1988 Renault 5 Reviews

Joints.

Radiator.

Ignition.

This car was not very powerful, but was so much fun to drive! It was very comfortable. My mother still owns one, and it's incredible how much this car is comfortable compared to nowadays cars.

However, it's noisy and not powerful. Fuel economy is not great either.

I also like the Marcello Gandini design.

Still looks good, I think.

Lost a lot of money with this car, but the handling was so good that I could have lost a lot more.

Heating radiator.

Head gasket and oil pump failure (I don't know which one caused the other) lead to complete engine rebuild in 2001.

Brake servo pump.

Starter.

Got the driver seat welded in one position, after it kept leaning back.

Water hoses are tired and they don't handle the pressure any more, so I need to leave the expansion tank's tap loosened.

It's a nice little car with which I had nice experiences, but (quite normal for its age) something breaks or needs tuning every month.

It is very easy to handle, except for the clutch pedal being extremely hard to push.

It is also a great car for young people, but beginners should avoid it, since you need some experience to keep it running smooth.

Fuel consumption and expensive spare parts are the only disadvantage.

At about 102'000km clutch and both rear bearings were broken... radiator pipe, alternator were wrong at about 110000km... after that, nothing more broken things... it's a good thing!

I love my car, I painted, upgraded and tuned on my own... I mounted a rear spoiler, speedline aluminium wheels, air blower, hardened shocks, and much more... it was only 57HP when I bought it from an old man... now, on my hands it has 80HP (not bad uh?) and it runs like a rocket, without spending much in fuel ('bout 6.6L/100km)

This was my first car, which was to be followed by another "5" three years later, a TR. Both 5-doors BTW. The latter one I still own and somehow this proved/proves to be a much better car than the TL described here... Reviewed by yours truly as well.

I don't have the TL's exact records anymore, but this I remember:

* Outer sills rusted badly; were replaced shortly before I got the car at a relatively huge sum of money, but even then were "through" once again within two years.

* Engine and carb needed frequent tuning, tell-tale was a gradually declining top-speed of sometimes not more than 125 kph in fifth and random stalling - preferably at junctions...

* Frequent starting-trouble in damp conditions. In hindsight it could have been that the starter-motor was a lemon. Not quite sure.

* First gear's tendency to drop out of engagement eventually turned so bad, that driving away from a steep incline was no longer possible. I had to keep it pushed in first while moving off at all times, and was just one hand short to use the handbrake! Lucky to live in a flat country... Foreign trips were plain impossible because of this and indeed were never made by me with this car.

* Bonnet showed severe underside-rust, but then the whole car gradually acquired a brownish hue. From '90 onward, better rustproofing was used at Renault.

The TL was a lot noisier than my TR is, as its diminutive 1.1 engine struggled to keep up with traffic.

Interior trim and dashboard were almost punishingly sparse.

Steering was, strangely enough, significantly more vague than the TR's; which is better than average.

Fuel consumption was pretty bad for a 1.1 at about 1:13 (1 litre in 13 km's) as my TR will always better 1:15, on longer trips even up to 1:17,5. That's with a bigger engine (1.4)!