This Renault 5 Turbo 2 RWD Hot Hatch Hides A 13B Rotary Surprise

Even in standard trim, the Renault 5 Turbo is about as crazy as superminis come. That’s because there’s nothing much standard about a shopping car with the engine where the back seats should be. But this particular example’s 13B rotary conversion means it’s packing an even bigger surprise.

But before we get into that, let’s recap in case you’re not familiar with the fast 5. Renault’s front-wheel drive 5 supermini burst onto European roads in 1972, and was followed in 1976 by the also front-wheel drive Alpine/Gordini hot hatch version – which just pipped the Golf GTi to market.

But in the late 1970s Renault decided it wanted a killer rally car to replace the giant-killing Alpine A110. Something along the lines of the phenomenally successful Lancia Stratos. Instead of starting with a clean sheet of paper, though, as Lancia had, Renault started with its 5 supermini.

The first run of cars, called simply 5 Turbo, featured a 158 bhp turbocharged 1397cc four driving the rear wheels, lightweight aluminium components and a zany sci-fi interior with a weird asymmetric steering wheel design that must have made it feel like the front wheels were permanently out of alignment.

The Turbo 2s that followed used more stock 5 parts and looked fractionally less crazy, but offered the same powertrain. Apart, that is, from 200 ‘8221’ homologation cars built in the mid 1980s like the one pictured here. Those came with a bigger 1430cc engine to try to help keep the 5 competitive in Group B rallying in its later years.

Purists look away now, though, because that special Renault engine is long gone, and in its place sits Mazda’s legendary 13B rotary. This car offered for sale on Bring a Trailer was apparently imported to California when new and is believed by the seller to have been switched to Mazda power in 2007. The 13B is fitted with a Turbonetics turbocharger, Life Racing engine control unit and adjustable boost controller, and drives the rear wheels through the stock Renault five-speed transmission.

The BaT ad doesn’t say how much power the Franco-Japanese hybrid sends to its fat 15-inch Gotti rims, but it’s almost guaranteed to be way more than it did back in 1985. And it’s certainly worth more than it was back then. At the time of writing, bidding was at $50,000 with two days to go.