Even Subaru was not above jumping on the subcompact bandwagon in the late 1980s, producing a small car to help Americans and others save on fuel costs. Of course, being Subaru, they figured out ways to do things differently. That’s how they ended up with not only a three-cylinder engine, but also the smallest all-wheel-drive car on the market. Of course, the all-wheel-drive detracted from this car’s main objective, saving on fuel. Needless to say, Subaru was not too successful in this endeavor – perhaps it would have gone better if they’d fitted a turbo to the all-wheel-drive car and called it the Justy WRX. Either way, these cars are surprisingly capable in rough terrain, and would have lasted longer were they not low-cost throwaway cars. You can find our survivor 1988 Subaru Justy for sale for $1800 in Alta Loma, CA.
This is the plainer, arguably less attractive early model. It’s certainly visible that this car has its roots in the early to mid-1980s. The seller professes to love his car, but can’t stand to see it parked at the side of his house while he’s driving his Crosstrek. However, the car is in amazingly good shape and quite complete.
The car has had much work to the engine, suspension, and steering, totaling $2000 per seller. It also has a good used carburetor and all features are said to work – not that there are many in a car of its class.
Here’s the interior – clean barring a poorly patched spot of vinyl on the door. What is missing from this car that you’d want? Really? The car has a stated 138,000 miles, and boxes of parts and a car cover go with the car. There is one minor spot of rust below the hatch. For a cheap runabout, you can’t go wrong – these cars are fairly reliable.
In case two driven wheels isn’t enough, check out this 1989 Subaru Justy with AWD in black for sale in Poulsbo, WA for $1200.
Tags: Feature, hatch, hatchback, japanese, justy, subaru, under $2000
Rusty But Trusty 
November 11, 2013 at 8:35 pm |
Love this blog. Oddly, I look for Justys on the web from time to time. They are r a r e. But, as you probably know, there’s one on Bring a Trailer right now- and the comments are going off the hook. Check it out. Thanks for doing what you do!
November 12, 2013 at 9:00 am |
No kidding! My sister had an AWD Justy I helped her buy back in the late 90s. She regularly took it off road with her then-boyfriend. It ultimately needed a fair amount of work, so she replaced it with a Jeep…