Before hitting a performance bonanza with the Turbo’d Imprezas that cheerfully embarrass performance cars costing twice as much, Fuji Heavy Industries drilled a dry hole with the premium coupe SVX. But the effort was certainly a memorable one.
The history of Subaru in America is a checkered one, having come to the market in 1968 with the 360 Coupe thanks to the now infamous Malcom Bricklin. In their first year they sold less than a car per day. Over the next two decades Subaru ditched Bricklin, and followed an emergent strategy, benefited from the Regan administration’s car import limitation scheme, and were well on their path to becoming the undisputed champion of the AWD car class.
I caught this dark red model late afternoon on the main drag in Truckee. Note the Dog enjoying the air from the window pod.
I was pleased to find this clean dark blue specimen in North Tahoe. Similar to the 1st generation Legacy, the A Pillar came with problematic track mounted shoulder belts.
Many vehicles of this era used red reflectors on the trunk to visually integrate the tail lights. The SVX worked aesthetic overtime with the oval matching bumper integrated twin exhausts.
The interior: would be purchasers found the lack of suitable cup-holders disturbing.
In hindsight the SVX was a good car that attempted to cross a premium bridge too far. Arriving as a 1992 model in mid ’91, it was the wrong product at the wrong time, listing for $24-28k then, or roughly $38-45k in today’s money. In the midst of the early ’90s recession the SVX was Antoinette-grade cake being peddled next to high quality AWD Gruel of $11k Loyales and $15k Legacies. It should be noted that the Supra, 3000GT and 300Z all suffered tacking into the same currency headwinds.
The engine was the EJ 2.2L, common to the Legacy and Impreza of that era, with two additional cylinders for 3.3L. Output: 230 hp. Similar to its flat-four little bro, it’s a compact, long lived design. Engine longevity is strong; the F4 in my 1990 Legacy stood up to 130k of stop in go Cali “freeway” grinding followed by another 45k of abuse by my teenage self before giving up the ghost.
At the time Subaru, had no manual that was rated to stand up to the 228lb of the engine, so the 4 speed slushbox was mandatory. Retrofitting a 5 or 6 speed manual out of a later WRX Subaru is just the ticket and opens up a world of go fast mods for the engine. This video shows a completed swap: SVX Manual Conversion
Subaru ended up moving only some 14k SVXs, and is thought to have lost some $3k on each one. But it still enjoys a strong following. In an increasingly look-alike world of cars, nobody is going to mistake an SVX for anything else.
Always really liked the styling on these, and wanted to try the weird windows in the rain. Also liked the slightly odd exhaust tips, jutting down there.
The first dealer I worked for fixing VWs also sold Subies, and these cars had terrible transmissions, but most other stuff was pretty typical Subaru, not amazing, but not too bad either.
I liked these, too, but was really a fan of the even quirkier car it replaced, the Subaru XT.
Hey, the dark red one is just like mine back then! I think the 4-speed auto is also at the limit of its torque capacity, thus the frequent failure. I think it’s the same one as the one in the Legacy. I think Subaru knows this, they even had an auto trans overheat warning light. Mine never, ever lit up, but the transmission end up busted anyway. I guess the fact that the car’s AWD didn’t help too, as all the strain of hard acceleration is taken by the tranny, the wheel never, ever slips during acceleration! Though on slick roads I can kick the tail out with a stab of the throttle, proof that power is transferred to the rear during hard acceleration. Despite the tranny failure, I had very fond memory of this car. Suede-lined dashboard is very nice.
I got rid of it when the rebuilt tranny started to show the sign of failing again. Apart from the tranny, the only problem the car had is that the rear wheel bearings started to whine every year or so. My (very nice) Subaru dealer always replaced them under warranty!
Pretty cool car for a college student in a small town in Minnesota…
Co-worker had one new , way back when. He lost the tranny in his. He admitted he beat on it.
Ah, Subaru. If I wasn’t so afraid of the transmissions I’d have already bought one of these in the past. I have neither the mechanical inclinations nor the motivation to attempt a swap with a WRX manual.
