The Renault 5 Turbo is a 3-door hatchback that made its debut at the Brussels Motor Show in 1980. Designed specifically for rally racing, the Turbo is a sport version of the Renault 5 Alpine supermini (which was sold in the U.S. and Canada from 1976 to 1983 as the LeCar). The Turbo, however, has a modified chassis and – rather than the front-engine, front-wheel-drive of the Alpine – has a rear-drive, mid-mounted engine placed behind the driver. Engines were a 1.4L or 1.5L inline-4 turbo paired with a 5-speed manual transmission.
There are only two variations of this particular casting of the Hot Wheels Renault 5 Turbo (a casting with the same name was released in 2013 but based on the wide-body Turbo II) and both were released in 1991. A white model with blue, yellow and black “Rally 17” tampo was an international release, while this blue example with red, white and yellow “Turbo GT” livery – another nice Wichita eBay score – was only sold in Canada.
I’d like to see a rally where this Renault 5 Turbo competes with the Hot Wheels Hare Splitter, and the Matchbox Ford Escort RS2000 from my childhood.
Hot Wheels | 1991 (Canada only) | 9749 | Renault 5 Turbo | blue with yellow, orange and white trim | MY | bw
The Race Case 