What Happened to the Subaru SVX?

For all wheels, tires, & suspension! 👇
www.fitmentindustries.com/
Ahh yes, the forgotten Subaru. Let's just face it, this thing looks like it's ready for docking at NASA on any given day. The Subaru Alcyone SVX came to the world in the 90s with an Italian heritage that's truly woven into the car scene. Coming from designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Subaru SVX was really a flash in the pan. With only a 4 year stint in production, this would-be JDM icon fell to the wayside. But why? What happened to this spaceship of a car? Sit down with Alex to find out just what exactly happened to the Subaru SVX!
And a very special THANK YOU to @timelessworks for the thumbnail photo!
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Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:27 The Plug
1:57 How to say Alcyone Properly
2:17 The Designer
4:13 The SVX Was Quirky, Wasn't it?
6:07 What Was The SVX Competing Against?
7:33 Was It Reliable?
8:33 Aging Like Fine Wine
9:39 Final Thoughts
10:13 Outro
#SUBARU #SVX #ALCYONE

[@FitmentIndustries]

Would YOU BUY a Subaru SVX? Drop a comment below! SVX or not, get YOUR DREAM BUILD started at www.fitmentindustries.com

[@roberthullinger7786]

U guys called mine a spatula

[@evoevannismo8141]

No I will pass but thank you

[@EX7RUD1CON]

No, that sounds like a nightmare trying to get parts

[@snevarez31]

@@EX7RUD1CON it is lol

[@Scottydoing]

Bein driving one for over 8 years now. Parts may be rare but everything in the drivetrain, suspension and steering is basically all compatible with other gen subarus. And that 3.3 it incredibly easy to pull if you ever need. It may not be super fast but as for long distance winter driving it blew my 01 impreza away to the point i sold my impreza and bought another svx and haven't gone back. Oh yeah and the fact the eg3.3 sounds like a porche and straight piped sounds like a v12 the noise they make is hard to replace

[@NULLOBANDITO]

Well I bought one and lemme tell ya: It's an awesome car but an absolute pain. Every fluid except the brakes has leaked and it's annoying to fix. But that flat-6 sound and the feeling of "thrust" when you accelerate is absolutely worth it.

[@CleanMachineYT]

"That's what makes a Subaru a Subaru" - Subaru

[@connoisseuroftigolbitts]

200 hp of pure joy

[@TwoDollarGararge]

Of course it leaks its an old car doing 30 year old car things

[@railfanatic1416]

@@connoisseuroftigolbitts 230

[@DovG]

You should see what the 5 spd pulls like 😍

[@Smeedia]

High key has a fantastic engine, 10/10 would recommend 😅

[@axelcastillo9648]

I was scrolling thru the comments to see if I’d find you 🤣

[@AltDotAlex]

lol this guy knows what's up.

[@followtheornghat]

😂 low key amazing engine. 🔥🔥🔥 Patiently waiting for your project to complete.

[@Smeedia]

Lol Im not Bias though....

[@snevarez31]

Maybe with a fatty turbo bolted to it? Lol can’t wait for the first start dude!

[@LupineTendencies]

My homie showed up with an SVX with a plate that said “SVXY”. The SVX is absolutely mental. Good video

[@eris-cs]

is it the one here 8:51 ?

[@LupineTendencies]

@@eris-cs nah, he’s in Indiana

[@crafteirspace]

@@LupineTendencies I have the same plate in Illinois! Just 5 speed swapped it last week too!

[@jonathansonntag3409]

the plate for my svx is "SEGGSVX"

[@mercydez2230]

SVEXY

[@dariusmirsaidi6411]

My "before we get into it comment": Reluctantly, yes I would buy one. It has always been a cool car, and the engine is pretty special, but they have never been cheap nor had much aftermarket support. I love a good underdog retro car. Let's see if this video changed my mind.

[@Phunk_me]

Well did it change ya mind?

[@dariusmirsaidi6411]

@@Phunk_me still reluctant. I'd buy a clean one and daily it, leave it mostly stock and try not to blow the transmission.

[@dylanletchworth8348]

Planning on selling mine soon. Just out of curiosity what's the most you'd spend on one?

