Reader Ride: 1992 Subaru SVX
It was the early 1990s when Subaru went into the Porsche business. It wasn't nearly the pseudo-Porsche the Nissan NX 2000 was, but it could have been the result of a tryst between a 944 and an erstwhile 911. The SVX looked like a space capsule, and it teamed the brand's famed (even then) AWD prowess with a newly-developed flat-six. The price was high, squaring the SVX off against such awesome rivals as Supras and 300ZX Turbos, not to mention ponycars, which promptly blew the doors off Fuji's left-turn from the XT.
flatsix92, also known as Rob, dropped a few pix of his '92 SVX into the Flickr pool, and we took the bait. Of course, the car's not stock. It's hard to have a Subie coupe and not mess with it. The transmissions in these cars are apparently a weak link, but Rob's car had it's cog-swapper replaced before he got the car. He did fit a shift kit to the autobox, though, and while he was under there, he tossed on a Stebro stainless exhaust and custom wound springs. There's other tweaks, and that's one of the beautiful things about these cars, the enthusiast base is large and very supportive. The SVX was absurdly expensive for a Subaru in those pre-Impreza STi days, and in light of their short-lived transmissions, you can likely find these cars cheap. What we want to know is where does a college student (studying industrial design – good, minoring in video editing – run – that's what my degree's in, and look where it got me) pull together the scratch for books, tuition, a formerly 30-large coupe full of stuff to fix, upgrades for said coupe, and oh yeah, food?
Two more pix after the jump, along with instructions on how to get your car featured as a reader ride.
How to submit to RR of the Day:
Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Join the group called "Autoblog Reader Rides." Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide and include as much information about it and yourself as you can. Vehicles lacking description will not be eligible and will be summarily deleted. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say "Send to group". Click that and select the Autoblog group. You're done!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
R? 11:03AM (8/02/2007)
This one will get my vote!
And what a shame than Subaru don't build a single coupé anymore... Bah, it keep high the resale value of my 2.5RS coupé :-)
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Max Merak 4:20PM (8/02/2007)
Amen.
scooter 11:04AM (8/02/2007)
I miss those cars! So glad to see a survivor in good shape. Congrats.
It has been a few years since I have seen one on the road. I thought they were the coolest looking car when new. I remember sometime late in 1993 visiting a Subie dealer and they still had a leftover '92 model on the lot. I think they had (hand written on the window sticker) knocked about $10k off the price. It was still far out of my reach. Maybe now I can finally afford one.
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Rob 12:54PM (8/02/2007)
This is Rob, and I was able to snag mine for $3600 with 130k on it. That's why I was able to afford it. :)
felipe 11:06AM (8/02/2007)
great ride. congrats
needs rims though.
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Richard 11:10AM (8/02/2007)
I owned 2 of these and got three friends to give up their Lexus SC 300's for the performance, uniqueness and security of AWD (we were all in Chi-town then).
Really was like a modern day Citroen SM, but w/o the hydro-pneumatic suspension.
I sold the second one when we had a kid and bought an Outback. How stupid am I. But I'll get another one.
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RoadRunnerSTi 11:20AM (8/02/2007)
I have always loved these cars... i had a girlfriend with one in highschool a couple years ago... such a head turner.
I was always diappointed the flat-6 only came in auto though... if it was a 6sp... and add a turbo kit... damn that would be cool... or swap in a ej257 and supporting drivetrain and mods for 400whp.... hell yea.
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Rob 12:55PM (8/02/2007)
The green SVX in the 2nd photo is owned by my good friend Phil. He's swapped his automatic for a 5spd from a Forester, with 4.11s on both ends. He also recently completed a homebrew turbo kit. It is very fast. :)
Richard 11:12AM (8/02/2007)
Now, you know that is not the original 1992 grill, which was transparent, not black.
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mike 11:24AM (8/02/2007)
I have a friend in the local subie group who owns, i think, 5. They're like the Japanese equivalent of MGs... if you own one, you got to have a couple more for spares.
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Jon Graves 7:58PM (8/02/2007)
I remember reading a SVX road test in the '90s where the guy pulled up to a toll booth and the operator leant out and said "so, you and Batman are good friends then?!"
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MikeW 12:00PM (8/02/2007)
Too bad the US market didn't have four wheel drive.
We gave up the center differential for a clutch pack coupled rear axle.
http://www.geocities.com/pepesvx/svxtransmissionscan.html
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Richard 12:14PM (8/02/2007)
When the SVX was launched it was available in AWD. I think it was AWD only.
When it didn't sell (Subaru couldn't sell a $30k car in 1992 any better than Toyota could have - ergo Lexus), FWD was introduced. I think, perhaps to better position it against the Mitsu 3000, which came in mild FWD to the wild VR w/ AWD and 4 wheel steer.
The last couple of years of the SVX were FWD only.
Rob 12:54PM (8/02/2007)
Richard, FWD was only available as an OPTION from 1994 to 1995. The other years were all AWD only.
http://www.cars101.com/subaru_svx.html
Richard 3:57PM (8/02/2007)
Rob, I stand corrected. Of course, Joe Spitz is pretty much the Oracle on all things Subaru.
I really thought that the last 2 years were FWD only.
Aaron 11:58AM (8/02/2007)
I know Rob. He bought the car before he went to school and his wife pays for the food.
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Rob 12:54PM (8/02/2007)
She's my sugar-mama. :)
Nathan 11:59AM (8/02/2007)
This must be the same Rob, a.k.a. the infamous "Ca$h", from MacNN. He sure loves his SVX!
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Nick 1:05PM (8/02/2007)
This thing rocked. I loved it.
My cousin had one. Got it from his dad when he was like 16/17. Biggest mistake you can make to give your kid a car like this. Boy...the speeding tickets came like a young porn star. Then, in usual high schooler form...he totaled it...such a shame. Apparently the dad didn't learn...bought him a Contour SVT the next week. Moron.
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C\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 1:12PM (8/02/2007)
"Thanks" to their weak trans, the SVX is famous in the VW Westfalia crowd: as engine source... Their engine are used in Vanagons, especially the Syncro Vanagon (4x4).
http://smallcar.com/ and http://vanaru.com/ offer such conversion. 230hp of power for the brick...
Smallcar also offer a 5sp gear (stick) conversion for the SVX. It seems it's the same mod that has been done.
Nice car.
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