I actually never hear of it before i saw it on a parkspot recently where i lived. I fell in love with it instantly, I think the quirky name helps with that :)

Genio! Gracias por darle otra oportunidad y conservarlo!

My folks had an 1983. By then a much nicer dash and boy it was actually a trooper in the winter!! Nice video. :D

Nice to hear that typical Renault sound again. My father had a Renault 4TL with also the same sweet sound

Fun to see you drive and fix some of these "retro humble classics" (a little like Mr. "HubNut" in GB)! Wished I'd kept my old Road & Track magazines; back in the late-1970s, they did a comparison of nine hatchbacks; the Le Car rated fairly well; top of the list was the VW Rabbit, I think. Also featured the rather quirky Fiat Strada (Ritmo in its home market), the Honda Civic, and some other goodies (all FWD, IIRC). The Mazda GLC was more like a Chevette, but more reliable; my Mom had a 1980 for several years, solid reliability/great economy w/ the 5-speed, but a bit of a dog on acceleration (my 1978 1200 Civic could outrun it!)

the daughter of a friend could not get her R5 started so I checked....I checked it and rotated the fuses and voila, that fixed it so now I am an expert on the R5 :)

Nice job getting it to operate again! I had the exact same one back in 1978 and then bought another one in 1981. I just put it back on the road 6 month ago. To see it run, type Renault 5 LeCar renaissance 1 or 2 on KZfaq.

would love to get a hold of one of these!!! Great job bringing this one back to life.

Nice video of a "Great" litle car :-) I have owned 2 of them and allways loved their driveabillities and French charm :-)

I had an 80 Le Car. If I recall correctly the tire size was 145/80-13. The tires originally fitted were Michelin XZX. Loved driving it due to the suspension control and the torque peak being at a useable 2500 rpm. Downside was electrical/brake/cooling gremlins and steel that rusted at an alarming rate when exposed to Michigan weather and road salt.

Who thought to name a car like that? It's almost like Ferrari naming their car LaFerrari... ...oh wait.

They were so cool!

better to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow..... they say

From 1979 thru 1986 I owned a Renault 5 "LeCar," purchased new for just over $6000. I was a young artistic type so I was drawn in by the unique looks of the LeCar in ways that evaded my road burning, truck hauling brethren. I grew to appreciate the car more and more as the years went by. Mine was painted in the rare royal blue enamel with a low horizontal white racing stripe that encircled the back and sides. It also had the rag roof -- which actually sealed tight -- then otherwise opened to expose all four seats to the elements. A few remembrances: I immediately replaced the shift knob (which looked suspiciously like a phallic symbol) with a proper gloss-black ball knob. The car's ride was excellent -- but in typical French fashion, the side to side lean was excessive and took some getting used to. At 60+ MPH the engine seemed to be really revving -- but it never once balked at the task. And my Le Car remains the only car I've owned that consistently attained 50 freeway MPG (this in the early 1980's!). Then I wrote to Renault USA, urging them to create a toned down version of the Renault 5 Turbo -- employing their peppy "Alpine" engine and FWD drive train, and using the Turbo's flared fenders to enclose wider wheels & tires. I said they could market it in the USA as "Le Car Elf." They actually replied to me and admitted that mine was a cool idea. But by that time the LeCar was becoming eclipsed by increasing competition from other brands, and anyway Renault was planning a partnership with American Motors to introduce new designs. We know how that turned out. Anyway, thanks for the great video.

I had a friend who bought a Le Car in the 70s because Honda’s were wait listed. It was a neat little car, but blew a cylinder and was beginning to rust out at 20,000 miles.

My Daughter owned one breifly years ago before she passed her driving test. I used to drive it and really enjoyed it. 1100cc engine and a great little car sold here in the UK as the Renault 5. I was sorry to see it go but she didn't like it.

so great

I mentioned it before but some friends of mine had a purple LeCar back in the middle 80's It is funny to me how something that was once so derided almost as a joke of a car, is... after all these years, now kinda cool. I'd love to tool around in it! Although, to be honest, the 50's 6v Bug that my old boss' kids drove to high school and college that mostly sat in the garage afterward... I'd have to take that over the LeCar, BUT it's still pretty darn cool!

