Reviewed by 
From the May 1988 issue of Car and Driver.
If you're like us, your taste in cars exceeds your ability to buy them. You friends of Ivan Boesky and happy beneficiaries of Reaganomics don't have to stick around for the rest of this. Well, you can if you want to, because we might go out for Mexican food later and we'll need somebody to stick the bill on. The rest of us broke but well-informed car people are going to try to figure out what alternatives exist to popping for an Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro.
The universe of four-wheel-drive passenger cars has been expanding for several years now, but there still isn't a whole lot to choose from if your priorities include go-fast, maximum-giggles-per-mile motoring. For starters, we can chop off the high and low ends. Forget stuff like the Lamborghini LM002. That's strictly fantasyland for most people. Also dismiss the little guys, like the Subaru Justy 4wd. That's utility territory: only the journey's end counts, not how you get there. You can also ignore the Suzuki Samurai and its overfendered brethren. That's a whole other ethos, which we'll address sometime when we're in the mood for roll bar and eating dirt.
For Sale Near You
See all results for used 1988 323 for sale near 43121
Our topic of discussion here is the all-season, all-pavement four-wheel-driver with the cargo capacity of a sedan and the heart of a sports car. arrowing the focus like this leaves us with just a handful of contenders. The Subaru RX sedan, though it was designed to fit the prescription, falls short by a significant margin. Clean looks, fair power, but the rest of the package needs improvement. The 5000 Quattro? The only problem is its price. The same goes for the 80 and 90 Quattros and the BMW 325iX. Pontiac's 6000STE AWD is a great piece, miraculously snatched from oblivion by a dedicated cadre of believers. But it's still a little pricey, too. Then there's the Toyota Camry All-Trac, a car leaning in the right direction but needing a lot more performance to qualify for this group.
The problem is that full-time-4wd sports sedan are still a tiny market segment—an offbeat, almost bizarre niche that mass marketers don't quite know how to address. Such cars are like foreign art films trying to compete in a world of box-office smashes: the products are terrific, yet most of the world never notices them. For buyer and manufacturer alike, it takes a heightened sense of awareness to recognize what they can offer.
Mazda has such an awareness. The spec sheet for its new 323GTX reads like showcar material: twin camshafts, four valves per cylinder, port injection, turbocharging, four-wheel discs, and full-time four-wheel drive. And all these technologies are stuffed into a tight, lightweight package ideally suited to exploit them.
The GTX is based on the 323GT, the hot-rod version of one of our favorite front-drive boxes. The GTX package carries all the good stuff of the GT—the 132-hp turbo four-cylinder, the discs, the sport seats, the bigger tires, and the exterior cosmetics—then elaborates on the theme by adding full-time all-wheel traction with a lockable center differential.
Like all the cars in this niche, the GTX isn't designed for off-road excursions. At least not intentional ones. This one's a pavement dweller. It's meant to go fast, run hard, and not give a hoot what the weather looks like. We've spent a week with it, and we're still reeling.
If you've peeked at the test results, you may find that hard to understand. The numbers are good but not sensational. There are both turbocharged and normally aspirated two-wheel-drive small cars that are quicker and faster, brake a little better, or provide a bit more stick in the corners. The GTX shines, however, in overall performance. You won't find any competitors that do all those things as well as the GTX does.
The word to describe it is "balance." Take the GTX to your favorite road, the one that looks as if somebody laid it out while doing aileron rolls, and it will fly through like a thoroughbred. The GTX's behavior is generally neutral, but it provides just enough understeer to warn you when the limit is in sight and it's time to start tightening your line. If you're going in a little too hot, vigorous trail braking brings the tail out and gets you back on the proper trajectory. If there is a steep grade on the exit, not to worry. Jab it down a gear and the turbo spools up quickly enough to unleash all 132 horses and keep you from losing precious momentum. Thanks to the magic of an all-wheel-drive system that delivers equal power to the front and rear wheels, you can feed the engine lots of gas without lighting up or overworking the front tires the way you do in a high-powered front-driver. You simply get more power to the ground.
