proves to be unwilling to work - so use the choke (younger readers no longer know this small lever that you have to pull when starting cold) to enrich the fuel-air mixture a bit, then the 0.8-liter four-cylinder also jumps and falls into a stable idle state. With a light blue flag - but that will come later - the car flea starts moving and is actually making good headway. Of course, with a curb weight of just over 700 kilograms, it's no wonder.
Working on the push stick gear, where you operate the shift lever lying down and have to turn it around your own axis depending on the gear, is easy to do. If you are uncomfortable with this concept, you can also go for a conventional gearshift - it was available as an option at the time, but may be difficult to find today. Even harder to find: rare automatic variants.
In general, the R5, which is often delivered in trendy candy colors, is now a fairly extinct car and - exactly - quite difficult to find. It's good that Renault maintains a rolling museum in a complex within the Flins plant northeast of Paris. However, it also has its charm to be interested in a classic model that has now become a rarity. The small car was built by the millions, but rust killed it. One is all the happier to discover a copy that might even be sold.
Times change and so does perception. An R5 in everyday life would at least be a challenge for most drivers today, since features such as anti-lock braking systems or central locking are generally no longer considered a luxury. One is far from that in the little Frenchman, not even front headrests were initially taken for granted. But a bad air conditioning, which is only bearable in a small temperature window. Namely when it is not too warm, so that you can do without air conditioning. Or just when it's not too cold and wet so that the windows don't fog up. But somehow it's also cool to get by with little. An R5 fulfills the very purpose of an automobile - simply being able to get to destinations that are no longer practicable to reach on foot.
And the 43 hp version even offers a hint of driving pleasure - even contemporary, as Manfred Jantke once confirmed when he wrote the first driving report for the specialist magazine "Auto Motor und Sport" in 1972. But the creators of the unfussy Renault 5 with its simple interior design and simple instruments wanted to create more than just a small minimalist automotive function box. The later submitted R5 Turbo is legendary with monster-wide fenders, elaborately redesigned mid-engine concept and at that time unbelievable 160 hp - today traded at six-digit prices.
To get in the mood for this version, there was the R5 Alpine at the end of the seventies, which ntv.de was allowed to use in this context. Here the push stick circuit has long since been thrown out - too unsportsmanlike. And behind the leather steering wheel, borrowed from the Alpine A310, a tachometer has crept into the instrument cluster. In addition, the speedometer scale up to 200 km/h gives a premonition of what awaits the driver.
Suddenly there is a potent 1.4-liter with 93 horses under the sheet metal of the dwarf with red decorative stripes. Enough to forcefully push the 850-kilogram two-door. According to the factory, the needle is already at 100 km/h after 8.9 seconds, a sensational value at the end of the 1970s, although in practice the test specimens arrived at country road speed one to two seconds later. That calls for an attempt. Rein in the French and start the engine.
In terms of sound, the four-cylinder remains reserved at first, so can the Alpine really be fun? Oh yes, especially on lonely lanes outside of town. The aging engine with the good, old Weber double carburettor hangs palatable on the gas and is not afraid to turn willingly up to the 6000 tour mark despite hanging, pushrod-driven valves. Where are the corners of the driver's mouth? Exactly, pretty high up. Especially since the small front-wheel drive with the then trendy 13-inch wheels finally roars in the upper speed range as you would expect from it.
Reinforced rear anti-roll bars give the self-steering behavior sporty impulses - but be careful, there are no electronic helpers, incorrect operation can lead directly to cold sheet metal deformation. If you want to dash quickly through the bend with the little one, you have to pull hard on the stiff steering wheel and diligently operate the five-speed gearbox, which shifts quite patently. Sporty driving used to be work. Work that is a lot of fun.
Fancy an R5? There are already for under 10,000 euros in reasonable, but not flawless condition. However, good Alpine versions can easily cost 20,000 or even 30,000 euros. In order to find what you are looking for quickly, you have to broaden your search across Europe. Even acquiring the piece of jewelery you are looking for becomes a little adventure and it can take a while before you find the right one. After all, anticipation is the greatest joy. Incidentally, also on the future R5, which Renault would like to revive as a retro car - then of course electrically powered.
