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Elegant in a curiously French way, the 16 was a superbly comfortable car favoured in Britain for many years by cerebral, middle-class types who loved its long, easy stride, fantastic ride - so you didn't have to slow down much on bad roads - and superb practicality. The rear seats had myriad folding combinations, including a facility for sliding the whole thing forwards a few inches to get extra room in the boot.
The original 1965 GL model (voted Car of the Year) begat two offspring: first, in 1968, the TS, with a slightly bigger, freer-breathing, 100 mph engine and then, in the '70s, the almost ostentatious TX, with its quad headlights, high-mounted tailgate spoiler, electric windows and central locking. This kind of luxury had never been seen before on a family car.
Once you'd got used to the flamboyant bodyroll and steering-column gearchange (actually quite slick for its type) the 16 emerged as quite a driver's car, with huge reserves of front-drive grip. A big sales hit (81,000 were sold in the first year of production) the 16 was a car with very few weaknesses and it took the competition years to match it, never mind improve on it. The nearest we British came was with the not-quite-there Maxi.
The R16 was still generating warm reviews in the press when it went out of production - in favour of the far less memorable 20TL/TS - in 1979.
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