Car Spotlight- Subaru XT (1985-1991)

*note, I want you to play a bunch of 80s synthesizer music as you read this.

Subaru was always a quirky automaker, especially in the 1980s.  At this time, Subaru was still trying to establish themselves as an automaker in the US.  Their lineup consisted of four models that were more or less based off the same car.  Wanting to get in on the whole "sports car" fad, Subaru developers popped in a Top Gun soundtrack cassette and went to work on what would be their first affordable sports car.

The result was the XT, perhaps the most 80s car ever.  The car looked straight out of what a person from the 80s would call the "future"  It was basically a giant wedge that came complete with pop-up headlights, a single windshield wiper, an AWD drivetrain,  and even a luggage rack on the trunk lid.  Even the door handles looked straight out of a cyber-punk movie.  It was also very aerodynamic, with a reported drag coefficient of 0.29 (not sure what that exactly means but put it this way, it was a smooth car). No one would have ever expected this car to be a Subaru.

This is the best example I can find of the XT's very 80s
interior.  This is a Japan spec. model
image credit-drive2.ru

Engineers didn't stop with the exterior, the interior was just as crazy.  Someone was definitely thinking of fighter jets when building this car.  The base XT did come equipped with a standard dashboard, but any Turbo equipped XT's (which they needed, because the base engine was SLOOOOOOOOW!) came equipped with this neat-o ultra 80s digital speedometer.  The shifter looked like an airplane joystick and the steering wheel was this weird two-spoke setup with arms at the three and six o'clock position.  And if you look closely at the picture, you can see two arms sticking out of the steering column that featured all the volume controls, turn signals, etc.  Oh yeah, and lets not forget about those epic automatic seatbelts!

The XT flew into American Subaru showrooms in 1985.  It was definitely a departure from what Subaru has been producing since the early 70s.  The press was taken aback by how unusual the car was and praised it for being very innovative.  It was definitely a car built for the 80s.

The XT, along with it's stablemates.  Notice how different
the XT is compared to the others. (btw, I used to have
a silver '86 Wagon EXACTLY like the one in the pic,
only it was missing a rack, a grille, and had more rust)
photo credit-pintrest.com

But alas, the car may have proven to be too radical for the public, as buyers tended to avoid the ultra-modern XT and instead went to more contemporary  Japanese sports cars  like Nissan's 240SX, Toyota's Corolla GT-S, and Honda's Prelude.   Even loyal Subaru buyers were skeptical to the XT as it was such a contradiction to what the were used to.

In 1988, Subaru hoped to jumpstart XT sales by adding a flat-6 engine to the list of options along with an upgraded turbo.  Any XT's equipped with this engine were called XT-6 (the 6 stood for the number of cylinders...DUH!) While this upgrade did make the car more quicker, the XT still struggled to find homes.

The XT was quietly put down after the 1991 model year.  According to Wikipedia, Subaru sold roughly 98,000 XT's worldwide over it's 7 year lifespan.  While the XT experiment was commonly referred to as a failure, Subaru wasn't ready to give up in the sport car market.  Following the XT's death, Subaru released the SVX, which looked like a DeLorean.  The SVX continued the XT's tradition of being unusual looking, having tons of innovative features...and being a colossal failure.

From what I've read about the XT and the people who own these cars, it's definitely an "acquired taste." Like the Nissan Juke and Pontiac Aztec that would come much later, the XT was a blast to own and drive if one would look past it's weird exterior.

Link to the an XT commercial (warning, you will get bitch-slapped by the hand of 1980s nostalgia)

Link to a website dedicated to the XT and XT6 (hosted by people who actually OWN an XT or several)