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.
Posts Tagged ‘hatchback’
Cyborg – 1989 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo
November 8, 2013The history of the North American car market is littered with all kinds of efforts from abroad to understand what these people with their big highways, big macs and big gulps would want to drive. That makes for some interesting variety on the used car market, even if it’s now difficult to find any trace of those efforts. The Mitsubishi Mirage was consistently an also-ran on the American market, but Mitsubishi did have interesting variants of each generation. The first 3 generations of Mirage sold here all came with a turbo option, most notably the twin-stick GT-S of the first generation. However, the later car is quite interesting for having a tunable, 160hp 4G61T engine, and the possibility to upgrade by dropping in a 4G63 from an Eclipse! Find our rare survivor, a 1989 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo (known as the Cyborg in other markets) for sale in Mendocino County, CA for $2995.
Long Name, Short Car – Modified 1986 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo
November 7, 2013If you want a cheap, small car that goes fast, you’ll have to look back to the first hot-hatch craze of the early to mid-1980s. That’s where you’ll find unusual hits like the Dodge Colt GT-S with twin stick, the Chevrolet Sprint Turbo, or the Isuzu I-Mark RS. To be fair to today’s feature car, that’s a bit of a digression, since it is no longer in possession of its original engine, having been upgraded with a Japanese-market B13G, which appears to be the stock engine in a Suzuki Swift GTi. You can find this 1986 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo, listed as a Chevy Sprint Turbo Forsa Cultus Swift Gti for sale for $3600 in Los Angeles, CA.