Still, the SVX is a cool, unique car, and with only 14,000 or so sold, you could pretty much be guaranteed of driving the only one in the supermarket parking lot.
I love the H6 engine in my Outback wagon and have always liked the SVX’s distinctive styling (I’m a fan of the Citroen SM as well, and the SVX always seemed to Subaru as the SM was to Citroen), but I’ve never taken the plunge to go find and acquire one. I’m not one for attempting a transmission swap, either, but I do know an excellent independent Subie mechanic who might be up to it…hmm… 🙂
Indeed, this the 2nd SVX CC. And I’ll say the same thing I said last time: I wish I had never sold mine.
Likewise, I will probably regret my recent decision to buy a perfectly normal sedan instead of an RX-8.
I remember receiving a fancy brochure in the mail for one of these. I had never owned a Subaru (mostly GM up to that time, and GM in the 80’s was not good) so it must have been from a “mailing” list of prospective customers. I had two reactions to it. As the article mentioned, I thought it was relatively expensive. And I was concerned about the unusual configuration of the windows.
Honestly I always thought these were pretty cool but as a high school student at the time they were being sold I was never going to end up with one.
FYI did anybody notice the sticker near the shifter in the interior shot? LOL, my favorite girls are the one’s most comfortable with their bodies.
Just saw the sticker. Well, this owner may well fit in with Subaru’s stereotypical demographic. 😉
What timing – I saw one of these on the road just yesterday. Red, of course. I had no time to follow it, and cannot remember the last time I saw one. When I see the total production number, I now know why.
I also did not remember how expensive they were, but that certainly explains the rarity. It makes you wonder – if the price had been brought down to the $17,500-20K range, would the car have taken off? It is a shame that Subaru could not line up a beefier transmission from some outside source. I have always liked these, but it is the kind of love I have for any oddball car. I guess I never thought of these the way Subaru did. Great find.
Had Subaru come done to $20k on this car, they would have lost even more money on them. Having worked in the car business for longer than what I would have liked, I can attest these truths:
1. It’s all about the money.
2. Anything (or anyone) that doesn’t make money gets canned really fast.
3. There is no forgiving in the car business. Mr Tactful can confirm this I am sure!
The 17-20k range would have put them directly in the Mustang and Camaros turf. I couldn’t see things going better there.
I have always liked these, but it is the kind of love I have for any oddball car.—-Exactly…back windows go Down i See… Zackman will like that
I well remember these, and I imagined me being able to drive one of these. Those windows-within-a-windows – a nice design exercise and extra points for the back glass, but overall, I thought what a hotbox this must have been in a St. Louis summer. Still, they did it right. Credit where credit is due and lots of respect.
Going back to that time, I believe this and the Acura Legend were the last coupes offered in the U.S. with openable back windows aside from pop-open glass.
I have never been a big fan of Subaru – too skittish about all the AWD machinery spinning all the time and wear & tear and maintenance headaches, plus the lesser fuel economy of comparable-sized cars. In any event, these were totally out of our price range and utility back then, so that’s probably why I feel the way I do. I’m cheap…
Still, over 20 years later, a very cool car!
I was skeptical of the AWD factor, too, but eight years of Outback ownership (and 112,000 miles) has brought little in the way of unusual maintenance issues, and almost none connected to the AWD system. A very undramatic car to own. Gas mileage is slightly lower than might be expected with a FWD car, I guess, but still we average roughly 22-23 mpg.
A friend of mine owned a Subaru Forester for years until someone hit it and totaled it. He and his wife got very good service out of it and it was pretty reliable for them. I could probably do OK with one, as I’m not a young man and the older you get, the easier you are on vehicles, but I need lots of fuel economy right now, so I’m keeping my Impala for the present time. Our CR-V will fill in for the rough days.
