Came here from Top Gear, I'm sure other people did. What an Incredible Advert, and to think this was from a time when Peugeot actually made good Cars...
I agree Peugeot used to make Beautiful cars and The 206 was The Last Beautiful Peugeot Assembled in The West Midlands. Then they decided to make shitty city cars instead in Eastern Europe for our new breed of pussies.
A little fact on this advert..... my dad was the artist who drew the storyboard for this ad haha. I was only very young at the time, 6 or 7, and i can still remember watching my dad in his office at home sketching out the images, posing his own hand and drawing it for the gear change frame with the watch on. again, i can still remember the 405 closeup pan in sketch format.
I worked in the factory at the time, so proud when I saw the advert, brilliant. We were told it was filmed in Australia in the sugar cane fields, true or false ?
This was actually filmed at my Grandfathers sugar cane farm near Ballina, NSW, Australia. We never had the ad shown in Australia though. I recently showed him the ad on RU-vid as he had never seen it before. The special effects guys had a lot of trouble lighting decent fires so the farm guys had to help them out a lot! I think the grand total of damage to the two 405's used for the shoot was a couple of melted windscreen wipers blades.
This advert honestly makes me want to buy a Peugeot 405. I'm generally not fooled by adverts, but maybe because of the awesome music combined with its design, this advert takes my breath way.
When Peugeot returns to the USA in 2026, they should remake this ad, music and all. The 405 was actually the last Peugeot sold here, so it’d be perfect. Even if one was unfamiliar with the original (this ad aired in the UK, after all), it still works because of the song. 2026 will be the 40th anniversary of the song and “Top Gun”. Peugeot left a few years later. Capitalize on that nostalgia, throw in an obligatory “blast from the past” line cued to an explosion, and call it good. By then, the successor to the 508 (the current direct descendant of the 405) will undoubtedly have arrived, so it’d probably be something like: “The all-new Peugeot 509. A blast from the past that takes your breath away.”
Joe Spittle I don’t think it’s really any less safe than half of the stuff that movie crews do on closed sets. Keep a couple firetrucks on hand (as they likely did with this one), and you’d probably be good. We burn fields back home in Nevada all the time to control the spread of sagebrush and tumbleweeds. It’s not this intense, but I don’t think it’d be that big of a deal to scale it up as long as you did it in the middle of nowhere. As for environmental concerns... whatever, just buy some carbon offsets and stick a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. That BS is how Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities get away with having private jets and generally telling people to do as they say, not as they do.
I don’t know if they’ll ever be great again, but they’re actually planning on returning to America in 2026. The 208’s kind of cool, but I don’t really know much about the brand because I was a baby when they left.
Especially when PSA does a joint venture Japan's Honda and Isuzu, because their cars have deeply better qualities than PSA's. Whereas Toyota could do another joint venture with Peugeot's neighbouring rival Fiat, since Toyota also still do a similar collaboration with PSA (hence the Aygo and ProAce). But ironically speaking, Peugeot got even greater when they killed both Chrysler Europe (Rootes Group) and Talbot.
It's a great car! Here in France few people sell them usually they keep them. They're comfy, cheap to run, solid. And you have several version that have leather seats, AC etc... Several engine versions are the same as the 309. Which makes even more parts available.
I remember in the UK watching this brilliant ad - absolutely everyone I knew just loved it. But some miserable tightassed whining spoiler complained that it constituted an encouragement to arsonists. Seriously. So it was taken off the air. And the 405 was one of the best cars I ever had, solid and refined.
Jeez! There's always one! One of the best advertisements of all time. Filmed in authentic sugarcane fields where to this day they still burn sugarcane! I wonder which country though? Queensland? Mauritius?
Loved this ad as a kid, back then I always wished my dad had a smart saloon car of some sort, in a smart colour like dark grey or metallic maroon but we had a scruffy ish orange mk2 transit that I was embarased of, one week my dad baby sat a mates 86 Vauxhall senator in dark met grey and I was a very happy boy, great days.
My mum has a 405 and a Honda Civic and every day I beg to go in the 405, it’s more comfortable, it’s prettier and it’s something I’m not embarrassed to be seen in
Peugeot should do this again when they release the 2nd gen 508. Ad for the 508 GT should be the same, only in night and with "Night of Fire" for the music.
I came here from Top Gear and Peugeot made some awesome cars like the 205GTi, 309, 206 and the 405. The advert was perfect with Berlin blaring in the background, wish they still made em like that.
I love this advert like yesterday - my dad opening up in the living room a single malt - Jesus, I was probably around 9, but, boy was I happy - god, invent me a time machine.
This reminds me of my dad coming back from the pub - going back a good 20 + years - he was roughly my age back then :-) buit I love him as always and he remembers these reminders as well as the hard times we sufferred. YNWA
Its not just the advert here that is British, the 405 saloons were assembled at Peugeot's (formerly Rootes) Ryton plant. I wouldn't be surprised if Peugeot used the 'Take my breath away' soundtrack on the French home market - certain French 205 adverts had English language music soundtracks to them...
I can remember the banned advert before they pulled it. You see this guy walking through the field with a petrol can soaking the fields, then it cuts to the car approaching it and ignition (by the presence of the car alone).
I'm French and don't know if this ad was used here, probably not as we wouldn't get it (song in English). In fact even though I understand the song I don't really get the ad, in France ads for cars in the 80's would show the driver picking some babe ! My parents had a 405 during my teens and I learned driving with it, good memories. And it's still good looking I find.
My 405 had 290k on the clock before I sold it. still pulled like a train a train and handled better than any car I have driven since. that included Mondeos and Focus' that are todays best handling motors. (PS Grip and Handling are not the same thing)
i never owned one,but its the most common old car ive seen where i live in scotland,there are examples over 20 years old with not a visible bit of rust on them both salloon and estates,that would make them a great new buy in the 80 s
Peugeots cars for the last 15 years are awful shite. Such a shame when you look back to the 80's and early 90's. 205 GTI, 105 rallye, 306 gti6 and their more common, standard derivatives. Solidly built, well designed cars. Shame about the modern shite.
Ali Macallan i agree with you but i do think the new 308 is quite a nice car and the 508 is not too bad either. For what they are they are cheap to buy and in diesel guise they are good value HDI engines are good
I had one of those too, but it was a saloon 405 srd non turbo, more power in my watch, lol. But I blew the shell bearings on the crankshaft not long after messing with the fuel pump to get more power.
Remember the advert quite well. The song was used in the 1986 movie 'Top Gun' that starred a young Tom Cruise. It was covered recently by an American artist. Who was it?
Fantastic, I remember this from my childhood too. How random an association of burning maize fields and a...er....3 box French saloon? I wish advertising would get away with this shit now. And I used to have and old 405TD estate. You could beat the shit out of it and it kept coming back for more.
My family car growing up was a black, 1980 505 saloon, No other car on the road sounded like it. Parts for Peugeots aren't cheap over here in the States. I saw a white 405 driving around yesterday, if I hadn't just bought a house, I would definitely try to find a nice 405, or I saw a nice 504 coupe in New York on eBay recenlty. Pinifarina design. . . . (drooling from mouth)
