The Peugeot 405 is a 4-door saloon / 5-door estate from Peugeot, built from 1987 to 2023, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Under the bonnet: Petrol engine. Giuseppe Randazzo of Pininfarina drew it. The total made was 2,490,963.
The story
The Peugeot 405 is a large family car manufactured by the French automaker Peugeot from 1987 to 1997. Its production continued under license from outside Europe in Iran by Iran Khodro Company until 2020. It was voted European Car of the Year for 1988 by the largest number of votes in the history of the contest. About 2.5 million vehicles have been sold worldwide, both in left and right drive versions, as a saloon and estate. In early 2020, the 33-year production run of the Peugeot 405 was counted as the "twentieth most long-lived single generation car in history." Its appearance is similar to the Alfa Romeo 164, launched the same year and also styled by Pininfarina.
While the 405 shares its floorpan with the Citroën BX, it does not have that car's hydropneumatic suspension, except for the 4x4 version on the rear axle (SRix4, Mi16x4 and T16). As with the BX, the 405 used TU/XU petrol and XUD diesel engines. The 405 was the last Peugeot vehicle sold in the United States, on sale between 1988 and 1991, including the Mi16. The 405 has been available as a saloon and estate, in front-wheel and four-wheel drive. No coupé model was ever offered, unlike the 504 and later 406: only two examples of the purpose-built, two-door 405 Turbo 16 (not to be confused with 405 T16) were made.
What is underneath
Power comes from Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1020 kg-1430 kg. It shifts through a 5-speed manual / 4-speed ZF 4HP14 automatic. The wheelbase is 2669 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Peugeot 305 / Peugeot 404 / Peugeot 505 / Talbot Alpine/Solara; its successor was the Peugeot: / Peugeot 406 / Iran Khodro: / Peugeot Pars / Peugeot ROA / Peugeot RD / IKCO Samand; assembly was at Sochaux (Stellantis Sochaux Plant. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the BMW 5 Series, the Ferrari F40, the Jeep Wrangler — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Peugeot catalogue sit the Peugeot Onyx and the Peugeot Pars.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Peugeot 405 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.