RichieL

As per title......

Are Renault 5 GT Turbo's really that unreliable? If so what goes wrong, what are they known to be unreliable for? Reason I ask is I have always loved them but checking them out on Ebay and they are fetching good money, I mean looking at 2-3k for one......Could get a Scoob for that, but could only afford to run a Scoob for a week the way I have been told about the MPG on them!!

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

This is a ford site mate...

And also yes they are unrealiable like any other car if issues not addressed and maintained well.

bluntys1rsturbo

matt has said it best, if maintained properly then they are pretty good tbh.

main problem now is the dreaded tin worm as im finding out atm

bluntys1rsturbo

if your a member of facebook i could link you to my r5 gt turbo owners group which is very popular and full of knowledge on there.

Miller 3

iTrader: (4)

I gave mine death and the only time it was off the road was when i was upgrading parts.

Maxwell

Yes they are unrelible pieces of shite...but fuck me they go well for being standard and i personally love them to bits!! I have had a red one on comp mo5s and a limited edition raider...both i regret selling!

A French guy in work has an electric blue phase 1 gt turbo and i left a letter on his window (in my best french) asking him to sell it. He did text me to say it wasnt for sale, and that the gtt was his daily driver and that if i wanted to go a drive to his place to see his "TWO" R5 Turbo2's, i was more than welcome.

Porn should be banned!! and i cannot wait to go see the Turbo2s

bluntys1rsturbo

they are great cars and only when you own one you get what the '5 bug' is.

got a bad rep due to idiots thinking you can just turn the boost up to god knows what and expect them to fuel correctly, hence them popping headgaskets etc for fun.

very easy cars to work on and parts are actually very easy to get hold of still, alot of them are owned by proper enthusiasts now

brad

Had mine for 2 years , was good for 6 months then spent nearly 6 months at prima racing fitting one of thier all singing and dancing engines and rebuilding g, box , turbo, setting up with new carb scorpion exhaust blah blah blah......
It was good for 6 months again then popped the intercooler so bought a new one and strapped it. Then one of the liners split , then there was a small fire behind the dash then I sold the fucking thing!!!!

Stupid thing is I would have another one in a heartbeat as it was possibly the most fun car I've ever owned and full of character. it wasnt fun trying to get the jizz stains out of the black cloth seats tho!

Rs1

iTrader: (1)

Always been an r5gtt fan and would definatly still have one if they were all rotten.

There no more unreliable than any other turbo motor if you run them lean, hot, over rev them etc...which seems to be the done thing in the 5gtt scene,lol.

mk1trb

had 2 5 turbos and a r11 turbo, they got a bad name because people use to just turn the boost up and they popped there headgskets. had a blocked fuel filter on one and a water pipe split on the r11 thats all. good cars and like everything 80's and hot hatch prices are rising

stu21t

to answer your question
NO

not unless owned by a dick. lol

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Mate of mine put a clio 1.8 16v lum in his 5 campus, that surprised a few lol

botters

iTrader: (2)

no they are not unreliable, just that like most fords they get worked on by home bred diy mechanic wannabees then whinged at when they break! if looked after properly they are fine and a hell of a lot of fun

Cossie Sean

E64 DGU R5GTT, purchased as 100% standard car from lady,

driven to end of her street, turned right onto A19 and smashed its head in, by 4th gear the temp was in the red, lost all coolant so had to stop

rang the lady up to see if she had any similar problems, she swore at me lots and she was crying about her baby being broken...........

i stripped the piece of french turd and put a 1.8 16v in with turbotechnics/Prima racing manifold/turbo

would never have another one!

v man

I had one
Drove about 2 miles and it chucked the water pump belt off cooking the engine

The rad is part water cooler part oil cooler so it's a must to fit a big rad with separate oil cooler
Low temp switch and stat
Take the water off the inlet also
This all helps it to run better temps

Good idea to carry a few spare water pump belts as well

Once the water and oil cooling system is sorted then they are good , very good

200 ponys in one of these is err very quick lol

That's my personal experience with one anyway

booner999

A friend had one, two headgaskets in 6 months. He did drive it hard though

Fraggle...

iTrader: (1)

NOPE!!

