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Car and Driver
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
From the Archive: 1977 Mazda GLC Drive
From the February 1977 issue of Car and Driver. Mazda has just announced a new subcompact hatchback sedan called the GLC, but before you start looking for hidden meaning in the GLC name, you may as well know that there isn't any. It's just a collection of letters, and you're free to read into it whatever you will. However, Mazda suggests Great Little Car. So much for modesty. The GLC is a conventional front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sedan. In specifications, it is very similar to a Chevy Chevette. In real life, it seems much better. Externally, it looks like a Chevette that has started to dissolve. The Chevrolet's sharp edges are replaced with soft curves. Nowhere on the GLC will you find the over-decoration that has become a trademark of Japanese cars. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver While the GLC's shape is that of the Chevette, its dimensions vary only slightly—4.3 inches shorter than the Chevette, 3.2 inches less wheelbase, 1.4 inches wider—and it seems a happier compromise. The extra width makes the interior less cramped, the lower beltline gives the passenger compartment an airy feeling, and typical of Mazda, the front seats have an adjustment range of 6.3 inches, which gets you far enough away from the wheel to think you're in a far bigger car. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver The GLC is Mazda's economy car and is therefore not scheduled to have a rotary engine. A 1300 cc four-cylinder is the only choice, but you can back it up with a four-speed manual, five-speed manual, or three-speed automatic transmission. Our driving impression was based on a brief fling in pre-production models at Mazda's Miyoshi proving ground in Japan. In that session, the GLC was a real charmer. It's roomy, the ride is comfortable, and the car's behavior is so predictable you get the feeling you've driven it before. The five-speed is crisp, and the pedals are perfect for heel-and-toeing. Mazda plans to bring the base GLC into the U.S. for less than $3000. At that price, it really is a great little car. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver Specifications Specifications 1977 Mazda GLC Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door hatchback PRICE (EST) Base: $2900 ENGINE SOHC inline-4, iron block and aluminum heads Displacement (est): 78 in3, 1273 cm3 Power (est): 52 hp @ 5000 rpm TRANSMISSION 4-speed manual DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 91.1 in Length: 154.3 in Curb Weight (C/D est): 1965 lb
Car and Driver
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
1981 Honda Accord SE Pushes Honda into $10K Territory
From the March 1981 issue of Car and Driver. The rep for the American Honda Motor Company, Inc., when he handed over the keys to the fresh-off-the-boat 1981 Accord SE, lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone and said, "This is just a little testing of the waters—to see if Honda can sell in the BMW price range." "SE," in case you haven't heard, stands for "Special Edition," and those words will appear in delicate chrome script on the Glacier Grey Metallic flanks of a mere 3000 Accord four-doors this year. These specially anointed sedans will carry every option in the Honda book, including power windows, power steering, power brakes, Michelin radials, four-speaker AM/FM/cassette stereo, and air conditioning. Beyond that extends a long list of fitments that are not in the Honda book—at least they weren't until now—including power antenna, folding rear-seat armrest, alloy wheels, special gray deep-pile carpeting, and genuine Connolly leather on the seats. This, you might conclude, is intended to be one plush little unit. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver Hearing all of this, and knowing how crazy car prices have become in recent months, we ventured a tentative "How much?" "Only $9950," was the answer. Aargh! A $10,000 Honda! "That's the five-speed. The automatic is 10,200," he said. How can a Honda cost $10,000? You guys keep it simple, right? You're the company that removed the stigma from small-car ownership. It was okay to have a Honda. Rich people bought them. But this Special Edition is a cop-out. Any company can be in the stigma-free-small-car business if it charges a lot of money. "Yeah, but the SE has all the stuff. You take your base Accord at $7435, add $600 for air, $500 for the digital cassette radio. Already it's $8500. This is a great deal." View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver Well, folks, maybe it is. But looking at the parts list, we come away with the idea that a few bits of trim add 1500 bucks to the price. Of a Honda. It wasn't so long ago that you could get a whole Honda for that money. For the full several hundred miles of our evaluation drive, this five-digit price kept nagging at the old editorial sense of value. This is a $10,000 Honda? And if it is, then what must rutabagas be going for down at the Hy-Vee? Certainly the Special Edition gives every indication of being a Honda. It has all those little idiosyncrasies we've grown accustomed to: the soft chattering when you engage the clutch and the gentle bucking of the engine when you ask it to accelerate from low revs. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver But the old Honda charm is there, too. The engine climbs happily to the redline. The body doesn't creak and groan. The interior is perfectly assembled—nary a loose thread or smear of adhesive to catch the critical eye. And the luxury touches are so tastefully and confidently done. The trunk is thickly carpeted and fitted with small bins on the sides to hold minor objects that you don't want to roll around. The interior is a light dove gray, very popular at Ford a few years back but still fashionable enough. And the seats really are leather, exuding just a trace of the aroma that Connolly also imparts to every Rolls-Royce and Jaguar. Moreover, the Special Edition seems to work better than any Accord we've ever driven. The usually flaccid shock absorbers seem a bit tauter. The shape of the seat is correct, its depression for your butt back where it belongs now, rather than halfway forward in typical Japanese fashion. The power steering isn't as numb as it used to be. The directional stability is better. The car more graceful. Its mood more, well, BMW-like. Of course, we car critics can still find faults. The power-window controls are big and bulky, looking very much like the tack-ons they are. The stereo sounds as though it has K-mart speakers. And the radio itself has so many tiny buttons, with such small descriptions of what they do, that you practically have to pull over to the side of the road just to change from AM to FM. But it'll sure do some tricks, this radio, and the car around it is such a jewel that maybe $10,000 really is fair. Certainly there's nothing else on the market with similar quality, luxury, and efficiency for ten grand. View Photos Patrick Bedard | Car and Driver Just when we had convinced ourselves that there is value in a $10,000 Honda, we saw a dealer ad in the classified section of the New York Times brazenly offering an SE five-speed for $13,950. Apparently while the American Honda Motor Company is merely testing the BMW waters, dealers are jumping right in. They may be avaricious and unconscionable opportunists, the car dealers of this country, but one thing you have to give them: they do know what cars are worth. Specifications Specifications 1981 Honda Accord Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 4-door sedan PRICE Base/As-Tested: $9950/$9950 ENGINE SOHC inline-4, iron block and aluminum head Displacement: 107 in3, 1750 cm3 Power: 75 hp @ 4500 rpm TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 93.7 in Length: 171.9 in Curb Weight (C/D est): 2250 lb EPA FUEL ECONOMY City: 27 mpg
