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The List #0178: Attend Rally School

Jessi and Patrick attend Team O'Neil Rally School in Dalton, NH, to learn how to shred in the snow. Veteran instructor and school founder Tim O'Neil demonstrates left-foot braking, slalom techniques, turning, proper ways to blip the throttle and more in this episode. They get behind the wheel of modern Ford Fiestas with front-wheel drive and a vintage Audi Quattro with all-wheel drive. They catch on quickly, and O'Neil tells Patrick: "Tell your grandchildren you are a rally driver." Watch as our hosts check "attend rally school" off their list. Have an RSS feed? Click here to add The List. Click here to subscribe to The List in iTunes. Click here to learn more about our hosts, Jessi and Patrick. Audi Ford Subaru The List Videos rally quattro

Let's all take a moment to smile at this tiny Subaru van

The news is really depressing. You're stuck at home, hopefully working but possibly not. The kids home from school just ... won't ... calm ... down.  We need something to make us smile, so allow me to present a tiny morsel of happiness that is this 1993 Subaru Sambar Dias van currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer. One might call this a mini van if a minivan wasn't already a thing (and in no way mini any more), but the actual term is a "Kei-class van," referring the Japanese Kei class of vehicles that are teeny-tiny and capped at an engine displacement of 660cc. Some fun stuff: this Sambar Dias has beautifully maintained cloth upholstery with oh-so-Japanese lace covers for the headrests and upper seat backs. There are also rear captain's chairs, so really, the 1993 Subaru Sambar Dias is exactly like a 2020 Subaru Ascent Touring. It rides on 12-inch wheels, meaning you can use a Chicago deep-dish pizza as a spare tire in a pinch, and there are side wind deflectors because of a reason. There's a cassette deck and crank windows, but as the Sambar is roughly eight inches wide, it should be pretty easy to just reach over from one side to the other and roll'em down. Which is good news since, as a right-hand-drive car, that would otherwise be a pain in the lace-covered neck at drive thrus or parking garages. A 1993 Sambar would be from the nameplate's fifth generation, which perfectly spanned the 1990s. The "Dias" bit refers to the wagon version you see here as opposed to the commercial trucks and vans. There was also a Dias Classic, which is in a whole other league of wackadoo cuteness. Unlike any literal minivan in 1993, the Sambar Dias came with dual sliding rear doors -- Chrysler wouldn't introduce their dual-slider option until 1996. That rear-mounted 660cc engine produced 54 horsepower and is paired here with a five-speed manual transmission. There was an all-wheel-drive version, but that was apparently exclusively paired with the automatic.  There's actually one of these buddles of van joy in my neighborhood here in Portland, which like the entire Pacific Northwest, is a hotbed for oddball Japanese vans from the 1990s and earlier. The trend apparently started up in British Columbia where vans like the Mitsubishi Delica and Toyota Hiace started to be imported after the Canadian 15-year waiting period rather than the American requirement of 25.

Junkyard Gem: 1988 Subaru GL 4WD Sedan

While Subaru kept the hatchback version of the second-generation Leone available in North America all the way through the late 1980s, the third-generation sedans and wagons went on sale here in 1985. Today's Junkyard Gem is a loaded '88 4WD sedan, found in thoroughly worn-out condition in a junkyard next to Pikes Peak in Colorado. From the late 1970s through the 1980s, Subaru named each of their North American Leone models "The Subaru," adding trim levels as placeholders for model names. The GL was the top-of-the-line version. This confused everybody, so these cars became Loyales starting in the 1990 model year. This car has the optional automatic transmission and Subaru's first full-time four-wheel-drive system (we'd call it all-wheel-drive by today's definition), available starting in 1988. You hit the red button on the shifter to switch between front- and all-wheel-drive, and if you drove on dry asphalt in the 4WD setting you didn't tear up the tires and/or drivetrain. Prior to this system, four-wheel-drive Subarus had a big lever to switch between drive modes, and you'd damage stuff by using 4WD on dry pavement. Adding to the luxury, this car came with factory air conditioning. A/C was still considered a frivolous luxury by many small-car shoppers in the late 1980s, but that attitude faded as the cost of refrigerated air went down. This car turned well over 200,000 miles during its 32-year career. That doesn't quite measure up to the kind of final odometer readings I see on four-wheel-drive Toyota cars of this era, but it's still excellent for its time. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In the end, the rust finally got this car. The fenders sway in the mountain breezes now. The final owner appears to have been a huge fan of high-potency THC concentrates, available legally all over Colorado. We can only hope they didn't drive high, because shatter hash and old Subarus don't mix. In addition to the high miles and rust, the scent of overflowing ashtrays, sweat, clouds of vaped cannabis, and decomposing interior plastics knocked the resale value of this car down from $400 to about $80, despite the sale-enhancing automatic transmission. The idea of a Subaru GL with power windows would have seemed laughable just a few years earlier than 1988. This car could be purchased with a turbocharged engine, but this one just has the aftermarket badge upgrade.