Ask any car enthusiast to name an all-wheel-drive, turbocharged Japanese rally car for the street, and you'll inevitably get the same two answers every time: Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. But long before these stars of Gran Turismo became household names, an unlikely manufacturer built a hatchback with all the same credentials as those stereotypical rally rockets.
Like the WRX and the Evo, the Mazda 323GTX was created to satisfy FIA rally homologation rules; Mazda needed to build 5000 roadgoing cars to be eligible for Group A competition. The company extensively modified its pedestrian 323, redesigning the underbody and doubling the rigidity of the side sills, widening the track, and adding all-wheel drive. It then ditched the standard 82-hp four-cylinder engine in favor of a turbocharged and intercooled sixteen-valve four. Excellent sport seats and optional digital instruments that only David Hasselhoff could love distinguished the interior.
Driving a 323GTX today reminds you just how refined modern rally replicas such as the WRX and the Evo have become. The GTX never lets you forget its econobox origins, but, then again, it weighs some 600 pounds less than a WRX or an Evo, which allows the modest 132-hp engine to push it along briskly. Period road tests reported a 0-to-60-mph time of about eight seconds, and reviewers applauded the Mazda for its balance and grip.
Although Mazda originally planned to import 2400 323GTXs per year to the United States, sales trickled to a stop in 1989 after the company sold fewer than 1200 units. The hefty price--about $13,000--certainly didn't help. At that time, you could buy a base Volkswagen GTI for just over $10,000, and the sixteen-valve GTI--which was just as quick as the GTX--still cost almost $1000 less than the Mazda.
