page_title: Mazda Luce
section_title: LA4 series (1977–1981)
hierarchical_section_title: Mazda Luce / LA4 series (1977–1981)
caption_attribution_description: English: Mazda 929L Deutsch: Mazda 929L
context_page_description: The Mazda Luce is an executive car that was produced by Mazda in Japan from 1966 until 1991. It was widely exported as the Mazda 929 from 1973 to 1991 as Mazda's largest sedan. Later generations were installed with luxury items and interiors as the Luce became the flagship offering. The Luce was replaced by the Sentia in 1991 which was also exported under the 929 nameplate.
context_section_description: The Luce Legato (introduced as the LA4 series in October 1977) was a large and luxurious sedan, still powered by Mazda's piston or rotary engines. It was also available as a four-door pillarless hardtop that looked like a huge, square coupé, and a wagon, which had more of a utilitarian role than the sedans. The coupé was replaced by the Mazda Cosmo (CD). Production of the Luce 1800 (LA4VS) and 2000 (LA4MS) sedans started in October 1977, ending in July (LA4VS) and September 1981 (LA4MS) for the Japanese market. Of the Luce rotary sedans, the LA42S with the 12A engine was manufactured between September 1977 and April 1978, while the larger LA43S with the 13B introduced at the same time lasted until October 1981.
  While the Luce was a large, luxuriously equipped sedan, it still complied to Japanese Government dimension regulations, and it wasn't the largest sedan Mazda sold in Japan. That honor went to the short-lived Mazda Roadpacer, which was based on GM Australia's Holden Premier.
  This generation sedan was not sold in North America. It was originally designated as the Luce Legato, but the Japanese automobile industry authorities would not allow for what they considered a name change and so it was officially sold as simply the Luce. The "L" for "Legato" suffix hung on though, with export models receiving the new car as the "929L". Legato is a musical term meaning "to make a smooth transition from one note to another"
  The rebodied Mazda Luce Legato became the second generation 929 in 1978 for export markets, often called the 929L. There was no coupé version developed of this generation, although a four-door hardtop body was available in Japan and some other markets including France. A station wagon was added in February 1979. The design was American-inspired, with stacked rectangular headlights and a large chrome grille. The rather heavy and old-fashioned exterior was made to look even older by having a very up-to-date interior and dashboard. In Europe, a more efficient 2.0-liter inline-four, producing 90 PS (66 kW) with a single-barrel carb replaced the existing engines.
  First presented in Japan in October 1979 was a facelifted LA4 version with large, rectangular headlights and a more orthodox and European front appearance. The final addition was a 2.2-liter diesel engine produced between August 1980 and July 1981 for the sedan (LA4SS) from November 1981 for the wagon (LA4SV). Its output was 66 PS (49 kW) and 141 N⋅m (104 lb⋅ft). In October 1980, a fuel injected 120 PS (88 kW) version of the 2-liter engine was also introduced for the Japanese market; it was only available with the hardtop bodywork and full equipment. The 929 was replaced after November 1981 by the next generation Luce/929, although the second generation station wagon continued in production until March 1988 as no wagon replacement of subsequent generations was ever developed. At the time of the generational change, the diesel engine was also installed in the van (wagon) model, only available with the GL equipment level.
  Aside from the regular piston-engined variants, the 12A or 13B rotary engines were on offer. The piston-engined variants were exported as the Mazda 929. A rotary-engined version was exported to "general issue" countries and sold as an RX-9. Most RX-9s were sold with the smaller 12A engine.
  Engines:
  1977–1981 1.8 L (1769 cc) I4, 2-barrel, 83 PS (61 kW; 82 hp)/137 N⋅m (101 lb⋅ft)
  1977–1981 2.0 L F/MA (1970 cc) I4, 1-barrel, 90 PS (66 kW; 89 hp)
  1977–1978 12A
  1977–1981 13B, 127 PS (93 kW; 125 hp)/187 N⋅m (138 lb⋅ft)
  1980–1981 2.2 L diesel, 66 PS (49 kW; 65 hp)/141 N⋅m (104 lb⋅ft)
caption: Pre-facelift 929L sedan
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 450D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:22 15:02:02", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "220", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1082", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5664", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "13", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:22 13:06:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:22 13:06:32", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "59/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "27", "EXIF SubSecTime": "03", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "03", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "03", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "956", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2136000/439", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "356000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}