9th Mar 2001, 14:47
Oh my god, has somebody gone totally mad.
A plain MI16 is bad enough, add a turbo and watch the bodywork fall apart.
No Peugeot is ever going to equal ANY Ford performance car and I speak from experience...
10th Apr 2001, 16:15
Nah I disagree... my old 205 diesel beat XR2's away from the lights regularly. Ford makes some good high performance cars, but, Cossie NOT included, they are nothing special. Having said that, I wouldn't complain at an RS turbo... But I do the boyracer scene up at Nottingham... yeah the Cossie and Impreza are king, but 205GTi's regularly thrash the pants off XR3i's and the like. It's all down to tastes at the end of the day.
And by the way - the 405 turbo sounds fantastic.. gimme one! My 1.8i 405 is fast enough!
28th Apr 2001, 14:50
I currently own a SRi riding on 15" alloys and I have beaten XR3is, Golf GTis and some others in it, but my I plan to get a T16 some time soon.
I have no problems with my car falling apart, in fact the only problem I have had was that my jack has broken.
9th Jun 2001, 23:14
I got a 1.8i and the only problem I've had is the CAT died, lambda sensor is screwing things up, new gearbox, sticky calipers (nicked some 306XSi brakes out of a scrapyard... much better).
15th Jun 2001, 08:35
Peugeots are miles better than Fords! Especially during that late 80's period when the Mi16 was introduced. There's many E reg Peugeots about with little rust but look at the Fords of the same age - most look like they've been floating in salt water half their life!
The Cosworth is only a fast mover cos of the Turbo. Without that it'd be a bog standard 130bhp 2 litre 16v
The manufacturers figure for 30-70 mph in an Mi-16 is 7.6 seconds - that beats a V6 24v Mondeo by nearly half a second.
Prior to owning an Mi16 I had a 1.6 (carb) 405. Peugeot's figures for that were 112mph top speed - I went 116mph (on a private road of course!) and that car was 13 years old!
15th Jul 2001, 22:55
Hi folks! Here in the U.S.A. I have been spoiled by large thirsty V-8's. My eyes were opened wide when my buddy bought a MI16. He lowered it, slipped on 18" rubber bands, installed suspension braces, and had his engine re-worked. Yea our built V-8's are beasts, but hit the first corner and you're dead! My friend took us up a canyon near Salt Lake City, Utah- the ultimate test for a car! To make it short, I changed my underwear! I was terrified as well as ecstatic! G-force corners, engine screaming, road evaporating before us. YES, YES, YES!!!
Let the car fall apart, I can fix it! Let there be hater's of Peugeot, my God, what an enjoyable car!
I own a Supra turbo and a Jag XJ6, both fine cars. But what I want to drive everyday?? That's right, MI16 or a 106 gti lion of France! I can see peoples faces in the mirror now- "Honey, what was that?". Hehehe!
25th Jul 2001, 05:30
All my private cars have been Peugeots. Got a 405 1.9Mi16 now and absolutely love it, and had an Sri before. Never had any "falling apart" problems even though both cars have done over 125,000 miles.
Heard numerous faults from friends' performance fords (not inc. cossie). All of them seemed to be tinny weak bodied and prone to rust everywhere. Engines were rough as hell too even when new. Xr3i was far slower than my 205 1.4GT, thought they were meant to be at least nippy.
6th Aug 2001, 04:26
All my cars have been Peugeots also and I absolutely love them. Fords? No thanks. I am very close to buying a 405t16 and would like to know from anyone with any experience of them what to look for. It has done 93000 miles and is bog standard.
27th Oct 2001, 15:23
Some of you people have very strange ideas about performance. Compared to Peugeot, Ford are utterly useless, nearly as bad as Vauxhall!
11th Feb 2002, 15:17
Peugeot do make brilliant cars, they are far better than Ford, Ford only sell cars because their marketing budget is the size of the QE II. If you want a better car, buy a Skoda, even they make good cars today.
The Sierra Cosworth is not a Ford, the engine block was modified by Cosworth, the cylinder head is made by Cosworth, the ECU is a Weber Alfa, so where is the Ford in that?
In this day and age they still make push rod engines where European and Japanese manufacturers are experimenting with variable compression.
Look at Peugeot, they come into the WRC and win the championship in the first year.
Ford however have ask some one else to build their engine.
You're thinking I must have had some bad experience with Ford, not really, to me any car's better than a Ford as long as it's not a Lada. Thank god they stopped importing them in Britain.
7th May 2002, 00:52
Right. I'm Yet Another (half-) Yank with a Pug, in this case a 405 Mi16. My opinion of this car:
It's bloody wonderful. I wish Peugeot would return to the U.S. so that we can have some decent cars here again.
By American standards, the performance is nothing to shout about: 8.5-ish to 60, 130 or so top speed - but the handling is incredible, the gearbox is a joy to use, and it's cheaper for parts than a Honda Accord.
Unfortunately, Peugeot only sold about 10,000 405s here between 1989 and 1992 (when they left the country), and perhaps 2,500 of those were Mi16s. People look at me like I'm insane for driving it - after all, the manufacturer hasn't been here for a decade - but I love it. Everything works. The steering is pin-sharp. Driving it hard to get the best out of it is incredibly rewarding. And the simple fact that I can outhandle or keep up with the 'best' of what's available here completely demolishes the poor perception of French cars in the U.S.
Problems... None, that are the car's fault, anyway. The emissions system's knock sensor is a bit over-touchy, but it requires 95-octane fuel according to the manual and we can only get 91 here in Southern California. The 'Check Engine' light comes on rather regularly (especially under hard acceleration), but letting it drop back to idle in neutral/with the clutch in and going back into gear clears it.
A great car, virtually unknown and much underappreciated here. Which is fine by me, because it means that mine cost me half as much as the equivalent 1989 Honda and is twice the car.
15th Feb 2001, 18:52
The Mi16 Turbo (Badged 405 T16) was made in very limited numbers; I think there are about 600 in existence. They are 405 MI16x4 (permanent 4 wheel drive) except they also contain a Garett T25 Variable Geometry Turbo. It has an overboost facility providing an extra 'boost' of power for a continuous 45 seconds, which makes it even faster. This can match the performance of some 'supercars', both acceleration and top speed. Cosmetically, it looks almost identical to an Mi16; the differences are the slightly larger 16" wheels, the slightly modified wing mirrors, and the T16 badge.
-Jim