Justice – If such a concept really existed, then any of the total beaters of the world that we see every day would be sitting here instead of this old car that looks about three years old instead of 30. It’s becoming a bit of a semi-regular theme in these posts that the cast-offs here are looking good enough to drive away in as with the Honda Accord of a few weeks ago and the Dodge 600 as well. And the Saab 900 SPG, well, that one did look pretty much done. And we shan’t even speak of the Porsche 928…
Anyway, why wouldn’t someone, anyone, want this little second generation Justy? Well, for starters, this is in Denver, where everyone thinks they need 4WD and this is one of the very few Subarus that I’ve ever seen around here that isn’t 4WD (even though it was available). At first I figured maybe it just didn’t have a sticker proclaiming it but then I deigned to kneel down to look at the rear axle, and nope, nothing to transmit drive back there, it was as plain as a gelding.
The Justy was first introduced to the US in 1987, about three years after first being offered in Japan. For 1989, just a couple of years later, a restyle was offered and made it look a little less square and a little more like the larger Legacy, especially around the rear where it channeled the wagon a bit. But by 1994 the party was already all over, and the Justy left our shores for good (In Canada it stuck around for an extra year). I was a little surprised to see it was around even that long as I do see the first generation ones every once in a while but almost never see this restyled version.
Power (if it can be called that) was provided by a 3-cylinder 1.2liter engine with an output of 72hp. Weight was under 2000 pounds, but acceleration was still quite lethargic. In an effort to make it more acceptable, Subaru offered the Justy with an ECVT, the first Continuously Variable Transmission offered in the US in the modern era (DAF imported the Daffodil in the early 60’s which had incorporated an early CVT design) which helped it to make better use of the power than some competitors.
The transmission is one of the few things that was missing from this car when I saw it, so clearly it was someone’s lucky day. However I can’t imagine that the intended donor car could possibly be in better condition than this one, so maybe they should have tried to take every other possible part as well. There was an “all you can carry” sale a couple of weeks after I saw this Justy so perhaps they came back then for the rest of the car, two strong people (the maximum allowed) could probably almost carry the whole thing across the line…
With only 78,291 miles on the odometer, this is barely broken in for a Subaru (although it’s an inline 3, not a flat, uh, never mind), hopefully the CVT wasn’t actually broken and that was the reason it’s here. This early CVT did prove to not be so reliable in higher mileage cars, thus the reason it was eventually withdrawn from the market, however I am not sure what is considered “higher mileage” back in 1989 given that there are a plethora of other vehicles with conventional automatics that don’t/didn’t seem to last particularly long either.
Look at the happy fabrics on the seats and door panels! This is what budget motoring in the ’80’s was all about. A little fizz to look at while you wait to reach the posted speed limit. And the key appears to still be in it as well. Like I said, ready to go.
Sun-wrinkled vinyl, a patch of cloth, two large door pockets for your paper maps, a manual window winder, and a rocker switch door lock below the latch. And an armrest tacked on for good measure. Life was good.
I don’t see A/C, which in all fairness would have probably sucked the last of the power here at altitude, but no center console either so plenty of room to man-spread all the way over to the passenger as long as the ECVT lever is all the way back in the Ds position. Still, no A/C is a killer here on the 100 degree days without a GM crotch vent, likely not helping to keep it on the road.
That Ds position is interesting as it is the “Sport” Mode; putting it in that vs D makes the engine spin at twice the speed it would in Drive, presumably unleashing more power as the revs were higher. This is interesting as the whole idea of a CVT is for it to continuously adjust its pulley ratios in order to keep the engine at its optimum power point, so one would think that merely flooring the throttle would do a better job than dropping it into “Sport” mode. Supposedly the point was to use it when passing or on hills, just nudge the lever down and keep the foot steady.
I know you guys like the rubbery bumpers with nothing to get damaged in a low-speed impact just as much as they appeal to the inner cheapskate in me as well. Still, it’s not styled too terrible, perhaps a little plain, or is that just elegance?
Not even a side-view mirror on the passenger side of this GL trim level model. But with those spindly pillars, there’s no need for it anyway, just move your head a couple of degrees and your peripheral vision will let you see everything.
