Originally Posted by
martl
The R5 is a magnificent piece of engineering. It can be argued it is the first example of the modern hatchback we still see today. When it came out in 72, your alternatives on the market were the R4, a Beetle (both platform-based designs 40/20 years old), a 2CV, or a Fiat 127 (which is closest to being somewhat modern but aquired the large rear hatch after the R5sa success). Also one of the erliest uses of the large plastic bumper as a part of the cars body instead of something bolted on after. No nation matches France when it comes to the design of compact, inexpensive, robust, clever, original small cars.
And let's not forget they also turned this practical economy car into a mid-engined rally dominator that won Monte Carlo its first year out. Some design freedom and 'so crazy it just might work' attitude you'd normally expect from a few British blokes in a shed, except it was the engineering division of a big French car company. And you see this over and over again from other French companies.
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.