Subaru XT is an attempt at a lightweight sports car, its performance far exceeds anyone's expectations, thanks to some amazing futuristic features.
The year is 1985. The United States is recovering from a huge and terrible oil crisis (as in other parts of the world), and companies are trying to make cars fast and small. Lightweight and compact is synonymous with this game! Fuel economy is a female dog, but power and fun are now being developed for people who are tired of bold cars and large family porters such as the old Ford Cortina Wagon or other slow-recorded vehicles. Enter Subaru XT. Imagine palm trees and a booming economy, computers, and fighter jets! Even talking to David Hasselhoff in the car. Subaru XT runs through all of this, adopting a wedge-shaped design that is suitable for the times but enduring, and the drag coefficient is only 0.26. The pop-up headlights turned on, and what looked like a video game appeared where the instrument cluster should appear. An opposed 6-cylinder engine accelerates, which is indeed a very rare sound for Subaru!
Unless you own one of the coupes, many crazy facts about the XT are almost forgotten. Most features have disappeared in the shadow of its successor Subaru SVX. XT itself is a legend. Almost every aspect of its existence extends too far into the future. From ride height adjustment to built-in turbo pressure gauge, people in the 1980s really appreciated it. If you are like us, you might finish reading this article and immediately jump on Craigslist and try to find one! You may be pleasantly surprised to find that they are well taken care of and are not too expensive at the moment!
From the beginning, even in their largest SUV, Subaru has never produced a 6-cylinder engine. They are not in the Forester STI in Japan, not in any Outback, not even in their 4,603-pound new Ascent! There are only three exceptions, the first is this one, XT. The second is its descendant, the legendary SVX. The XT engine is the "ER27" released in 1985.
The ER27 is a 2.7-liter six-cylinder engine, which is manufactured to fit a wide and low long and inclined hood. Although most of the engines in the XT are four-cylinder engines, the 6-cylinder option has 145 horsepower and 156 foot-pounds of torque, second only to the Japanese XT. The power of the four-cylinder engine "ER82" is only 1.7 liters, slightly less than 100 horsepower, which is the basis of the six-cylinder engine. Now, 97 may not seem like much, but for a 2513.27 pound car, it has a lot of potential, especially if it is going to get turbo (spoiler alert: it does get turbo) !
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Not only is there an AWD option, but it can also be turned on as you want by pressing the button on the top of the shift lever, just like things in a science fiction movie! Although Subaru mainly focused on all-wheel drive, due to the success of their four-wheel drive station wagon, they did not do anything else for about ten years. Their main purpose of making XT is for fuel consumption and simplicity, because it should be a lightweight city sports car.
They also added a feature that was very unusual and rarely used at the time. It is an ECU that controls power output. This will be the beginning of a great rallying career for the legendary 22B, Collin McRae and the unparalleled Symmetrical AWD. Today, Subaru is known for its extremely advanced and intuitive AWD system.
Nearly 10 years before the Toyota Supra (Mk4) had a driver-centric layout similar to the cockpit, Subaru was creating a fighter-inspired design from the dial to the gear lever. The square, prominent lines were very impressive in that era and stood the test of time. Gadgets and buttons seem to be more than functional, almost everyone will turn on the afterburner!
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It also has a gun-type shifter (automatic and manual) with a button on the top, and if this option is on a car, it can turn the front-wheel drive into all-wheel drive. The exterior is designed with swooping lines and cockpit appearance. Due to the extreme wedge shape, it looks like it can fly. Even the lights are installed on the pod like a jet plane. It makes sense to see that Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, also manufactures aircraft (yes, there are Subaru aircraft).
Although people spend more to install air suspensions on their cars than the cost of the new Subaru XT, Subaru offered something similar in some of their cars in 1985. As long as the button installed near the steering wheel is pressed, the car can drive into a higher ride height (1.3") and a lower ride height, which is different from the high-end Mercedes of that era. It can do this while driving At one point, it also helps to maintain the level.
The feedback of the lift suspension has always been very good, but in the 1980s, the dealers didn't understand it. For a car worth about $38,000 in today's currency, this is a classic "unbelievably good" problem. The cost of this technology for cars is high and it cannot be repaid in sales, so Subaru discontinued this option before discontinuing the car in 1991.
