SVX Network Forums Live Chat! SVX or Subaru Links Old Lockers Photo Post How-To Documents Message Archive SVX Shop Search |
IRC users: |
#1
|
||||
|
||||
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!
__________________
1992 charcoal grey SVX: 27 August 2002 to 27 January 2004 - she will be missed Was back in Sydney for a while but not hot enough so now in Dubai! Has it been that long since I owned SVX-33H! |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
HAHA You go, James!
Mike |
#3
|
||||
|
||||
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.
__________________
2005 RX-8 Grand Touring 2005 Outback 2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 wagon END OF LINE |
#4
|
||||
|
||||
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! ) 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?????
__________________
1992 charcoal grey SVX: 27 August 2002 to 27 January 2004 - she will be missed Was back in Sydney for a while but not hot enough so now in Dubai! Has it been that long since I owned SVX-33H! |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
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.
__________________
Good s**t happened. 69 was worth the wait. '92 stock semi-pristine ebony - 160K '96 Grand Caravan - 240K '01 Miata SE - 79K '07 Chrysler Pacifica - 60k - future money pit. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
you gotta love it when you shut a windbag up...
you go boy! Kelli
__________________
Previous owner of the Princess Pearlie "Dimples" as of 8/6/03 1992 LS-L Pearl 124k "Yeah, that thingy!" owner of the new 1992 LS-L Pearl "Susie" I am a pessimistic optimistic. I think the worst is going to happen, that way when it does, i don't feel as bad, but if the best happens, i am twice as happy. |
#8
|
||||
|
||||
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.
__________________
2005 RX-8 Grand Touring 2005 Outback 2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 wagon END OF LINE |
#9
|
||||
|
||||
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
__________________
1992 charcoal grey SVX: 27 August 2002 to 27 January 2004 - she will be missed Was back in Sydney for a while but not hot enough so now in Dubai! Has it been that long since I owned SVX-33H! |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
the same applies to the SVX - maybe thats why i was drawn to it. i gotta have a car with character
__________________
Alan 1987 928 S4 (Black) SOLD! 1997 SVX LSi (Ebony) SOLD! 2005 Legacy GT (Silver) [Cobb Stg 2+] SOLD! 1987 928 S4 (Black) SOLD! 2005 Forester XT Premium (Crystal Gray Metallic) SOLD! 2008 Lancer Evolution X MR (Apex Silver) [Cobb Stg 1+] 2015 Outlander Sport 2.4GT AWD (Mercury Gray) 2013 G37xS (Obsidian Black) |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|