'80s Turbo goodness

Brady, here's the turbo version of the GC 5-door:

And here's another point in favor of the MX6 GT, they were used as COP CARS!

In reply to JamesMcD:

I don't want a large, Farva...I want a GD liter of cola!

The MX6 GT was quick back in the day. A girlfriend had one and it could move pretty good.

In reply to SilverFleet:

There is one around the corner from my house that has been slowly rotting away for a while behind a shop. It's for sale.

I had one once (Red MX-6 GT). And a Turbo Probe (Dark Blue). Both were fun and funky 80's cars.

Having sat in the front seat of both for extended periods of time, the MX6 would be a much nicer place to be vs. a Fox Mustang.

pres589 wrote: Having sat in the front seat of both for extended periods of time, the MX6 would be a much nicer place to be vs. a Fox Mustang.

The MX6 seats are Recaros from the factory, though not labeled as such. They have manually adjustable recline, seat bottom angle, height, lumbar, and bolster-spread (width), as well as being covered in the most hard-wearing cloth I've ever seen. The interior ergonomics are perfect for me. Everything since my MX6 has been a disappointment in that area.

Also, on the torque steer... If all the suspension bushings and motor mounts are up to snuff, they really honestly don't have a torque steer problem when stock. Most everyone who talks about torque steer on these cars is referring to examples with 150k + on them.

If I have to say something bad about them, it's that they never came with a black interior. You choose from gray (seats take on a faint blue tinge with age/sun), burgundy (looks nice for what it is but fades to pinkish with age/sun), blue (white cars often have blue interiors; GD people know that blue interiors "smell blue", hard to explain), and tan (probably the best bet for color-fastness and looks, but seems to be the rarest).

Oh, all the GC and GD cars in LX/GT trim have awesome electrically oscillating center vents. I don't know why Mazda doesn't still do this, it's a great feature.

James

JamesMcD wrote: And here's another point in favor of the MX6 GT, they were used as COP CARS!

Ah yes, the Connecticut stealth trooper. In addition to these and the Mustangs they had a slew of Grand Nationals. It was fairly easy to tell if either of the American cars were coming up on you from behind, but you didn't see the MX-6 until the flashers went on. Needless to say, the police auctions for decommissioned cars was a madhouse!

In reply to Javelin:

I knew we didn't get the Sport Quattro. It would be very difficult to build a Sport Quattro replica because of the shorter wheelbase and the different windshield rake. I was talking about the A1 or A2 quattro rally cars. In particular the A2 is the one I am talking about.

Dr. Hess wrote: There's a 94 or 94.5 S4 Esprit Turbo with the nose damaged for about 11 large right now. That will do 300 to the wheels as it is, maybe 350 with a tune up.

Where? I have some interest in these. Sounds like a fun project.

Also, back to the thread topic, my vote goes for 944 Turbo if you can do your own work.

In reply to 93EXCivic:

AM Cars in the UK makes fenders in the A2 style. They make all kinds of rally-spec panels and whatnot.

93EXCivic wrote: I am really surprised no one mentioned the Turbo Regal or Grand National.

Me too. 86-87 are the best. I'd love to have one..... nice ones aren't getting any cheaper.

The Turbo Regal is on my bucket list. I love those things. It fills a slightly different roll in my mind then what I am thinking.

2bennet makes a carbon fiber wide body kit for the 4000 and URQ. Its well over $15k though.

Javelin wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: In reply to Javelin: Man, I remember when those were everywhere. I haven't seen one in years.

I used to have a fleet of them of every color 87/88 except the special-edition Bright Red. I'd still drop a 5.0 in one if I ever got back into it though. I developed an irrational hatred of that stupid motor, though they can be extremely tough.

I was brought home from the Hospital in one. I really want one.

In Canada, we could get this:

An Innocenti Turbo -- a re-bodied Mini with . . . actually, I can't remember, so it couldn't have been that stellar. Small, cool, looking, with Italian Turbo reliability. What's not to like?

JamesMcD wrote:

pres589 wrote: Having sat in the front seat of both for extended periods of time, the MX6 would be a much nicer place to be vs. a Fox Mustang.

The MX6 seats are Recaros from the factory, though not labeled as such. They have manually adjustable recline, seat bottom angle, height, lumbar, and bolster-spread (width), as well as being covered in the most hard-wearing cloth I've ever seen. The interior ergonomics are perfect for me. Everything since my MX6 has been a disappointment in that area. Also, on the torque steer... If all the suspension bushings and motor mounts are up to snuff, they really honestly don't have a torque steer problem when stock. Most everyone who talks about torque steer on these cars is referring to examples with 150k + on them. If I have to say something bad about them, it's that they never came with a black interior. You choose from gray (seats take on a faint blue tinge with age/sun), burgundy (looks nice for what it is but fades to pinkish with age/sun), blue (white cars often have blue interiors; GD people know that blue interiors "smell blue", hard to explain), and tan (probably the best bet for color-fastness and looks, but seems to be the rarest). Oh, all the GC and GD cars in LX/GT trim have awesome electrically oscillating center vents. I don't know why Mazda doesn't still do this, it's a great feature. James

Interesting yet useless piece of trivia: The 88-92 MX6 GT was the fastest piston-engined Mazda ever made until the recent Mazdaspeed cars.

