Australian roads in the 1980s were devilishly interesting places. Yes, there were speed limits and rudimentary speed cameras, but if you turned off the highway on to a backroad heading to a picturesque beach there were ample opportunities for enjoyment.
The roads were still fun and the cars interesting as well, even if they no longer had the rumbling V8s that once enchanted many Australians.
Daily transport was also decades away from becoming a 2.5-tonne, seven-seat barge so it could easily step into the role of weekend fun machine.
All of our chosen 1980s cars have two doors and, with a push, four seats. They are all four-cylinder as well, but in an age when turbocharging was seen as a cheap and easy path to extra performance, three of our five featured models are turbo cars.
ALFA 2000 GTV (see above)
Alfa’s classy Alfetta GT dates back to 1975, but cars found now will most likely be from the 1980s.
Alfa Romeo in 1981 updated its Alfetta GT and adopted the name 2000 GTV. These cars are easily identified by their bulky polyurethane bumpers replacing the slimmer steel bars used previously. The engine remained the same, with 90kW of power fed through a rear mounted manual transmission.
This layout could cause some anguish due to the need for long shift linkages, but it did help GTVs achieve excellent chassis balance.
The dash layout also scored some criticism for its heavy, sharp-edged instrument surround, and extensive use of black plastic where earlier GTVs used big, round dials and timber veneers.
Brakes were deemed excellent, so too the unassisted steering. Buyers wanting better performance than was available from the 2.0-litre could opt for a 2.5-litre V6, but paid the penalty in greater weight over the front wheels.
Alfa Romeo Club days are good places to find a selection of 2000 GTVs and identify any cars that might be for sale. Asking prices span a wide range and in some cases border on the fanciful. A plastic-bumper car in excellent condition can realistically reach $30,000, with earlier versions marginally more expensive.
FORD LASER TX3 4WD TURBO
Look at any 1980s airport rental car park, outside bowling clubs or retirement villages and there you would find Ford Lasers. As a Top Five seller during the entire decade, over 200,000 KA-KE Series Lasers were sold, but where did they all go? In particular, what has happened to the hard-charging TX3 Turbos?
These cars slotted mechanicals from Mazda’s Familia into a three-door version of the KE series body, then were delivered here fully formed from Mazda in Japan. The transmission in 4WD versions had a central differential, so all-wheel grip was achieved on any surface. Output even with our poor-quality unleaded fuel was 100kW.
Various sources were consulted to glean some production data, but even the normally decisive www.fordlaser.com could not be certain. One figure said to emanate from Ford Australia stated 2200 cars, but that is likely to reflect all KE TX3 production, including non-turbo front-wheel drive cars.
Another block of data identified 380 cars, which is more likely the number of 4WD versions sold from 1987-89. Whichever figure was valid back then, attrition has taken its toll and ensured that Lasers of any kind have become scarce. So are 4WD Turbos valuable?
One car complete and in running condition was advertised during 2024 at $9000, with a significantly better one offered a year earlier at $22,000.
MAZDA MX6 TURBO
Mazda gets a second bite here, but with a very different car from the feisty little Laser.
The MX6 used a front-wheel drive 626 platform and mechanical structures. A turbocharger running at moderate levels (0.6-0.7 bar) of boost delivered 100kW, but the engine would safely accept more and increase output by 30 per cent.
Five-speed manual transmission was standard with automatic an option. Power steering wasn’t fitted to early versions and these could challenge the driver with torque steer under full throttle. Power assistance and Four Wheel Steering (4WS) arrived in 1989, making these cars, which sold alongside the ongoing 2WS version, easier on the wrists and elbows.
The 4WS MX6 was heavier, slower and slightly more. Both from 1989 had a power sunroof and ABS brakes. The 4WS cars seem slightly easier to find and no more expensive in a market not blessed with many turbo Mazdas.
GE Series cars with a V6 and no turbocharger still pop up regularly at around $12,000, however, to find a supply of the 1987-90 GDs we needed to visit the USA where good cars reach US$15,000 and would likely hit A$25,000 once landed here.
MITSUBISHI CORDIA GSR TURBO
Nothing new at all about taking a demure commuter car and turning it into a tyre shredding rocket ship – the Americans did it with their Mustangs and the Poms to Lotus versions of the Cortina – but hardly anyone expected Mitsubishi to play the same trick with its unassuming Cordia coupe.
In basic form the Cordia GSL produced 70kW and would get along okay. With a turbocharger and running super fuel, 110kW was available and the Cordia’s character entirely changed.
Touch the throttle and the GSR Turbo would burst into wheelspin. Blink at it on a wet road and the same would happen. Accelerate mid-bend and it would plough straight ahead, but modulate the throttle or apply a little left-foot braking and the Cordia could be absolutely enjoyable.
The format changed in 1986 though, when AC Series Cordias were detuned to deal with 91 octane unleaded fuel and robbed of 20kW. That may have again changed once 95 octane premium became available, but for now we need to stick with a 1986 road-test comparison which saw 0-100km/h in the ULP car taking 1.4 seconds longer at 9.9 and 0-400 metres at 16.9 secs instead of 15.7 for the leaded car.
Few GSR Cordias of any kind survive and prices can vary alarmingly. Cars in apparently similar condition have been advertised at $12,000 or over $30,000 so caution is needed.
TOYOTA CELICA SX
Carrying a massive television camera and uplink equipment around Mount Panorama turned Toyota dealer Peter Williamson and his Celica into motor-sport super heroes, but by the mid-1980s a lot of that gloss was gone.
Toyota needed an image boost and the car that delivered was the first Celica to be built on a front-wheel drive platform. The ST162 Series appeared in Japan during August 1985 but took more than a year to reach Australia.
Our range comprised coupe and hatch versions of the 86kW ST plus an SX available only as a hatch and with 103kW.
Media reaction to the new Celica could not have been more extraordinary. At a media event shortly after the cars’ release, one motoring journo turned up in a keenly sought SX test car and created a stampede as colleagues immediately surrounded the new arrival.
More than half of the cars in this selection are front-wheel drive, with 100kW or more and susceptibility to torque steer. Toyota did a better job than most of controlling the wheel jiggling and even helping its new Celica to minimise wheelspin. S
ales were good and while plenty of the later ST204R versions remain, original ST162s have become scarce. That doesn’t mean they are expensive though, with excellent examples, if they do appear, costing less than $15,000.