You Can Buy a Renault 5 Turbo 2, the Raddest Mid-Engine Rally Hatch Ever Made

-The Renault 5 Turbo 2 is everything you could ever want in a car: It’s a mid-engine French hatchback from the 1980s with huge fender flares and a genuine rally pedigree. It’s perfect for seriously afflicted car geeks, but they’re unfortunately exceedingly rare in the U.S., and the few that are here are very expensive. But maybe one of you will buy this, so we can live vicariously through you?

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It’s currently listed for auction on every car enthusiast’s favorite time-waster, Bring a Trailer, with bidding up to $35,000 at the time of publication. Considering it was listed for sale last year with an asking price of $79,000, this car won’t sell for cheap.

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This 1983 example was brought to the U.S. as a gray-market import sometime in the 1980s, and it’s only done 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) in its lifetime. Everything is original except for an aftermarket exhaust and newer Minilite wheels, which allow for more tire options than the original metric-size wheels that came with the car.

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The interior appears to be in very good condition, but some of the paintwork on the exterior leaves a bit to be desired. Its 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four is thought to be original and sends 185 horsepower to the rear wheels through a five-speed transaxle. With the engine where the rear seats used to be and the front trunk filled with the spare tire and other mechanicals, the R5 Turbo 2 gives up some practicality compared with the standard R5. You probably won’t care because, come on, it’s a mid-engine rally homologation special.

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This won’t appeal to everyone, but for truly nerdy car enthusiasts, it doesn’t get better than an R5 Turbo 2. If you’re not convinced yet, check out this video from the previous owner:

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This story originally appeared on Road & Track.

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from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com/you-can-buy-a-renault-5-turbo-2-the-raddest-mid-engine-rally-hatch-ever-made/