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Mazda is one of the premier vehicle manufacturers over in the States, but the automaker has a couple cool JDM cars only available in Japan.
Mazda: Where Driving Matters
Mazda’s roots as a company date back to 1920 when it was a cork producer. The company, and even the Mazda name itself, didn’t enter the automotive realm until 1931 when they first introduced their three-wheeled Mazda-Go motorized rickshaw. Over the course of nearly a century, Mazda has transformed itself to be not only one of the most recognizable Japanese automotive brands but is commonly referred to as the producer of some of the best handling vehicles on the market. However, American’s have missed out on some of Mazda’s greatest hits. We brought together ten of the most notable Mazda JDM cars ever created.
Mazda R360
Let’s start with more of a historical pick, the Mazda R360 – Mazda’s first official passenger car. This tiny little kei car was produced between 1960 and 1966 and it was pretty popular for that automotive segment in Japan. At the rear of the R360 was an air-cooled 356cc V-twin engine producing about 16 horsepower. It could be shifted via a 4-speed manual or an available 2-speed automatic transmission and topped out at around 60 mph (if you could get it there). There was seating for up to four passengers, five available exterior colorways, and even a kei truck version called the Mazda B360.
Mazda Cosmo Sport
The Mazda Cosmo Sport holds a special place in Mazda’s history as it was not only the company’s first production sports car but the first sports car to utilize a rotary engine. This unique engine type became a staple for Mazda ever since and that is still prevalent today. As for the Cosmo Sport itself, the original model was produced between 1967 and 1972 powered by a 982cc two-rotor engine that produced 110 hp on L10A models or 128 hp on later L10B models. The Cosmo name carried on for another three generations all featuring a rotary engine available until 1996 when the luxury Eunos Cosmo ceased production.
Autozam AZ-1
Kei cars are super compact and make for great city drivers (no matter what state politicians think), but the AZ-1 also makes for a very cool ride. This sporty kei car was produced under the short-lived Autozam division of Mazda back in the ‘90s. The AZ-1 features gullwing doors, front hood scoop, rear spoiler, side vents, and a rear mid-engine placement for its turbocharged 657cc DOHC inline-3 engine. 63 horsepower may not sound like much, but when paired with its size this thing could accelerate to 60 mph in about 10 seconds. That’s pretty quick when you consider similarly sized vehicles over there do the same in over 20 seconds.
Mazda Lantis Type-R
Mazda had a sports compact that competed against the likes of the Honda Civic back in the ‘90s. And like its homeland competition, it too had a Type R version. The Mazda Lantis Type-R was the performance version of the compact car that carried a 2.0L DOHC V6 making 168 horsepower. Mazda also added a limited-slip diff, available front and rear spoilers, side skirts, and other Mazdaspeed A-Spec goodies. It looked great and had some great performance additions, but the EK9 Civic Type R of the same time was just ever so slightly better. Now this is JDM Mazda is a forgotten relic of the ‘90s car era that can make a fun conversation piece.
Mazda 323 GTX/GTR
Homologation rally cars are some of the most desirable and exciting cars from back in the day. Over in Japan, Mazda produced a limited production run of the Mazda 323 to compete in the Group A Rally Class. The first appeared in 1990 as the Mazda 323 GTX featuring a 182-horsepower turbocharged 1.8L inline-4 engine, four-wheel drive, and viscous limited-slip differentials at each end of the drivetrain.
Two years later, Mazda produced the 323 GTR that not only updated the performance but also the looks of the vehicle. Mazda added extra hood venting, more aggressive bumpers, fender flares, and unique wheels. Under the hood was a specially crafted version of the same B-series engine featuring stronger components, a larger oil cooler, larger injectors, a front-mounted intercooler, and a water-cooler turbocharger. All this bumped the homologation model up to 207 horsepower that was still paired with all-wheel drive, an updated suspension, and larger brakes.
Mazda Savanna RX-7 Turbo
The RX-7 is one of the most popular JDM models to ever exist, but most only remember the FD generation. The RX-7 story actually starts back in the late ‘70s with the FB generation Mazda Savanna RX-7. This rotary powered coupe was Mazda’s transition back towards sports car styling that hadn’t been very prevalent since the original Cosmo. While this model did make it to the United States, the RX-7 Turbo did not. In 1983, Mazda introduced the 162-horsepower turbocharged 1146cc 12A twin-roto engine under the hood of their sports car. This version only lasted about two years before the FC generation would take over, but it was the first production example of a turbocharged RX-7 – something that later generations were known for.
Eunos Roadster
You may not have heard of the Eunos Roadster before, but you’d definitely recognize it. This is what the Mazda MX-5 Miata originally debuted as over in Japan. It’s still known as the Roadster to this day over there, but the Eunos division of Mazda it was sold under died out in 1996. There isn’t that much of a difference between the Eunos Roadster and the MX-5 Miata truthfully, but there are some subtle changes. First, alternative Eunos badging in place of the Mazda ones we know, these were all right-hand drive, had different steering wheel designs, and there were limited M2 Corp. developed race-ready versions.
ɛ̃fini RX-7
Americans were able to get their hands on the FD Mazda RX-7, but they missed out on the unique branding attached to JDM models. ɛ̃fini was the newly founded luxury division of Mazda in 1991 – the same year the FD3S came to market. Not only did these models come with different badging but there were a couple of JDM exclusive versions. The RX-7 Type RZ for example was aimed at squeezing out extra performance specs by added Bilstein dampers, aluminum BBS wheels, custom Recaro bucket seats, and removed the rear seats in favor of a storage box that cut just over 20 pounds from the model. There were also the various Bathurst limited edition models specially made to celebrate the RX-7’s success in the Australian GT Production Car Series.
