anybody else had this problem, i have a renult 5 turbo 1.4, when me car gets really hot,it cuts out,it eventualy starts back,but most mornings im sitting there for hour hour to get it started,once going is fine cheers

the renault 5 GT turbo.. at the first glance, the exterior body-kit, grill and badges let you know that this is a Renault with attitude! nice bucket seats and sport steering complete the sporty temper of this little car at the interior. no ABS, no power-steering, nothing computer-assisted, but oh! the thrill! it didn't have the looks, but it definitely had the moves! the 1.4 turbocharged engine developed 116bhp, plenty if you come to think about this car's weight: 820kg. it was very fast in a straight line, but the light back end made the car oversteer sometimes, when cornering hard. a little rocket that constantly gave me the feeling that was trying to kill me but still attracted me in a very strong way! The only big problem was it's reliability.. definitely not the most reliable engine ever, but then again, the car had some mileage and a decent age when i bought it. any potential buyers should first check the car's oil level and quality (headgasket), the coolant for any oil spots (headgasket)and the exhaust for smoke (turbocharger). they go around pretty cheap but make sure you dont get hustled, if you have no mechanical knowledge, best move is to go and check the car in a authorised shop. not a every day car, but definitely worth having in your garage for fun!

Hi to all them what are talking about insurance I own a golf mk4 2002 2.0 gti (slow) ;-(. I'v just bought a Renault 5 gt turbo for summer fun I went on confused.com to get a quote it came back as £2200 my golf is £1900 so I rang them they put me through to classic car department they gave me a quote for £345!!!!!!! Yes £345! Well pleased I rang up! Any way I'm 25 years old had driving licence for 1 year and no years no claims bonus. Just thought I'd share that with you thanks. neil

I love my Renault 5 gt turbo - Its a raider (special edition) and I dont intent parting with it in the near future. Loads of smiles per gallon.

The Renault 5 is a very nippy little car wish i never sold mine but I'm going to buy it back. Its brilliant best car in the world! Likes drinking petrol and sometimes sets fire to the car behind on traffic lights. Oh yeah it was a raider! and I miss it.

The Renault 5 GT Turbo is the best hatch made, I beat a 3.0 ltr v6 clio on a quarter mile in my old car, If I could find another one to buy I would, I've just got the gt turbo replica based on campus model.

You will love to beat your friends with the power from 1.4 turbo,very fast car for it price.

I've had my grey Renault 5 GT Turbo for coming up on 6 years just a few months after passing my test. Its only had 2 owners and had 60k on the clock, was totally standard. Its insurance group 14, and i can understand leave it on a street long enough it never fails to attract an unwelcome audience! I've always had another car to keep my 5 good (no shopping trips for it, this car was kept garaged while my new V6 Coupe froze), its been the best car ive ever owned old or new. I'd probably recommend thats its not an ideal every day car, probably due to age small problems crop up from time to time, its more just for fun. Saying that many a time ive taken it from Glasgow to London etc with no problems at all. Nothing beats the thrill of driving it and boosting up, leaves you grinning for hours. Ive had a Fiesta turbo (running high boost) even this, even though faster than the 5 didnt have the same thrill factor. To be honest I wouldn't buy another one, I think i was lucky with mine having so few careful owners, but if you can find a well cared for one dont hesitate! It looks amazing, and now even at 18 years old it can still turn heads, people hold this car in some sort of legend status and i never fail to smile every time i see it. Mine is due out of a years retirement (new flat had no parking aghh! So garaged with parents) in the next few months cant wait!

I was lucky with the Renault 5 GT Turbo. It was a company car and I happened to work within a couple of miles of Wimbledon, which meant Radbourne Racing was the local Renault dealer. The deal was "no discount, but I get all the Radbourne "engine mods" and so the little red bomb was born.

I managed to get it without the garish "turbo" sticker down the side, and the only exterior clues to the changes were a tiny aluminium "Radbourne Racing" plate on the tailgate and the giveaway of the rather obvious tailpipe of the French exhaust system.

Apart from the engine mods, Radbourne had insisted on installing strut braces "cos without them, you're gonna flex the inner wings", worth it if only because the big polished aluminium tubes looked really cool when you opened the bonnet. They did have a real effect on handling though, transforming the not-too-solid little R5 into a very rigid platform that let the suspension work perfectly.

In the days before re-chipping, the engine was modified in the classic fashion: flowed cylinder head, internally modified turbo and intercooler, carb and filter mods and the exhaust. An ultra-low back-pressure system that was, simply, just bloody noisy. I did get a look under the car after about a year and found out why. No silencer. Just an expansion box at the tail with the turbo doing the work of reducing the noise.

