Modern Toyota has such a reputation for boring cars that it’s easy to lose sight of the brand’s stellar motorsports pedigree. Toyota has been – and in some cases still is – involved in all sorts of motorsport: Formula 1 as both a constructor and engine supplier, Le Mans Prototype endurance racing, Super GT, NASCAR and, most significantly for this piece, rallying.

Toyota’s rallying prowess can’t be understated. The brand was very successful in the sport for decades, and it won two recent WRC championships: it claimed the constructor’s title in 2018 and Estonian driver Ott Tanak won the 2019 driver’s championship in his Toyota Yaris WRC. This success is now making its way into Toyota’s road car lineup, with the recent launch of the GR Yaris and upcoming GR Corolla for North America.

But this isn’t the first time Toyota’s success in rallying lent itself to excellent road cars. In the 1990s, it was up to the same tricks with the Celica GT-Four, also known as the All-Trac Turbo in North America. This was an AWD variant of the Celica, which was changed to front-drive in its base form for the ST165 generation in 1988. It was also turbocharged, employing the services of Toyota’s 3S-GTE turbo inline-4 which produced 190 rampaging horsepower.

Over the next two generations of the Celica (ST185 and ST205), the GT-Four would continue to grow in size, horsepower output, and rally dominance, winning two constructors’ and four drivers’ championships at the hands of Carlos Sainz Sr., Juha Kankkunen, and Didier Auriol. It all came to a head when, in 1997, Toyota was accused of using illegal restrictor plates on its turbochargers, producing more boost than was legal under the FIA’s rules.

Lucky for us, before Toyota's Group A campaign fell apart, it made thousands of Celica GT-Four and All-Trac Turbo road cars, and they are some of if not the best AWD sports cars that normal people can buy. Here’s why.

Rally Setups Lend Themselves Well To Road Driving

Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 rallying
via Toyota UK

It isn't just big wings that draw legions of fans back to every new generation of the Subaru WRX. Rally-focused chassis designs are inherently more supple and compliant than tight, harsh street or track setups, making them easier to live with and use as daily drivers. Of course, most people fit their rally-inspired road cars with lowering kits and stiffer suspension setups, but from the factory, they tend to be softer-sprung.

For the first generation GT-Four, the ST165, Toyota did not make major suspension changes from the base car. It had the same MacPherson strut front suspension with a strut tower brace to add a little more rigidity under hard cornering.

For the next generation, the ST185, the same trend continued. Toyota didn't push the car too far towards an aggressive ride, even for the hardcore homologation models Toyota was required to sell to compete in Group A. As a result, the GT-Four is a competent and usable car that you could drive every day.

The last of the GT-Fours, the ST205, had a much more advanced front end setup that improves its sharpness and almost completely eliminates torque steer: Super Strut Suspension. It didn't impact ride quality, but according to Hemmings, it used a pivot bearing on the knuckle to reduce the angle between the steering axis and the center point of the tire.

It's an excellent all-season sports car. AWD isn't necessarily mandatory to enjoy a car in bad weather or snow, but it certainly helps with vehicle stability and, crucially, your confidence as a driver. These Celicas are approachable and forgiving cars; they won't snap-oversteer and spit you out like some of their mid-engined stablemates.

RELATED: The 10 Best WRC Rally Cars Of All Time

Mechanical Simplicity Always Wins

1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
via caranddriver.com

Modern cars have fantastically complex all-wheel-drive systems which, paired with electronic power steering, brake-by-wire, and adaptive suspension, tend to add layers between your analog inputs into the car and the electronic components you're interacting with, particularly when you can feel the electronics interrupting you.

There are no such issues with the GT-Four. It has static suspension, hydraulic power steering, and a viscous coupling and locking center differential to provide a permanent 50/50 power split front to rear. Unlike newer, more complex Haldex systems that selectively send more or less power to the rear and tend to cause nasty understeer, the GT-Four is a permanent AWD vehicle, like a Subaru, meaning the power delivery will always be balanced. Luckily, Toyota was equally careful about weight distribution, mitigating any nose heaviness you might expect from a transverse, FWD-based setup.

Some GT-Fours were equipped with a limited-slip rear differential, which massively helps with handling. The limited-run homologation Celicas were even more hardcore, with no air conditioning or power windows to reduce weight, and shorter gearing.

All GT-Fours used Toyota's venerable 3S-GTE 2.0l turbocharged four-cylinder, which grew from 190 hp in the early cars to 252 hp by the end of the ST205's run. It's a popular engine with tons of aftermarket support and decent reliability. Toyota's quality control was and still is top-notch, but a 30+ year-old turbocharged engine will inevitably need some attention.

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They’re Not That Hard To Find

1992 Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo
via pressroom.toyota.com

Unlike most "JDM heroes," the North American versions of these cars weren't neutered or missing something from the Japanese models, so whether you look for a USDM All-Trac Turbo (4wd Turbo in Canada) or a JDM imported GT-Four, you'll be getting what is basically the same car but with the steering wheels on opposite sides.

Values for these things tend to move around, but most are around $10,000 to $15,000 for nice ST205s, less for ST185 and ST165s, if you can find them. Unfortunately, these are rare cars, but old Toyotas are generally safe purchases, provided you do enough research before buying one.

The Celica GT-Four/All-Trac Turbo was an automotive footnote for a while, particularly after the illegal restrictor-plate scandal damaging Toyota's name in motorsports and more broadly, with potential customers. But the car itself shouldn't be judged for the dubious actions of a few engineers from Toyota's Team Europe rally team.

We should instead remember it for being a sharp and competitive rally car whose seat once held Carlos Sainz Sr. and Juha Kankkunen, two WRC greats who drove their Celicas in anger to beat Audi and Subaru at their own games, before the turbo scandal made way for Colin MacRae put the rally spotlight squarely on his blue and gold Impreza WRX STI. Since then, Subaru has been the "rallying" brand, but Toyota's pedigree and heritage in the sport are equally strong, and it's worth our time as car enthusiasts to remember it. What better way to do that than to buy a road-going version of the car those great men drove, and experience it for ourselves.

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