Peugeot 106 Turbo Custom Build Has +400HP and AWD, Is the True 205 T16 Successor

Throughout the years, the French automotive industry has equally become renowned for coming up with fancy designs and quite a lot of innovations, while also rivaling the Italians when it came to poor reliability. However, the occasional breakdown is something a lot of people would gladly put up with if it meant driving something like the Peugeot 205 T16 (Turbo 16) during the rest of the time.

The T16 was created as a homologation special back when the Group B was still alive and kicking, and that's pretty much everything you need to know about it to realize it was one of the best - read "most fun" - cars you could drive at the time. And that's even before you find out the engine had migrated to the back, turning the little hatchback into a rear-mid-engine all-wheel-drive freak.

With the disappearance of the Group B, the Peugeot models that followed had no reason to match these levels of insanity, meaning the 205 T16 was the last of its breed. Luckily, though, it's not just official manufacturers that can come up with this sort of beautiful aberrations.

Enter Daniel Walford, the proud owner of this Peugeot 106 (one of the 205's successors, together with the 206) that hides – quite poorly, I might add – a few very significant modifications. According to Dan, the car is one of three, but since the other two are not registered for road use, one could say his is actually a one of a kind.

Unlike the 205 T16, it doesn't have an engine tucked away behind the two seats, but other than that, it is very similar – if not even better. The road-going T16 only had about 200 hp, but this 106 has over 400 – about the same as the T16's competition version.

It draws its power from a Ford Cosworth two-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged unit running on 2.2 bar (about 32 pounds) of boost. The car was only dynoed on 1.2 bar of pressure and it made 330 hp, so Dan thinks it should have well over 400 hp in this configuration.

Like its spiritual predecessor, Dan's 106 sends its power to all four wheels, which should come in handy considering the car weighs no more than a ton (2,200 lbs), and we all know how lightness can potentially make traction a problem in 2WD setups.

The only way to find out whether the Ford Cosworth Peugeot 206 (Dan calls it the "Unholy Trinity", probably based on the involvement of these three companies) has any issues finding grip is to take it out for a spin. Before they set off, strapped in the passenger seat, Owen, the channel host, looks both excited and horribly terrified, all at the same time. And I totally feel for him – after all, he did have to share the footwell with the car's brake servo, which isn't exactly standard architecture for most stock vehicles. Plus, it looks like a rally car that lost its livery – maybe went a bit too fast and it fell off? Sorry, dad jokes come naturally once you become a dad, I guess.

Then there's the fact that, for some reason, Dan seems to be against holding the steering wheel with both hands. Yes, it's manual, and that engine is eager to chew through the five gears meaning one hand will be busy mashing the stick shifter, but still, putting both hands on the wheel would have eased my anxiety a little – not to mention Owen's.

Sadly, the fun is cut short – as it so often is with this kind of builds - when steam starts coming out of the engine bay while blasting down the highway. It turned out it wasn't anything serious, but you don't want your video to go viral for all the wrong reasons, so they decided to call it a day. Besides, Owen was also running the risk of dehydrating to death due to all the sweating, and that wouldn't have been cool either. The car is, though, and so is the clip down below.