Ford Laser TX-3 4WD

By: Dave Morley, Photography by: Shaun Tanner

Date: 03.10.2022

Yes, there was an affordable four-wheel-drive rally hero before the mighty Wrex!

If you’re sitting there, thinking that the turbocharged, four-wheel drive, rally car for the street was invented by Subaru with its WRX or even Mitsubishi with the original EVO, guess again.

Years before either the Suby or the Lancer GSR (as it was known) started getting parked in ditches at the clammy hands of wannabe rally drivers, Ford’s Laser TX-3 Turbo Four-Wheel Drive was dishing up a similar flavour of high-speed terror. And what’s even more amazing, is that while we tend to remember the Ford Laser as the wheels of choice for lunch ladies all over the land, the truth is that there was a high-performance variant of the otherwise humble Laser almost right from the off.

Remember the KB Laser, the first facelift of the little hatchback that used Mazda mechanicals in a locally-built three or five-door body? Now, do you remember the Turbo model? Of course, you do. White paint, white alloys and a popping, surging turbocharged version of the carburetted 1.5-litre engine offering on-demand torque-steer. And while the Turbo model didn’t make the transition to the KC Laser in 1985, the idea of a sportier Laser refused to go away.

Okay, so the KC TX-3 (which filled that brief in the next model) was a bit luke-warm, and even though the 1.5-litre engine grew to 1.6 and sprouted electronic fuel injection (which would have improved the KB Laser Turbo no end) with just 61kW and 122Nm, it was hardly a hot hatch.

But Ford still refused to give up on the general idea. Which is why, when the KE Laser arrived in 1987, the TX-3 thing had grown into a dynasty. As in, there was still a normally-aspirated front-drive version, but the good news was the turbocharger was back. Choice was still important to Ford, too, so the TX-3 Turbo could be had in front-wheel-drive form (and if you thought the KB Turbo could torque-steer…) or the Big Kahuna TX-3 turbo 4WD. And that, my friends, was the Laser to have, elevating the whole badge from slow lane to pit lane.

When you look at how it panned out, the time was absolutely right for a car like this. Cars like the original Audi Quattro had brought all-wheel-drive to the front of mind and the cult of the turbocharger was running at full boost. Cramming all those elements into a little three-door hatch (all TX-3s were three-door) and flogging it to anybody with 22-grand in their kick was just icing.

Handling was very good

But, again, what a lot of people have forgotten was just what a serious piece of hardware the KE Turbo 4WD Laser was. As well as electronically adjustable ride height, the thing also had a locking centre diff. Which, if you ask us, was tempting fate by allowing youngsters to lock the diff on a bitumen surface, but it worked a treat on gravel.

The engine itself was a 1.6-litre four-cylinder of Mazda extraction (the whole Laser thing was a Ford-Mazda joint venture) and, strangely, it was undersquare with 78mm of bore and 83.6mm of stroke. And while that looks pedestrian on paper, the reality is that all that stroke gave the engine great cylinder-fill characteristics, which is what you want in a turbo application.

Mild not wild styling

With EFI, an intercooler and two valves per cylinder, along with a fairly modest boost pressure of just eight psi max, the little four-banger still cranked out 100kW (which was pretty handy in the 1980s) and 184Nm of torque. Just as impressive was the fact that as much as 90 per cent of that torque peak was on tap from as low as 2500rpm.

And the toughening-up didn’t end with the engine bay. The TX3 Turbo also got a bigger front cross-member to carry the weight of the extra hardware including the bigger radiator, intercooler and exhaust plumbing. There was also 15mm more track front and rear over a standard KE Laser, and even the gearbox was borrowed from the bigger Ford Telstar (Mazda 626) to cope with the torque burden.

Making it look a bit special was Ford’s trademark quad headlight thing, as well as a rear spoiler, roof spoiler, and a few splashes of velour inside. Throw in the weighbridge ticket of just 1175kg, and you had a decent power-to-weight ratio that gave us one of the hottest hatchbacks seen to that point.

Of course, if you’re thinking you haven’t seen a TX3 Turbo in a while, that’s because you haven’t. Tragically, all the 4WD ones were either rallied or circuit-raced and flogged to death, while the front-drive versions were more often than not driven into the mulga at high velocity when the owners ran out of talent and the car out of lock. Which, of course, makes seeing cars like this one all the more amazing. Soak it up.

Four-wheel-drive got the power to the road

IT'S MINE: KE TX3 4WD

Geelong-based Warren Smith hasn’t owned this particular TX3 Turbo 4WD for too long, but his journey with small performance Fords goes way back. As well as an RS2000, he owned a TX3 back in the 90s before the inevitable happened and he began chasing V8 levels of performance. But over time, the charm of Ford’s small warriors has won him back.

"I had a TX3 in the 90s and then went V8, and then bought another one about eight years ago which became a track-car. I still have that one. It’s a turbo all-wheel-drive, too. Then I bought a KH Turbo 4WD, which I also still have," he told us.

This part made the TX3 a pocket rocket

But the car you see on these pages wasn’t exactly the glamour it now is when Warren grabbed it as a Covid project.

"I saw it in an ad, gave the seller a call and discovered the car was only about an hour up the road. So, obviously, on impulse, I bought it."

But the little red Laser wasn’t running too well. In fact, it wasn’t running at all, a problem eventually traced back to the cylinder head which was – ahem – "stuffed".

Sports seats and tiller for the fast one

"So we pulled the head off and reconditioned it, but the bottom end was good. All original and hadn’t been hotted up in the past. In the end, we rebuilt the motor with the new head, did the injectors and replaced the whole exhaust because it was just disintegrated from rust."

But that untouched bottom end is probably what saved this car from the knacker’s yard; a fate that befell way too many TX3 Turbos as enthusiastic owners wicked up the boost in the day to see what she’d cope with. They nearly all found out the hard way.

Comfy pews for back seat dwellers

"The last rego sticker on the car is from 2002, so I reckon the car sat for the best part of 20 years before I got hold of it. It’s now done 165,000km from new and I take it out occasionally to car shows. I bought it to restore and on-sell, but I’ve become pretty attached to it.

Regardless of whether this one stays put or finds a new home is one thing, but it’s fair to say that there will always be a rorty small Ford in the shed at Warren’s place going forward.

Avant garde adjustable suspenders

"What I love about them is that they’re all-wheel-drive and turbocharged, but people still look at them and think they’re a shopping trolley. So when you round them up on a track, it’s sort of interesting to see what happens after that. It can really upset some people…"

Full instrumentation

1987 Ford KE Laser TX3 Turbo 4WD

Body: Three-door hatchback
Engine: 1597cc four-cyl turbo
Power & torque: 100kW / 184Nm
Performance: 0-100 km/8.7sec
Top speed: 185 km/h (approx)
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Differential: Locking centre diff

From Unique Cars #469 Aug/Sep 2022

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here