As today’s Nice Price or No Dice SVX proves, Subaru used to do oddball really well. Let’s see if this callback to the company’s wilder days comes with a price that’s not too crazy.
In one of the interior pictures for yesterday’s 1990 BMW 325iX Touring, the front seats were shown overlain with those beaded ball seat covers. That gave the car the air of a taxi in an exotic foreign land, but hopefully not the aroma. No word was given in the ad as to whether they are included in the sale or not, but at $27,900, they darn well should be. That asking price made high demands, and many of you felt the whole package couldn’t meet those demands. The result was a hefty 86 percent No Dice loss.
Have you ever wondered why Porsche has yet to put one of its storied flat-six engines in one of its front-engined cars or crossovers? I know I’ve been kept up nights contemplating that conundrum. Maybe it’s because the good folks at Porsche once looked at the Subaru SVX with its 3.3-liter boxer six and thought to themselves, “How could we top this?”
It’s a valid question since, while the company would continue to offer flat-six engines in a number of vehicles following the SVX, the grand touring coupe was a daunting competitor in both engineering and style as well as a complete surprise coming from the little brand that could, Subaru.
They say the candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long, and the SVX only managed a mere six years in the North American market before poor sales and a crashing Japanese economy shut down the crazy train.
This 1995 Subaru SVX LSi is the top-of-the-line model, featuring all the bells and whistles offered back in the day. It has, however, seen better days. The seller describes the car’s condition as fair, noting that the bodywork suffers from a number of dents, scratches, and one spot of rust.
The paint atop that compromised canvas has engaged the sun in a decades-long duel that it seemingly has lost. Once black, it’s now a patina’d patchwork showing its primer in numerous places and some still-shiny bits elsewhere.
Adding insult to injury, the windscreen on the car is cracked. The seller says an intact windshield will be included, but it’s up to the buyer to install it. Aftermarket alloys also come on the car, and those wear new rubber.
That’s pretty much all the bad news, as the cabin seems to have held up much better than the exterior. The beige leather and vinyl upholstery doesn’t seem to have suffered any serious wear, with the fabric covering on the dash and doors fairing similarly.
Under the hood, things are just as tidy looking, with no evidence of monkey business or cobbled repairs. All SVXs came fitted with the 231 horsepower flat-six with a four-speed automatic as its sole dance partner. Lower-spec models were offered with FWD, but this being the LSi, it’s AWD. According to the ad, the engine has fresh cam cover seals and had its timing belt refreshed at 100K. The car now has 166,000 miles on the clock, and the seller says it suffers no mechanical issues save for a broken speedometer. The odometer is still counting, so the issue must be in the cluster and not at the transmission. Happily, both the A/C and heat are working as they should. Finally, the car comes with a clean title.
With fewer than 15,000 cars sold in North America 30 or so years back, there aren’t that many SVXs rolling around these days. They also don’t seem to have garnered a following in the manner of Nissan’s 300ZX or Toyota’s Supra. That puts them in a weird place, and when one shows up, it’s hard to say what exactly to make of it. This one has lots of visual blight, but that’s countered by it maintaining that still-impressive design — I mean, come on, just look at those crazy windows! That all makes this a car that will not be a crowd pleaser but might speak to that one crazy individual who has always wanted one and has $3,700 burning a hole in their pocket right this very moment.
That’s the asking price for this SVX, which the seller says is firm and isn’t interested in trades as an alternative or payments over time. What’s your take on this odd car and that $3,700 price tag? Does that seem like a fair deal to let your freak flag fly? Or is that too much when counted on a dollar-per-dent basis?
You decide!
Missoula, Montana, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Charles Jenner for the hookup!
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