Come now! A Chevy Chevette had rear wheel drive. The Le Car as the Renault 5 was one of the most popular cars in Europe. Okay, it was too small for America but it was real state of the art when it came out. The suspension was supposed to be really comfy but with lots of lean, typical French car.

Thanks, these are getting REALLY hard to find nowadays

you need one of these!

I had a black beauty version(air dam, tach, mag wheels, hood scoop). Was a great car but had major engine problems - cooling system.

It sure suprised me how spunky this car is !, 1300 cc's really moves this along with a 2 bbl. carb.

I had a 1978 Le Car for about a year and it was actually very good compared say - a VW rabbit. Handled and drove very well, very comfortable, but parts were too hard to find.

lol yep we made fun of the LeCars back then too I bought an '81 Chevette in '88 for $73...it was a turd but it ran

Those are nice cars to play with

USA never got the 4TL, I'll have to go look that one up.

Also a funny looking car is the Renault 6. You still can see the model in Romania but under a nother brand Dacia Dacia owned by Renault now. Last news for Renault is that they have a part in the Russian automobiel industry en bought a part of Lada,(just like Nissan),some say it doesn t take long that Renault will buy Lada too,,which i am not so sure.

Very cool older car!

I just gave away 6 alloy Renault LeCar rims to the owner of this car for free, these steelies on this car and the alloys I gave were 13" , I think 175 or 185 70 13's

You look like a real france monsieur in that car :D

Its the model before the R5. You know the Citroen 2CV,,the Renault 4 was the competitor and the counterpart of the 2cv. In Europe was the Renault the first who had a real third door. If you are looking for a nice and classic rare expensive Renault ,people think of the beautiful Alpine but Renault has also build a nother beautiful rare car but less expensive ,the Renault Fuego,,means fire in Spanish. Renault Fuego was popular very short on the market and it had some problems,,,maybe because?

there is one of those up on a pole used as a sign for a salvage yard in town , I will have to figure out what video of mine it is in , you might wanna see it lol

I'm not a fan of the 3 lug wheels. Everyone knows how easy it is to break a lug while changing a tire, but a 4 lug wheel allows the car to be driven on 3 until the broken one is fixed. I wouldn't trust having only 2 lugs remaining to drive on.

These Renaults were build in the millions. They were fast with the 1300 engine, economical, and did some fantastic roadholding.... I have some fantastic memories on that. Sadly they rusted in the brochure. The second generation R5 was much better on that.

Looks like it handles like a rally car!

Good job!

I haven't seen one on the road for probably 20 years, and even back then they were all rust buckets.

I like that car. Nice job. You can have a lot of fun for a cheap price. Who needs new? Did you ever drive a 78-82 Ford Fiesta? I had two of them and they were great. Cheap and fun,

I would kind of like to hear the engine and exhaust sound.

yeah sorry, camera did not capture sounds well.

has anyone here watched the jason statham movie "the transporter"? ie. the first one in the series... he drove a white one like this and had the needle pegged on the speedo until the engine had a rather spectacular catastrophic failure...

there was one on one of the first episodes of the A-Team... lol

Tuck and roll headliner? What the...???!!!

yep, rust was a disease

Almost just like it !

fun for cheap is where it's at

we never got the r5 turbo

Not sure, I never asked. Probably had old car issues and new car was better or needed for growing family

the smart fortwo uses 3 bolt wheels... i wonder if they will fit?

Renault 5 , in France ...

cool

Yep, the crosley wont do that!!!! Ha! But I like the slow driving better.

I want one of these a lot. How can I find one in the US?

weird... correct me if i am wrong but didn't jaguar also put the horn on the stalk on their xj40 (88-94?)

Usually if you take proper care of a Renault they are good to you

I have a renault le car but i cannot find a tire size/make for this car, do you know what kind and size of tires are on yours , and possibly where i may be able to pick up some 3 bolt rims?

You could even pass for French with your Gallic nose, Mark!

Ever here of a alliance and encore?

3 LUG NUTS per wheel 😂

"Nothing worked electrically" ? Surprise... it´s an (old) french car... :-P

Why was the car parked?

Hi, maybe some pics or a video from the beige one? Thanks

How hard is that engine to work on?

Hi, the yellow le car is in a good condition? and how much they want for it?

Hi, is it for sale?

Dear Americans. Learn to pronounce words. It's pronounced "reNO... luh CAR.". You're welcome.