front view, red engine bay with exposed intake manifold and mechanical components.

Let’s face it, Subaru just isn’t weird anymore. A thoroughly mainstream company, it has enjoyed great success selling all-wheel-drive crossovers with lots of plastic body cladding to people who wear outdoorsy clothes while spending most of their time indoors. Subarus are safe. They are reliable. They are no quirkier than having extra pockets on your Gore-Tex pants.

side view, red coupe parked on cracked pavement beside industrial building.

However, once upon a time, Subaru was goofier than Mickey Mouse’s best pal. See an example of this delightfully odd past on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos): a 1992 Subaru SVX in bright red, complete with low mileage, weirdo side windows, and flat-six power.

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rear three-quarter view, red coupe parked on paved lot with rear spoiler.

On paper, the SVX is a bit of a head scratcher. The design is Italian, done by Giugiaro’s Itadesign, and incorporates swelling curves and a glassy cockpit. The curb weight is considerable, at over 3600 pounds, and the 3.3-liter flat-six engine is unstressed at 230 horsepower. The only transmission offered was a four-speed automatic.

front view, red engine bay with exposed intake manifold and mechanical components.

So, this was not some rally-crazed, boosted-to-heck Impreza sedan like a WRX, but a grand tourer. Parked next to various toaster-shaped Foresters in Subaru showrooms of the time, the SVX looked wildly out of place, especially with those inset power side windows.

vehicle interior view. beige dashboard with wood trim, steering wheel and automatic shifter.

The strangeness just added character. Further, the SVX proved nearly unparalleled at dispatching miles, no matter the weather conditions. Everything fans like about boxier, more utilitarian regular Subarus was present in terms of unflappable performance in terrible weather conditions. The SVX just added a level of leather-lined polish for a car that turned any sort of driving into effortless swanning.

This example is a limited-run 25th Anniversary edition and has just 16,000 miles on the odometer. Inside are niceties like a power driver’s seat, cruise control, automatic climate control, and a CD player that is hidden behind a faux wood panel. It’s a well-optioned car and would have cost the equivalent of $52,000 when new, adjusted for inflation.

Not all that popular in its day, an SVX makes for an interesting modern collectible today. It’s relaxing to drive, interesting to look at, and you don’t often see them on the road. Should Subaru bring back a modern version? Probably not, but the SVX does give a glimpse at a bygone time when Subaru was both weird and good.

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