I drove the new Renault 5 Turbo 3E – it’s a spectacular car and here’s why

ANGLO-FRENCH relations were at their peak in the Eighties.

We lapped up the booze cruises to Boulogne in a British ferry.

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We loved Juliette Binoche and that waitress in ’Allo ’Allo!

We sang Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi along with Kylie.

But best of all, the French gave us some cracking cars.

I’m thinking Peugeot 205 GTI, Citroen BX GT, Renault 11 Turbo and the Renault Espace.

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Then there was the original hot hatch hooligan, the Renault 5 Turbo. One of the Group B rally gods.

Loads of power in a car weighing little more than your jacket.

To celebrate 50 years of the R5 and 40 years of the legendary rocket-heeled R5 Turbo 2, Renault created the equally as spectacular Turbo 3E.

Classic Turbo 2 looks but remixed for today’s world with two electric motors, a glitch-art paint job, go-pros galore, and pink windows.

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Easily the coolest concept car of 2022.

But whereas a lot of brands build a funky-looking shell and power it with a food mixer to get it on to a car show stand, Renault put some serious engineering into this one.

Because it actually works. As in, properly works.

And we’ve just tried it at Magny-Cours, former home of the French Grand Prix.

Turbo 3E is a 380hp, rear-drive electric drift machine that’ll do fast-moving 360-degree spins and donuts as elegantly as (another 80s reference for you), just with a bit more smoke.

It’s basically half-show car, half-stunt car — and within 200 metres of driving it, you know it’s a mega bit of kit.

Fast, darty, super-sensitive to every input, and a lot of fun.

For about 20 minutes anyway.

Because then it needs to rest and recharge for two hours.

Which gives us plenty of time to have a good poke around it, have a cuppa and some patisserie, and speak to the team behind it.

Turbo 3E has a Ligier tubular chassis with FIA-spec safety cage, two high-performance Brusa e-motors, each moving a wheel, and a bespoke 42kWh lithium-ion battery positioned low in the floor.

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It rolls on 19in wheels at the front, 20in at the back. The brakes are from a Megane RS.

The carbon-fibre body is two metres wide — 25cm more than a Turbo 2 — and four metres long.

That monster rear wing is off a Ligier JS 51 race car.

The car itself is a bantamweight 980kg but batteries aren’t light and add another 520kg.

Now let’s discuss the interior.

Like the original, Turbo 3E is a tiny two-seater.

N’Golo Kante would be fine strapped in there. Olivier Giroud less so.

The race seats, belts and quick-release steering wheel are all from Sabelt.

There are TEN small screens on the dash, a modern twist on the ten analogue dials facing a Turbo 2 driver back in the day.

The retro tartan trim blends nicely with more glitch-art of Renault’s diamond logo.

Clearly, the pièce de résistance is the awesome upright hydraulic handbrake, the magic wand for skids in any competition car.

Except this one is even better because it has a little button on top to SQUIRT water on to the rear tyres.

Our French friends were originally worried that the car wouldn’t slide very easily.

But it does. So much so they use it to cool the tyres.

On the rear side windows you’ll see the words “La vie en rose”, which roughly translates as “to look on the brighter side of life”.

Sandeep Bhambra, chief designer for Renault concept cars, said: “People are scared there will be a lot of boring cars coming because they are electric.

“But no. We wanted to show electric can be really fun.

"There is a good side to electric.

"That’s why we made this car. And that’s why it is called La vie en rose.

“Even though it is electric, it doesn’t lose its soul. It’s still as much fun, or maybe even more fun somehow.”

Renault will revive the R5 as a £25k electric supermini in 2024. We’ve printed a little reminder of the concept, below.

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The real thing will be unveiled early next year.

Much sooner, Alpine will reveal a spicy R5 and I promise you it’s a stunner. Like that waitress in ’Allo ’Allo.

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