Subaru SVX

1995 Subaru SVX L Description

"What we have here is an incredibly sexy Giugaro designed sports coupe with a 3.3-liter six-cylinder Boxer engine and many of the same luxury features you'd find on a Lexus from the same era. It also weighs more than 3,500 pounds. That's amazing! Could you really see Subaru coming out with a car like this today?" ~Taken from Patrick George off of Jalopnik.com
The SVX offers fantastic driver visibility with its exotic two-piece powered side window configuration. Conceived by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, the man who created the BMW M1 and the VW Golf, the SVX achieves a drag coefficient of only 0.29, which contributes to its good gas mileage. Add to it Subaru's legendary all-wheel-drive system, and you have a unique car that always draws attention due to it's stand-out styling and performance.
I purchased this Subaru SVX as a first car for my teenager several years ago. Unfortunately for my teenager, this car had a front bearing failure, torque bind in the steering, and several other issues that prevented us from driving it. His first car immediately turned into a great Father/Son project! We began by working our way through the engine bay eliminating leaks, swapping fluids, replacing plugs, etc., etc. etc., and got this wonderful 3.3 liter boxer engine purring like a kitten. We then turned our attention on the transmission bearing issue. The transmission was pulled, but instead of simply replacing the bad bearing, we did some research and discovered the SVX's stock transmissions commonly fail due to their final stock drive ratio of 3.55:1, which puts a lot of torque on the transmission. We then discovered there is a direct swap transmission from other Subaru's of the era with a 4.44:1 final drive that offers several hundred thousand miles of worry free service, better fuel economy, and better overall performance. Without a second thought a 4.44 replacement transmission was purchased and installed! Additionally, a new speed sensor was installed to eliminate the torque bind issue and to ensure the speedometer worked correctly. Of course you can't have mismatched drive ratios, so we also replaced the rear differential with a matching 4.44 axle. (Car comes with the original transmission and axle too.) Along the way we also replaced the break pads and flushed the break system. The old battery tested bad, so just this summer we replaced it with a new one. The power steering had a low pressure hose leak, which we fixed as well. All other fluids were flushed and fresh replacements were added.
Today the car starts right up and is movable under its own power, but it does have a few issues. We drove it over to a local mechanic for inspection, and he identified the following items needing repair: (Item 1) replacement of a stretched transmission shift linkage cable, (Item 2) replacement of the front passenger side break line, (Item 3) wind shield wiper replacements (wipers were purchased, but not installed at the time of the inspection), and (Item 4) an engine/transmission area cleaning to remove old accumulated oil to allow inspection for any new leaks. The under carriage was scrubbed with degreaser, scrubbed again, and then washed clean. No additional or new leaks were discovered. However, that's as far as we got with the repairs prior to college starting. In addition to these registration issues, this is a 20+ year old car with old car issues such as scratches, dents, dings, etc., but nothing that would prevent the car from being road worthy.

As close as we are to getting the car registered, we have just run out of time. My teenager has gone off to college and is no longer available to work on the car, and my new job's time demands preclude me from finishing it up alone. Rather than leaving it sitting, we would like to sell it to someone who can finish up the minor repairs and get this fantastic car back on the road.

Engine Specifications:

3.3 liter 6 cylinder 24 valve DOHC Boxer engine.
230 horsepower @ 5400 rpm, Torque: 228 @ 4400 rpm
Multi-port fuel injection with dual spray injectors with Platinum-tipped spark plugs
Computerized management system with "Limp Home feature", incl. over-rev protection, monitors fuel injection and ignition.

Fuel economy: 17 city, 25 highway

Gauges and dashboard:
160 MPH Speedometer
fuel and coolant temp gauge
warning lights for low fuel, brake light, door ajar

Power and Luxury Features:
All-Wheel Drive with viscous Limited Slip rear differential using a
90/10% power split front/rear, with up to a 50/50% power split for maximum traction
Power windows
Power door locks
Power dual side mirrors
Cruise Control
Automatic climate control with air conditioning and outside temp. gauge
Projector beam headlights with integrated fog-lights
Dual illuminated visor mirrors, map lights
Glove box, trunk and door lights
Speed sensing variable speed intermittent with "winter mode"
Electric rear window defroster with Intermittent wiper/washer

Buyer is responsible for vehicle pickup or shipping.