The Subaru SVX World Network - judgement upon my SVX (long post):

I remember seeing my first SVX. The guy was passing me in traffic on the freeway. I was driving my ex-rental Dodge Colt. I remember thinking "lucky rich guy". The combination of flat six, AWD and that never-before-seen styling made an impression. I never thought about him or the SVX much after that until we found an Outback in our household. I became a fan of that car the first time I drove it. In between the Colt and the Outback were a truck and my wife's Miata.

The Miata was her aspirational car. She had wanted one since they were introduced with the '90 model. When she told me after having it for three years that she wanted to sell it, I didn't believe her. In the spring of 2001, she told me to prep it and advertise it. We started talking about what she wanted to replace it. Life with the Outback was good and I was reminded of the SVX. I showed her John's SVX website and she looked at the pictures of the car. She smiled. We discussed the known shortcomings but she was grabbed by the Guigaro design from the first. When she drove one for the first time, her mind was made up. The first guy that came to look at the Miata bought it. As he drove off, we got into the Outback and drove out to Carter Subaru, where I knew there were two SVX's on the lot. The Ebony Pearl LSi came home.

I thought then it was a respectable car and a good choice for her. Me, my aspirational cars were out of reach. The Outback is our commuter, grocery-getter and kayak hauler. The SVX is our secondary commuter… and my real-world enthusiast car. Every one of my automotive aspirations and fantasies, every Porsche and Ferrari that I'll never own, are borne by the SVX, which is a lot to put on a car. We've had the SVX for two years and I've been OK with it. Until last weekend.

I love organized car events. We had been members of the Miata club and did tours, gimmick rallies, picnics and holiday parties and I loved it. When the Miata went, so did my access to the club. Since then, I've tried to fit into whatever events I can. We went on an all-marque rally this spring, a Subaru-only event this summer and attended the All British Field Meet (in a borrowed MG). Last weekend was the Run to the Gorge, another all-marque event. It's a tour from the Tacoma Jag dealer that runs the backroads of southwest Washington State to the Columbia River Gorge (where the river cuts through the Cascade mountain range on it's way to the ocean; pretty spectacular). The transition stage took us out of the city to a small rural town where the first leg began. Cars were well spaced out and we saw almost no other cars as we leisurely covered the first leg. At the end of it, I fell into conversation with the driver of the only other Japanese car on the Run, a Honda S2000. He in turn was parked with a Lotus Elan and a Jag XK8. After talking for a while, someone suggested getting starting on the second leg. We all returned to our cars & I pulled the LSi in behind the S2K. Almost simultaneously, the Lotus, the Jag and the S2K did a full-throttle exit out onto the two-lane highway.

A friend of mine has observed that on road tours, there's always two groups of drivers: the slow group and the fast group. I had inadvertently fallen in with the fast group.

We briskly motored along the highway until the instructions took us off onto the road that goes down the east shoulder of our local volcano, Mt. St. Helens. The first sign after leaving the highway was the much-sought-after yellow diamond with the squggly arrow and the smaller sign announcing "for the next 40 miles".

Sports car nirvana.

With the Lotus driver as our rabbit, the rest of us followed, ignoring the speed limit and corner speed signs. We drove fast and hard for the next 15 to 20 minutes, on the most wonderful turns anywhere. Off-camber, decreasing radius, turns with pavement dropouts in the apex (caused by winter freezes or undermined by spring runoff), uphill turns and down, blind turns and esses with a clear line of sight. The lightweight (2400 lb, 165 hp) Lotus ate up that road; the Jag matched him using horsepower and roadholding; the S2K, with 100 hp for each of its two litres & six-speed, kept up by keeping the revs up and constantly stirring that box (in that run, I saw his brake lights come on not once). Somehow, we encountered only a few other vehicles, all of which pulled over to give us way and all of which got four grateful and friendly "thank you" waves as we sped by. We stopped for picnic lunch at Windy Ridge, overlooking the crater of the volcano. I was exhilarated. After lunch, we took on the rest of that road: more of same, fast and faster.

If there's a point here, it's this: in that estimable group of blueblood sports cars with capable drivers at the helm of each one, the LSi gave up not one inch. Not for a heartbeat, not even once. The S2K driver got out looking for black paint on his rear bumper.

I came to know my SVX for the first time on that road. I've driven autocross and rallies but never have I ever engaged in driving as sporty as that Saturday. The LSi used its AWD all afternoon. As I set up for each turn and headed for each apex, power-on, the feel of four wheels working together was awesome. Understeer? Just input more power, and the 3.3 was there, ready to deliver. No watching the rev's, no waiting for turbo spool-up (no shifting, for that matter). When the power hits the wheels, the attitude of the car changes from early understeer to near neutral. While accelerating.

Ma gawd.

Set up the car to enter the turn, drop the inside front tire over the fogline, look for the apex, squeeze on more power, feel the G's build, hit the apex while fully opening the throttle plate and accelerate with gay abandon toward the exit, while sizing up the next one and being careful to not actually nudge the S2K. On the short straights, bursts over 100 (I'm always surprised how fast the SVX is from 60 to 100). In forty-odd miles, this was repeated scores of times without drama. I still don't know where the limits are in this car (although on one decreasing radius turn I'd sized up incorrectly, the near neutral attitude switched for a split second to oversteer; the outside rear tire chirped once and then the whole system took over and we exited the turn with dignity intact. The SVX is also very forgiving.).

Oh yeah. On Sunday morning, with the Run officially over, we left the hotel on our own and did some sightseeing down the Gorge, poking along gawking at views and waterfalls like the tourists that we were. After that, we rejoined the freeway for the three-hour drive back home. Closed the windows and sunroof, turned the climate control on a gentle setting, put in a CD. She fell asleep as the LSi wafted us home in comfort and quiet. It's all that too.

A friend and fellow SVX driver asked me afterwards about my previously self-proclaimed Corvette lust. I hadn't thought about it but realized, when he called me on it, that it was gone. Corvette? We don't need no stinkin' Corvette. Besides, it ain't got AWD. After the Run to the Gorge, I have more respect and admiration for my SVX than any car I've ever owned and many that I've lusted for. I was so proud I could bust. We were as good as any car on that road that day and better than many. We ran with 'em and we could stand with 'em. It may be a while before I get the unique combination of that group of drivers, a road like FR25 and the absence of traffic on that magic day, but I shall look forward to it.

I can hardly wait.