[@dariusmirsaidi6411]

@@dylanletchworth8348 depends on a lot of factors. If it was a really low (20,xxx) miles car up to $15k? I don't know what the market is these days on SVXs

[@BrothaDavid]

That white one is me :) I manual and RWD swapped it myself a few years ago, two things that probably would have saved the car if it was offered back then

[@mannnygz]

just checked out your channel, youre certified insane man nice job lmao

[@ti_fr05ty46]

Hey man, uhh. What kind of drive train did you put in your eyes? Cause, I kind of wanna make it RWD

[@Toaasty_]

@@ti_fr05ty46you just have to weld the front and center diff and buy some block off plates

[@CleanMachineYT]

The subaru SVX is an all time favorite of mine. That flat six sounds so good with an exhaust and manual trans behind it

[@jasonochoa7876]

turbo svx, 6-speed trans, sti brembos... that seems like 1 hell of a fun build

[@jean-micheldupont1150]

I bought one of these 10 years ago for $2000. I had now idea how good this deal was at the time, even though it was a relatively low mileage single owner car. It is still going strong today with very minor work needed. Super comfortable and unique car with a great sounding flat6.

[@kozypup]

Thanks for the fun summary video and including my SVX, Pandora (the red '93 in the video).💖 I never had transmission or continuous wheel bearing issues (typically caused by improper installation) but swapped to a 6MT in anticipation of forced induction build.

[@RspecNick]

As a current owner of a 92svx and after owning 3 other svxs over the years. Parts can be a pain to find. The transmission issues can be fixed by either 4.44 swapping with late model phase 1 4eat auto or manual swap from outback,legacy,wrx. I've had both a manual swapped one and 3 autos and by far the car with a manual is 10x better. Keep in mind the car is 30 years old and performance parts for it are practically non existent. With that said 100 percent would recommend getting one of your mechanically inclined you will be more them fine.

[@malakisands8180]

I had a 94 SVX. In 2000 my friend made it into a STI. Ohlins suspension all the way around, lowered it by 1/4”. My friend was a fabricator. Air intake made out of Stainless steel, Titanium throttle body, FAL electric fans, Tomei racing exhaust, 6 speed Hewland transmission uncut gears, SSR 3 piece rims, IAG head gasket, electrical re wired. Single turbo, Methanol injection on the liquid cooled intercoler, Griffin industries custom aluminum radiator, HKS controls for turbo, Water pump control, oil pump speed adjustable per how hard the car was driven, AEM stand alone ECU, Tial SSBOV, AP 6 piston brakes all the way around.

[@BuildCreate]

My SVX is the thumbnail 🤙🏻

[@ricker6187]

It’s been a minute! Also never heard of this car before and it looks dope af!

[@doomdreaming]

thanks for single handedly driving up the price on these cars

[@cd5sircoupe]

There's a guy down the street from me with a really clean SVX repainted in WRB. It's been a few years since I've seen him take it out of the garage & drive it, but every once in awhile I get a peak at it if the door's open. One problem with the car that I foresee is that Subaru has been discontinuing EG33 & SVX parts like crazy over the past couple of months. This channel I follow called Smeedia is building a '17 STI with a big turbo EG33 shooting for over 1k hp and lots of little things like o-rings & bolts that he was able to buy a few months ago are NLA now.

[@Slow__supra]

Don’t let this distract you from the fact that Hector is going to be running three Honda civics with spoon engines, and on top of that, he just went into Harry’s and bought three t66 turbos with nos, and a motec exhaust system.

[@doubletee4391]

Great video. I had no idea how good those look dropped

[@elijahcrosby786]

could y’all please do a “So you want…” or a “What fits…” for the S197 Mustangs. Love the content!!

[@FitmentIndustries]

We’ll do a TikTok and Reel on this! Possibly a YT vid!

[@elijahcrosby786]

@@FitmentIndustries awesome!! love you guys

[@melissamares-salinas9465]

🥱

[@captainkilos]

Dope video!!!

[@eriksantoso1741]

Yes the svx always be the coolest subaru and ahead of it's time.

