Back in 1988 Autocar tested the new 405 Mi16:Link to 1988 review. All in all a good review, with a 0-60 time of dead on 8 seconds, (the official brochure states 8.2)
Below is the Autumn 1990 test against the new Nissan Primera 2.0e ZX It's ruined by what must have been a "friday afternoon" Mi16. 0-60 this time is down to 9.4!!! To lose 1.4 seconds on the 0-60 time would require quite a significant drop in bhp and torque.
Anyway enough of my gassing.....

Cheers for posting that up, is this the test you were saying about at the meet last Sunday?

Yup it is .

not read that one before ..of all the reviews/tests ive got of the mi16/mi16x4 it has never been beaten head to head overall , the reveiwer always liked the mi16 best , even if it was rarely fastest

I've no doubt in my mind that something was up with the car they had for that test. Sure the Mi16 doesn't pull from low revs as well as other 2 litre cars but when driven balls-to-the-wall using the full 7000rpm it would be slightly ahead of the Primera. I've had same experience racing a Cavalier GSi.

My mate had one of those when new, Cira 1995 and we used to have a little dice (I was young then) and the 405 was ever so slightly faster, We used to see a indicated 150+ in his as well

When I used to work a Nissan main dealer I drove a couple of the Primera GT's and didn't think they were anything special. My 405 is definately loads better to drive

i've had several run ins with primera gt's, and to be honest i,ve pissed over them all.
best one was comin home from holiday ( 4 people and boot full of luggage) had been chasing him for about 4mls and he wouldn't move over to let me pass. when he finally did i passed him only for him to move back out and chase me, well attempt, played with him for about 3mls then foot to the floor and gone. he did keep with me till 115mph then fell behind.
never saw him again
Gavin.