Collectible autos: the Subaru SVX

Subaru has had a history of taking nearly every major trend in the automotive history and blatantly ignoring it. Occasionally, this strategy pays off seriously well: Subaru has become the de-facto manufacturer for cheap AWD vehicles, turbocharged compacts, and station wagons for lesbians. This happens because often, Subaru manages to start doing something well before the rest of the industry—and thus gets a truckload of experience and reputation for doing things which eventually become popular.

But there's a downside to this, too—for every Outback or WRX, there's an XT or Brat. Subaru is more often wrong than they are right, and their model history is littered with market missteps and failed followthroughs.

The SVX is a car which falls into the latter category: it was designed to be a quasi-luxury all-wheel-drive GT car aimed at cars like the Lexus SC300 and the 2^nd generation Acura Legend, and while the idea was a good one (big performance luxury car with big margins), the reality was somewhat less so: it turned into a niche car with very low volume, particularly after 1993, when sales dropped to less than 2,000 units a year.

The SVX was equipped with a 230hp 3.3 liter flat-six engine, the aforementioned AWD system (available as an option over the base FWD), and (get this) exclusively automatic transmissions. Now, the fact that the SVX was never sold from the factory with a manual tranny largely limited its appeal among anyone with a performance tilt. The SVX's interior was outfitted with enough upscale trim that it looks to have been positioned against the Lexus SC class—although the market for those cars was cramped as it was and Subaru wasn't exactly the marque most consumers were interested in when they went shopping for a big performance luxury car.

Subaru sold around 25,000 SVXs worldwide from 1991 through 1997—just over half were sold here in the US and the rest were sold in Japan and Europe under varying names, such as the Subaru Alcyone SVX.

Collectability: Below average. Buy the SVX only if you want a car that looks vaguely like a spaceship out of a 1950s sci-fi comic.

(+) It's got awesome windows. Anyone with tinted windows need not apply—if you like big greenhouse windows that let in loads of light and are sure to get your car second looks in parking lots, this is the car for you. If you're the kind of person who likes to drive with the wind in your hair, this may not be it—the part of the windows that roll down aren't terribly large.

I actually rather like it. It's unique.

(+) It's a big Subaru. In fact, it's one of the biggest Subarus ever made. If you're a Subaru nut (and you know who you are) who wants the biggest and bestest Subaru of all time, then this is ... it.

(-) 4EAT, the code for the 4-speed automatic transmission. All SVXs that came off of Subaru's assembly lines came with an automatic—and a ludicrously highly geared automatic, at that. If you were able to hit the rev limiter in 4^th gear, you'd be doing something like 195mph. You'll never get there—but that's a lot.

While it's possible to swap a manual transmission into an SVX, it does take an awful lot of work, and the only transmissions that bolt up without an adapter plate are the 92–98 Subaru boxes—the strongest of which were put in the 1998 WRX and which are notorious for failing to handle much more than the 227hp the WRX made stock...which is less than the SVX's 230.

(-) It's really heavy. This car weighs in at nearly 3600lbs empty, which is pretty serious for a car making only 230hp and driven through a 4-speed automatic. These cars aren't exactly the zippiest in factory form and aren't really all that spry around the corners, either. Figure 16 seconds to 60 and a skidpad rating of 0.85g.

(-) It's a big 1990s Japanese quasi-luxury GT. The Lexus SC and Acura Legend aren't exactly in huge demand and even if they were, the SVX is at the bottom of that list in terms of being things that 1990s Japanese quasi-luxury GT cars are: comfortable, reliable, and discreet.

Expect to pay: $4,000 for a solid 1992 through to $8,000 for a loaded 1997.

What to look for:

• AWD models only. FWD SVX's really have no appeal other than slightly better gas mileage.
  
• Both the wheel bearings and the transmission are prone to early failure. Do a solid check for squealing or sticking bearings at all four corners, and make sure the slushbox does its thing quickly and without letting the engine rev out.
  
• Manual tranny swaps are OK as long as they're done correctly. Climb under the car and give the clutch and shifter linkages a serious shaking, since none of the parts are original.