IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Renault Super Cinq (Renault 5 - Le Car)

Today we're out in the once seen everywhere, but now lesser spotted, Renault Super Cinq / Renault Super Five

Today's video is sponsored by Adrian Flux

CAR NOW SOLD, but if you’re interested in booking your car for review on IDRIVEACLASSIC (pre 2000 cars only at this point please), email idriveaclassic@gmail.com

Today's walk around text is as below:
Renault 5, Renault Cinq …or if you’re in an American you may know it as Le Car. Although this example we’re in today would be more commonly known as the Super 5 or Supercinq, which is what they were known as on second generation from 84 to 97.

With over 5.5 million of these little superminis produced across the 5 and super 5 lifespan, it’s no wonder that when I posted a photo of this car on Facebook, Twitter and instagram, many of you told me your stories of first cars, mums around town runabout and examples you fondly remembered.

Although it was best selling car in France from 1972 to 1986, it wasn’t a rarity at time of production in the UK either, and seeing one on your street or in the supermarket car park wasn’t a surprise. However, it’s fast becoming a lesser spotted beast on the roads of Great Britain, so before the prices shoot up and they all disappear into the hands of private dealers and collectors and Sunday drivers, I wanted to show you an affordable retro runabout.

And best of all, this one is one sale at time of filming, so if you want more details on it after you’ve watched the video, drop me an email and I’ll link you in with the seller.

The super five wouldn’t exist without the five, so I thought I’d give you an overarching history to set the scene for our drive out today.

Now for me, the most wonderful thing about the Renault 5 is that it was a complete accident and simply came about by chance and genius of one man. Michel Boue, who was only 36 at the time, was sketching over a drawing of a Renault 4 for his own pleasure to see what could be achieved with a new model.

By chance, his bosses saw what he’d done and instead of consigning it to the waste paper bin, were caught by the possibilities and had the car created as a model.

And from there, everything wildly slotted into place from Boue’s front and rear bumpers that were smoothly integrated being reimagined as core fibreglass bumpers and allowing risks like a two door car in a traditionally four door car market to go out to the public.

It’s also worth noting that the Renault 5 also considered two driver audiences who were fast gaining market share and buying power: the female driver and the younger driver. The planning chief, Bernard Hanon, felt this was a big plus point for the car rather than an afterthought.

All in all, it was a pretty daring move for Renault, but this was the era of the supermini and the manufacturer was determined to move with the times. Before the 5, the Renault small car market was only supported with the R4 and R6, so the R5 brought something new to the table in a really refreshing way.

I would love to tell you that Michel Boue went on to design other wonderful cars, but the biggest tragedy of this whole story is he died a year before the car launched. So whilst his genius changed motoring, he was never witness to the success.

And what a success the Renault 5 was. It initially went on sale in March 1972 and was available initially in the L which sported the borrowed 782cc engine from the Renault 4 and the TL which had the 956cc engine as used in the Renault 8.

By October of that year, it was the best seller in France and finally for sale in the UK giving bemused buyers something very different to home grown choices like the Mini or Imp, both of which had been for sale for a number of years prior and lacked the fresh appeal of the five.

Sold as ‘more than the five!’ - the now chairman of Renault Bernard Hanon calls upon Marcello Gandini to modernise the 5 for a new decade. It was a new body with the same profile but the engine was now transverse, something borrowed from the 9 and the 11.

The new car came up against competition from the 205 and to some extent, the golf, both of which had come to market during the life span of the Renault 5.

Whilst the 205 is always remembered fondly, it’s worth noting the 5 always outsold the 205 and until 1989, continued to get investment into the range with new specs and trims.

In 1990, the Clio came to market and the sales of the super five slowly trailed off and the production ended in France in 1997.

With a fair bit of history shared there on the evolution of the super five, let’s hop inside and have a look at the dash.

#renaultsupercinq #renaultsuperfive #lecar #renault5 #renaultfive #renaultsuper5

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