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1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon

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jasper911
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
My cousin in Detroit STILL has one of these as a winter and usually summer beater. Don't think it's a turbo but it looks identical. He liked it as a rear wheel drive much better after he blew out the front axles and drove it that way for a year or so until he killed the tranny. I didn't think you could do it but he did. Something about redlining it in low range then slamming it into high and running 5.0 Mustangs on Telegraph Rd. Now with a less "athletic" junkyard tranny, clutch and new axles it's plain old 4WD again. And the thing had a lot of miles on it when he got over a decade ago!
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MushyHeirloom
01/16/09

@jasper911: Rust is the only thing that kills these things, and I'm shocked his isn't made of it. Hell, my Volvo is being relegated to Parts Car Status because of it.
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SundaySunday
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
I remember being quite enamored by the '80s Subie wagons back in the day. It probably had more to do with the fact that I used to go downhill skiing a lot, and those Subaru US Ski Team posters were plastered all over the walls of the ski lodge.

Funny how a kid who could stare at pictures of Ferrari Mondials and daydream of life on the Cote d'Azur would also think an Alpine White Subaru Wagon with painted steel wagon wheels was just as cool in a different way.
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MushyHeirloom
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
This wouldn't've been at all notable five years ago, except for the turbo. Now, though, it is - once these got to about 10 years old, they were pretty much done for, and they were junked by 15.

I've never seen a Turbo, but my uncle's second (I think it came before the Lynx, anyway) car was one of these at the opposite end - absolute base wagon, red, the one front-wheel-drive wagon known to mankind.
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1300ccsoffury
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
The homeschooled kid's family that lived near me owned the first Subaru I'd ever seen, an early 80's wagon. I just added that to their weirdness factor. I didn't really know that Subaru made cars well before that, because there just weren't that many around Chicago before people decided that AWD was suddenly necessary for winter. Not enough beater Subes around here.
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Scrubcakes
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
I bought a 1986 Subaru XT Gl-10 for $750. Mine has a 5 speed and turbo, and the silly digital TURBO dash with the little car on the highway on the dash. Also has fighter pilot gauge pods, joystick shifter, TURBO factory stickers. The XT is more aerodynamic than the Prius, gets good mileage and has 4wd. But oh god the 80's, it's like Phil Collins/Hall & Oates penned the car themselves.
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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
01/16/09

@Scrubcakes: Awesome. I love the XTs. In my girlfriend's hometown, there's an XT6 that I see pretty regularly out there.

Fun Fact: apparently, the EA engines handle boost pretty well. If you read up on it, you'll find that you can turn it up to something like 14psi.
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Graverobber
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
It's odd seeing a Subaru without a Melissa Etheridge bumpersticker on it.
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LTDScott
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
A buddy of uses an early 80s version of one of these as an off road beater for when he's camping out in the desert in eastern California near Yuma. He enlarged the wheel well openings, put on some beefier tires, and damned if that thing won't go nearly anywhere. I was seriously impressed at the abuse it would take!
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Bumblebee
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
This is what I'm talking about right here:

[cgi.ebay.com]

Also, dare we speak of the SVX?
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brandegee
01/16/09

@Bumblebee: Great find, Bumblebee! A Brat 4x4 and an SVX would make a fine two-car garage combo.
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
An "old Subaru" in the non-snowy states would be a '98 Forester. Before the WRX, I saw maybe one Subie per week.

I remember going to Colorado most recently (in 2000) and thinking to myself "So this is how Subaru is still in business."
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Maxichamp
01/16/09

@Ash78: Colorado. And Vermont.
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Sloop_John_B
01/16/09

@Ash78: Don't forget Jackson Hole Wyoming. That place is choc a block full of these things. Yes, even the old ones. My guess is that, like a husky, these things don't perform well outside of their environment. In Alameda, these probably just die. In snowy states, they live forever.
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scroggzilla raids again
01/16/09

@Sloop_John_B: Every 3rd car in West Virginia is a Scoobie.
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LTDScott
01/16/09

@Ash78: And Seattle. I was amazed at the number of Subarus, to the point that I actually counted them driving along the freeway and I would see one on average every 20 seconds.
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
01/16/09

@LTDScott: @SCROGGZILLA RAIDS AGAIN!!: @Sloop_John_B: Interesting observations on geography. I think it says a lot about Subie's niche/reputation (and that they're being used as intended, more or less).

I can't think of any other marque with such distinct geographical delineations (ie, brands you see TONS of in one place, but not in another place)
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acarr260
01/16/09

@LTDScott: Washington (Seattle/Redmond area) was the first place where I was in awe of the numbers of Subarus.
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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
01/16/09

@Ash78: ...and the lake-effect snow-prone portions of upstate New York (east of Lakes Erie and Ontario).

Again, people who buy non-WRX Subarus, as a group, tend to buy them for pragmatic reasons. The WRX and STi begin to approach toy status, but there are still worse powerful cars to find yourself with in a snowstorm.
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discontinuuity has left the Jalop until further notice
01/16/09

@Ash78: My dad drives a 2001 or so Forester in Colorado. Once he was doing some business with the insurance company, which had a call center in the South somewhere. The employee he was talking to said something like "Well, since you've got an uncommon car, I'm not sure what to do here." Dad just laughed, and said, "You obviously haven't been to Colorado."
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discontinuuity has left the Jalop until further notice
01/16/09

@discontinuuity: Yes, these are a dime a dozen in Colorado, and are the car of choice for poor college students and blue collar mountain folk. One of my roommates used to have a '91 2WD wagon with the three-speed automatic, throttle-body injection, and bad compression. It got him around, but rather slowly, and sometimes the wheel nuts would start coming off.

Another college student I knew had a '84 sedan that had the carburetor held on with wooden blocks and C-clamps.
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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
Subaru really hit their stride in the late 80s.

I've seen one really old Subaru ever, a mid-70s wagon. A neighbor of mine on college had it, and I recall it having Arizona plates, which explains a lot. I'm sure by the time he graduated, the car was reduced to red powder. It was a really bizarre, hideous car. I coveted it.
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Maxichamp
01/16/09

In reply to 1989 Subaru GL AWD Turbo Wagon
A truly disposable utility car. A couple of years ago, I almost bought one of these for $750. My plan was to drive it to the North Slope of Alaska. If it broke down along the way, I'd just leave it at the side of the road and hitch the rest of the way.

It's fuel efficient, it's got 4wd, and it's cheap!
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