Not only are Subaru XTs becoming a bit scarce, but this one posing with a more recent Outback compelled me to take a few shots. They both have boxer fours, but thats about where any similarities end. And by that I mean their drive trains, as this XT appears to be a FWD version, as best as I can tell.
In any case, styling and formats have changed drastically.
The XT was a big deal when it arrived in early 1985. Up to that point, Subarus had mainly been funky little sedans, wagons, and a few quirky coupe versions of the sedans. But the XT was an ambitious step into the wedge shaped world of sport coupes and bold design. Probably a bit too bold for some folks.
The XT initially came in NA and Turbo versions, both with 1.8 L variants of the EA-82 series SOHC engines. The NA version made some 97 hp, and the turbo 112 or 115 hp, after 1987.
And the even bolder six-cylinder XT6 arrived in 1988, with Subaru’s first six cylinder engine. We covered the XT and XT6 in depth here.
The XT’s interior was as 80s as its exterior, and then some. The “floating” pod had a number of controls, and the steering wheel is straight from a Citroen. In fact, Subaru was channeling Citroen more than a wee bit around this time, especially with the XT and its successor, the SVX. In fact, that’s exactly what I called the SVX in my write-up of it.
Yes, the XT’s butt comes off a bit enlarged, due to the wedge shape as well as my camera angle/lens. But then every wedge has to have a big end, and this is it.
I had just started my last year of Industrial Design at Georgia Tech when these came out, and was starting to come into Car Heat. We were all agog at the XT, so I went to look at one, but left feeling quite deflated. Fit and finish—on a brand new car sitting in the dealer showroom—was atrocious. Definitely not confidence-inspiring.
I ended up buying a Suzuki Samurai instead.
Maybe it’s just me, but the roof and greenhouse in that side profile shot seems to be channeling a 1949 Studebaker ‘Is It Coming or Going’ vibe.
The British magazine “Car” had this to say about the XT. “Distinctive, but so is wearing a fez”.
The British magazine Modern Classics just did a piece on 80s coupes that included the XT, apparently the UK only got the 4 cylinder turbo.
In Modern Classics view, the XT was “…one of those cars that quietly changed the game, but no one noticed until others took the concept mainstream when the public was more receptive to it. ”
There is only 1 left on UK roads.
That Modern Classics quote is quite perceptive.
I guess the Subaru XT along with the SVX had been badged Acura or Lexus, things could had been different.
I really do not miss the hard-cornered, rectilinear 80s.
At the time and as a child, I hated it but now, after the jellybean 90s and whatever we’re going to call the current overstyled angry robot look (Jalopnik once called it “cybaroque” which is perfect), I find I have a growing soft spot for it.
It isn’t nostalgia, the cars of the era, this one included, often had poor build quality and materials & regulatory limitations which made proper expression of the form difficult. It’s more an appreciation for the ideal of angles serving a purpose without trying to do too much. The simplicity at the root of this XT’s form, or to take a random example, that of a 1982 Celebrity, is something that just isn’t on the road in 2019.
Another dissenter here. I like this look. Nothing like the mid ’60’s-early ’70s of course, this is obviously a MACHINE. The ’90’s blobby organic styling cues are horrible, IMHO even if the mechanicals were a perfect dose of technology without going overboard as we’ve seen in the last 15 or so years. I like a car to look like it was built in a factory, not grown in a pod like some kind of weird ass rolling fruit or dolphin fetus.
The TR7 deserves alot more credit when it comes to styling. THey pioneered the wedge in 75 that all the japanese automakers fell in love with throughout the 80s. It really was The Shape of Things To Come…just not from them.
Since this website dumped my comment when I tried to edit it.
I said the British magazine Modern Classics had a piece on the XT in the current issue. They actually called it a game changer/ahead of it’s time.
It’s twice dumped my response to that. Great quote, BTW.
It makes a Citroën XM looking austere.
It looks like it would have fitted well in Citroen’s product lineup.
I think this also wore Vortex badges and I saw one a week or so ago, not many left here anyway.
That was the Aussie name.
I first saw this car at the 1985 Chicago Auto Show. I thought it looked a little odd but futuristic. Unlike many unusual cars on CC I actually saw these all the time in the 80s in Northwest Indiana. But they all seemed to go away quickly. I heard the air suspension was problematic, from my uncle, a Ford truck lover and mechanic who broke tradition only once for one of these Subarus. Just a little too unique for my taste.
You know all those show cars or ‘concept cars’ that get so watered down for production, as to be really disappointing? I get the feeling Subaru’s styling guys went the opposite way for this one, and exaggerated the styling as much as they could. Still a head-turner today, and quite unlike any other Subaru.
I like it. While Im no Subie-phile, I do appreciate their quirks. A car like this is what the current lineup is missing: A flagship, lay it all on the line stylish coupe displaying the upper limits of what Subaru can do. A sexy halo car. The BRZ is close…sexy in ways this isnt, but also leaves a LOT on the table in terms of what’s under the hood.
Id like to get a full on STi drivetrain in this thing so the performance backs up the style. And of course an uncorked exhaust belting out that lustiest of 4 bangers throbbing soundtrack.
I find it amusing that this combined the styles of the two most “quirky” countries – France and Japan.
There have been multiple people comment on the bizarre choices of the Japanese domestic market cars, and some that made their way to our shores in the 1970s. The same goes with French designs. Some are just so far out there (to our eyes) that we fail to appreciate them for what they are. In some ways, if you are not being weird, you are just copying the standard ideas, so why not go for broke and be as funky as you can?
As to this one, yes, it was very much Subaru channeling Citroen. Sort of like hearing Yoko Ono cover a song by Edith Piaf. Probably not going to appeal to a lot of folks, but by gosh it will be different.
My neighbor across the street replaced her Nissan Pulsar NX with one of these. Her taste in vehicles was quite avant garde, to say the least, and it inspired mine. Until recently I was forced to drive what I could afford, but now that I’m not quite so financially limited I was able to get something equally weird: a Nissan Juke. In a lot of ways I owe it all to her.
I leave it to you to decide if that’s a good thing.
In a way, this was the straight-edge version of the original Isuzu Impulse. Both were very clean designs that I think aged well, and still look sporty with a purity of form.
The Impulse was definitely superior but I think this XT, some 30-plus years later has worn better than some of the ridiculously overwrought designs we have today will.
Both cars also had the wacky pod interiors, which made you think you were driving something futuristic, even if they were cheap plastic and didn’t work all that well.
Saw this exact car at the bank yesterday. Almost took a pic but clearly I didn’t need to. Nice find, Paul!
I miss the days when Subarus were weird. The modern cars sell in much larger numbers, but that’s because they are blander.
The bit I remember about the XT is the early Car & Driver review that said the XT looked like the designer had gotten to the A pillar when the mescaline he dropped at lunch kicked in. The interior on the turbo models with the digital dash was like sitting n a video game.
The quirks on cars like this and the BRAT were what made Subaru’s reputation. Now Subarus are today’s version of a Soccer Mom’s 1997 Chrysler Minivan.