BEIGE, SWIRLY ALLOYS and YELLOW FOGS.. Dissecting the Renault 5 Monaco.

In what became the swan song for the Renault 5, the Monaco was a special edition made between 1988 and 1991, designed to be the luxury version of the insane R5 Turbo.
You could have any colour you liked as long as it was a soul crushing shade of brown.

Renault were kind enough to chuck in a Leather interior, remote control central locking, and most exciting of all, intermittent wipers! It was powered by the same 1.7 engine that was fitted to the GTX, setting good pace for the time, the Monaco manages 0 - 62 in 9.4 seconds, given millisecond-perfect gear changes.

Driving the Renault. It’s fast but not hair raising, it’s comfy but not refined, and it feels like a more grown up car than the raw R5. She shifts well for 90bhp, which is no surprise given its 850kg kerb weight.

And how much does this delightful bag of nails cost? Less than £500.. to the classifieds!