12. Renault 5 Turbo
The ’80s started with a bang in the hot hatch world when Renault introduced the crazy R5 Turbo. It looked like a regular Renault 5 compact city car, but it was a serious performance machine. This was the first time a car company presented this outrageous hot hatch. It delivered the same performance of a supercar, as well as the technology of one.
The essence of the R5 Turbo was a mid-mounted 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine delivering 160 HP. They redesigned and re-engineered the whole car, moving the engine from the front hood to the space behind the driver. The rear track was much wider and they added side scoops to cool the engine.
Such an extreme car lost one main hot hatch characteristic, and that is practicality. It was basically a pure racing car they built for homologation purposes. However, it deserves an important place in car history as one of the craziest hot hatches they ever produced, as well as one of the coolest cars of the ’80s.