[@gopherchucksgamingnstuff2263]

Thanks again Fitment. My wife's wheels will be here tomorrow. I got the drop-deck confirmation a few minutes ago. Enkei SS05's On Nittos. Make her Escape a bit cleaner. It's the Boosted version so it rips pretty good for a mom car.

[@matthewcohen9582]

Own a (currently stock) '97 LSi in Bordeaux Red Pearl. #356 of 640 cars produced for the U.S. market for the last year. OBDII (about half of '96 and all of '97 were), all '97s were fully loaded LSi - sliding roof panel, rear wiper, leather interior. I'm the third owner since it was new, and I have some things to say. If you want one of these cars, stuff you should know: 1. The transmission issues: The elephant in every room ever where the SVX is spoken of...yes, it's the weight. It's pretty obvious. Roughly 3500 lbs. It's all the glass in the car, and those big coupe doors aren't light, either. Notorious for going Three Mile Island right around 120,000 miles. **BUT**, what people don't know is /why/ it kills trannies---first off, it's the same 4EAT you'd find in any non-turbo EJ powered automatic car, which all have curb weights of around 3000 lbs. And the weight, plus the EG33 in front of it, causes immense heat build up in the transmission, which also cooks the ATF inside it---so it's not actually the weight that kills them, but heat and fluid degradation. The previous & 2nd owner of the car installed an auxiliary trans cooler & inline screw on filter, the size of a Cummins oil filter. My car has 166,000 miles on the original engine & transmission, still runs and drives fine. Still gonna get a 5 speed when I get around to it. 2. The scarcity: Over 1992-1997, just about 25,000 cars were produced. That's 5,000 cars per year on average---for total worldwide production. About 14,000 of them went to the United States. Technically speaking, the rarest SVXs are not the 640 produced for '97 in the US, but the 1993 25th Anniversary Edition to celebrate 25 years of Subaru of America (1968) --- only 600 were produced. There aren't very many left, and parts have not been produced in 26 years. Helps being a parts specialist at a dealership, and knowing where to find parts for it. It's a game of figuring out what's made now that will work. For example, nobody makes radiators for them anymore--but the 2019 STi radiator has a very similar upper outlet, enough to make it work. STi rear wheel bearings ending in PA000 are not actually STi rear wheel bearings---PA is a part number model designation for the SVX. It's the only Subaru before the STi to have a 5x114.3 hub pattern. It's not a car to own for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of work to keep up with it, but when you do, it's quite rewarding. For the record, my wheel/tire setup is FactionFab 25mm 5x114.3 to 5x100 hubcentric adapters, 16x7 Impreza 2.5RS 5 spokes (for that OE+ look), on 225/55R16 Cooper Zeon RS3-G1s. About 1" wider track than stock @ all four corners.

[@HoldenGuyTL]

Thanks for the info I'm looking to buy one in the next week or so. My brother had one when we were in college and we did a bunch of mods to it. Really a cool car all around.

[@matsmith5201]

Lololol LOVE your RuneScape references!!

[@jaydenhall526]

Finally someone is talking bout these beauties their great to drive and sound great a lot are confused about the belts when they get in

[@cxnvn4043]

Thank u for making this about osrs ❤️

[@twenny6256]

Please do a: best cars with max 2.0L engines. Paying them taxes here in Europe can get crazy with anything above 2.0

[@SkylineStrength]

I have owned four SVX in the last ten years, currently manual swapping my latest one (95 Emerald Green). I daily drove the first one stock for years with the common wheel bearing roar being the only problem it ever had through my entire ownership. These days OEM parts for the EG33 are starting to get hard to find new (several gaskets are discontinued), but I'm excited the BRZ and other models are available now to try and swap parts from.

[@HoldenGuyTL]

I'm about to buy one how's your swap coming?

[@SkylineStrength]

Doing a very unique swap so it's going slow, but making progress! I need to relocate the accelerator pedal, bolt up the master cylinder, and run a couple wires through the firewall for the neutral safety switch and everything inside the car will be done. Almost have the engine fully mounted to the transmission. Then I just need to figure out how it will mount to the car and how to wire up my Dakota Digital to get the speedometer to get a signal from the ABS because the newer transmissions don't use a vehicle speed sensor

[@HoldenGuyTL]

@@SkylineStrength are you doing a sti 6 speed swap?

