Yes, please.
Photography Courtesy Ruslana Kashchuk/Facebook
The late 1980s were a different time: Everyone was listening to songs sung by raisins, Berlin was still divided into two parts and Subaru had yet to be known for their rally-dominating Imprezas.
Instead, the Japanese carmaker produced some truly unique Rad-era cars like this wedge-shaped Alcyone VR 4WD Turbo. (Also known as the XT Coupe or Vortex, depending on the market.)
Imported from Japan, this Alcyone is powered by a turbo flat-four that sends its power to all four wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.
The Alcyone also comes with a clean Florida title and is, according to the listing, “ready to be driven home on the day of purchase.”
Find this 1988 Subaru Alcyone VR 4WD Turbo listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $16,850.
Yes, please.
That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
I still remember the TV commercials for the XT.
Scene: old guy and his adult son, on a farm somewhere.
"Well, son, it's time to go buy a new Subaru."
Subaru canters off into the distance.
XT rolls up.
"I thought I told you to buy a Subaru."
"I did."
Edit: Amazing how close my fuzzy 40 year old memory was
CyberEric said:That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
Wait till you see it move up and down with the entire cluster.
Appleseed said:CyberEric said:That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
Wait till you see it move up and down with the entire cluster.
Ha ha ha! Welcome to the 1980s where weird is good.
The XT still had the handbrake on the FRONT wheels, too. It was strong enough that you didn't need to use the foot brake in normal traffic.
Just don't ask about the trials and tribulations involved with removing and installing a front axleshaft.
Also, note that the vent in the hood is not a WRX style intercooler grille. The EA82T engine was not intercooled. If it was the same spec as US then it made less power than the EJ18 from a base model '93 Impreza, too, with the same displacement. 110 grangly horsepower, up from 88 for a non turbo car.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Weird is/was good. More weird these days wouldn’t suck, either.
I had an XT6, did they all get the shift hold button? The "shift hold" feature on the auto box really does hold a shift. When pressed it will down-shift very early and up-shift very late all by itself.
I once found a Prince cassette and a rare battery pack for a Sega Nomad handheld video game system in a US market XT6 at the junkyard once, and in my head, that made perfect sense. A quirky, cool car for quirky, cool individuals.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
That's too cool. And yeah, totally checks out.
Tony Sestito said:I once found a Prince cassette and a rare battery pack for a Sega Nomad handheld video game system in a US market XT6 at the junkyard once, and in my head, that made perfect sense. A quirky, cool car for quirky, cool individuals.
Bro this is absolutely quest-starter material. You need to follow up on this because there's an alien race that's getting ravaged by space pirates or a princess with a curse or something that requires a hero.
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