Old Top Gear - Subaru SVX Review

[dbarnblatt]

Very cool... from the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hH4b5UN4ao

[BRADY]

I have not seen this. I hoped that OLD Top Gear had done a review on the SVX, but had never found it!

Thanks for finding it!

[Lookin4SVX]

Thank you for posting the link.
I also thanked and liked the video on youtube.

[Crazy_pilot]

Well that's interesting - I didn't realize Euro-spec cars have a different center console. The USDM extends all the way to the rear seats but you can see at 5:55 that the Euro model stops short. No rear seat ashtray.

Thanks for posting the video!

[92 SVX]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

Well that's interesting - I didn't realize Euro-spec cars have a different center console. The USDM extends all the way to the rear seats but you can see at 5:55 that the Euro model stops short. No rear seat ashtray.

Thanks for posting the video!

I think that depends on the year, the 94+ that have manual seat belts does not have that extra long center console, I believe.
I just rewatched it and while it showcases the car very well I dont think the guy was really giving the car a chance He may not have liked it and let it show through his review.

Also that car does not have auto belts I think I read only USDM got them.

[jetboy]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

No rear seat ashtray.

European kids stopped smoking in the 80s, didn't need them

Thanks for the post.

[bishop]

Not bad but not great

[jetboy]

Edit: Below rant is mostly about english motoring press, not all englishmen in general and "our" englishmen in particular.

Originally Posted by bishop

Not bad but not great

The english hate Subaru. Only the STIs were ever good enough for them and only because they were cheap and great performance cars. There's little snow in England and it's deeply rooted in their culture to choose the most laborous and self torturing solution (like manhauling instead of motorized transport). In other words, a French car is a much more attractive proposition to them.

Of course, any english car or car built in UK (Vauxhall (=Opel/GM), Honda etc) is always bloody perfect (native english cars) or really good (badge engineered or Honda).

English motoring press have thrashed the BRZ and love the 86... for a nuance that's all about taste in handling.

A fair shaped SVX does not expend 8.6 sec 0-100.. unless the trans was in ECO mode. You can see the instruments if you bother to position yourself better and the steering wheel better. The window splitter beam is not annoying unless you're taller than most people etc etc. Some valid criticism is just fine, but downright stupid and faulty ones not.

Maybe I'm just a nerf, a zealot, an anorak, but this review was quite coloured by the typical english attitude towards Subaru.

[SVXMAN2001]

Average review. More pleasantly surprised than anything else just to see a new video! I found it funny that a critique was that the steering wheel blocked the instrument cluster. Dumbass clearly didn't know the car!

As for english folk not liking Subaru, I wasn't aware of that. I was always of the impression that they loved the Subaru's, impreza specifically. Hell the got the 22B!

[david_12121]

I wish it had one of those track videos that Jezza does...and a power lap
it'd probably be a slow one but who cares; the car is 20 years old
but it's always good to know that the car got some attention when it was launched
thanks for uploading it

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by SVXMAN2001

I found it funny that a critique was that the steering wheel blocked the instrument cluster. Dumbass clearly didn't know the car

Actually I have noticed that also. To put the wheel where I want to put it, it does block most of the dash. It's going to vary with the drivers height and arm length, but every car will have a certain driver size that make things awkward in some way.

[dcarrb]

A fair assessment, to my mind. And I liked that he alluded to the fact that 0-60 time isn't everything.

I've always thought one of the car's greatest design shortcomings is that, with the steering wheel stationed where I want, I constantly find myself having to peer around the thing to see some gauge or button. Haphazard layout. And I've read several reviewers who felt the side window divide bothered their peripheral vision. Doesn't trouble me, but maybe I'm just used to it. And the small window opening can certainly present problems at a car wash, parking lot ticket dispensers, bank drive-thru lanes, and the like.

dcb

[icingdeath88]

Originally Posted by dcarrb

A fair assessment, to my mind. And I liked that he alluded to the fact that 0-60 time isn't everything.

I've always thought one of the car's greatest design shortcomings is that, with the steering wheel stationed where I want, I constantly find myself having to peer around the thing to see some gauge or button. Haphazard layout. And I've read several reviewers who felt the side window divide bothered their peripheral vision. Doesn't trouble me, but maybe I'm just used to it. And the small window opening can certainly present problems at a car wash, parking lot ticket dispensers, bank drive-thru lanes, and the like.

I must be used to the steering wheel, or just the right height that it doesn't bother me. One of the more in-depth reviews I read years ago got it exactly right, IMO about the windows: after about an hour or two of driving it, you can't even see the window divides anymore. Most reviewers I suspect didn't spend quite enough time in the car to get used to it, but anyone who actually buys the car will get used to it practically instantly.

[dcarrb]

I suppose it's not so much the steering wheel that troubles me, but the way the turn signal/wiper control stalks tend to block the row of buttons below the instrument cluster. And I always find myself hunting for the mirror defrost and positioning controls. Guess I got spoiled by old Subies that had button clusters high on pods flanking the gauges, in full view no matter the position of the steering wheel.

dcb

[Huskymaniac]

I have x-ray vision. None of this matters to me.......