Group A Ghost: the Mazda 323 GTX

"MarquetteLa" (marquettela) 09/04/2017 at 11:00 • Filed to: None

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I moved 1,000 miles from Louisiana to Denver, Colorado for a new job on July 4, 2014. At the time, my only car was my 73k-mile 2002 Mazda Miata. I had planned on buying a third set of wheels for dedicated snow tires and continuing to daily drive the Miata through the winter. But as summer faded away and temperatures dropped in autumn, I started to reconsider my thinking.

Could I daily drive my Miata through Denver’s sometimes-snowy winter roads? Certainly, plenty of folks do. And according to those that do, the Miata is quite capable of it. But I can’t tell you what it’s like to daily drive a Miata in the Colorado winter because my MX-5 still hasn’t worn anything but summer tires since I bought it. Instead, I decided to get the job done with a better tool for the task.

I’m a Mazda nut, so my line of thinking started there. Didn’t Mazda field some Group A rally hatchbacks in the late 80s? It did: the 323 GTX. Were they all-wheel drive? They were: with a lockable center differential. Could I track down one of the original 1,243 cars imported into North America in good condition for sale within a reasonable distance for the right price? I could: six hours away in New Mexico.

But first, some history.

Some History

Following the deadly collapse of Group B rally in 1986, Group A became the top-tier rally series in the FIA. While their power was limited in comparison to Group B, Group A cars boasted better grip and were easier to control. The Lancia Delta HF dominated this transition from Group B to A. Lancia won the constructors’ title six years in a row from 1987 to 1992 and became the most successful marque in the history of the World Rally Championship.

Mazda fielded its Mazda 323 GTX in Group A and ended up taking 6th place overall in its second season of Group A rally in 1987. Famed Finnish driver Timo Salonen took his 323 GTX to win that year’s snowy Swedish Rally by 23 seconds, beating out the dominant Lancia Delta HF 4WD cars.

It doesn’t particularly surprise me that the 323 GTX won that year’s sole snow rally, because daily driving my 1988 Mazda 323 GTX in Colorado’s winters for the past three years has been an 80s fueled timewarp back to that strange era of change in world-class rally racing.

The Formula

The homologated Mazda 323 GTX road car produces 132 factory horsepower at 6000 rpm and 136 ft-lbs. of torque at 3000 rpm from its 1.6-liter turbocharged B6T motor. Just a few years later, this engine was developed into the naturally aspirated B6ZE(RS) for use in the NA Miata. Have you ever wondered why Miatas take boost so well? The 323 GTX laid the groundwork early.

Tuners have thrown hundreds of horsepower’s worth of turbo upgrades at the 323 GTX, but the 5-speed transaxle is the drivetrain’s weak point. Venturing beyond 200hp is just too much stress for the early AWD transmission, and it simply becomes a matter of time until the transmission breaks. But if power is kept under 200hp and the driver treats the gearbox like the nearly 30-year-old fragile component it is (No launches! No burnouts!), those gears will continue to turn like they should.

200 all-wheel horsepower in a 2,650 pound car is a great power-weight combination for snowy driving conditions, though. You don’t really need any more power than that to drive fast on snow. Less than 2,700 pounds is a pretty desirable weight for sportscars in general, but on snow it’s just about perfect. It’s light enough to toss from side to side with ease, but it’s heavy enough to plant its weight and put power to the ground.

Even without extensive modifications for more power, a mostly stock 323 GTX like mine feels great cutting through the snow with its 130-ish horses. Its stock 7-spoke 14" alloy wheels are 5.5" wide, which gives you access to a large selection of high-performance, inexpensive snow & ice tires. The combination of small, narrow wheels and good snow tires allows the little 3-door hatchback to maneuver through the snow with ease. However, snow on the road can conceal hidden dangers. For this the 323 GTX came with a steel skidplate from the factory to protect vital components.

A High-End 80s Econobox?

