1981 Subaru Leone Deluxe review from Australia and New Zealand

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.

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.