Peugeot 405
For thousands of company car drivers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Peugeot 405 was the ‘Top Gun’. In what is surely one of the most famous TV ads of all time, a Peugeot 405 was seen tearing through burning maize fields, all to the sound of Berlin’s ‘Take My Breath Away’, a song from the equally famous Top Gun movie.
The advertising worked a treat, as the 405 went on to become a phenomenally successful car for Peugeot, breaking into the top ten annual UK sales figures on no fewer than three occasions.
It was also European Car of the Year in 1988, not only attracting the most votes ever received, but also winning by the biggest margin – a feat matched only by the Volkswagen Golf in 2013.
The timeless and elegant Pininfarina-designed 405 had the edge over the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier in the styling department and it was also far nicer to drive.
It will go down in history as Peugeot’s first front-wheel drive car of its kind and as the final Peugeot to be sold in the United States.
Of course, any travelling salesman worth his salt dreamed of owning the iconic 405 Mi16, but very few achieved such greatness.
For the majority, it was a life spent touring the A-roads and motorways of Britain in their GL, GLD, GLX or GTX.
