Alright, so Jonny started it with his Picture of the Day post of a R5 T2. The Turbo 2 has always been at the top of the list of cars that I always Fiended over. A few of them made it over to the US in the early eighties, imported by a company called Sun Engineering when it was still possible to bring in and “federalize” euro cars not available here, for a reasonable price at least. A couple of guys I went to college with–rich guys–or sons of rich guys–drove them. A neighbor had a 240 hp version set up for track days that I lusted over in particular. Bear in mind that at the time the ultimate canyon runner for a college kid was a 110hp Golf II GTI. The Renault literally spit flames and would kill anything from Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini on a mountain road. Its what they were built to do. But they weren’t cheap–$25k landed when a Ferrari 308 was around $45k as I remember. A couple of years ago, I was offered a pristine used version to buy–for that same $25k. Read on for my thoughts.

This particular car belonged to Frank Saucedo–one of GM’s West Coast Design chiefs. I’d met him after interviewing him about his Autofiendings and drove his Ariel Atom up in the canyons of Malibu–an experience that I’ll recount another time. At the time Frank was in the middle of a restoration on a Ferrari Dino and decided to cull his car collection to fund it. The Renault 5 Turbo 2 was on the block. This one was particularly special as it featured a California Air Resource Board tag allowing it to be registered here in the state of the unfree. Apparently its one of only two Turbo 2s with this special badge. It was also special because Frank had at his disposal the same staff that puts together GM’s various concept cars to keep the thing running–no mean feat as even though they are small they have a few very complicated solutions to their mid-engine packaging and go-fast problems. Plus it had a set of de-rigeur Gotti rims and was pearl white–a period must-have color.

I had some cash in hand from trading a couple of long hood Porsches and was ready to pull the trigger. The only thing delaying me from writing the check was a test drive. Unfortunately the test drive was the proverbial spanner in the works. Remember that hot chick that you always wanted to “date” in high school. The one who’d give you no time. The same one that you always wanted a piece of until you ran into her working in a nail salon twenty-years and eighty-pounds later… No questions about why you were in that nail salon! Anyway, thats how the Turbo 2 turned out for me. While today’s rally reps, EVOs and STIs, package supercar killing performance with daily driveability, back in 1983, the tech just wasn’t there. Wringing 185hp out of a 1400cc four cylinder with a big turbo makes for a wait, wait, wait, BANG! Then it’s over its powerband. Not very useable. And the thrust, even in a diminutive super-light mid-engined chassis felt less than the latest version of those GTI’s it used to cream. The brakes also disappointed and the unassisted steering required gorilla strength on the almost horizontal steering wheel at anything less than full tilt boogie, even with the engine missing from over the front wheels. And if you think the interiors of today’s rally reps are crap–well a base model Le Car will soon change that outlook. So I didn’t pull the trigger.

After driving the Turbo 2 I have the utmost admiration for the drivers that hustled these little beasts to victory on legendary rallies like the Tour de Corse and Monte Carlo, and appreciation for how far the new school Japanese versions inspired by them have come. Still nothing looks like a Turbo 2 today. And for that I kick myself for not buying Frank’s Le Car.