I will say this, had I been living in the LA area when I was car-shopping, I’d have not bothered with AWD, as I never really need it down in the LA basin, and I’m not in the habit of winter trips to Big Bear or Mammoth. It did come in handy in the Southeast’s occasional winter storms (given the complete lack of plowing facilities). My wife’s last two cars (modern MINIs) have been FWD-only.
My dad always told me that anyone who needed AWD didn’t know how to drive and should not be allowed on the road. As a kid I can remember driving around in a 400 CID Pontiac Catalina with winter tires on the back. Dad never, ever, not even one, got stuck. He explained to me that driving in snow was all about understanding momentum, looking at the road ahead and not going places you should not go, nor can get out of.
Being from Soviet Canuckistan, I know a thing or two about snow. I drove taxi during the worst winter storms you can imagine in Chevy cop cars and never got stuck. Didn’t need AWD and didn’t want it, not worth the extra expense and fuel.
Want to see the benefits of AWD? Take a winter trip between Banff and Lake Louise on the Old Banff Coach road after a snowfall and see how many AWD vehicles are in the ditch. This is because AWD cars go really good in the snow. Problem is they don’t STOP any better. City slickers wipe out their Audis on that road regularly.
FWD, four good winter tires (I swear by Nokian) and good driving skills will trump AWD every time, with “all season” tires and a driver who thinks he is invincible because he has AWD.
And SLOW DOWN!
True enough. The reason many AWD drivers got in trouble? They don’t know how slippery the road really is, as they can accelerate without the wheels slipping in slippery road, as if the roads were OK. Of course AWD didn’t help any in terms of stopping or turning, thus you get in trouble… With 2WD cars when you have trouble accelerating then you know the road’s slippery and you (if you had any good sense) slow down.
The bulk of my snow driving experience came in a B-Body Caprice wagon in Wisconsin, so I do understand what you’re talking about. Ground clearance really helped, plus the ability to load up the back cargo area with sacks of cat litter every November and keep it there until March. 😀 And following the golden rule of winter driving: Don’t do anything fast.
Regrettably, like every other non-garaged, grad-student car in Madison, the Caprice endured its share of salt and began to rust, thus ending its run with us well before the Subaru came on the scene. 🙁
Amen to that. I grew up around decent snowfalls as well (northeastern Indiana) and your father was exactly right. My best snow cars have been decently balanced RWD cars. My 94 Club Wagon with ABS and the Traction-Loc axle may have been the best of all. My preference for RWD is that you can steer the rear as well as the front, and in low traction situations, the front tires become quickly overtaxed if they are asked to brake or accellerate at the same time you want to steer.
Vans are the best because of the ground clearance. My buddy is a wealthy man but in Saskatoon winters, he drives a 1985 Dodge Short Van, with Nokian tires. It will go pretty near anywhere!
FWD is great in snow as long as you understand what you mentioned above. It is not about AWD, It all about what is behind the steering wheel.
When I had my ’91 940SE, I had Gislaved snow tires on all four wheels and that car would go through anything. The next Volvo was AWD, and my current one is FWD, so I’ve experienced all three ways of motivation. Since I’ve had the V50 I have realized that the AWD wasn’t worth the weight and fuel economy penalty. I still miss the 940!
Well, the car does come standard with air-conditioning… in fact an automatic climate control. Besides, who drives with windows open these days, uses more fuel than driving with A/C on. Though if you want to drive with elbows out of the window like they do in the 60’s, that might be a problem. As for it blocking your view, you get used to it real quick, you won’t notice it after a short while. And I never had problems ordering from drive-through windows, except these tend to attract the server’s attention. I suppose if you live in a hot area that never snowed, AWD is kind of a waste… But my cousin who went to school in St. Louis bought a Legacy GT.
buying a new Legacy in 1990, the SVX brought some pride to us Subaru owners.
the tranny and AWD were not to long -lived in ours, but I had it out in teh SoCal deserts alot. pulled a stuck big Bronco out of a bad spot with it!