Trunk space galore, a nifty cargo cover with rope lifters, VW Golf style, and what looks like a split rear bench for this 4-seater. And slightly dark tinted tail lights for that sporty style.
It says four passengers but also says weight capacity is 660lbs. Methinks your odds would be 50/50 at best of finding any random four people with a combined weight below that total over here these days. A tire size of 165/65-13 is unheard of nowadays and likely explains why a couple of the wheels and tires are gone as well.
Back then Subaru’s tagline was “Inexpensive. And built to stay that way”. With a base price of $7,791 with the ECVT in 1989, this was a pretty good value. And conversely what probably helped to put it here today; it apparently just wasn’t worth keeping on the road.
Related Reading:
David Saunders’ take on the Justy
Paul Niedermeyer’s Mother Earty Justy
Counterpoint: Entropy rules. A 30 year old car from 30 years ago is a collection of 30 year old used parts flying in close formation in one of the worst possible environments for machinery; heat, cold, moisture, vibration, UV exposure. It’s silly to expect reliable every day transportation from this poor little guy.
Wow, that is in crazy nutters good condition.
Nice find Jim. At least your photography managed to capture the entire vehicle 🙂
In fairness, it was a small car….
Great find. Shame it ended up here, with such low mileage, and in great condition. But who would drive it?
Carmakers still struggled then to maker cheaper interiors look better made. Though the durability of the materials and plastics is apparent. The striped fabric pattern looks dated for the era.
What prompted Subaru to opt for solely a 47-80 hp 1.0-1.2 inline-3 in the Justy as opposed to a typical flat-4 layout or even complimented by a related 65-107+ hp 1.3-1.6 inline-4 given the inline-3 EF engine was closely related to the 2-cylinder EK23 engine?
At a guess: the flat-4 didn’t fit.
I’m guessing displacement limits based on taxation of the Justy in Japan and it not being worth developing with a much larger engine. In most markets a 1.6liter will cost a lot more to register than a 1.0 or 1.2. The CVT took care of the potential acceleration issue vs a conventional automatic and an inline 3 is much cheaper to build than a flat 4. (and also cheaper than an I-4). Of course developing a 4WD system that now had to work with a transverse layout probably cost money as well as opposed to using the longitudinal flat four layout and transaxle already in-house.
Power was deemed “good enough”, watch the video and you can see that it was deemed competitive in the market although I would argue that the Justy was smaller than at least the Hyundai, and likely the Tercel as well.
Still the original Justy was roughly comparable to the rebadged Swift it would later be based upon, which should still mean a 1.3-1.6-litre 4-cylinder derived from the EF 3-cylinder would be viable enough to warrant production is certain markets.
CVT has to be one of the worst ideas ever, that likely is the reason its in a scapyard, the only surviving Justys Ive seen have manual transmissions and seem to be driven gently around town by elderly owners and I live right at or actually just below sea level on very flat ground/
Far from being “one of the worst ideas ever,” and despite the condemnation they get from enthusiasts, CVTs are like any type of transmission.
Many – especially the earlier ones – are truly dreadful, and many of the later ones (especially those that mimic gears) are not all that bad. I hesitate to call them truly “good,” simply because they often don’t function as we gearheads would like. But for the many people who simply see a car as a transportation appliance, the later ones probably function perfectly well. And in countries where fuel economy is a prized virtue, they often do the job better than the old four- and five-speed automatics they replaced.
With even more development, I could see them as a viable alternative to gearboxes. That’s especially so when you keep in mind that it took the automatic transmission 20 to 25 years to really fully develop, and CVTs only came into widespread use in the early 2000s.
In my neighborhood there’s a sharp distinction between old-car owners and new-car owners. Despite the alleged better durability, new-car owners buy a new car EVERY YEAR. Old-car owners keep them forever.
There’s not much middle ground. Type A: Lots of cars and trucks from 1960 to 1990. Then a gap, Then Type B: brand-new, often with dealer plates.
That’s quite unusual, these days you’d think anyone looking to trade more frequently than five years or so would just lease (and three years seems to be the standard for a consumer auto lease).
