Subaru RX Turbo (Leone) 1987-1989
In the 80s, the age of turbocharged car and all-wheel drive cars began to get popular, especially in the rally scene, with Audi being in the front with the Quattro. However, they were not the only company to create an all-wheel drive car for racing. Among the few who created all-wheel drive cars, Subaru created the grandfather of what wound up being the most famous rally car of the 90’s and early 00’s. They called it the RX Turbo.
The car was created with a similar body structure of the GL, which came before it. Except this one was outfitted with a 1.8L 4 cylinder Turbocharged boxer engine which gave off approximately 120 to 132hp. This car, with it’s 5 speed manual transmission, was capable of using it’s high and low ranges of tackling the most rough terrains.
To test out and show the public of it’s power, Subaru took six bone stock RX Turbos and had them compete in the 1987 Safari Rally. About 54 crews competed in this competition with only four RX Turbos competing. At the end of the whole rally, all cars made it through the finish marking the crews in 5th (Car #15), 10th (car #1), 11th (Car #21), and 13th (Car #27) place with Ari Vatanen, a famous rally legend, making it to 10th place.
Subaru, proud that their bone stock cars made it in the competition and winning Best Manufacturer’s Team Prize, decided to use the footage from the rally to advertise their car for the public.
Rare Subaru Promotion Video of the 1987 Safari World Rally include Ari Vatanen (youtube.com)
Only 2600 were made and imported to the United States between 1987 and 1989 with the only variations of a sedan version, trim packages, and colour with a grey or black interior. Not to mention, it included power windows, A/C, and one of Subaru’s first digital dash (with an exception of the XT)
Currently, these cars are about 37 years old and are extremely rare to see, yet are also easy to fix due to parts being so cheap. The original wheels, unlike other older cars, came in 13" instead of the average 14" or 15" with an uncommon bolt pattern of 4x140 which were usually only seen on Alpine and Peugeot. However, since the market of parts in recent years has expanded, it is possible to swap out parts from multiple cars (Like the 91’ XT6 and 96’ Impreza) to customize it however you want. That includes struts, control arms, axles, shocks, rear differential, exhaust system, transmission, and most importantly, the motor. These cars come with a EA82T engine which is compatible enough to be replaced with an EJ motor which will give the 2300lb car and extra 90hp, possibly even more if modded further.
Lastly, I would like to say that I think this car would be a great addition for the WRC and Subaru fans of the Forza Horizion 5 community. there’s so much history with this extremely rare car and I feel like it deserves another chance at racing against the Audi Quattro, even if it’s in a game and not real life.
In addition, I own a 1987 Subaru RX (the 58th one ever made) and named it Sidney that I’m currently having the pleasure of restoring. It’d be an honour to build and race a car like Sidney (in my opinion) in the best arcade racing game.
This is my RX Turbo; she’ll be alive and running again one day soon.
Lastly, I apologize if this post isn’t up to pay. This is my first post on here.
Thank you for reading,
@warbman3
First Update: 5/10/2024
I figured since this is going to be a wishlist, I might as well add some more I feel like should be mentioned. Let’s go in order of the years
1976-1986 British Leyland Rover SD1
"The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the Jaguar-Rover-Triumph division), and finally the Austin Rover division of British Leyland from 1976 until 1986, when it was replaced by the Rover 800. The SD1 was marketed under various names. In 1977 it won the European Car of the Year title.[2]
In “SD1”, the “SD” refers to “Specialist Division” and “1” is the first car to come from the in-house design team." -Rover SD1 - Wikipedia
This car had many uses back in the day including taking the family out. And if you meant that literally and hurt your family, then one would show up and take you away.
But on top of that, it was also used for racing on or off the track. It’s even used for racing to this day!
Now that I’ve shown you this one, lets move on to the next
Land Rover Discovery 1989-2004 (Series I & II)
“The Land Rover Discovery is a series of seven-seater family SUVs, produced under the Land Rover marque, from the British manufacturer Land Rover, and later Jaguar Land Rover. The series is currently in its fifth iteration (or generation, according to the manufacturer), the first of which was introduced in 1989, making the Discovery the first new model series since the launch of the 1970 Range Rover – on which it was based – and only the third new product line since the conception of the Land Rover (vehicle and brand) by Rover in 1948. The model is sometimes called influential, as one of the first to market a true off-road capable family car.[2]” - Land Rover Discovery - Wikipedia
Compared to the newer and more luxurious Land Rover Discoveries, these older models were and still are amazing vehicles for all sorts of environments and purposes. Land Rover is known for having cars in just about every single country in the world and is known as one of the best off-road capable vehicles. Among being a family friendly SUV, Land Rover entered these SUVs into many challenges and competitions such as the G4 Challenge, (only 400 G4 editions were ever made), Camel Trophy, and sometimes even Baja and Rally.
But these SUVs weren’t only ever used for racing and challenges like how I previously stated, they’re also great trucks for going out as a family to the beach, lake, trailing, ect. These SUVs can tackle almost any kind of environment and weather it can throw at them. These next pictures are personal pictures of my Dad’s old Discovery
Alright, now lets get onto my last one for this update
Dodge Ram 1500 1994-2001 (Second Gen)
“Debuted on January 5, 1993, at the North American International Auto Show and going on sale on October 1, 1993, the redesigned 1994 Ram was a sales success and was named “Truck of the Year” by Motor Trend in 1994.[13][12] Sales increased from 95,542 units in 1993 to 232,092 in 1994, 410,000 in 1995, and 411,000 by 1996. The latter third year, it was prominently shown as the hero vehicle in the film Twister .[14][15][16][17] Sales of this generation peaked at just over 400,000 in 1999 before declining against the redesigned Ford and GM trucks. By 2001, Ram sales figures trailed those of Ford and GM trucks.” - Ram pickup - Wikipedia
Honestly, I don’t think I need to say much about these trucks. Like what it said in the quote, this truck was featured in the movie Twister and has stayed as an iconic truck as I grew up. It also helped that my dad used to own one when I was a kid. These trucks are now commonly used as work trucks, project trucks for off-roading, and for rock-crawling
That’s it for the update, hope you guys like it!