subaru mistake! or no? SVX !

[canadian booster]

ok, i've seen these driving around for a while now here and there, not particularly common, but i kinda want one, are they complete crap or what? can u tune them? turbo? rwd ? awd?

they just kinda look like a 'futuristic' mid/late 80s nissan/toyota racer to me with the front end like a DSM talon..

[Bubba1]

ok, i've seen these driving around for a while now here and there, not particularly common, but i kinda want one, are they complete crap or what? can u tune them? turbo? rwd ? awd?

they just kinda look like a 'futuristic' mid/late 80s nissan/toyota racer to me with the front end like a DSM talon..

Much more of a cool looking car than a fun driver. I had a neighbor that owned one for a few years. It was not a particularly sporty car to drive despite having 230 hp, a V6 and AWD. It only came with an automatic. Reasonable car for routine driving, but not ideal for spirited driving. Problem areas included wheel bearings which go prematurely and transmission problems.

[VQpwrdSE-R]

This svx was featured on top gear recently on futuristic ahead of their time cars. Due to the limited production aftermarket support is limited. I believe I recently saw one setup for drift with a 5 SPD swap and such. Yep here it is.http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/09/fea ... ubaru-svx/
It looks cool but not sure if it's worth modding.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It was not a particularly sporty car to drive despite having 230 hp, a V6 and AWD..

Flat Six.

[canadian booster]

Flat six? Like the nissan RB2x engines? Wonder if you coud do a swap! Haha

[numbnuts240]

flat like a...well...a subaru.

[MinisterofDOOM]

RB's a straight six.

Flat six:

[krash]

It was not a particularly sporty car to drive despite having 230 hp, a V6 and AWD..

Flat Six.

YEA, thats pretty cool

[canadian booster]

Thought flat and straight were the same LoL that's a weird a** engine

[asoomal]

Not really, Porsche and Subaru have using them for a LONG time.

[Bubba1]

Flat Six.

I stand corrected. but regardless of the configuration, it was a better car to look at than to drive. I would say it was not "subaru mistake". It was not a bad car, certainly not their worst, but it was also not one of their best offerings.

[Dattebayo]

I dunno if the car deserves the lackluster report you all are giving on it... I had a friend who owned one about 10 years ago and he loved the crap out of it.

[frapjap]

My dad had one of these for a few years. It was fantastic to drive, was sporty and cushy at the same time, and honestly, wasn't all that slow. It was also the first AWD car I drove and MAN, was it fun to launch. Unfortunately, the thing did eat transmissions. However, I believe that if my dad quit buying used units and had the original properly rebuilt, it would probably still be in the family.

[MinisterofDOOM]

it was a better car to look at than to drive.

And its looks are not anything to brag about. There are some angles from which it looks great, but other where it looks terrible. Paint scheme makes a HUGE difference, too...the rear deck is raised and the bodywork carries that line forward into PART of the goofy split-glass, where it just ends abruptly. If that trim isn't black, it makes the car look really odd (look at the two differently-painted examples already posted in this thread).

It's also a 2-door with 4-door proportions...the antithesis to the modern "coupelike sedan" crap. Despite being a hatch, it has a proper rear deck, and the roofline extends back well past the doors. I know it's a 2+2 and they usually have goofy rooflines, but this one's more like a sedan that decided to go with 2 doors rather than four.

The split window weirdness makes for a really clean line between the doors and the roof pillars, but the seal for the moving part of the windows is a jarring line in the middle of clean glass. It also seems like that window seal would be RIGHT in my line of sight to the sideview mirror on the driver side...but I've never driven one so I can't say for sure.

And then there's the carryover from its Alcyone predecessor in the rear end. The way the fender flares and thin tail light strip meet in a weird out-of-place squareness amongst sleek curves.

There are some things it does right, though...the flat-six means the nose is low, but unlike a lot of cars with low noses, the hood doesn't descend precipitously and make the car look like some sad, lost snowplow (I'm looking at you, Passeo, and first-gen Passat). The car's size overall (again we come back to the fact that it's really a midsize sedan that is afraid of doors) no doubt helps with this, and overall the car's beltline and proportions are low and long (and even wide).

If Suabru had given it normal side windows and 2 more doors, it might have flown under the radar as a decent sporty sedan. But the "I wish I was built by John Delorean" styling cues relegated it to the Weird Bin.

Since I've included it in the discussion, here's the Alcyone XT. Easily one of the worst-styled cars in history. Round collides angrily with razor-sharpened wedge and neither surrenders. I also have NO DAMN IDEA how to pronounce its name. Technically the SVX is called the Alcyone as well, but thankfully Subaru deigned not to use the full name in the US.



If the universe from Disney's Cars movies was real, Alcyones would have secure jobs as church doorstops.

[krash]

I actually kind of like the Alcyone......

[frapjap]

The Alcyone XT looks like the sexual product of a 1st gen Ford Probe and a Buick Reatta.

[gwoods]

Theres a named Dayle in Tucson that runs some interesting ebay auctions

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oldsmobi ... 4d075306ce

And has a store that supports the SVX. You might connect with him to learn more.

http://motorsportwarehouse.com/
http://svx-motorsport-accessories.stores.yahoo.net/

[Bubba1]

That angular Subie (shaped like a door stopper) was called simply the "XT" in the US market. I thought it's styling reminded me of the Triumph TR7. Similar to the SVX in that it looked nice from certain angles, but not all.

I remember driving one when they came out. Quirky little car, and the angular look carried over to the interior. Like most Subies of that era, the 4 bangers were not particularly peppy but the 6 cyl had a little more grunt.

[Jesda]

Friend of mine owned an XT in the 80s. It had a wacky dashboard:
http://members.tripod.com/matt_birchard ... ockpit.jpg


I'm pretty sure they were used as props in several sci-fi films.

[Dattebayo]

I googled that: http://www.imcdb.org/vehicles_make-Subaru_model-XT.html