1992 SUBARU Vivio 5 Doors 0.7L 5MT (44 HP)

Vehicle Overview

Since the kei-car segment was very important in its home market, the Japanese carmaker Subaru managed to build cars for it, such as the 1992 Vivio, which replaced the Rex.

While for some, the “Vivio” name meant something from the Italian verb to live, it was actually a Roman number system. VI equals 6, and VIVIO meant 660, which was the car’s displacement. It was an interesting marketing strategy, but it is hard to imagine that the Japanese were all very acquainted with the Roman numbers.

There was a new design trend on the market, with more curved panels and flowing lines. While that was easier to draw on a longer vehicle, it was almost impossible to do on a 3.3 m (10.8 feet) one. Subaru designers tried and shaved the corners, installed headlights with rounded edges, and even made a smiley on the front bumper. Its flush door handles and the sculptured line on the lower side of the door panel made the car looks bigger.

Inside, the car was so narrow that it could hardly offer enough shoulder room for two passengers. But, for a daily commuter inside the city was more than enough. Despite all that, the carmaker managed to install a regular dashboard with a center stack and four air-vents, but the instrument cluster was smaller and allowed only a speedometer and two gauges. In the rear, there was a split-folding bench good for two adult-sized passengers.

Under the hood, Subaru installed only engines up to 0.66-liters to stay inside the kei-cars regulations. But that didn’t stop them from adding a turbocharger for selected versions.