Thread by @JaMtoka

1994 Peugeot 405 Mi16 Vs 2022 Peugeot 508 PSE: This special 405 Le Mans edition was presented in 1994, to celebrate the Peugeot 905’s victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a year earlier. #TBTCars

Just 500 were built. It featured a 2.0-litre engine along with a unique Diablo Red paintjob, Le Mans decals front and rear, and 905 motifs on the doors. Inside there’s more Le Mans decals, plus half-leather/Alcantara sport seats and branded carpet mats.

Peugeot’s latest sporty saloon is the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered
Like the Mi16, it adopts a more aggressive stance – the suspension sits 4mm lower and is 50% stiffer than you get on a standard 508.

You also get three-stage adjustable damping and wider tracks (24mm at the front, 12mm rear). And then there’s the more obvious visual upgrades, most noticeably those vivid green accents and aero winglets. It’s a real love it or loathe it aesthetic, but certainly eye-catching.

How do they go? At first the Mi16 appears a comfortable cruiser: smooth, quiet, all very refined. Don’t be fooled – it’s at its best when pushed hard, pulling strongly from around 3,500rpm and capable of 0–100kph in 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 216kph.

Throw in gloriously weighted steering, silky handling and a kerbweight of just 1,180kg and it’s easy to see why it was so coveted, before it and the 405 were discontinued and replaced by the 406 in 1995.

And Pug's sporty saloon of today? Believe it or not, this is Peugeot’s most powerful production car ever, combining a 1.6-litre 4cyl petrol engine with a pair of electric motors for a 355bhp and 521Nm peak.

Zero to 100kph takes 5.2 seconds with top speed limited to 250kph, while you also get up to 42km of electric only range.

Handy around town, but like the Mi16 it’s on open roads that the PSE most impresses, with its sharp handling, sure-footed grip and deft pace defying its 1,850kg bodyweight. A £55k starting price is tough to swallow, mind... topgear.com/car-news/retro…