Frequently Asked Questions FAQs About Renault 5 Turbo 1 and 2

What's the difference between the Turbo 1 and Turbo 2?

The Turbo 1

The first version of these cars that were made for Rally were called Renault 5 Turbo. They were made 1980 through 1982. The first version had the interior which covered everything inside, unique dash board with lots of instruments, usually aluminum doors, roof and rear hatch, no electric windows and came in Grenade (759) red metallic with color Grenade (760) red (bumpers and trim) or Olympe (405) blue metallic with matching blue Olympe (496) trim.

Later the body colors were also Gris Galaxie (625) silver metallic, Noir (622) black metallic and Nacre (158) pearl white metallic and an additional trim color of Bronze (614). Later it had steel doors with electric windows. They never had sun roofs but had really large fuel tanks.
 


The Turbo 2

Was introduced at the 1982 Paris Auto Show. This was a less expensive version than R5 Turbo 1. The interior was straight out of the typical European R5 (LeCar in U.S.A.), steel doors, electric windows as an option and some more color choices while leaving out the original Grenade and Olympe colors of the Turbo 1. However still no sun roof and the fuel tank was a bit smaller than Turbo 1's.

Both versions had exactly the same power train. Same engine (except as explained below) and same transaxle. The only engine change that we have noticed was later in the Turbo 1 series where the oil pump was upgraded.
 


What is the special 1985 Turbo 2 version with the chassis designation 8221?

Apparently to homologate the MAXI 5 Turbo for the World Rally Championship, it was necessary to produce 20 rally version and 200 road version cars with a new engine displacement and an aluminum roof.

These 200 road version cars could be identified by the VIN VF1822100F0010???. And the engine identification number is also unique.
 


Official Engine upgrade kits: 180 CV and 200 CV

There were only 2 kits officially commercialized by Renault Sport. These kits were all installed by Renault dealers or few independents. They were never installed at the Alpine factory at Dieppe (France).
The Alpine Centre, Paris had a special version that included a different cam that would raise the power to 220CV. If someone is making claims for these kits they should substantiate the claims with receipts especially since many of the parts are internal and not visible. An expensive part of the 200 CV kit was the special cylinder liners and a uprated camshaft.
 

If you're interested on R5 Turbo information, send an e-mail to my address: turbozag@turbozag.com

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