New Renault 5 Turbo Drifts Into Electrification

Renault is continuing to celebrate five decades of the R5 by unveiling a tribute to its rally special Turbo and Turbo 2 models. The new version is, of course, fully electric, but has still been designed for driving fun or wilful exuberance, according to Renault design boss Gilles Vidal.

A development of the 5 EV concept that debuted last year, the R5 Turbo 3E is a two-seater, rear-drive racer with a motor on each wheel providing a combined output of 375bhp and fed by 42kWh of batteries in the middle under the floor.

Its built on a tubular chassis, features an FIA-approved roll cage, Plexiglass windows to save weight, and has a 50 degrees of steering angle for creating and presumably to assist with holding alarming angles on a drift course.

The cabin features Sabelt seats, race harnesses and steering wheel, a drift stick, and a grey/black/yellow tartan trim. Better still is the instrument cluster: a Tetris-like arrangement of square pods, echoing the madness of the original Gandini interior.

Just like Renaults original rally cars the boxy 5 goes big on cooling air intakes, but goes even bigger on the aero, with a wing that wouldnt look out of place on a BriSCA stock car hanging off the sloped tailgate. Deep sills and a ground-scraping front splitter ensure its not just the rear end doing the work.

The Turbo 3E has been built for a generation raised on video games and YouTube, so Renault has managed to squirrel away mountings for ten GoPro cameras to capture those web-friendly crashes, while driving modes including Free play, Turbo, Track Invader, and Donut. The car makes its public debut at Chantilly Arts & Elegance in France on September 25.

Renault is really hammering its heritage in an effort to make electric cars more interesting, having already shown a cute 5 EV concept, and with a new 4 due to be revealed at the Paris Motor Show in October.

Leaning on its motorsport history should gain the approval of nostalgic of old school enthusiasts and a younger audience of gamers and content consumers alike much like Hyundais N Vision 74. Its just a shame that theres little chance of either entering production.