Sydney Motor Show 2002
 

Well, just returned from the motorshow and has it been an eye opener after finally getting to own an SVX....


after all these years, the attention to detail and the build quality is just gobsmacking! Had a look at a Liberty B4.....I'm sorry, but I have to say this, what a piece of junk!!! The doors felt like paper they were so light and fragile, the interior was low rent plastic, the blue leather an abomination (all the Australian delivered ones have blue leather) and a tacky keypad alarm added as an afterthought, exposed wires and all, sitting behind the gear shift. This from a $55,000AU car that is seeking to capture sales from Audi A4 Quattro's, SAAB turbo and BMW 3 series....ie, the sports sedans...capture sales...sound familiar???

As for the sales lackey, aside from the initial 'this is a B4 and will outrun anything on the road' it soon degenerated him into slagging off the SVX...now that is just not on!! Turns out he had never driven one and such, had no idea and then the usual "well, this would beat an SVX anyday"....yeah, whatever!! Auto or manual...rolling start, midrange or offline? By the time I was finished he looked like a) a fool and b) that he knew nothing about Subaru or their products....idiot!! He also looked like he was going to kill me since other people were listening in and grinning...guess thats what happens when you start babbling about something you know nothing about!!!

Of all the cars, the only one that I would really like is either an AMG SL55 or a CL500.......when I got home, I unwrapped my beloved, cleaned some dust off, cursed them for not making them anymore, and retired to bed...happy, content and with a totally brilliant car!

Long live the SVXer's!

HAHA You go, James!

Mike

James, thanks for the story. It was a fun read.

I agree with you about the cheap-feeling interiors, but I didn't think it extended to higher-end models. A friend of mine just bought a brand-new Outback and the interior feels very, very nice.

The thing is, almost every auto manufacturer is going to really thin plastic for the interior. Is it to save weight? Is it a sacrifice in the name of other features? I don't know. Thin, cheap plastics in the interior used to be primarily the domain of the Big Three, but the bar can always be lowered. Believe it or not, the Big Three seem to be using even cheaper interiors than before.

Maybe I am just being picky....the Outback loaner I had was excellent....I suppose that given the hoopla that accompanied the B4 I was really expecting something great.....and was, as you can imagine, not only surprised but pleased to see how our decade old cars still, I say, exceed the current range.

Not in terms of performance as a sole criterion (SVX v STI = dead SVX! :D ) but rather as an overall package....but even compared to other manufactuters (at least ones available to OZ) I was really really surprised.

As my friend commented (Jag nut, ex BMW 328 owner), "you're spoiled" as we sat in cars going "this is junk" "what were they thinking" "I want to go home my Subaru" etc!!

;)

He was the same friend that I had nail my SVX up and down a deserted industrial estate road to hear that growl echo off the buildings....evil looking thing in the twilight, screaming like a banshee as it tore past.....have I mentioned that I would like to do a Trevor Wheeler on it and buy the rights to make SVX's like he did with the TVR's, so impressed was he with the cars!!

*I am 99% positive it was TVR....may be incorrect but sentiments the same!*

Any investors?????

:D

I know there's a company that will build you a 'refurbished' delorean with any options you like... even some new updated options like HID headlamps and specially tuned engines.

Mike

Just for the sake of nostalgia, a disease I can't seem to shake lately, I recall the interior choices of '50s cars. Perhaps there were few choices in drivetrains (Ya wanna' six or an eight wit dat)?, but I remember collecting the brochures at auto shows that were very elaborate multi-page publications that offered many color & material interior combinations available upon special order. Even Chevy, Ford & Plymouth (The "Low Priced Three") had choices. Perhaps today's "Gotta have it NOW"!! attitude has eliminated the selections we once had, but required a "wait" for the results.

Geezin' again - Ron.

you gotta love it when you shut a windbag up...

you go boy!

Kelli;)

James, I agree with you entirely. Occasionally, if the SVX has been shut up and covered in the garage for a long time, I start to think things like, 'man, maybe it's really not that unique. Maybe this car isn't any different than any other that draws people to it and causes owners to come together. Maybe all the tidbits of info we dig up about the car's design and manufacture aren't really all that impressive.'

But all I have to do is step into the garage, take the cover off and just sit in the car.

The SVX is special. It's not the quickest or the fastest car Subaru could build - it was the best. How often does that happen in any car company?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There's friggin' love in that car, man. You can see it in the car and you could see it in the faces of the guys who built it.

The SVX is special. It's not the quickest or the fastest car Subaru could build - it was the best. How often does that happen in any car company?


THAT is the best way of describing the SVX that I have ever heard!!

*standing ovation*

James

i agree. it was the same with my old 928 - overbuilt, the best they ever made, yet nobody knew anything about it (but owned by a lot of the engineers and factory drivers as a personal car.) sinking resale value made it affordable to a common jerk like me.

the same applies to the SVX - maybe thats why i was drawn to it. i gotta have a car with character :D