There was also the the GD MX6 "LE" which had a grey leather interior. Also rare, but it's out there. Wasn't available with the turbo motor, but as we know, making an LX into a "GT" is beyond stupidly easy.

+1 for all the other comments. The ONLY thing that i don't like about the interior of the 1g MX6 is the dash, though. Coming from my Celicas, it's clunky, flat, and makes mounting gauge cups impossible to look good without obstructing view. (I refused to give up my super awesome oscillating center air vents)

Also another point for the MX6: Despite the fact that they had a HUGE amount of advanced electrical amenities for the time.... they don't seem to fail. Ever.

The HVAC countrols are all electric, no cables. They could be had with an in-cabin Electronically adjustable suspension. They had a factory subwoofer. The steering rack was electronically adjustable in-cabin. And of course, the oscillating center vents.

ALL of my features worked when i got the car. (Well, don't know about the rack, it was depowered when i got it.) And this car had been HORRIBLY abused at numerous points in its life.

Also for what it's worth, if you could find a clean one, a speed junky would dust an MX6 GT in a GC 626 GT Coupe (they exist) for not much money.

The GC as far as i've been able to tell is smaller in every dimension, and the weight shows that. The FE "Magnum" motor in there is no slouch, either. I wouldn't swap it out for an F2T unless it blew up. The head is much less prone to valve float under high boost pressures on a small/medium sized turbo.

Matter of opinion, but i also think they look better. Months ago i found a black one on Cardomain, and it was BEAUTIFUL. A black 626 GT Coupe, lowered on FC RX7 convertible wheels would be one of my ultimate daily drivers.

But that's a matter of opinion of course. Compare against my MX6.

I'll say this, 120,000 on my Oldsmobile and the car is in much worse shape than my 626 turbo when it went away at 185,000. Well, aside from the once again broken transmission in the Mazda...

pres589 wrote: I'll say this, 120,000 on my Oldsmobile and the car is in much worse shape than my 626 turbo when it went away at 185,000. Well, aside from the once again broken transmission in the Mazda...

The above picture of mine was taken at 180k miles.

My dash is cracking and pretty brittle, and my driver's bolster is ripped, but like i said, this thing was HORRIBLY abused and according to the numerous people who popped up when i asked on a local forum (literally 5 people on there had owned it in the last decade), it had sat immobile in various states of disrepair for up to 2 years at a time with the sun beating down on it.

It's been totalled twice. It was used as a smoking shelter in bad weather for over a year when the factory turbo and head gasket went. It was hacked apart by shadetree mechanics.

But man.... it just REALLY wants to live. I've never seen a car before with such a "survivor instinct." (If such a thing REALLY exists) It's only stranded me once. The factory ORIGINAL clutch slave cylinder finally bit the dust at 178k miles.

While the PO told me that it has a factory clutch in it, i don't believe it for one second, and i think that's part of the reason the slave went. Oh well. Got a new one for $15.

Another point for the MX6: Parts are DIRT cheap, even aftermarket for the most part (what little that really exists, that is), and they respond incredibly well to pretty much anything you can do to them.

Your driver's bolster is the first torn one I've ever heard of.

JamesMcD wrote: Your driver's bolster is the first torn one I've ever heard of.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the previous owners decided to take a knife to it after doing a line of coke off the dash because he was tweaking so hard.

Mine is the only torn one i've ever seen, too.

bradyzq wrote: Still on the rally theme, has the Mazda 323 GTX been mentioned yet? Or its brother, the 323 GT turbo sedan? I think the Mitsu Cordia and maybe the Tredia were offered inturbo form for North America, but I'm not 100% sure....

Transmissions made of glass!

A number of these were used in rallying but they have all pretty much disappeared because you can't find trannies for them.

NGTD wrote:

bradyzq wrote: Still on the rally theme, has the Mazda 323 GTX been mentioned yet? Or its brother, the 323 GT turbo sedan? I think the Mitsu Cordia and maybe the Tredia were offered inturbo form for North America, but I'm not 100% sure....

Transmissions made of glass! A number of these were used in rallying but they have all pretty much disappeared because you can't find trannies for them.

Also parts are hard to come by, and they rust pretty badly.

The 323GT is a slightly better bet in terms of being able to keep one mobile without destroying your pocketbook.

The 323GTX... you can keep mobile and even improve performance drastically if you ditch the factory drivetrain for Familia GTR stuff, or convert to Celica GT4 transmission, but neither option is cheap.

The 323GT is like an MX6 GT before steroids. They're fun, but the only thing it's really got on the MX6 is "tossability," and it's not even a huge difference.

Funny enough, my second car was an 91 626gt. The owner didn't really know what it was and neither did I. Bought it for 1300$ in 97. Drove great for a year before I got rearended by an F350. The insurance cut me a check for 5grand. At the junkyard it was completely picked over in under a week. I still miss it though.

Wewt first post!