The 5 GT Turbo was launched in 1985, bringing some excitement to the otherwise functional and workmanlike second-generation Renault 5 range. The brand new 5 might have been little more than an ’80s remix of the 1970s original, but its Marcello Gandini lines looked good, even when adorned with the Turbo’s wide-grilled bumpers, thick arch extensions and ever-so-French yellow front fog lights.

Contemporary road tests largely agreed these add-ons were a bit tacky, but they’re very much of its time and hinted at the GT Turbo’s potency. Under the bonnet was the engine from the bigger Renault 11, a pushrod 1.4-litre carb-fed gasper fitted with a Garrett T2 turbo and an air-to-air intercooler. The net result was 115bhp and 121lb ft. In a modern context this might sound dismal, but in 1985, in a car weighing just 853kg, it was genuinely impressive.

It was still impressive almost a year later when the 5 GT Turbo finally made it to Britain and marched straight into the heart of a classic hot hatchback war, advancing boldly towards the Fiat Uno Turbo i.e. and the mighty Peugeot 205 GTI (1.6), both of which turned out just 105bhp. The 5 could hit 96kph from rest in 7.5sec and topped out at 201kph – both a significant improvement over its Italian and Gallic competitors as well as eclipsing many of the cars from the class above.

But the GT Turbo wasn’t just a fierce engine inside a roly-poly shopping car chassis, as Renault really went to town on the suspension too. The front springs, dampers and anti-roll bar were all new, resulting in a 38mm drop in ride height, whilst the changes at the back were even more fundamental, comprising a brand new V-section beam at the forward end of the trailing arms, plus an additional transverse torsion rod and a new anti-roll bar, both split in the middle and attached to a floating lengthways link that anchored to the main beam.

In mid-’87 the GT Turbo enjoyed a light facelift, which gave it a body-coloured body kit, new stickers on the sides and seats trimmed in a fabric so 1980s that the design might as well have featured a picture of Limahl. And whilst the ooh-la-la yellow fog lamps remained, the never-popular fake ducts on the rear arches disappeared. The ride height was dropped by another 5mm all round and the front geometry tweaked, while, more significantly, the engine was given a bit of a tickle with new ignition mapping, better knock detection, tighter build tolerances and a water-cooled turbocharger, these changes ostensibly bringing better drivability and durability to a car that had earned a bad rep for hesitant hot starting and traffic-jam tetchiness. However, it can’t have been an accident that, less than a year after a revised 205 GTI had been massaged up to a matching 115bhp, the changes allowed the little Renault to now make 120bhp.