Renault 5 Turbo 3, the rebirth of the legendary R5 by Legende Automobiles

The Renault 5 Turbo was a car that marked a key moment for the brand. A compact sports car born in 1980 that, in addition to its radical styling, had dynamic behaviour that was cinematic for its time.

Now, amid the current wave of restomods such as the Porsche 959, the Stratos or the Audi Quattro S1, the French tuner Legende Automobiles has brought us a reinterpretation of the R5 called the Renault 5 Turbo 3.

Legende Automobiles is the project of Alan Derosier, Charly Bompas and Pierre Chaveyriat, three great motorsport enthusiasts with considerable experience in the field, who started from the iconic model of their childhood, the Renault 5 Turbo, also known as “culogordo” (big bum).

Design without losing its essence

The design of this Turbo 3 keeps the same personality as the original model but even more muscular, thanks to a body made entirely by hand in carbon fibre, which, in addition to greater strength, allows it to weigh much less.

Its front is practically flat, apart from the light clusters in LED technology and the indicators, also in LED technology and more modern than those of the original model. On the side we still find the huge engine cooling air intakes and muscular wheel arches housing 16 and 17 inch wheels.

At the rear there is an eye-catching rear spoiler in red and a diffuser with two exhaust outlets in a squarer shape, though not entirely square, along with new LED tail lights.

Even more culogordo

The track width of this Turbo 3 has been increased over the original R5, and the team at Legende Automobiles has fitted a double wishbone suspension setup on both the front and rear axles, all to achieve exceptional dynamics.

Its interior is also one of the most distinctive parts of this Turbo 3, as it has been improved in every respect over the 80s model, which, like most cars of that era, had interiors with a lot of plastic and fairly boxy shapes.

Legende Automobiles, without forgetting the essence of that interior, has redone the dashboard with very similar shapes and fitted a modern digital instrument cluster, a flat-bottomed steering wheel and a competition-style gear lever in the purest rally fashion.

For comfort, new sports seats with three-point harnesses have been fitted, along with a large roll cage running from the B-pillar to the rear end.

Engine of this Turbo 3

The heart of this restomod is a turbocharged four-cylinder producing 400 CV with rear-wheel drive, which can be paired with a manual or sequential gearbox. In short, Legende Automobiles says it is a car built for lovers of the purest driving.

For now, the tuner has not released details on dates or price, so we will have to wait to see when this beautiful restomod becomes reality.