If properly maintained they are the bollox simple as that.
Reason so many are dead or trash is because of muppets who wind em up to 20psi, or cant fix a plug let alone a car...

much the same as has happened to most fords of the same era.

TWO BIG PROBLEMS..

Rust and the panels to repair properly.

Bodged together mechanicals/Electrics.

Spares are plentyfull, but the akward stuff like rear axle bushes are ni-on non existant so check it carefully, if when bombing along it rattles like a cart chances are they are shot.

C1J is a PISS EASY motor to re-build just think crossflow, and they are, if built propper a solid mill, so so easy to rebuild, but liner base seals are a cnut if not done right.
Only shit really is the carb side, EFI is the way to go with decent ECU/ignition components...thats where the power/reliability battle is won!!

Could go on all day, so i say BUY ONE....heres a pic of me old one....




...sits a bit lower now 50mm iirc, and will once work starts again, be pushing a solid 200+...F-kin rapid little motors, if you love tinkering a 5 will fill your need a treat...i WILL have another

scoooby slayer

iTrader: (4)

ive had 5 r5s and i honestly think they are utter wank, a fiat uno turbo is a far better car in every way imo, well except cosmetics i guess.

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

Had an Uno turbo & mates have had 5gtt's, love them both!

jameswrx

I'd love a phase 2 pearl white one.

Had a certain couple of mates with them back in the day and they get a bad name from being abused, neglected and passed on. Both the ones my mates had were 'unreliable' in their eyes. To me they were just badly maintained. They were both looking very tired and abused when they got them and they wondered why they cooked when the only time they ever opened the bonnet was to adjust the boost.

The actual mechanics of the engine are pretty solid old engines. I knew of one that a lady owned from new (back in 89) she had it years, was maintained and inspected by renault regularly and was perfect. Also, another friend of mine had one and he was very keen on maintenance, had well over 100k on it back in the day and ran mint.

I'm a great believer in prevention being the best cure. Trouble is you get people running them round with no coolant in the water, a blocked old radiator and a bleed valve with twice the factory boost.

bluntys1rsturbo

i understand its each to there own and everyone has there own preference but i could not disagree more about uno turbos being a better car than r5gtt

im not just being biased because i own one either, iv drove many cars down the years and one i was looking forward to was the uno turbo and i felt really gutted after as it left me feeling empty and unimpressed.

it was the 5gtt that actually shocked me as i never expected it to be so good still makes me everytime i drive it

smila

iTrader: (1)

Most fun cars I've had and if set up right they handle like go karts there like any car just Gota be looked after I sold one last year was running 220bhp gt28 turbo forge front mount grp a carb ported and polished head turbo cooler etc only thing was the carb had been de chocked so had to hold revs on for bit when cold the chap I sold it to come from Aberdeen to get it off me in Birmingham and he drove it all the way home with no bother

bigkevin

i had a 5 gtt a few years back, but as im a mupet and i wanted to keep up with my mates 299bhp pulsar i turned the boost up 28 psi i think it was, lmao kept up with the pulsar but not for long, it soon died, reliable just dont mess with them

BRAMMER

iTrader: (23)

I've had 2, they were both uncared for examples so i shifted on quickly one was actually scraped a phase one.

If i had one today i would concentrate uprating the areas that were a weak spot in the 80's

Jay,

iTrader: (4)

exactly there no better no worse than any performance cars if there looked after and use good garages for tuning ect you wont go wrong

When i had mine i had my crystal blue cossie and a evo7 fq340 , sold the evo and the 5 wished id sold the cossie instead the 5 was just way more fun

steviecossie

Everytime I think of a Renaul 5 turbo, I think of the 1's carisma used to build with the silly bodykits and mad interiors