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Old 01-27-2021, 09:35 PM   #21 (permalink)
Xist
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Location: Show Low, AZ
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Chorizo - '00 Honda Civic HX, baby! :D
90 day: 35.35 mpg (US)

Mid-Life Crisis Fighter - '99 Honda Accord LX
90 day: 34.2 mpg (US)

Gramps - '04 Toyota Camry LE
90 day: 35.39 mpg (US)

Don't hit me bro - '05 Toyota Camry LE
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Guys here have mentioned the 360 many times, but I never really looked into it. I don't even think that I had ever seen a picture of it!
Quote:
Subaru introduces the 360 as an inexpensive yet distinctive economy car: "Cheap and Ugly." Powered by a two-stroke engine, the Subaru 360 claims 66.3 mpg and sells for $1,297. It was $300 cheaper than the similar-looking Volkswagen Beetle and was 1,000 pounds lighter.

https://www.subaru.com/company/50years/cars#subaru-360

Subaru sold 392,000 between 1958 and 1971
Quote:
Consumer Reports was influential in 1968, too, which is why the magazine's devastating review of the tiny Subaru 360 was so damaging. It took the tiny car a full 37.5 seconds to go from zero to 50 miles an hour. Sixty miles an hour on flat ground wasn't really possible with the car's 25 horsepower two-cylinder engine. That was probably a good thing. The front bumpers were "virtually useless against anything more formidable than a watermelon," the magazine said. Handling was dangerously bad. During abrupt maneuvers, the back wheels tended to curl up under the car like a turtle's leg.
Driving the Subaru 360, one of the worst cars ever sold in America
Quote:
Sales of the 360 collapsed. The man whose idea it had been to import the cars, Malcolm Bricklin, left the company. He would try again, about 20 years later, with a Yugoslav car...
Quote:
The Subaru 360 weighed 965 pounds.
The Archie weighs 1,300 pounds.

He claims that he maxed out at 45 MPH and the brakes didn't really brake.

Consumer Reports remarked the suicide doors pulled open in the wind during testing, recorded a 0-60 time of about 37 seconds, and reported 25–35 mpg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_360.

I cannot find any for sale, just this collection of 360s and Sambars in Florida.

Bricklin created Subaru of America and imported the 360, which bombed. He created his own car, which bombed. After Fiat left the U.S. he imported two of their sports cars, which were actually successful, until Fiat ended his contract. Then he imported the Yugo, which, as we know, was wildly successful, which is why there are more Yugos on the road than any other vehicle.

Wait, no, it bombed.

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