5 Exclusive Car Models Only Sold In South Africa

South Africa is not really known for manufacturing cars, however, back in the days we had quite a few car models that were only built for the South African market. There were cars here such as the Ford Capri Piranha V8 and Ford Sierra XR8 … but I will be focusing on newer models in this post.

Bmw E30 333i

So, like some other countries, South Africa was not fortunate enough to receive the E30 M3, but that left Bmw South Africa with a rather great idea. Imagine a Bmw 325i Coupe, but with the engine from a Bmw 733i. Yes, that’s exactly what Bmw SA had in mind. So, along with Alpina they created a limited amount of 210 Bmw 333i models, each fitted with a 5 speed close-ratio gearbox, Alpina ventilated brake discs, limited-slip differential and 16” Alpina wheels. An important fact was also that consumers had to choose between an airconditioning unit OR power steering, as there was not enough space in the engine bay for both. Considering the South African heat, it should’ve been quite a hard choice to make!

The Interior was left standard as the 325i Interior, except for Alpina instruments such as a 270kmh speedometer and a digital read-out panel mounted in one of the central air vents.

Performance Specs were as follows:

Power Output: 194bhp @ 5 500rpm
Max Torque: 210 ft lbs @ 4 300rpm
Acceleration 0 - 100kmh/62mph: 7.23 sec
Top Speed: 231kmh/144mph

Opel Astra F 2.0 Ts

Opel was sold in South Africa under license of Delta Motor Corporation and they wanted to build a Opel Astra that could take on a Bmw M3 E36 in a quarter mile drag race. So what did they do? They took a Astra 200ie and placed a C20LET in it’s engine bay.

The engine was borrowed from an Opel Calibra and Opel Vectra. Engineers then took the Getrag F28 6-speed gearbox, which was a four-wheel drive drivetrain, and converted it to front-wheel drive. This conversion allowed for the Astra 2.0 ts to beat the E36 M3 in a 1/4 mile drag race and to be placed above the Astra Gsi at the time. Some additional information is also that South Africa’s highway patrol used the 200ts as their patrol vehicles. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Astra

Performance Specs:
Power Output - 215bhp @ 5 800rpm
Max Torque - 211 ft lbs @ 3200rpm
Acceleration 0 - 100kmh/62mph - 7.92 sec
Top Speed - 234kmh/145mph

Toyota Corolla AE111 Rxi

South Africa never got the Sprinter Trueno Bzr, but luckily we had the Corolla Rxi. Simply put the Corolla Rxi is a standard Corolla AE111 with a 4AGE Blacktop under the hood. It also came with a 6-Speed Gearbox, lowered suspension, very attractive Toyota Rxi Alloys and a beautiful interior. Some other subtle clues included a boot spoiler and some Rxi 20 valve badging.

The Rxi was in strong competition with the Honda Civic Ek Vtec, with the B16a2, as well as the Nissan Sabre 200i Gxi with a SR20DE( It was called the Nissan Sunny/Pulsar) overseas. The Rxi, like it’s competitors, was an enthusiast’s car and that led to many of it’s owners modifying the engine to insane capabilities. It’s a much loved engine in the car community of South Africa, because it responds so well to tuning.

Performance Specs:

Power Output - 154bhp @ 7 800rpm
Max Torque - 116 ft lbs @ 5 600rpm
Acceleration 0 - 100kmh/62mph - 7.9 sec
Top Speed - 200kmh

Toyota Tazz 160i Xe

The Toyota Tazz was basically a EE90 Corolla hatch that got a facelift. The Corolla hatch( or Conquest in South Africa) was a big seller in the South African market, so Toyota SA saw an opportunity to keep the car in the market by making it’s appearance more modern. There were 2 variants on sale, the entry level 1.3 2E and the upper market 1.6i 4afe. Both had the same exterior appearance, only the engines differed. It only came with a 5-speed manual gearbox, central locking, air conditioning and an audio system. The Tazz was very well known for it’s good fuel economy, reliability and it’s spaciousness, another characteristic of them was their stock exhaust note, which had a rather enjoyable sporty sound to it.

Due to the Toyota Tazz being cheap and lightweight, it was modified and tuned by a lot of people in the SA car community. Their first modification of choice was often to throw a 4Age blacktop in the engine bay and with the car’s lightweight, 940kg body, it pulled really strong with such a high performance engine. The performance specs of the 160i 4afe model are as follows:

Power Output - 105bhp
Max Torque - 103 ft lbs
Acceleration 0 - 100kmh/62mph - 11.34 sec
Top Speed - 176kmh/109mph

Volkswagen CitiGolf 1.6i Mk1

Similarly to the the Toyota Tazz, Volkswagen SA’s best seller was the Golf mk1 back in the late 70’s and 80’s. So they also saw the opportunity to upgrade the Golf mk1, make it look more 2000’ish and then keep the car in the market for longer. Except, the Tazz was first produced in the late 90’s while VW SA started producing the CitiGolf in the mid 80’s.

This Vw was the Tazz’s biggest competitor. While it was never as reliable as the Tazz, nor spacious as the Tazz, it scored a lot of points from a performance point of view. These CitiGolfs weighed well under 900kg, 860kg for the 1.6i model to be exact, giving them superior handling and acceleration. They were a blast to drive, never being dull at any moment. They were also cheaper than the Tazz, which lead to a lot of first time buyers to purchase the CitiGolf over the Tazz to save a few bucks.

While there was a 4Age engine made by Toyota, there was an ABF engine made by Vw. The tuners in SA often threw an ABF motor in the engine bay of the Citi and it had monstrous results. Even to this day, South African road users know that you do not take these boys lightly as very, very few of them are kept stock. They have been known to beat large Bmw’s and Mercs on acceleration and their lightweight body ensured that these cars could take on any corner at an above average speed. There were 4 variants in the Citi Golf series. Older ‘85 models used 1.3, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 Carburetor fed engines. The newer models used fuel injected 1.4i, 1.6i and very rare 1.8i models. The specs of the 1.6i models are as follows:

Power Output - 99bhp
Max Torque - 103ft lbs
Acceleration 0 - 100kmh/62mph - 9.6 sec
Top Speed - 178kmh/111mph

Most people around the world are unaware that these car models ever existed, thus I wanted to share with you some of the cars that formed part of South Africa’s culture. To this day, the car enthusiasts of South Africa still modify their Rxi’s, Citi’s and Tazzes, the 333i and Asta ts will remain a rare sighting, but still forms part of South Africa’s historical cars. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and please comment if you would like to find out more about any of these cars, i would be happy to inform you.