Related: A detailed review of the Subaru BRAT
At the Tokyo Motor Show in 1985, this beauty (pictured) stepped onto the stage. This car is stylish, and although it doesn't inspire awe like some concepts, it remains true to the awe it does. The appearance and behavior of the "Subaru ACX-II" are very similar to the final result. It is still a 6-cylinder AWD (at least as an option) and has highly digital interior concepts such as real computer screens for the dashboard and central control unit!
The real XT is still faithful to the design, equipped with a beautiful steering wheel, making our top 10 the best look. We like this kind of deliberately asymmetrical work, its shape is elegant, not too ridiculous, and it stays cool day after day. In our opinion, the cockpit seems to have been improved. Although the layout of ACX-II is simple, the style of fighter pilots is an improvement.
Related: 10 amazing car concepts that we hope to become a reality soon
In XT's turbocharged models, you can see your car driving! Kind of...in a graphical way from the 80s. Just like in a video game, your car is shown driving towards the horizon. The tachometer follows it on one side, and there is a boost meter (no number) on the other side. The actual RPM is displayed numerically next to the (also numerical) speed. Subaru may be too far ahead of its era in this regard, unfortunately it has not persisted.
The instrument panel moves with the (and unique at the time) adjustable steering wheel, and the computer can tell you strange information such as fuel level, cruising range, and travel distance. The whole thing is neatly placed in a well-shaded square viewport behind the steering wheel. If you are completely claustrophobic, there is a panel on the roof that can be removed almost like some kind of hard-top convertible... a bit like. It's hard to imagine driving this car would be terrible!
Related: The 10 greatest instrument displays in automotive history
Subaru usually doesn't like turbocharging, but when it comes to adding sportiness to a low-displacement four-cylinder engine, they are not against it. Sadly, it wasn't until the incredible Outback H6-3.0 that the 6-cylinder turbo appeared, and then did it appear conceptually. Nonetheless, turbocharging is a cool factor, and not many sports cars can claim that Subaru goes one step further...
Every turbocharged XT comes with a supercharge meter, but it does not include any numbers (as we mentioned). Instead, a bar will keep growing because it is visible in your pre-recommendation, the same as RMP. The turbocharger barely reaches 7 psi at maximum, but on such a small engine, it is enough to do this. With a simple valve or gate, you can make some nice turbine noises around the red line!
If you don't know, SVX is Subaru's step towards a super sports car. It wanted to be better prepared to play with big boys like Supra and GT-R, so SVX named "Subaru Vehicle X" appeared, which means experiment or the rest of the car in the automotive world. Like XT, this car is front-wheel drive with optional all-wheel drive.
Unlike XT, SVX is very fast! From 1991 to 1997, it could occupy a place in the world of supercars because of its 230 horsepower. Unlike XT, SVX only provides manuals. Finally, in our opinion, it is hardly so good-looking. It looks more like a catfish Camaro than a classic racing car. I can continue, but we also covered the entire SVX and its features in another article.
Related: Subaru SVX: Costs, Facts, and Figures
After about two years of success, Subaru XT was selected as the prestigious role, it was a gift from the NFL's "Most Valuable Player" in the Super Bowl in the late 1980s. Although this is cool, car rewards have never been so spectacular and sometimes receive negative reports, and the image of Subaru XT has been hit.
The three winners of the Subaru XT, Marcus Allen, Joe Montana, and Jerry Rice all found that they couldn't fit in their cars. The most important thing is that football players start to make a lot of money, and a car worth 40 to 50,000 dollars is best given away. Marcus gave his coupe to his brother, Joe gave his to a friend, and Jerry gave him to a relative. The MVP car reward is valid, but due to Subaru XT’s off-target ambition, it is now implying a new gift.
Although it is not clear that Subaru inspired Tesla's folding flat handles, we will say that they did. The handle has a button-like flip that can be retracted to open the door. When driving or sitting, place your hands flat to greatly improve aerodynamics (not true).
The lay-flat appearance does add to the car’s clean and trim aesthetics, but it’s not the only small advantage that makes the hard-working racing car stand out. Like some luxury cars in Le Mans, it has only one windshield wiper blade, and like the luxury GT, it has a headlight washer. Of course, we cannot ignore our favorite quirk, rectangular rims! What a bold move!
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Wyatt is from Utah and enjoys cycling, skiing and driving too fast. He has written articles about motorcycles and cars for many years, and he especially likes Japanese cars and off-road vehicles. He has appeared in DriveTribe more than once, and some of his content has been viewed more than 6.5 million times. He likes Formula 1, Formula Drift, Baja 1000 and World Rally Cross!