While you're driving the wheels off this car, you won't go sloshing around the cockpit like egg batter in a bowl. Both front seats are deeply bolstered, and the driver's seat has adjustable seatback bolsters with enough range to clamp you in place like a bolt in a Vise-Grip. The driver's bottom cushion tilts, too. With the bolsters at maximum pinch and the front of the seat tilted all the way up, you can plant yourself deeper than an impacted wisdom tooth. You'd have to drive on the door handles to dislodge yourself.
The rest of the cockpit is almost as good. All the usual instruments of speed are present; unfortunately, a boost gauge is not. The shifter is as good as any from Japan, all the major controls are clustered neatly around the driver, and there is plenty of storage space for such road essentials as maps, sunglasses, and those stacks of cash you'll need to pay for the speeding tickets this car is bound to get you. The turbo power is so seductive, you'd have to be some kind of brick not to play along. The only serious interior flaw is the thin, slippery steering wheel. We'd like to see one with more heft and a grippy leather cover.
Another thing that could be improved is the noise insulation. The Bridgestone Potenzas sound like a drum roll at speeds over 40 mph, and there is more road and engine noise than we like. On the whole, though, a little excess noise is a small price to pay for an otherwise well-executed road rocket.
On the subject of paying a price, the GTX, while certainly cheaper than an Audi, isn't cheap for a hatchback. Its base price is $12,999. Add air conditioning and a stereo and you're past the $14,000 mark. The pricing almost sunk the car before it rolled a tire in this country. The U.S. importers, which are separate from the Mazda Motor Corporation in Japan, were and apparently still are nervous about the GTX; they're worried about buyer resistance to the price. And, with only 5000 units available for this model year, they can't see spending a lot of their own money on getting the word out.
Letting this car die would be a tragic mistake. Mazda needs an image leader in this class, and the enthusiast who is willing to pay a little more for a hatchback crammed to the roof with go-fast hardware deserves the chance to own a car like the GTX. When you consider that the few genuine alternatives cost more than $20,000, the GTX's price doesn't seem so steep after all.
Counterpoints
It was only six years ago that a technological marvel called the Audi Quattro hit our shores. It made a profound impression on the high-performance world by marrying a modern, compact, full-time four-wheel-drive system with a sophisticated and powerful engine, fitted with a turbocharger, an intercooler, and electronic engine controls. Unfortunately, although many enthusiasts admired the Quattro's engineering, few were willing or able to step up to its $35,000 price.
Mazda has slashed the cost of this technology. For a mere thirteen grand, the 323GTX offers a four-wheel-drive system that is the equal of the Quattro's and an engine that employs not only the Quattro's advanced features but also a twin-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder head. The GTX is smaller and less luxurious than the Quattro, but it delivers a full measure of the well-rounded performance that made the landmark Audi so attractive. If you've always wanted a Quattro but can't afford one, this is the car for you. —Csaba Csere
Always wanted to be a top-flight rally driver? But you don't have the cash for a used Group B Lancia Delta 54? Can't quite make the payments on an Audi 90 Quattro, either? Well, sir, your prayers for a feisty, four-wheel-drive econohunk have been answered. The Mazda 323GTX is the most entertaining and capable snow-tamer ever to sneak under the $15,000 barrier.
Never before has driving on snow been so much fun. The 323GTX loves hand-brake turns, and its turbocharged four-cylinder just begs to wind up and spit you out of the corners. Step on the gas and you'll find the tach needle passing 4000 rpm before you can say ''John Buffum." The 323GTX is a bundle of energy and competence.
I'm not impressed, however, by the foul-weather grip of the standard Bridgestones; if this were my 323GTX (and I wish it were), I'd swap them for a set of Eagle M + S tires and never complain again. Oh, and an anti-lock option would be nice, too.
But when you can be Stig Blomqvist for $13,000, who's complaining? —Arthur St. Antoine
The Mazda 323GTX is a gem. It's always entertaining, whether you're cruising down a highway or threading your way through serpentine mountain roads. It's the kind of car that constantly prods you to go faster. And the faster you go, the more fun it is.