“Slow. And built to stay that way”.
I wonder if this and the little Toyota were the result of a linguistic misunderstanding.
“They buy those K-cars over there, maybe we sell them Kei cars”
Poor Justy, though with more parts still in place than this one.
Btw, on the offchance we should ever meet, Mr Klein, please know that I would consider it impolite if you were to deign to kneel down and check underneath see if I too am as clean as a gelding.
I’m thinking the reason it ended up here is that the transmission died, they pulled it out to see if it could be fixed and bailed when they couldn’t find one they could afford. I remember them failing in 60-70k.
I wonder if Subary used JATCO CVTs, since that’s about the life of their current CVTs?
I had all but forgotten about those turds. If it had AC you’d have to push it up hills
Standard procedure on my Justy (a five speed thankfully) was to push the a/c button on the dash to off when encountering hills. It was a $6,999 special brand new, which was in 1992. A decent little commuter and it gave me good returns on gas mileage which was 37-39, which I really, really needed since the gas tank only held 8 gallons.
How long did these take to accelerate to 60? Justy minute.
I love that striped interior! I would not love 3 cylinders bolted to a CVT. Wouldn’t an a/c compressor be about as large as the engine?
Some day we are going to discuss a car here that does not include the phrase “it was a great car, too bad it used a CVT.”
I’ve yet to run across a Justy in the ten years I’ve been searching for old cars in Southern California. Maybe they didn’t sell well here, or maybe the CVTs doomed them to early deaths.
Also, the Justy wasn’t the first CVT-equipped car sold in the US. DAF imported its CVT-equipped Daffodil from 1961 until 1967, when the US government essentially banned its Variomatic transmission due to supposedly unsafe operation, and for the first three years the cars were distributed by the manufacturer itself (DAF turned over control to an independent distributor in 1964).
I saw a red Justy, a ‘92 or ‘93, years ago in that junkyard in Sun Valley that was visible from the 5 freeway (Aadler Bros was it’s name I think?) and I remember thinking it too looked very complete and nice to be sitting there, but lo and behold it had the CVT in it as well. I liked these cars, they seemed to be the equal to the Daihatsu Charade in my opinion.
I can’t speak in technical terms but I owned a Justy between 89 to 92. I had a long freeway commute and the car was cheap to buy and good on gas but that 3 cylinder was a Dog and the AC did indeed zap the power. Once the hood flew open on me and I found a wrench in the bag with the jack and removed the hood, stuffed it in the trunk and kept going. The car was not great. I also owned a Fiat Strada that was very similar but ran great. Had a vice grip to insert pennies into the fuse box to keep the wipers going and a bungee cord to hold the passenger door closed.
The good old days, lol.
Not sure the exact year or mileage but there’s one of these in my family. My uncle has been driving it for many years now. It is a manual transmission though. My uncle looks very funny in it as he is 6 foot 5 and very heavy too. Pretty sure that car struggles to get out of its own way.
CC Trivia: The Justy was the last car sold in the US with a carburetor.
My dad worked machine repairs and traveled in a fairly large area. This was before they were issued company vehicles so he wanted something that was cheap on gas and bought a 1990 Justy. A year or two later he was given a company vehicle so I drove it to school while he was working.
On more occasions than I could count the keys would get locked in the car so I eventually stopped locking the hatch and get in from the back. Good times!
My dad called the CVT transmission a rubber band transmission because of the bands instead of gears. The Justy’s CVT died at 66k miles because the fluid should have been changed at 15k intervals and probably had one fluid change. My dad was going based on the 30k intervals for a standard automatic transmission. Before it hit 60k he was no longer driving the Justy and I had no idea what the maintenance schedule of any car was.
I have a 1989 Subaru Justy with 89,000 miles in really good condition. The car has been sitting for a while and of course now it has some problems. Does anyone know of anyone who is interested in purchasing it. Pictures enclosed.
I have an 89 GL 4WD myself. Best car of 30-40 I’ve owned. does 85 on FWY if I let it. Slow on hills tho. Runs good, but ugly. Got about 135K on the clock or maybe 235?
what do you want for that one/ where are you located?