The CC Holy Grail! A coupe with back windows that roll down! Sorry, someone had to say it…
Anybody remember the (paraphrasing) “you’ll drive it so fast you’ll go to jail” ad for these. It was a good concept, but for an auto-only coupe easily outgunned by the Eclipse GSX (and for about $5+K less!), probably not that accurate 🙂
Yeah, but they could still top out at close to 140, which is enough to send you to jail.
I liked these when they first came out, and think they have something of the Citroen XM about them. However, I too think the XT was by far the cooler car, with dashboard pods, an L shaped steering wheel, and hidden door handles. The XT could almost be seen as a spiritual successor to the Panhard coupe, and you have to think that some of Citroen/Panhard’s engineers and designers must have emigrated to Japan at some point, or at least shared some of their LSD.
I love how both of the ones you saw near Lake Tahoe have their wheels swapped to the wrong side of the car. Fronts spinning one way, backs the other.
Pretty sure we have none of these but early Subarus have shocking transmissions I had a 1800 Legacy and while it gave me few problems it blew a tranny for the previous owner the carbed 1.8 is gutless in the extreme how could it destroy a trans. The car was still on its original headgaskets when I sold it at 352000 kms.
We did get them new Bryce, although I don’t think there were many takers. The solitary one on trademe is a used import – and has quite possibly the worst upholstery I have ever seen! –
Im a recent reimport myself I was in OZ all thru the 90s so I dont recall these and dont remember seeing one here but hey everything else is here so its no surprise
I have a Road & Track brochure-magazine for one of these, R&T used to do that at the time in conjuction with the manufacturer, it would make a pseudo-magazine all about that one new car, sine I was an R&T subscriber, I got one. I always kinda liked these, especially in a dark color, they have a bat-mobile thing about them.
Any owners know if the area between the headlights lights up too? I seem to remember seeing one with the little bar under the opening illuminated too, also, these are a hatch back no?
They did introduce a FWD ony version of theses later in the run in hopes of trying help sales.
I got interested enough in these cars to do quite a bit of research on them. Found out from enthusiast sites that you should install a tranny cooler if there isn’t one already, check the rear wheel bearings, well, old-fart memory strikes again, can’t remember the third thing. And yes, the 5-speed swap works well with all oem Subie parts.
I had a nice test drive in one, a well-cared-for car that had around 90k on it, and I have to say I liked the way it drove; it had a solid Mercedes-like road feel that made my nice old RX7 feel like a tin can on the way home from the car lot. I thought it over too long and someone else bought it.
Indeed these were luxury GT coupes not pure sports car like the RX-7. Acceleration from stop is not that great (7-ish, near 8), but mid range punch is incredible. Goes from 60 to 90 in a blink, making passing on two-lane road very confidence-inspiring. It’s quiet and had very good ride too, plus it’s luxurious inside. More along the Merc CL in concept than RX-7. A real mile-muncher. Would be perfect for snowbirds who commute long distance each season to warmer climate. Transmission probably held on much better when used this way.
Looks like the guy who designed the SVX’s wheels may have hung out in the Big Lots auto aisle a little too much.
A lady here in town owns a 2WD version of the SVX… cool looking, but even she admitted to replacing the transmission at 60,000 miles… which is why I briefly considered buying one of these, then reminded myself of the “no money pit” rule I have been trying to follow for the last decade… Now, if Subaru would bring out a NEW, MODERN sports car! (no, not the current Toyota-Subie… owners such as myself would like a true Subaru, meaning AWD, which this collaboration vehicle is missing).
Sounds like it was in the same price range of the Not Selling Toronado Trofeo, as Well as Buick Riviera, Mark 7, 2 Door Specialty Luxury or Sport coupes were loosing their luster against the SUVs. More Ergonomical Vehicles.
For me, the deal breaker on these cars is and always will be the crawling-mouse seat belts. I refuse to own a car so equipped, and the fact that Subaru chose to use them even though they didn’t need to just adds insult to injury. I suppose I could transplant real belts from some other car, but there are too many other interesting options out there which AREN’T deliberately hobbled by the builder to bother.