[@SkylineStrength]

As far as I know, I'm the first person in the world attempting to convert to rear wheel drive using a BRZ 6 speed on this engine or chassis. Luckily a (very) few people have done it on an EZ30 though so I'm following their work closely and trying to adapt it to the EG33

[@HoldenGuyTL]

@@SkylineStrength ahhh yeah that's a cool swap, rwd would be fun!

[@richardpalmer2957]

Always been a dream car of mine, with a sti version lol. Twin turbos and sti 6 speed

[@BSize94]

Love it. Wish I still had one.

[@4sfedttt]

So happy my svx made the video

[@ShanoInsanoBRZ]

I had the chance to buy a mint SVX with 43k miles, one owner in pearl white for $6500 a few years ago but had to pass because I had just bought my FJ Cruiser and put money into suspension, tires and maintenance on that. Now you can't find one even close to half decent and running in that price range. Will forever be one of my car regrets not scooping that one then.

[@lucaslong5368]

What is that front bumper on the thumbnail?? It looks dope!!!

[@EverythingBoosted350]

“we want a gloria, a 4 door saloon to drift” Lexus - 🥲

[@anthonyparle7342]

I have a collection of SVX's which you can see on my KZbin channel. My best friend has now been buying and added to the collection. I track race one as well. If you go to the channel you will find a surprise and it has 12 cylinders and the Subaru name. I personally think they couldn't keep the engine cool and that is why there were no manuals every made. The higher engine revs of a manual cause the engine to overheat unless you know what to do to fix the issues.

[@jacobdennis5063]

I love the svx I hope to get my hands on one some day... maybe soon

[@derekwhite8196]

love that you guys play runescape

[@ribble57]

Now I always loved the SVX it is my third dream subaru after the blob eye sti and the GC8.

[@japcarlucky]

I got the info to the one and only reason this car didn't make it 😂 no manual option . My friend owned 3 and through trial and error he swapped manual transmissions into all three. Once that was done it was an insane super powered car that should have made it

[@FitmentIndustries]

Oh hell yeah! He still have it running?! -Edgar

[@Tribudo]

In a word.....dope

[@nft69ers]

just picked up a 92 SVX with only 184000 km on it and has already had tranny replaced . love the look and cant wait to get it on the road.

[@FitmentIndustries]

Very niceB have fun with it! Any big plans? -Edgar

[@nft69ers]

@@FitmentIndustries not really just to get it road worthy on a limited budget

[@bgoutdoors802]

I love the “Subaru growl” but man does the eg33 sound so good

[@rebelliousgoat1557]

Just bought a set of wheels from you guys! Hope all goes well!

[@mustafagak2852]

With fitment industries it always goes well... as long as youve checked out the gallery and do ur research on sizes offsets etc..

[@davidpalmer7820]

Ok you mentioned it. You have to do a video on Nissan Y chassis ( mainly the Gloria)

[@NiteRider165]

I think they are dope af, the subie tuning shop next to my work has one

[@Howllowheat]

Should do a episode on the MX-3 the forgotten Mazda 🤧

[@DovG]

Love mine - and it has the 5spd conversion.

[@T1GEVERETT]

Have you heard of the Tercels? I have a 1989 Toyota Tercel EZ Hatchback that needs coilovers or even just lowering springs.

[@abrahamgarro4649]

I love it and want one again i miss my dad's subaru svx I know it has a 3.3 flat 6 and all cam automatic

[@lyttonwilliams7161]

I remember that my friend owned a SVX when I was in high school 🏫 at the same time I owned a '84 GL-10 4wd.

[@a4b7ga]

I’ve owned two both 94 both Laguna. I love mine. Is it fun, yes because it’s different. Is it easy to support, no. But it reminds me of my youth as I had one in HS and college. Is it fast, no. Can it handle, yes. Does it hurt my back to get into. Yes.

