Offroad there's some value in a good Scando Flick, can still be the fastest way 'round a corner.
Notsomuch on bitumen though (even crappy bitumen).
I don't know if it's still a "Scandinavian Flick" if you're doing it the FWD way? You can oversteer a proper-handling FWD car 'round a corner, but you're not applying power in the same way obviously.
The Minis did fairly well way-back-when but I think more endurance events & the like, Escorts & 1600's were definitely more the go (in Oz at least). I think there's some engine-related Stuff going-on there though, what with Nissan (I believe?) having copied & then downsized Benz DOHC setups and Ford cars having access to Lotus & Cosworth DOHC & even 16V heads. So much more off-the-shelf power:weight available for the slightly larger but much-bigger-engine-bay RWD alternatives back then.
You can't really put a V6 Camry forward as an example of how a car does ANYTHING apart from keep food & drink cold.
Old, "heavy" FWD cars which were crap back then were no heavier than a Megane RS275 is today.
In fact, while I've not driven to compare, I'd have my money on a stock RS275 over any LSA HSV around a course where handling matters more than outright grunt (I don't know the layout of many tracks - but I'd expect an RS275 to be quicker around, say, Philip Island or the old Oran Park ... I'd expect the GTS would have the legs for Bathurst though).
Do we yet know whether the ZB is definitely FWD-biased AWD?
There's still handling vs roadholding as well, and I'm not sure I fully know the difference.
I don't think that any way you cut it, RWD isn't going to just be a better starting-point for something which is adjustable on the throttle. Toyobaru is I think a really good example, the workmate of mine who's now driving a Cayman GT4 reckons the Toyobaru he had previously actually had more precise & communicative steering ... compared to a GT4 that's high praise indeed.
So while the Megane I mentioned above will probably be beating a Toyobaru due to roadholding, yeah handling, and especially power:weight, I think that the Toyobaru is likely to just be more
fun to punt on a country road.
Cars are ridiculously fast these days, all of them. New Corolla would even embarrass a standard VH non-HDT 5L car in the traffic-light drag. Standard Commodore SS's doing 13s-flat quarters, Magnum's megabuck Ferrari struggled to crack 15s & (admittedly poorly geared) A9X's could barely crack 16s!!
So given that everything can keep up with traffic pretty effectively, we probably need to look at where the fun is.
And ... I don't think it's hovering around Commodore-sized AWD cars so much.
Doesn't mean it can't be a decent appliance.