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Junkyard Gem: 1992 Subaru Loyale Wagon, with Budget Cargo Carrier

Before there was the Impreza, there was the Leone. Sold in the United States at first as, simply, The Subaru, the Loyale name appeared on the last few years of the third-generation Leones. Here's a final-model-year example of the Loyale wagon in a Denver wrecking yard, complete with rust, outdoorsy-activity-themed stickers, and interesting homebuilt plywood upgrades. These cars weren't quite as sturdy as their successors, but this one reached the magical 200,000-mile mark during its quarter-century on the roads and trails of Colorado. For some reason, there's a mid-1990s Mazda Miata M Edition badge on the tailgate. Some Colorado Subaru dealerships sell "Rocky Mountain Edition" option packages, so perhaps this was the Loyale owner's way of joining the exclusive club for owners of Subarus with snow-grooved floormats and ski-friendly roof racks. In keeping with that theme of homebrewed upgrades, this car has a plywood version of the roof-mounted cargo carriers so popular with local Outback owners. Sure, it's a bit heavy and the lack of paint reduced its lifespan, but it got the job done. The skinny twine holding the box to its plumbing-pipe mounts looks a bit scary; I'd hoped to see some hefty lag-bolts going through the roof's metal into the box's underside, but did not find any such hardware. Tailgating this rig would not have been advised. Inside, a sturdy wooden floor covers the rear-seat and cargo area. Just the thing for lots of bicycle parts or camping gear! It's those little details that make an installation like this work best. A tire receipt from last year shows that this car lived in even-more-Subariffic-than-Denver Boulder, and that it was still running and being maintained in the recent past. Unlike nearly all retired Subarus of this era that I see in Denver junkyards, this one has not a single cannabis-dispensary sticker on the dash (in stark contrast to, for example, this THC-saturated '84 GL wagon). None of that lung-capacity-destroying weed for this Subaru, no sir— just healthy outdoor adventures! You could still buy front-wheel-drive Subarus in 1992, but this one is an all-wheel-drive car with 5-speed manual transmission and 90-horse boxer-four engine. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Before Subaru pitched their wagons as outdoor-activity-enabling adventuremobiles, they were sold as practical family haulers.

The 2019 Subaru STI S209 has an intercooler sprayer, here's what it looks like when you activate it

The 2019 Subaru STI S209 gets a lot of features that distinguish it from your average WRX STI including wide body work, a giant wing, additional chassis braces and an extra 31 horsepower. It also brings back a performance gizmo that hasn't been featured in a U.S. market Subaru since 2007: the intercooler sprayer. As the name implies, it sprays cool water onto the air-to-air intercooler when pressing a button. In the case of the S209, that button is one of the paddles on the back of the steering wheel. That triggers the water nozzles hidden in the hood scoop to spray water. You can see what happens in the video below. Note that when the car is in motion, air would carry the spray farther back covering more of the intercooler. Now why would you want an intercooler sprayer? Well, the S209, like all WRX and STI models, uses an air-to-air intercooler to cool off hot air coming from the turbocharger on its way to the intake manifold. The cooler your air, the denser it is, meaning more oxygen to combine with fuel to turn into more power. The effectiveness of the intercooler depends partly on the temperature of the outside air flowing over the intercooler. If it's really hot out, it's not as effective. So spraying water onto the intercooler can counter this to ensure that the car is making maximum horsepower even in toasty conditions. This also means that although this may feel like some special secret performance-boosting weapon, it's really only effective in specific circumstances, and will just get you back to normal power, rather than make the car noticeably faster on the street. Long track days in the summer and after waiting in line at the drag strip or autocross are the kinds of situations where you could see power diminish due to hot air and a lack of moving air. Normal driving won't necessitate its use nor will driving in cool temperatures. In fact, the S209's owner's manual specifically says not to use the sprayer in temperatures below 41 degrees Fahrenheit because of the risk of frozen water in the tank. That brings us to another aspect of the intercooler sprayer: maintenance. In fairness, there isn't much to maintain, but if you want to use the system, you do need to keep the tank filled. It's located in the trunk where the spare tire would normally be. Inside of course is a water pump that connects to hoses that run water to the front. There is a warning light that will illuminate on the instrument panel if it runs low.

Is Subaru close to ditching 6-cylinder engines?

Despite niche outliers like the 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 and 7.0-liter V8 in the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, we live in an era where small-displacement, turbocharged engines are becoming the norm. In many model lineups, a boosted four-cylinder now holds the place that a six might have just a few short years ago. At least in some markets, Subaru could be the next automaker to follow this path by axing its 3.6-liter boxer six-cylinder. Granted, that's not as much of a leap for Subie as some other automakers because the Japanese brand is already closely associated with turbocharged four-cylinder engines. The company's six-pot boxer is currently only offered in the Legacy and Outback in the US. Australian website CarAdvice spoke with Subaru deputy general manager of engineering Yoichi Hori about the company's future powertrain plans at least for Down Under. "Our research said the six-cylinder model is decreasing in the world. So that's why probably the future, many companies take the smaller displacement with a turbocharger, or diesel, or hybrid," said Hori to CarAdvice. He was also specific about which engine he had in mind. "In terms of the body size, a 2.0-liter with a turbocharger is enough, I think," he said. Hori said that the automaker stuck with the boxer-six for so long because of the turbocharged four-cylinder's higher maintenance costs. Slotting Subaru's 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer four-cylinder into the Legacy and Outback seems easy to imagine. After all, the mill already does duty in different tunes in the Forester and WRX in the US. Keep in mind, though, that Hori's words are aimed at the Aussie market. A rumor from earlier this year speculated the company's midsize models might get a smaller displacement six and the turbo four for some trims. Featured Gallery 2015 Subaru Legacy: First Drive View 35 Photos News Source: CarAdviceImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Green Subaru Wagon Sedan turbocharging