1984 Peugeot 205

The Peugeot 205 T16 was in production from 1984 until 1990. Styled by Pininfarina, it is a mid-engine, all wheel drive sports car range seating two adults.

Intended for Group B rallying, subsequent evolutions of the Peugeot 205 T16 theme would offer longer wheelbases, larger engines and tweaks to make them competitive as desert raid cars for the Paris-Dakar Rally. The bodies were the work of Heuliez – they started as standard shells, but were effectively cut in half and hada bulkhead welded in behind the seats. The rear frame was then built separately, with a tubular base and sheet steel sections. The front was modified in the same way. Peugeot Talbot Sport built the competition cars, while Talbot built the road cars for Peugeot at the ex Simca Poissy plant. The engine was based around the XUD diesel block at 1775cc, fitted with a 16v petrol head and a KKK turbo, and mated to a Citroen SM gearbox. The whole package was mounted transversely behind the seats, while the car was all wheel drive.

Road cars were good for 200bhp, while the competition cars got almost twice that from a development of the same XU-derived turbocharged engine. Later Peugeot 205 T16 Evolution 2 cars intended for desert raid rallying differed courtesy of a revised rear spaceframe, now wholly tubular. The desert raid cars also sat on a wheelbase some 12 inches longer. The roadgoing version and competition version had different VIN series – P1-P200 for road cars, C1-C20 for the first series of competition cars for Group B, and C201-C220 for the desert raid spec cars.

Of the 200 Peugeot 205 T16 road cars built, the first was white and liveried while the rest were all painted grey. All were left hand drive. These road cars corresponded to the first series of rally machines; there was no roadgoing equivalent to the cars modified to take on the Paris-Dakar and other desert raid events.

The closest rival to the Peugeot 205 T16 is undoubtedly its sister car built on the same chassis, the 405 T16 coupe. Other alternatives might include the MG Metro 6R4 and the Ford RS200. The Audi Sport Quattro was also a Group B entrant and captured the same amount of imagination. If you lack the budget but want a fast mid engined hot hatch, the Renault 5 Turbo 2 might offer a viable alternative at a better price.