[@robertlodonnell1869]

I'm a definite SUBARU NUT, AND I have been ever since we purchased our first SUBIE in , July or August, 2000 ! We are now on our 5th SUBARU and I'm looking for our 6th right on now... But , if you are counting , I'm also shopping for the 7th , Which will be a used SV

[@FitmentIndustries]

Any big plans for any of them? Or are they just grocery getters? -Edgar

[@brianlong3964]

you guys should do a vid on the first gen z31 300zx

[@melissamares-salinas9465]

Absolutely amazing vehicle

[@MrJohnnyArcher]

My mid 90’s model SVX got me through 3 winter storms! The AWD and H6 boxer was great, but sadly its “achilles heel” was the axles. (wish Subaru would re-make the SVX)

[@FitmentIndustries]

That would be dope!

[@charielperez5629]

Only one for sale in my are $30,000 23k miles. I’ll pass , but awesome video overall.

[@jimj6382]

I am a little older then most here, and I bought a 1992 SVX in 1999. Daily drove it for 2 years. So what I can tell you is when I drove that car no one knew what it was. People commented on it everywhere I went. The car failed because no one heard of it and all the Japanese sports cars where being cut due to Yen to dollar exchange rates we were told at the time. 1996 was the final year to most of them. The little details mentioned here for its failure can be said about other successful sporty cars now. 0-60 in the 7 second range back then is the equivalent of the 5s now. No one had RX7s, twin turbo Supras and 300zx , and VR4s. everyone had base 3000gt/ stealths and 300zx's. and those cars were all 220 -ish hp cars. SVX was 230hp only and back then that was a huge deal. I had a 1994 3000gt in 2004 and it was front wheel drive and felt slow but looked great. The SVX with its all wheel drive (which was rare on any car never mind sports cars in those days) threw you back into your seat. I drove that car in snowstorms with no issues. Back then basically only Audi , Subaru, and Mitsubishi did AWD cars. I did bearings and front axels and sold the car when the transmission went, so that part is true. The sounds system was very good too. I also think the SVX gave Subaru the guts to make the WRX. Glad to see the next generation find this car and give it some due praise.

[@RipJawn]

I enjoyed the video, talk on next? How about the svx's predecessor .. the Subaru XT6

[@longbeachcomedy4481]

Hopefully, more people will bring this icon to light

[@caseycrowncc]

I have a subaru svx, Love the damn thing. Right now I'm restoring it and modifying it.

[@philpurdy8216]

We just had the 30th Anniversary meet in Lafayette, IN to celebrate the SVX, check out SVXNATION for photos, the Red, the Blue, & the White cars from your video were there! I also went from the UK (without my SVX though!)!

[@avan5352]

Awesome looking cars.

[@sunshineruffio8071]

Watching this video currently as Im finishing a slayer task on OSRS for black demons, I've even looked at local SVXs this week with intent to STI trans swap too lol

[@360lateflip]

Couple more tid bits, subaru lost a couple grand with every svx sold, there were only 24,000 sold world wide and 15,000 in the US. That number is down to less than 5,000 as of 2016. The engine is neat af with forged internals, non interference design, and internally meshed cam gears. So if you snap a timing belt the valves won't come out of sync and bend on each other and should steer clear of the pistons. Transmission you can stick any manual that came off an ej from 1990 to 2019, or any 1990 to 1999 4eat.

[@bodeross2403]

I have a 5mt svx, pretty fun!

[@robertlodonnell1869]

We have been SUBARU NUTS since we moved to Reno over 23 years ago... We are now on our 5th SUBIE , and I'm looking for my SUBIE , our 4th wagon and our 6th Subaru . BUT , I still want an SVX to add to my. collection...

[@Vandykjames]

I own an SVX. Actually I've owned two. The first one sucked and Leaked all the time but my current one is probably the most fun car I've ever owned! Definitely a unique car :)

[@LunnchBoxx45]

My first car was a 1992 SVX and I put 17" Konig Reasons and Falcon tires on it. I miss that car so so so much. I wish teenage me would have taken better care of it. I also wish I never sold it. That's life.

[@mtktm]

My friend has an SVX. We swapped out the trans for a manual from a wrx (forget which chassis). He blew up that trans, because he only paied $300 for it (it was beat on alot)

[@finnafishfl]

Solid runescape mention

[@JCC05]

The SVX has always been my favourite car, and basically nobody knows about it that's not a car guy

[@danielbotham600]

I just bought an svx 2 days before this video was posted.

