Faults:

I put a set of re-treads on when I bought it which was a bad mistake, they lasted all of 4 months on the front, before I had to replace them.

The radiator had a leak in it which was easily repaired with some stop-leak.

The accelerator has started to stick down badly at times, I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

A hole developed in the resonator, I welded that up, and it's fine now.

There was a lot of build up and varnishing in and around the carburettor which was easily cleaned up with some spray-on carburettor cleaner.

Replaced the CV boots.

General Comments:

My Leone is a great simple car, easy to fix when something goes wrong, and very reliable for its age.

It has impressive performance for a 25 year old 4 cylinder car, and I have little trouble overtaking on the highway.

It is a dull colour though, being brown both on the inside and out.

Faults:

I had a short-circuit with the alternator, but the problem was sort out.

And...that`s about all :)

General Comments:

It's an excellent car..I'm proud of it.

But I have one big problem... maybe someone of you could help me. I had a minor crash with the car and the frontal right signal-lamp was broken. My 1981 Subaru Leone is the only of it`s kind in the city I live in.. and probably in Romania too. So, I ask your help.. if you have a signal-lamp or maybe a headlight set with signal-lamps for sale, please contact me at nooky_2001ro@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Faults:

Rear view mirror fell apart, was held together with blue tack.

Speedometer needle got bent, probably due to heat or age, who knows, who cares.

Mechanically this car is as reliable as they get.

General Comments:

I paid $1,000 for this car, and to be honest I didn't think it would last me longer than about a year.

Not only is it still running, but it's humming along quite nicely, considering the thrashing it gets.

God I wish they implemented a tachometer in this car, when you plant your foot in this thing, you don't move all that quick, but the engine really gives it everything its got, and you can hear it too, revving its tits off doing 70km/h in 1st gear.

I've had it doing 180km/h, which is above what the speedometer says it can do. Not bad considering the evident lack of torque this 4 banger produces, but damn it takes a while getting there!

Off the mark it's not too bad, and you can hold 1st gear to 45km/h until you start losing power, 2nd gear works well till about 80km/h, and 3rd has enough in it to take you to 140km/h. 4th gear however, is most definitely a cruising gear, anything under 60km/h and you'll need to change back to 3rd if you want to accelerate faster than about 2km/h.

When I finally got around to racing the Datsun 120y from school, I was not expecting very much at all. I really overestimated the Datsun's power though, and I enjoyed a solid performance lead (even if it IS only a Datsun) Right after I hammered the 120y, I was challenged by a 1987 Fuel injected 1.6 liter Pulsar. I held him till about 90km/h, where it became clear to me that having an extra gear really does help. I lost, but not by too much.

Don't ask me why, but if you listen to the exhaust in this car, it sounds remarkably like a V8.

Overall, a wonderful point A to point B car with limited power and features, but tonnes of reliability. This car starts first time, every time. I just wish it had a tachometer, and that it wasn't brown with brown interior.