Throwback Thursday: 1968 Mazda 110S first drive

"There is no lack of pull at lower speeds, as some engineers expected, nor is it rough or uneven when idling. The idling speed is on the high side, at 750rpm, but perfectly smooth and unobtrusive when standing in traffic. We were surprised to find that the car will pull away at under 1000rpm in top gear – very slowly at first but without protest. No one would ask it to do this except to prove the point and, in fact, it prefers to be driven hard with revs well up. At the top end, this very responsive, free-revving unit has a normal limit of 7000rpm.

"We have known 2.0-litre six-cylinder piston engines as smooth, but only in the 2000-5000rpm range.

"This Wankel proved to be a good cold starter and it warmed up unusually quickly to 80-85C. It runs happily on the lowest grade, two-star fuel, so this is some compensation for the fairly heavy fuel consumption, which reached only 20mpg on gently driven journeys. Ordinary city driving gave us an average of 18.5mpg."

So, the engine was a success. As for the other key element of a sports car: "‘Handles like a Porsche’, we said – but only to a point. Quick, precise steering, with a weight bias in favour of the rear wheels, are part of it. Then the rear-end adhesion is impressive, especially on wet roads. The car goes just where you point it, with momentary understeer at first, which is possibly no more than distortion of the radial front tyres at the unusually low pressures recommended.

"Using power in the normal way through a corner, it's a neutral steerer. If you yank the steering wheel over and pour on a lot of power, the rear wheels may finally condescend to slide, with the inside one trying not to lift. This agreeable back end has the unusual suspension combination of de Dion layout with leaf springs.

"Sports and GT cars traditionally have firm suspensions; the Mazda is quite softly sprung for its class and its ride is mainly comfortable, but second-rate road surfaces cause too much bounce. There is some vertical jogging, also a fair amount of thumping over joints and ruts. We shall reserve our final judgement on these impressions until we try a much newer car, because there were signs that the dampers were nearly worn out. We took the 110S over the test pavé at MIRA, which it suffered unexpectedly well without any bottoming on the bump stops or hopping about at the back. It was not so happy on the washboard but showed its body to be rigid and pretty free from shakes and rattles. It seemed to iron out the ridges best at about 30mph.

"On corners, the car scarcely leans at all, and since the seats are well shaped and upholstered, the occupants do not get thrown about."

The 110S was also impressive inside, where "an adjustable steering column and smooth-sliding seat with reclinable backrests combine to help all sizes of driver to get comfortable". All of Autocar's testers found these to be "jolly good", apparently, and while the car was "lower than pictures suggest. the clap-hands, overlapping wipers sweep a big area clean, so, except for the rear quarters, look-out is very good all round".

We continued: "The car weighs 958kg – down at the lower end for its class, with the Lotus Elan +2. This obviously helps towards a distinctly lively performance. Two of our drivers achieved a consistent 17.7sec for the standing quarter mile and 10.0sec for 0-60mph. The Mazda seemed to be unfussed by a more than average tousing, refused to spin its wheels other than momentarily, even on a wet track.

"Normal maximum speed is about 112mph. We say 'normal' because with an engine of this kind, the rpm may slowly build up mile by mile on an autoroute and the car eventually hold perhaps 120mph. When accelerating hard in second and third gears, it is all too easy to sail past 7000rpm without noticing it; 7500rpm tops 60mph in second and 90mph in third.

"A stubby little gearlever with short, precise movements sits a hand-span from the steering wheel rim. It's pleasant and easy to flick the gears through. 

"A non-standard feature of the test car is its brakes. They are designed for a servo, but none has yet been fitted. This is remedied on cars for sale. In the meantime, the driver has to push extra-hard, but the results are very good. Again, the wet-road adhesion is well above average. The rearward weight bias allows the rear wheels to do a larger share of the work."

Mazda was a new brand in the UK, and its price of £2606 (equivalent to around £43,000 today) contributed to it being a very small seller. In fact, Mazda completed a total of just 1176 Cosmos over six years. It was a good thing, therefore, that "the 110S comes fully equipped, even to the self-seeker Clarion radio with twin speakers and electrically extending aerial".