[@RomanEcheveria]

There is for sale in my town rightnow lol 7kcad for 2 svx , one running other one for parts

[@F34rwaffles]

dat greenscreen glitch tho, lemme buy the sweater that changes color like that xD

[@oOFallenThunderOo]

Talk about what happened to the Mazda MX-6 and/or the MX-3!!!

[@thestraymrjay]

Hey sorry but just wondering if anyone might know found 2 round me that cosmetically look great but the guy said they have been sitting was curious cause I prolly would buy 1 since I want a car and I work on cars but was curious would the price of parts make it not really worth it?

[@TheGreatRenbox]

Car looks dope as hell

[@oopsigotdead]

You know a video is gonna be good when runescape references are being dropped lol

[@dreamcasterdays514]

I've never seen this car before in my entire life but I just realized that my neighbor has not one but two of them and I always pass by with my 240 wondering to myself, what is up with those cars? I've never seen thar before but he's apparently collected two of them and it's caught my interest since but still haven't done my research interesting that I ran into this video

[@88bitcube50]

Would you make a video on the Datsun 620 pickup truck and how much it would cost to turn it into a JDM Stance vehicle?

[@jordandayley6682]

Yes finally we can see some info from the community for these that hasn’t completely fallen victim to gate keeping.

[@Artha96]

anyone know what the blue sports car at 4:01 is?

[@Cosmic_Railgun]

Funny that this comes out because I just bought one 2 weeks ago.

[@KillJoy117713]

Yo the little subscribe and like bumpers are funny and dope

[@cameronmessina5287]

I love all the runescape references lmao I still play to this day

[@FitmentIndustries]

🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 RS is amazing. Still in the motherlode! -Edgar

[@38tech]

I worked for a small shop that did Subaru swaps into vanagons. One of the customers wanted the svx in his. 1st and 2nd pulled like a mofo, then the gearing on the 4 speed manual fell on its face.

[@cleancutwatches]

Is you guys website down or you giving away H&R suspension parts? Or is it just me?

[@CT-zq3kz]

whats the song name that starts at 5:50ish

[@marcoscordero7549]

Do u think it would have survived of they put the wrx ej20 motor and trans in it?

[@azureander5487]

Assuming you have the money to restomod/rebuild a car like this, there are two major issues I’ve found from experience: finding engine sensors and replacement parts, and the GLASS. The glass on this car flat out cannot be serviced by any glass company outside of either getting replacements from Subaru, which last I heard there was 1 bronze windshield available in the continental US, or getting a custom company to remake the glass from scratch, it’s just not possible. The sensors are really tough to find too, usually you’d have to just find and buy an entire eg33 engine and HOPE the sensor you need works on the engine you bought. It really is a dying platform unfortunately.

[@FitmentIndustries]

It is very unfortunate 😥

[@Televisionman4lyf]

Please do a video on the Nissan NX2000

[@stevehowell231]

I have one. Mainly for it's looks. But it goes well too.

[@vaughncoolman8273]

how is it a few years short of the NSX when they both came out at the same time '91 and '92?

[@STRAY3R]

pls do the mazdaspeed 6

[@walrus4282]

one thing to note is that all svx have a rusty sunroof and finding a non rusted one is rare. had to slick top the roof and love it to death.

[@Xagovi13]

I wonder how they get the windows tinted. Do they only tint the tiny window that goes down or the whole door window as a whole?

[@caseycrowncc]

Each one individually and it cost almost twice as much.

[@antonykakely4131]

Did the top of Alex's hair remind anyone else of the T.V. static from Ed, Edd, and Eddy?

[@justinturner4850]

I REALLY wish Subaru would do a halo car. Like a super fast, super sick halo car. I own an STI, I love the STI, but I know they could do something mind blowing because they tease us with just about every concept they make lol.

[@snevarez31]

It’s probably going to be the E-RA sti they teased. Will it look remotely like it in real life. Probably non but I think that’ll be the halo car

[@thirtina1]

I had a 92 svx. Expensive to fix if you can find parts.

[@ericsolveson5972]

I've got a 92 SVX shell for sale in Colorado.

[@FitmentIndustries]

Get yourself some moneyyyy. 💲💲💲 -Edgar