Green machine
I CAN’T REMEMBER the last time I was in a car that attracted quite so many smiles. Part of me knows it’s just the lurid shade of green, yet there is something particularly cheerful about the way this small hatchback looks.
Why are we here, in Germany, driving this rare if humdrum Mazda? As you may be aware, the Japanese company is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the town of Augsburg – itself a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site – houses the fantastic Automobil Museum Frey. The largest private collection of Mazdas in Europe, it’s the perfect location to hold a small celebration with some drives in rarely seen heritage models.
Getting in, the first thing I notice is the surprising amount of space in the cabin. It’s a neatly packaged car, with a very practical hatchback. Even more unexpected is how satisfying the clunk of the driver’s door is. Turn the key, and there’s a surety to the way the engine turns over, which feels reassuring. The 1.3-litre fourcylinder isn’t the most refined, but the tailpipe emits a pleasing rasp. It’s also interesting to note that the pedal spacing and weighting feel very well balanced – which Mazda is still very good at.
What is slightly more of a disappointment is just how conventional the Mazda feels on the road. Plain and simple front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, live axle, hefty manual steering and adequate brakes. It’s no sports car, but 60bhp and a four-speed manual ’ box get the 323 up to speed easily. It’s quite firmly sprung, which gives it a surefooted feeling on fast roads, and the steering is fairly direct. It cruises happily at 60mph.
Learning a little more about the 323 and Mazda’s assault on the world, mechanical simplicity and ease of maintenance and repair were a big part of the equation. It was just what was needed at the time, even if it was a world away from the exotic rotary cars at the other end of Mazda’s spectrum.
So the 323 is far from the most technologically interesting Mazda ever built, but it’s easily one of the most significant. Launched in 1977, it was the first compact hatchback to leave the Hiroshima plant, and was developed to appeal to international markets. It was sold around the globe, known as the Familia in Japan and the GLC (for Great Little Car) in the USA. During its surprisingly short three-year lifespan Mazda managed to sell more than 890,000 examples, which was uncharted territory for the company.
This example feels just as fresh as it would have when it rolled off the production line in 1979 but, while Mazdas generally appeal to drivers and those who appreciate interesting engineering, the original 323 does neither – in stark contrast to today’s equivalent, the Mazda 3, which features styling that’s unusually rakish by class standards, and interesting compression-ignition petrol engine tech (see Octane 198). Mind you, the 3 is still big on the reliability, practicality and simplicity that made the 323 a success, and, even at more than 40 years old, this Great Little Car feels like it would happily run another 40 years without breaking a sweat. An extremely important albeit slightly unremarkable part of Mazda’s 100-year history.