The Underappreciated Subaru Alcyone SVX and Legacy Touring Wagon, by Kyosho…

We are probably just as guilty for not appreciating these two models.  The fact is we took these photos several months ago, but never posted them.

And that is a shame because they are a very cool duo, lost in a sea of BRZ’s and STi’s, and, at least in my mountainous area, Outbacks, and are two models that need a little more love.  The Wagon because it isn’t sold in the US, which is a shame, and the SVX because it is a model that never took off like many expected it would.

We like sporty wagons, and the Legacy certainly qualifies as such.  It really is too bad, as I would take a wagon over the sedan anytime.

The SVX?  We will let Ryu Asada, of Hot Wheels Design fame, who owns an 1996 SVX, and is also from Japan, tell you about this misunderstood gem:

It has a very unique and elegant body style (at least we think) done by the greatest Italian designer Giugiaro who had designed numbers of great cars in the past including Lotus Esprit, Delorean, BMW M1, etc..(you can research).. A lot of us probably like SVX because of its look…even after 25 years, never gets old!
It was super unusual for Subaru to outsourse the exterior design as well. You can tell Subaru was very serious to make thier flagship GT car that doesn’t look like any other Japanese cars. In order to capture his original concept/idea of “jet fighter canopy” look roof, the engineers never compromised to achive it depite of extreme difficuties they’re facing.
Back in the day Subaru engineers had very strong motto of “never compromise”.  Some say it was over engineered.  It was good times.  If you looked around, many car manufacutures were making cars like NSX, R32 GTR, Toyota Soarer, Mitsu GTO, Eunos Cosmo.  So it was Subaru’s attempt to step up, join the game and make their own flagship, their own GT car.  Well the timing was bad.  Economy crashed soon after SVX finally came out, and those Subaru engineers hope & dream didn’t last long.  And that made the car so rare and hard to find, some even say failure.  But I believe the SVX really deserves a 2nd chance!
There were certain diffrerences between JDM and US versions, but JDM SVX came with VTD 4WD transmission which I believe you can thank SVX for today’s Subarus.  I’ve never driven JDM SVX unfortunately, but I heard it was very nice.  (US version carried over old XT tranny..?)  Also the EG33 flat 6 is very smooth and very reliable.  It was going to be 3.0 turbo but since it was supposed to be all round GT car for enthusiasts or grown ups, so they decided to drop that idea and grew engine by 10%, hence 3.3L.  It could’ve been interesting if they did make 3.0L turbo and manual gearbox. SVX never came with 5spd.  My SVX is basically trouble free for about 8 years… (excluding sensors or those small things, you know..)  JDM also came with a 4WS system..must be nice.  The interior design is bit dated but the wrap-round suade pads are very nice touch and that’s what everybody notice when they got inside of my car.  The ride is very comfortable and smooth, yet delivers decent power if you shift to lower gears.  Cornering is very neautral thanks to its 4WD.  Feel safe as well in any weather condition.
Forgot to mention but I heard SVX was great on snow too!  That’s something I’ve never experienced here in Cali.  Also great on LA traffic too…very comfortable..when I’m stuck in S2K, I just get really frustrated.. 

(You can find the Kyosho Subaru models at Curitiba Customs and on eBay…)