It’s funny how a person’s tastes change. If this 1989 Subaru Justy had 4WD instead of being a front-drive model I may be tempted but maybe one of you will be. It can be found here on eBay in Hamline, Pennsylvania with an aggressive and unmet opening bid price of $5,000 and a buy it now price of $6,500.
The top (attainable) car on my wish list for a few years was a rust-free, fuel-injected 4WD Subaru Justy. This car checks all but two boxes for me in the Subaru Justy world: it’s not a 4WD model and it doesn’t have fuel injection. I didn’t grow up needing all four tires powering my vehicles or needing fuel injection, I just like features and options and 4WD is the ultimate option on a Subaru of this vintage for me.
The photos are randomly vertical and horizontal and there were no photos of the rear of the car other than this one showing the spotless cargo area. It appears that the cargo area package shelf/tray is missing. It would be easier to work towards political harmony in the US than it would be to find one of those package trays so the next owner may have to make one out of cardboard or something. The rest of the interior looks fantastic, other than the missing red 4WD button that isn’t on the top of the shift knob on front-drive cars.
This car has fewer than 24,000 miles on it and for a three-decade-old car that’s crazy. I have a 2002 Audi TT ALMS edition with 24,800 miles on it and I thought that was low mileage. The seller says that they found it in their client’s garage and the engine is Subaru’s EF12 which is a 1.2L inline-three (did you ever wonder about my 3-cylinder user name icon thingy?) with around 66 hp. They say that it runs like new. It’s a year or so away from being fuel injected which is my other must-have for a Justy. Have you ever fell out of love with a car when you realized that you’d never find one that had the features that you wanted.
Back in college, a good friend of mine had one of these with AWD and that early continuously variable transmission. It was an absolute blast to toss around on gravel roads. It felt like the seat of your pants was three inches above the ground.
looks like a great boat anchor.
I had a customer who had a Justy to drive wen his Jaguar was out of commission. I probably do not need to say any more.
I had one just like this, color and all, for which I paid $500 in (I think) 1997). That “electric carburetor” was a major PITA to set up right, but one mechanic in Nashville had it figured out, and after I’d given the car to my son and left town that shop kept it running another several years.
When I bought it, it had been sitting for a year or more at the curb … and when I drove it to work the next morning the engine expired in a cloud of steam! I thought it was the head gasket, but it was the HEAD! Sitting there full of old antifreeze had turned all that alloy to a mass of corrosion. I found a good head online for $100 plus shipping, bought all the gaskets and missing parts, and my mechanic buddy took it home and rebuilt it in his kitchen while watching Monday Night Football. The engine itself has some delightful features, including a clever 3-valve/cylinder head and water pump down in the sump, running off the balance shaft. Actual listed HP is 72, enough to get my daily 60+ mile commute from Nashville to Bowling Green in well under an hour … with gas mileage to make my mileage reimbursement a big raise in pay!
YES, I would love to have this one too, but that asking price is kinda steep. Good luck with the sale, though.
Always get a kick out of Asian car names, a Justy, what the heck is that? I had a friend that replaced her 360 with an AWD Justy. At the time, I never even gave Subaru a thought. Neither did anyone else, for that matter. She thought it was a decent upgrade, and I suppose it was, but it still wasn’t much of a car. It literally, to me, was one small step up from the 360, but she said, at least she could do the speed limit. I never knew these had a 3 cylinder, and thought Geo/Suzuki was the only one that had one,( that I had to literally show someone once, that didn’t believe there was a 3 cylinder car) besides Saab, which is what I thought the “Scotty G” avatar was. Anyway, I’d say not the nicest one left, probably the only one left. It’s comical to see these fancy Asian cars today, and to see their humble beginnings. I bet Subaru would love to forget they made these. Cool find, tho.
I have never seen such a high number attached to a Justy.