The result was a car that gave about 145 genuine horsepower, a truly astonishing torque curve, yet was more docile than a 1.2 Renault 5 in traffic. To put it in context, it's only in the last couple of years that drivable road cars have reached 100+ bhp/litre and the little Renault did it with pushrods and a single downdraught carb. We eventually found a further 10bhp by installing a water-cooled star section aluminium duct with a tiny radiator and electric pump in place of the big rubber tube that fed the carb.

With a weight of around 730 kilos, performance was astonishing but the car was still totally driveable and turned in a regular 35mpg. We never actually took performance figures, but the R5 was decisively faster than the contemporary M3 BMW (we tried it) and on the motorway, with the turbo gauge just coming off the stop, offered instant and serious acceleration at 90. It was one of those delightful engines that "bootstrap" - open the throttle maybe a third at 40 or so and as the speed climbs, the power climbs and it just keeps on going up into three figures. Never did find out just how fast it would go, I wasn't dumb enough even then, but I can say that at 135 the car was still accelerating strongly.

I still admire the Renault suspension. With such simple parts, they achieved a mixture of supple ride, great road holding and real controllability. I'm not sure if it's true of an unbraced example, but this was the only front-wheel drive car I've known that performed a controllable 4-wheel drift. Folk say my new R32 will do it, but who's that crazy?
The car was totally reliable - no warranty claims - until just before it left me at 40,000 when the fan sensors failed. But by then, I was beginning to hear a hint of bearing noise from the turbo, suggesting that performance was going to come at the expense of longevity.

Would I recommend one now? Not if you want a cheap car. To really appreciate how good these are, you'll need to lavish money, time and skill on it to bring it back to top condition and probably to reverse some horrible bodges done over the years. If you are buying, really only look at the last cars, on an "E" or "F" plate. Renault made two very important changes, a water-cooled turbo and sodium-cooled exhaust valves to combat reliability issues and I wouldn't touch, let alone tune, an engine without them.
But if you are looking and find an "E" reg red one that's got aluminium bits under the bonnet and where the spare wheel should be, it could just be. Also, if there's a pair of Ray-Bans in the door pocket, they're mine. Well it was the 1980's.

Would recommend the Renault 5 GT Turbo now though if it was to be used as a paperweight, though not so good at that because of its low kerbweight. This is one amazing car. Though one tank before speed cameras went away up the A7 at 19mpg eek!

I have had my Renault 5 GT Turbo for half a year now and I love every moment I am in it. It puts a smile on my face and the looks you get in it are huge. Every time I stop and park up some one is always coming up and saying it's nice to see one in good condion. To still see one on the road and it puts a big smile on my face the only thing with it is the insurance it cost me £4100 that's the only thing that hurts. But when I get in it I forget all about the insurance when I am in second gear at full boost!!!!!

I had two Renault 5 GT Turbo's back in the 90's. As reviewed by Performance Car magazine, in which the car came 3rd best hot hatch of all time, only behind Peugeot 1.9 and Williams, absolutely nothing past or present can touch an original GT Turbo. Age has killed them, as has bad ownership over the years, by clowns who could barely afford to insure the little car much less properly maintain one. That coupled with very bad garages who can't work on them without systematically destroying them, coupled with the high cost of NEW parts, hence most are repaired with seconds or refurbished items. The list goes on...

It is a real shame because they'll never be another like it. Real life hot hatches of today, like the Honda Civic 2l or Golf turbo's, no longer warrant the bracket 'hot hatch' with their preposterous engine sizes and people wagon proportions. Best left well alone now unless you can find a unmolested example and re-build it for concourse. Nothing else makes sense.

I have spent a lot of time an money on my 5... Engine mods, avo coil overs, leather and alcantara. All of which I would say were worth it! There are so many ways to personalise these cars, it's unreal. If you want one, just get one. I'm 20, and have always wanted one, obviously insurance has just allowed, and I can safely say, until I can afford my gti-r, I am keeping this!

I've had my Renault 5 GT Turbo for about 12 month's, I've done 36 thousand mile's and had only two problem's. The clutch started to slip, but it was the original and had done 50k so that's fair! The perc fan failed, not a major problem but it died in the midst of a heatwave (typical!).
Ever replaced one? Not hard, just annoying.
Mine has had an extensive re-build over the last 10 year's, the previous owner was fanatic and replaced all the original Renault (god awful) part's.
No problem's to report apart from a rust bubble on the roof.
Goes like the clapper's, look's great and make's you really get a feel for the car because you have to work on them whilst you own one. A definate enthusiast's car. Not one you just drive and go.
Oil, fuel filter and plug change ever 3000 mile's, and the oil filter is a SOD to get to!
But it's all part of the fun.
I gave an M3 an good run from a standing start, after 60mph it left me, but the guy's face was picture! hehe
That tell's you what these little pocket rocket's can do!
I love mine and shall never part with it!
Best part is you can actually open the bonnet and work on the engine yourself unlike new sport's hatch's!