1988 Subaru Justy 4x4 review from North America

Lots of weather-related stuff (VERY cold winters here - often 40 or 50 below zero):

- Frozen and leaking brake hoses (twice in consecutive winters), big $$$.

- Cracked CV boots (every winter), annoying but somewhat unavoidable in our climate and not really the car's fault.

- Frozen and broken fuel pump (one winter at 40 below), self-repaired with a fuel-pump meant for a different car model; dealer pump way too expensive.

Other problems:#

- Worn-out spark-plug windings caused spark plugs to pop out while driving (big bang, loud noise, great fun!). Had to be re-wired, not too expensive though.

- During its last year it developed a vacuum leak that caused the brakes to "hiss" and lose power when engaged. Also, in hot weather (and our summers get hot!) the engine would often refuse to start for ca. 1 hour after it had been turned off. VERY annoying, since it usually happened in some shopping-mall parking lot.

Despite everything described above, I'd call this a worthy little car. I got it at advanced middle age (130,000) miles, after having weathered 7 interior Alaskan winters, and drove it through 4 more all the way to the onset of senility at 180,000 miles. It should be noted that generally a mile in interior Alaska counts for two miles in a milder climate, because of our brutal winters. So I was anticipating some age-related problems, such as the spark plug thing. Cold-related problems such as break hoses and CV boots happen a lot up here.

Overall, I was impressed by the engine's ability to keep running even with major health problems - in the end it (almost) always got me home. Also, despite its rather wimpy look and tiny tires it has good road clearance and performs exceptionally well in ice and snow: great traction and reliability, and the 4WD can be easily engaged at the push of a button. It boldly went where many SUV's could not go.

A downside is the fact that any spare parts and dealer service is much too expensive, but I worked around that.

I finally sold it because it was having too many senior moments that were getting too expensive. Sold it to a tinkerer who wants to fix it up and rebuild it again. So by now it might be whizzing around out there again.. .