When you open the 323 GTX’s door, the first thing that catches your eye is the massive bolstering on the factory Recaro bucket seats, with the driver’s seat featuring adjustable side bolstering. The driver’s seat is positioned nearly exactly between the front and rear wheels, which communicates wheelbase positioning & rotation intuitively. And the upholstery! The front and back seats are covered in a subtle blue/gray gradient design, reminiscent of Recaro race buckets. Unfortunately the woven upholstery on my driver’s seat has seen some UV damage from its time in the New Mexico desert and has developed a rip in the last year.

Once you’re seated behind the steering wheel, you’re presented with a shrine to 1980s futurism as a dashboard. My car was optioned with the digital dash, which replaced the standard analog gauges with less precise, oddly scaled, temperamental LCD gauges which I adore. Check out that tachometer. The scale jumps all over the place. In equal increments: 0—1—1.5—2—2.5—3—4—5—6—8. Why not! Somewhat surprisingly, my digital dash is nearly 100% functioning after 29 years. Its only fault is the top two blocks of the fuel gauge never illuminate despite having a full tank; otherwise it’s accurate. The character that comes from the warm orange glow the digital dash gives off at night far outweighs the occasional annoyance that comes from having the glare of direct sunlight completely obscure the digital displays.

Other creature comforts include power windows, power locks, power mirrors, and a manual hand-crank sunroof. One of my favorite design details is what Mazda calls its “Illuminated Entry System,” lights on the ends of the interior door cards that shine some light down on the ground when the doors are opened after dark. The rear seats fold down for an impressive amount of cargo space. The 323 GTX also taught me about the wonders of fresh air vents. These need to come back in modern cars.

Manic Pixie Dream Hatch

The Mazda 323 GTX is an undeniably quirky car, but some of those quirks can be headache-inducing. The front brake rotors are bolted to the rear of the hubs, requiring a hub breakdown and rebuild in order to swap the rotors. A common workaround is swapping out the rotors, calipers, and hubs for Mitsubishi Galant & Ford Escort components. The stock two-spoke steering wheel was too large for my tastes, so I swapped it for a black 360mm Nardi Classic wheel. Now quick, precise steering inputs are the norm.

Pictured: crotch vent just below the steering column

Parts scarcity is a very real consideration to keep in mind when it comes to the 323 GTX. These cars were only sold in the United States for two years. 1,243 were brought into North America. The turbo all-wheel drive GTX used many parts that weren’t shared with the naturally aspirated, front-wheel drive mass-produced 323s. A few other cars share the B6T engine, like the Ford Laser TX3 and the Mercury Capri XR2, but the transaxle and center differential are unique to the 323 GTX.

When I changed the brake rotors & pads in the fall of 2015, I tracked down and purchased the very last rotors O’Reilly Auto Parts had in stock for the entire Denver metro area (they wouldn’t be ordering more). When the ignition cylinder seized up, my local Mazda dealership tracked down and purchased the last replacement Mazda USA had in stock. When I replaced the front strut mounts, the closest replacement mounts were in Canada. The 323 GTX community understands the parts plight and makes sure to offer up pieces of their parts hoards for purchase. You should be able to get what you need, but it might take you longer to find it and you may be buying it from a person rather than a storefront. You meet the nicest people on a Mazda forum!

AWD Turbo NA Miata Hatchback

So what is the 323 GTX like to actually drive? The transmission is geared very close for quick acceleration, but the slow shifts and long throws spoil the 0-60 time. Once cruising, the small turbo spools when rolling into the throttle from 2500 rpm. The small turbo allows you to quickly tap into the boost to pull the car out of twisty canyon curves. The motor turns around 3400 rpm at 70 mph, so any significant pressure on the accelerator initiates that old-school unrefined turbo kick in the pants as highway lane markers blur together. Your eye catches the digital boost gauge gleefully come to life, and by the time you look up, that car you were overtaking is 10 car lengths behind you and you’re doing 90 mph.

I have chucked this car into turns on wet pavement that I fully expected to slide on only for the 323 GTX to grip through the whole turn. A beefy 22mm front sway bar fights understeer on dry tarmac. On snow, slides are easily controlled with throttle steer.

The most succinct way I can describe how the 323 GTX drives is to say that it feels like you’re driving an early NA Miata (handles great, easily thrown around) that someone has turbocharged and magically developed an AWD system. And you can easily fit a spare set of wheels in the back.

