40 years on, say AWD - and think Subaru

A Subaru Leone getting filthy with AWD - way back in 1972 Photo / Supplied

Is there any carmaker more synonymous with all-wheel-drive (AWD) technology than Subaru?

Certainly none of the brand's Japanese rivals. Among the Europeans, only luxury brand Audi gets close. And not even Audi has the long heritage of Subaru, which celebrates 40 years of passenger-car AWD models this year.

Four decades of AWD influence is a lot to take in. When it comes to picking favourites, very few will agree. But here are five that we reckon were milestones for the world's best-known maker of AWD passenger cars.

Trendsetting the Subaru way

LEONE (1972)
Retro-cool and a wagon of course, the Leone was the first model to be given AWD by Subaru and came out in 1972.

The Leone set the template for Subaru in several ways. The model had appeared the year before, first as a front-drive coupe and then as a sedan, but it was the wagon with AWD that gave the brand a special selling proposition in both Japan and winter-affected export markets in Europe and America.

Leone also introduced Subaru's signature frameless-window doors. Leone reached New Zealand in 1973 and was locally assembled from 1977.

LEGACY RS (1989)
The Legacy was the first road car developed by newly formed STI, they of the pink-performance-car badges.

The RS was not only a legendary road car, but a groundbreaking rally machine - and one that went out in glory. By 1993 the Impreza was ready for the WRC, but Subaru insisted on a Legacy RS win before the model was retired. That happened in Rally New Zealand, with 25-year-old Colin McRae at the wheel.

The Legacy RS was also a star vehicle for Kiwi rally legend Possum Bourne, winning the New Zealand Rally Championship in 1991 and the Asia-Pacific title in 1993-94.

SVX (1991)
So 1980s, but the SVX remains a fascinating machine.

At launch, it boasted the largest engine ever fitted to a Subaru road car, a 3.3-litre boxer-six. The production model grew out of a 1989 ItalDesign concept car called the Alcyone SVX, and carried over one of the show car's most striking features: the aircraft-inspired window-within-a-window, which gave it a supercar look.

Still, with age comes classic appeal. SVX is a reminder that Subaru will launch another out-of-character coupe this year, the rear-drive BRZ.

IMPREZA WRX (1992)

The quintessential high-performance Subaru road car. It's been reinvented many times over the past two decades, but the WRX has always had the right blend of on-road ability and rally heritage.

It won Subaru WRC Championship manufacturer titles in 1995 to 1997 and driver titles for McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003). Subaru withdrew from the WRC in 2008, but the road cars continue.

It seems tame now, but the first-generation model with 155kW was considered a real road rocket. The WRX provided the base for an STI version in 1994. The latest WRX makes 195kW in standard from, or 221kW as an STI.

OUTBACK (1995)
The original crossover? In 1995, Subaru found a cost-effective way to tap into the growing trend towards off-road-type vehicles: add extra body cladding and ride height to the Legacy wagon. Volvo followed suit with the XC in 1997, and the rest is history.

The Outback has been a core element in Subaru's lineup ever since - even though the maker has also expanded into bespoke SUV-style wagons like Forester and Tribeca.

In 1998, Subaru even tried a four-door version in select markets, called the Legacy Sport Utility Sedan (SUS).

From 2000, the Legacy name was dropped and Outback became a separate brand, although the concept and relationship to the donor model remains the same. Subaru has tried to apply the Outback concept to the smaller Impreza, the newest example being the XV - which Subaru NZ boss Wally Dumper has called the "Junior Outback".