It was only 'orrible in a 205 as it caused the car to have a tendency to have an affinity with hedges through Lift Off Oversteer if you took a bend a bit too enthusiastically and then took your foot off the throttlecitronut wrote: and not that oribl torsion bar susp
Torsion bars are actually rather good as they make a very compact rear suspension setup and give an nice flat boot floor. They also never wear out, it's just a shame the trailing arm bearings do though. I was staggered to see the 406 went to coils on the rear after the 405 proved how excellent torsion bars were on the 405. The 405 was a far more comfy car than the 406 on the rough stuff.
As to why the Mi16 4x4 had hydropneumatic on the rear, I have no real idea. Possibly it used the BX4x4 rear setup and it was easier and cheaper to use it wholesale on the 405 rather than design a new setup just for the Mi16 from scratch even though it meant the addition of an HP pump, presssure regulator and accumulator on the 405. Did the 405 Mi16 4x4 also use the HP pump and LHM to power the steering and brakes?