80年代ハッチバック

I'm writing a new magazine article about various cars. This time, it's about a few 1980s-era hatchbacks of around 1.0L to 1.3L engine.

These are the five cars I think I'll be writing about (I may change my mind).


Subaru Justy (first-generation)

We got the first-generation Justy from 1987 to 1994, only the 1.2L 4WD type. These are quite rare now, in a year I will probably see 2 or 3. In the 1980s, Subaru cars were mostly sold in rural areas so you will see these on farms sometimes. The Justy 4WD was fairly popular, since not many small cars had 4WD at that time. I'm surprised that when I did some research, I can't find many in Japan! Are they rare now?


Nissan Micra (March) K10

These were available for 10 years! We got 1.0 and 1.2 engines, but we didn't get the Turbo or Super Turbo, although I have seen some imported Super Turbos. These were extremely popular, one of the most popular Japanese cars sold in the UK. Even today, I will still see one of these every few days. The fuel economy and reliability is still really good, I think.


Suzuki SA310/Swift (Cultus) SA

I haven't seen one of these for a while! The first type was called "SA310" (3-Cylinder, 1.0L). The later version with different headlights was called "Swift" and they changed to 4-Cylinder 1.3L. Later, we got the GTi version with 1.3L DOHC 16-Valve engine. The GTi is considered a classic performance car here, a good condition GTi would cost about £3000 (¥400,000) now!


Mazda 121 (Ford Festiva) DA

We didn't get the Ford Festiva here, because we already had a popular European-built car, the Ford Fiesta. But we got the Festiva with "Mazda 121" badges sold through Mazda dealers from 1988 to 1991. You could get a 1.1L and 1.3L engine. For a car of this size, a 1.3L engine is a big size, so they are quite fast! There was also an open roof version called "Suntop". These are quite rare because they only sold them for a short time.


Toyota Starlet EP70

The FF type Starlet was very popular and available from 1984 to 1989, but it's rare now. If I'm lucky, I will see 1 or 2 each year. I think they had some problems with rust. In the UK, we only got the 1.0L version. However, it was a 12-valve engine, so it was quite powerful. The main rival was the K10 March/Micra.

I still have a lot to write, but I enjoy looking at old photos of these cars.