The Mazdaspeed Precursor

When the 323 GTX was released in 1988, Mazdaspeed was still just the name of Mazda’s factory race team. Mazda took full control of the Mazdaspeed organization in 1999 and began to leverage the Mazdaspeed brand in its consumer efforts by offering !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for a wide range of its production cars. From offerings you’d expect, like coilover kits and 2-way mechanical LSDs for multiple generations of RX-7s and MX-5s, to the impressively well supported MX-3 and MX-6 sports sedans. There were also absurd options like 4-way adjustable shocks and lowering springs for the MPV minivan and Carol kei  car.

It would take four more years for Mazda to release its first Mazdaspeed factory-engineered car with the FWD Mazdaspeed Protegé in 2003. The RWD Mazdaspeed Miata was released just a year later. The AWD 2006 Mazdaspeed 6 holds the title of the most powerful piston-engined production car Mazda has ever built with 274 hp. Mazda chopped off the rear of the MS6's drivetrain to create the Mazdaspeed 3 in 2007, updating it with a second generation in 2010.

Mazda hasn’t produced any Mazdaspeed production vehicles since the Mazdaspeed 3 was killed off in 2013. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Mazda’s North American Operations CEO said that Mazdaspeed production vehicles were not likely to return anytime soon, citing the company’s focus on positioning itself as a mature brand.

But meanwhile, a modern Mazda3 is without a doubt one of the best cars in its class with a fantastic look to it. The only knock people have against it is a lack of power. Wouldn’t it be lovely if Mazda debuted a new Mazda3 GTX trim with an adapted engine and drivetrain from the AWD CX-5? They could omit the Mazdaspeed moniker to preserve their mature image and market the car to those who live in areas with inclement weather, taking a bite out of Subaru’s marketshare. And if Mazda just so happened to also include a Mazdaspeed options list for the Mazda3 GTX? Well, I’d have mine with a steel skidplate and dual spoilers, please.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! & !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! : @MarquetteLa
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

dogisbadob > MarquetteLa 09/04/2017 at 11:19

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cool car

vicali > MarquetteLa 09/04/2017 at 11:30

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A rally prepped 323gtx showed up in the tsd rally class I was in- it was a nice break from the other 15 wrx cars but ended up dnf due to wiring issues.. it looked sweet ripping down the stages though.

Someone also brought a Pulsar GTi-r. At first we thought it would be awesome but low ride height and street aero meant they had to tip toe and go slow..

someassemblyrequired > MarquetteLa 09/04/2017 at 11:51

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Thanks for posting this - I thought these were amazing when they were new, but have never actually seen one in person. Now I’ve come close...

brianbrannon > MarquetteLa 09/04/2017 at 12:35

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I moved to Denver from Ohio and I’m kinda sad at how little snow play time we get here

MarquetteLa > brianbrannon 09/05/2017 at 17:43

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The mountains are right there if you want more tho

MarquetteLa > someassemblyrequired 09/05/2017 at 17:44

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I’ve only seen two other GTXs: the previous owner had a second GTX, and the guy I sold it to already had one.

someassemblyrequired > MarquetteLa 09/05/2017 at 18:29

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That’s awesome - well other than the not selling it to me part.

benjrblant > brianbrannon 09/06/2017 at 11:09

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45 minutes west of you has 8 months of winter.

cmill189 - sans Volvo > MarquetteLa 09/06/2017 at 11:47

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Great post. I really like your car. I used to lust after them way back when I had my Probe GT (with KLZE swap, of course).

Have you or are you doing any preventative measures to ward off rust?

MarquetteLa > cmill189 - sans Volvo 09/06/2017 at 12:11

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Thanks! It spent most of its life in the New Mexico desert, so there was only a bit of surface rust on the driver door and the sunroof panel. The undercarriage was clean. There was more UV damage than rust; the clear coat was pretty much gone. But I sold the GTX in June to make room for the Mazdaspeed 6 I bought in July.

