http://oldjapanesecar.proboards.com/ind ... 434&page=1
Love the awesome looking casette players/trip computers In the options brochure! Also Can see yellow stitching on the steering wheel showing off the climate control.After the very interesting feature about the Tredia, I want to show you the advantages of the third generation Subaru Leone.
In Pursuit of Automotive Excellence
Step into the Future
Step into a Subaru
Subaru Leone 1800 (EA82)
The third generation Leone is an intermediate-sized car, available with 3 different engines, 9 different (!!) gearboxes and 5 different bodys.
The Leone was very popular around the world, the whole 80s "best selling import wagon" in the US and the biggest success of Subaru ever. Without the Leone, Subaru wont be alive nowadays and the Leones successor, the Impreza, would have never been born.
Subaru sold 3.790.380 Leone around the world!
The best selling model was the Leone III, it was produced from late 1984 until 1992 (for the US as the Loyale until 1994).
It´s very difficult the make a feature about the Leone because nearly every country got different models, different names and different trim levels. The Leone was a world car, it was sold in North- and South-America, in Europe, in Australia, in Asia aso., so it is very hard to mention all the versions.
The Leone III was available with a 1.3 engine (mostly for Israel), with a 1.6 engine (mostly for BeNeLux) and the well known 1.8 EA82 engine. This was the most popular engine all over the world.
1.3 DL : 65 hp / 48 kW at 5600 RPM; OHV; carb
1.6 DL/GL : 74 hp / 54 kW at 5200 RPM; OHV, carb
1.8 DL/GL : 90 hp /66 kW at 5600 RPM, OHC, carb
1.8i DL /GL : 95 hp / 70 kW at 5200 RPM, OHC, MPFI, cat
1.8i Turbo : 136 hp / 100 kW at 5600 RPM without cat, 120 hp / 88 kW at 5200 RPM WITH catalytic converter; OHC, MPFI
The EA82 was available with carburator, with electronic fuel injection and the top of the range-model with fuel injection AND a turbocharger (EA82T)!
Sadly the EA82T was not as reliable as the later EJ20T in the Legacy Turbo and the Impreza Turbo, the EA82T often cracked it´s cylinderheads because it had no intercooler and so the heat was the biggest problem.
The Leone III was available with NINE (!) different gearbox-versions all over the world :
* 5 speed manual FWD
* 5 speed manual FWD with push-button-4WD (red button on the lever gets you in 4WD; not available in the estate versions)
* 5 speed manual FWD with low range (an extra lever get´s you into 4WD HI and 4WD LO; only estate versions)
* 5 speed manual AWD with central-difflock (permanent AWD, only Turbo in 1988 and 1989)
* 3 speed automatic FWD
* 3 speed automatic FWD with push-button-4WD (button on the lever; no estate versions)
* 3 speed automatic FWD with low range (extra lever for HI and LO; only estate versions)
* 4 speed automatic AWD with central-difflock (Turbo, except estate, only 1988 and 1989)
* 4 speed automatic AWD with central-difflock AND low range (only turbo-estate 1988 and 1989)
In Austria, we got six different gearbox-versions, don´t know how much of those slightly different gearboxes you got in the UK.
The Leone III was available with 5 different bodies too, as they were:
* Leone Turismo (3 door hatchback)
* Leone Sedan (4 door saloon)
* Leone Station DL (flat-roof)
* Leone SuperStation GL/GLT/RX (high-roof)
and the strange but fascinating
* Alcyone / XT / XT6 (US only)
Subaru sold a huge amount of different special-edition-Leone, as the Leone Alpine, the Leone Ranger, the Leone RX Turbo II, the Leone Winner and my personal favorite, the Leone Mezzanotte:
There was a little facelift at the beginning of the 1987-model year in late 1986, but only the grill and a few parts on the interieur changed, nothing major.
The Leone was very popular at the Police and the firebrigade, two examples pictured here:
The Austrian Gendarmerie also had Leone DL wagons.
The Leone III was successful in rallying too, but only in asia and downunder/NZ, so we never noticed:
The Leone DL-Station was also sold as Isuzu Geminett-II in Japan:
No holes for my wing mirror since it was a JDM door, but the metal slugs were still welded to the inside of the door skin, ready to be drilled and tapped.
