Peugeot 405

Peugeot 405 at a glance: maker, production years (1987-1997), purpose

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the 405 competed with cars such as the Ford Sierra, the Opel Vectra and the Volkswagen Passat; from 1989 the larger 605 sat above it in Peugeot's range. It belongs in our classic cars section and in the Peugeot catalogue.

Development and production history

Peugeot unveiled the 405 in July 1987 in ten versions at once for the 1988 model year. Sales started in continental Europe in October 1987 and in the UK in January 1988, where right-hand-drive cars came from the former Rootes and Chrysler plant at Ryton near Coventry. The Break estate followed in May 1988 on the continent and in October 1988 in Britain.

Success came quickly. The 405 was voted European Car of the Year 1988, the 500,000th car was built in 1989 and the millionth left Sochaux in 1990. By 1992 more than 1.5 million had been produced. In Britain it was the eighth best-selling car in both 1992 and 1993.

The Phase II update of 1992 looked almost unchanged from the outside but brought a modified floor pan and body structure, bonded windscreens and better torsional rigidity. In 1994 a driver's airbag was added to the range; it had already been standard on left-hand-drive Mi16 and T16 cars. The 406 replaced the saloon in autumn 1995, and when the 406 estate arrived in early 1997 European 405 production ended after ten years.

The 405 also crossed the Atlantic. From late 1988 Peugeot sold three saloon versions in the United States and Canada, the DL and S with 82 kW (110 hp) and the Mi16 with 112 kW (150 hp), plus a Sportswagon estate, before withdrawing from North America after the 1991 model year.

Design and engineering

Pininfarina gave the 405 a clean, wedge-shaped profile with a short boot and a large glass area. The 1.6-litre version had a drag coefficient of 0.29, with other models up to 0.33. Technically the 405 is related to the Citroën BX, and its underpinnings later formed the basis of the Iranian Samand.

Four-wheel-drive versions were sold with an x4 badge, among them the 1.9 GRi x4, Mi16 x4 and 2.0 SRi x4 in Germany. The T16 used permanent four-wheel drive with a 53/47 power split and a self-regulating hydraulic rear axle.

Engine and drivetrain

Diesels arrived in 1988. Gearboxes were a five-speed manual (the BE1, replaced by the BE3 in 1990) and a four-speed ZF 4HP14 automatic. Outputs differed between markets; the figures above combine Peugeot's international data with the German versions listed by ADAC.

Peugeot 405 specifications

ADAC lists the 1.9 Mi16 (108 kW) at 9.0 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and 214 km/h; the uncatalysed original reached 220 km/h. The 1.9 turbodiesel needed 12.7 seconds and reached 181 km/h, and the T16 did 0-100 km/h in 7.1 seconds with a top speed of 235 km/h.

Variants and derivatives

Mi16. Launched in the UK in late 1988, the Mi16 used a 16-valve version of the 1.9-litre engine with 118 kW (160 hp) in its original form. A Mi16 x4 with four-wheel drive was also built, and from 1992 the Mi16 used a 2.0-litre engine.

T16. Introduced in April 1993 to celebrate Peugeot's rally successes, the T16 combined a 2.0-litre 16-valve turbo engine with a water-cooled charge cooler, permanent four-wheel drive and a self-regulating hydraulic rear axle. Only 1,061 were built, all left-hand drive, and ten went to the French Gendarmerie. ADAC lists its German price at EUR 31,286 (1993, converted from Deutschmarks).

405 Turbo 16 GR. Not to be confused with the road T16, this mid-engined, four-wheel-drive competition coupé shared only the 405's looks. At least four were built for hill climbs and the Paris-Dakar rally. On the circuits, Laurent Aïello won the French Supertourisme Championship in a 405 in 1994 and 1995.

Iran Khodro versions. Iran Khodro built the 405 from 1992 and developed its own derivatives: the Peugeot Pars (Persia) with a new front and rear, the rear-wheel-drive Peugeot RD and ROA with Paykan mechanicals (production stopped in 2011), and the Samand, Iran's "national car" on the 405 platform. Production of the 405 GLX and SLX ended between 2020 and 2022.

Elsewhere. Sevel in Argentina built the 405 from 1992 to 1999 or 2000 and sold more than 500,000 cars there; Egypt assembled it until 2013 and Azerbaijan from 2019. Thanks to these plants, the 405 counted as one of the longest-lived single-generation cars when it passed 33 years in production in 2020.

In service: operation, reliability and legacy

The 405 was a mainstream family car, and its production life of more than three decades in Iran, Egypt, South America and Azerbaijan shows how well the basic design suited simpler factories and markets. The sources we used do not document model-specific faults, so we do not list any; as with any car of this age, bodywork condition and service history matter most. The 405 was succeeded in Europe by the 406, while the Samand and other Iranian derivatives kept its platform alive for decades.

Preservation and collecting today

For collectors, well-kept examples are a reminder of Pininfarina's work for Peugeot in the 1980s. The sporting Mi16 and, above all, the T16, of which only 1,061 were built, stand out among the road versions. Three of the 405 Turbo 16 competition cars are in the Peugeot museum and one is in a private collection. Our comparison tool can set a 405 against its contemporaries.

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