I think it’s a travesty that the government even allows (much less mandate) such a system (mouse belt) in the first place. It’s not safe (at least not as safe as regular seatbelts), I believe they’re in fact downright dangerous when used not in conjunction with the lap belt. But with those in place, it makes most people feel they already wear seat belts, and not bother buckling the lap belt. Even though they’re not really protected as they’re supposed to be. Just a bad, bad decision if what you’re trying to do is protect people in case of accidents. Who come up with this hare-brained concoction anyway? The GM seatbelt attached to doors are even worse.
At the same time, it’s not legal to wear racing 5-point seatbelts on the road. I don’t think people who formulates these “safety” rules are interested in public safety at all.
Funnily, the SVX does come with an airbag (driver’s only), but still the stupid government mandate the mouse-belt.
“Funnily, the SVX does come with an airbag (driver’s only), but still the stupid government mandate the mouse-belt.”
That’s the thing. The requirement was for “passive restraints”. The airbag met the regulation. Subaru chose to install mouse belts anyway.
it still had to have the mouse belts since there was no passenger airbag.
On 11 July 1984, the U.S. government amended Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 (FMVSS 208) to require cars produced after 1 April 1989 to be equipped with a passive restraint for the driver. An airbag or an automatic seat belt would meet the requirements of the standard. Airbag introduction was stimulated by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In 1998, FMVSS 208 was amended to require dual front airbags, and de-powered, or second-generation airbags were also mandated.
Passenger side airbags were not required until 1998.
The mouse seat belts were eliminated in the SVX by 1994.
So only the 1992 and 1993 models have the passive motorized seat belts. 1994-1997 model years have dual airbags and manual standard belts.
Awesome. I’ll add it back to my bucket list of cars.
I always learn something new at CC. I didn’t realize manual transmissions were quite that fragile.
Manual transmissions are as strong as they’re designed to be. If all your motors make only 150 lbs of torque, it’s just dead weight to design a box that will take 250. Presumably Subaru lacked the time, the budget, or both, to design a new gearbox for the extra power in a car that was always going to be small volume even if it succeeded.
The ZF 5-speed in my truck is rated to 420 lf/lbs of torque. It also weighs 175 pounds…
Presumably if they don’t have anything that’s suitable and don’t want to spend the money to develop one, they can always buy a suitable tranny from someone else. Probably would add to the cost, though, and they’re already losing money on the SVX! Though in SVX’s case all their calculation proved spot on. In my case the SVX’s auto transmission lasted until (not long after) the warranty expired. At which point it is no longer their problem.
First thing I did when I got mine back in 96 was put an in line trans cooler and an after market filter on it. Cost me 60 bucks and about 2 hours of work. Tranny is still solid at 130,000.
My younger brother has had his 94 SVX for over ten years. I bought my 95 last year and love it as he does his. I am having a problem finding a self repair guide for the wheel bearings hoping to do the job myself. I bought a new bearing press to do so, figuring I will need to replace all the wheel bearings as time goes by. Replaced the front CV axles, rotors, calipers and brake pads so far with little effort. Doing so saved over $1500 in labor. Just not so keen on having to pay some mechanic 2 1/2 hours labor to replace one wheel bearing. I bought my own bearing for $60 as the one the shop wanted to sell me was $141 Add that to the labor cost you are well over $350 per bearing. This car is a dream to drive. As stated by many it is not a car for drag racing, but it does very well in acceleration after 40 mph. Had mine up to 120 mph on a track with little effort and still had pedal left. I just didn’t want to stress the old girl with over 100,000 miles. I’ve owned many American cars to include a 96 Vette, 74 Camaro Z-28, 95 Ford Taurus SHO, 2001 Mustang V-8 and the SVX overall has been impressive. If American manufacturers can come up with a decent sportscar in the $20,000 price range again with similar features as the SVX I will buy American again. Until then I will remain a used foreign car enthusiast. Maybe building my own 34 Ford Roadster from the frame up will do for the next project. Enjoy the SVX as long as you can.