So my stable has gone from this

To this

brianbrannon > benjrblant 09/06/2017 at 12:28

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Yeah, in winter it takes two hours to get to the mountains 

benjrblant > brianbrannon 09/06/2017 at 12:34

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Better than living in Florida?

Don’t take I-70. It’s the worst. Plenty of other less-traveled roads can get you that winter fun without a 2hr time investment. I’m downtown and can make it to Evergreen in an hour by staying off the interstate. Nederland isn’t much further.

LongbowMkII > MarquetteLa 09/06/2017 at 12:49

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CX-5 drivetrain? i think you mean CX-9!

feather-throttle-not-hair > MarquetteLa 09/06/2017 at 14:28

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Hells to the yeah! I very seriously considered one of these as my first car way back in the day, but ended up going with a 1988 Celica all-trac instead. I bet the 323 GTX is a better driving experience than the somewhat heavy celica was.

MarquetteLa > feather-throttle-not-hair 09/06/2017 at 14:38

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Celica all-tracs are still very cool. I’d love to get a drive in one. Looks like the GTX is about 400-500 lbs lighter than the all-trac.

feather-throttle-not-hair > MarquetteLa 09/06/2017 at 16:18

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Yeah, the celica was cool and actually really comfortable as a road trip car, it had powered leather seats and stuff like that. It was also pretty quick in a straight line, at one point my friend who had a Talon TSi AWD and i drove both of our cars back to back and both of us were surprised because the celica felt noticeably quicker in a straight line, though the talon handled way better. Celica all-tracs have a pretty stout transmission as well, which is one of the main reasons i get freaked out by the 323 GTX.

That said.....one popped up on my local CL and man...I’m really trying to talk myself out of at least going to take a look.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/d/1988-mazda-323-gtx/6241875489.html

Your description of “Miata with awd and a hatchback” makes me drool. Few cars are as good to drive as an NA miata and i’m (obviously) a bit of a group A rally nerd so...oh man does that GTX look good to me right about now.

MarquetteLa > feather-throttle-not-hair 09/06/2017 at 16:27

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That looks like a pretty clean example. Manual windows, too! My driver’s side power window would act up in cold weather from time to time. Swap out the ridiculous pedals tho.

Get it down to $4000 and you’ve got a pretty decent deal.

MarquetteLa > feather-throttle-not-hair 09/06/2017 at 16:49

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In case you need more convincing:

Mechanically > MarquetteLa 02/15/2018 at 13:13

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Embiggen this!

MarquetteLa > Mechanically 02/15/2018 at 13:15

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The embiggening has happened!

Mechanically > MarquetteLa 02/15/2018 at 13:21

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I am pleased. Excellent oppo!

Tread Squirm > MarquetteLa 02/15/2018 at 15:37

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I bought an ‘88 new when I got out of college. It was as great as you describe, but you did have to keep the revs high just to get out of its own way.

I autocross it for a while, but it really wasn’t good at that. Too much lag, and not nearly as tossable as the competition.

I road rallied it a bunch, and it was good at that. Fantastic fun on dirt roads.

I live in New England, and it excelled at winter driving, even with the summer biased Potenza tires that came on it.

I sold it in ‘93 so I could buy a tow vehicle and trailer to go racing (SCCA ITC Shitbox Honda Civic Hatchback).

The GTX was a neat car, but I don’t have regrets about selling it. I had about 60K miles on it when it sold, and it was just about to get very expensive to maintain.

I can’t imagine what the rust would be like for a Salt Belt car.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > MarquetteLa 02/15/2018 at 15:53

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This is great OPPO!

MarquetteLa > Tread Squirm 02/15/2018 at 17:43

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I wish I had a chance to see what the car felt like with sticky summer tires. Mine was always on winters, but what an amazing winter car. Despite its open diffs, it could hold a slide very well. Its predictability inspires a lot of confidence. The slide in that rally gif above is really indicative of how the car can handle when pushed.

I don’t necessarily miss owning the GTX, but I sure do miss driving it (I sold it last year to buy a Mazdaspeed 6). I don’t think the GTX formula has really been replicated in the US since it was discontinued here, and I don’t think there will be another car like it any time soon. I’m glad I got to experience it for a few years.