Older Upscale/Luxury/Sporty Car

[fairladyz_gt-r]

Sc430

[BP2K2Max]

Originally Posted by CanucksRT

Oh and the Infinity looks great, I like those kinda low profile, mafia looks, like the Legend.

Great standard features (edmunds) and performance for it's size, however all I can find anywhere near my area (and budget) is a 1995, and I'm not sure how it performs.

from what i've heard and read the Q45's up to 1996 are prone to blown head gaskets. supposedly the issue was resolved in 1997 when they changed the engine to the 4.1L. your best bet is a 97 or newer if you can swing it, otherwise i'd recommend that you keep looking.

[CanucksRT]

Thanks, the Infinity will be hard to find a '97+, but It could turn up. THe SVX are pretty rare, but there's two availble to me (about 2 hours away), although it doesn't say whether it has AWD, which I'd prefer. Probably shoot them an e-mail.

Oh and an SC430, yeah right, way out of my price range, and that car looks pretty girly to me, maybe it's the look, or that it's the choice of female pop stars these days (Ashlee Simpson).

[VAD0R]

Well, good luck to hunting down for the car you want, whether it is an SVX, Infiniti, Lexus, BMW, MB or even Audi.

Just when looking into those two SVXs, make sure you keep a couple things in mind. Ask when and if the transmission was rebuild (usually happens to ones that are beyond 100k miles) or if it was ever fitted during a dealer re-call with a transmission cooler (which came stock with all 1995+ SVXs). Also, unless the SVX is a 96 or maybe even a 95+ (or depending on how the person values their 25th Anniversary edition 1993) make sure it is not over $8k CAD, in fact your average 92-94 should be $6k at most.

Go ask the members of the SVX forum I gave you for more info. I will also probably come back to this post to add more.

It is also a good idea to check for a slight or slightly more noticeable shake when applying the brakes to see if there are uneven brake pads or frozen calipers, which would make it justifiable to drive the price even lower. Also do not be surprised if the tranny does not shift or if you do not even notice it at all except for a slight bounce on the odometer at about 40mph and another at about 65-70mph (4th gear is more of an overdrive since you do not shift to that until about 110mph, but I am not exactly sure). This is of course if it still has the stock tranny and was not swapped with a Legacy, Forester or WRX one. But it is always a good idea to check to see if the tranny is not missing any shifts, even though this problem does not occur that often, I only heard about it once, it is good to check anyway.

Also, keep in mind if there is indeed any problem with the brakes it is probably better to go for aftermarket brake pads, rotors, calipers and ect. because of the fact that not only would they be cheaper than the stock ones, which would be expensive since the SVX is pretty rare car, but you can also probably get ones that perform better as well. This would also go for tranny replacement as well, if you are indeed willing to spend over $1000 to repair it in the first place, with the 4EAT and even 5 speed manuals (after all the fabricating) alternatives from the Legacy, Forest WRX and so on. However you can always take the overheated transmission to a repair shop to have it re-built or send it to even a transmission tuning place such as Level 10 (among many other places, in which there are probably some allot closer to you) for recalibrating your tranny. You should also check for dried or torn seats among the other things which are usually for a used car, happy shopping.

[BP2K2Max]

i thought all subaru's were AWD. i'm surprised to hear the svx has a FWD version.

[crayzayjay]

Ditto. Always thought they were all AWD. Still love the way they look though

[k3smostwanted]

Me three...i thought all Subaru's were AWD. that kind of disappoints me in a way.

[VAD0R]

You have to remember that before the Legacy, or what is considered in Australia as the second generation Liberty, with the exception of the 360, all Subarus models had AWD as an option or none at all, and even as late as the 90s with the Vivio, and even with the Pleo.

However as for the case for the SVX, since the FWD didn't have their inception until 1994 it shows that it was more of a last ditch effort to make a more affordable looking model that might sell more widely. But aside from the Japan rather than making the car seem more appealing it made people stay away from it even more by doing what most of you are clearly showing, alienating. Aside from slightly better initial acceleration there are no other advantages to owning this sort of model. However even though you might think of a FWD SVX as a mere shadow of itself, from what I heard it still has pretty good handling characteristics, with the difference being allot more understeer rather than a balance of some under and oversteer I suppose.