It's hard to find fault with the GTX. Its engine is powerful and exhibits almost no turbo lag. Its suspension is well sorted out and supple. Its steering is delightfully precise and communicative. Its gearbox and clutch are fluid and positive. This good basic hardware, in combination with the car's tiny size and full-time four-wheel drive, makes the GTX a tidy handler in any situation. All it needs is better brakes.
This pint-size Audi Quattro clone is also thrilling on gravel and dirt roads. In short order you're imitating Walter Röhrl on Pikes Peak, executing tail-out slides, romping down the short straights, and setting up for the next four-wheel drift.
The GTX is a wonderfully entertaining and rewarding car. If Mazda equipped it with anti-lock brakes, it would be a worldbeater. —Nicholas Bissoon-Dath
Technological Highlights
Power and traction are the ingredients that transform a Mazda 323 econobox into an overachieving 323GTX sports sedan. The GTX's turbocharged, intercooled, twin-cam, sixteen-valve, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine develops 50 hp more than the standard 323 powerplant, and its full-time four-wheel-drive system provides the traction needed to harness that power efficiently under all conditions.
The B6 Turbo four-cylinder, which powers both the GT and the GTX, is a pumped-up version of the same engine that powers lesser 323s. Its 78.0-mm bore, 83.6-mm stroke, and basic block design are unchanged. To promote deeper breathing, however, Mazda engineers added a four-valve-per-cylinder head to the B-series block. Two belt-driven overhead camshafts actuate the sixteen valves with maintenance-free hydraulic bucket tappets. To minimize flame-front travel and promote efficient combustion, each spark plug sits on the axial center line of its cylinder.
Turbocharging amplifies the excellent breathing and combustion characteristics of this cylinder head. An IHI RHB5 turbocharger pressurizes the intake tract to a maximum of 8.1 psi, while an air-to-air intercooler moderates the temperature increase of the intake charge. An electronic engine-control system regulates the engine's port fuel injection and ignition timing with the help of sensors that monitor engine airflow, throttle position, barometric pressure, coolant temperature, and incipient detonation. The results are 132 hp at 6000 rpm and 136 pound-feet of torque at 3000 rpm.
A lightweight front-drive car can't always translate so much power into acceleration, particularly on slick surfaces, so Mazda engineers endowed the 323GTX with full-time four-wheel drive. The GTX driveline is conceptually identical to the original Audi Quattro's, though the layout is rearranged to match the 323's transverse engine orientation. Power flows from the transmission's output shaft to a center differential, which splits it evenly. Half flows to the front differential, which in turn distributes torque to the front wheels. A pair of bevel gears turns the other half of the center differential's output 90 degrees and routes it through a two-piece driveshaft to the rear differential. From there, half-shafts spin the independently sprung rear wheels. There are no limited-slip devices in this driveline, but the driver can lock the center differential with a switch on the dashboard to improve traction in extremely slippery conditions.
None of the elements of the 323GTX drivetrain is new or unique, but their total is impressive indeed. When it comes to motivational technology, no other small sedan on the market can touch the new Mazda. —Csaba Csere
Specifications
Specifications
1988 Mazda 323GTX
Vehicle Type: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door hatchback
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $13,258/$15,149
Options: air conditioning, $749; sound system, $450; sunroof, $335; power windows and locks, $305; floor mats, $52
ENGINE
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 98 in3, 1598 cm3
Power: 132 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 136 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
5-speed manual
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: struts/multilink
Brakes, F/R: 10.2-in vented disc/9.7-in disc
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE86
185/60HR-14
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 94.5 in
Length: 161.8 in
Width: 64.8 in
Height: 54.9 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 47/37 ft3
Cargo Volume: 11 ft3
Curb Weight: 2640 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 8.7 sec
1/4-Mile: 16.4 sec @ 83 mph
100 mph: 27.8 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 11.4 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 10.2 sec
Top Speed: 117 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 187 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.78 g
Interior Sound
Idle: 47 dBA
Full Throttle: 86 dBA
70-mph Cruising: 73 dBA
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 22 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
City/Highway: 21/24 mpg
