The Peugeot 406 is an automobile produced by Peugeot. It was available in saloon (sedan), estate (wagon) and coupé versions with a choice of petrol or turbo diesel engines. The 406 was made between 1996 and 2004. As of 2004, it is still offered in South America as a sedan and coupé.
The car can be seen as a direct descendant of its predecessor, the 405. The silhouette is very similar to the 405's. It uses the same floorpan as the Citroën Xantia, though without that car's sophisticated hydropneumatic suspension system and hydraulics.
The diesel versions were very popular, becoming one of Europe's best-selling diesels. Initially the car was available was the old 1.9 XUD unit, followed by the 110bhp 2.1 turbo diesel, to be replaced by the smoother HDi units in 1999.
Although the 406 was not marketed as a sporty vehicle its 2.0 turbo, 2.1 turbo diesel, 2.2 injection and 3.0 V6 engines provided superior performance to virtually all of their competition. The racing variant of the 406 was successful throughout Europe - but for reasons unknown, it never won a race of the British Touring Car Championship, despite being the most powerful car to compete between 1996 and 1998 (inclusive) at 310bhp.
No hatchback version was produced, despite this car competing against rivals like the Renault Laguna and Ford Mondeo where hatch versions made up most of the sales, especially in Britain.
The coupé version was designed by Italian designer Pininfarina, with choices of a 2 litre 4-cylinder engine, or a 3 litre V6, and from 2001, a 2.2 litre HDi diesel unit.
Appearances in media
The 406 saloon has made high-profile appearances in several films, most famously the French "Taxi" trilogy but also in the film "Ronin". The car has appeared in Gran Turismo 2 (Sony Playstation) and was the most powerful saloon car in the game with a potential 400bhp through modification. The 3.0 V6 version of the 406 also appears in Sega GT 2000 (Microsoft XBox) but for some reason was the slowest and worst-handling car in the game.
