Happy Birthday R5! 50 years ago, to the day, Renault presented its revolutionary city car with its tailgate and large bumpers. What were the journalists saying when it was launched? The argus went to dig into his archives to discover their impressions. Selected pieces.
The Renault 5 is one of the monuments of French automotive heritage. Launched on January 28, 1972, just 50 years ago, it quickly won over a wide audience. Renault explains this success for a very simple reason: the R5 concept was first developed on the basis of consumer surveys and the results were incorporated into the project specifications. A technique that is now widely used. Barely a few days after the presentation of the R5, journalists were invited to take the wheel of the model. The writing of The argus was present. The opportunity was too good! We therefore went to dig into our archives to get our hands on the copy of February 3, 1972 where the Renault 5 occupied a place on the front page.
” Comfortable, practical…
The Renault 5 is a small size of 3.51 m long, but ” not a mini car » concedes the journalist of The argus in charge of presenting the vehicle. It is full of tricks, starting with its innovative tailgate and its folding bench seat. which make it possible to transform it into Utility car “. “ Trunk volume is originally 200 dm3. Seats folded down, the useful volume reaches 580 dm3 to exceed 900 dm3 if we put down the seat “. It also salutes its wide openings. “ Some will regret that this car has only two doors. But it must be said that the size of the side doors is such that you can easily sit in the front and that a child can even access the back seat without having to tilt the front seat. “.
City dweller par excellence, the R5 plays with the modern traffic thanks to its excellent maneuverability and its turning radius of only 9.8 metres. What’s more, she is easy to park ”explains the journalist who mentions another innovation of the R5: its bumpers which he describes as” real shields » . They are made ” in ‘prepregs’, i.e. reinforced plastic obtained by a mixture of a synthetic resin and glass fibers “, he explains. The grille is also plastic and “ deforms elastically in the event of a slight impact “. Finally, the last point hailed by the author of the article: “ the dimensions of the front compartment which allow easy access to the various engine components “. You can not make that up !
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… at ease on the road »
The Renault 5 claims to be ” a long-distance urban car capable of getting out of the narrow framework of the city to meet the need for rapid connections between residential areas and work areas ” Explain The argus in 1972. The journalist boasts of its comfort, better “ than certain foreign cars of equivalent category (Fiat 127 and Autobianchi A112, editor’s note), thanks to:
- its torsion bar suspension.
- its well-designed seats
- its soundproofing
During this first trial run on “ the winding and wet roads of Brittany explains the journalist, road holding has never been faulty “. ” These tormented roads also made it possible to appreciate the smoothness and precision of the steering, which is very well geared down and returns obediently to a straight line. “. And he adds ” Pleasant also the clutch and the four-speed gearbox controlled by a lever on the dashboard “. Finally, the brakes (drum on the 4CV, disc on the 5CV) are given as ” efficient and perfectly adapted to the performance of each model “.
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A flawless R5?
The flawless R5? We see some criticisms emerging in the rest of the article… The tester regrets ” a lack of nervousness, especially in the 4 CV version. If the times become good with the 5 HP engine, they still lack a little vigor “. Another grievance: its consumption which seems a little high (between 8 and 10 liters depending on use). But we can think that it is the childhood disease of a gluttonous newborn, who has not yet found the measure of his needs. »
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” A realistic car »
If a conclusion was needed to qualify this new arrival, we would use the introductory text of the journalist of the time which indicates ” By virtue of its excellent comfort and road holding, its practical sense and its great roominess, its small size and its manoeuvrability, the new Renault 5, which is entering the French market, presents itself as a realistic car “. As for the price? At the time, a 4 hp R5 in its basic L finish was billed at 9 740 francs, approximately €3,403*. It took 1,220 francs more to have the 5 cv in a more upscale finish called TL (about 3,829 €*).
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*via Insee’s franc-euro converter
