Subaru began selling the Leone in the United States as a 1973 model, and all Subarus sold here (including the BRAT) were Leone-based until the appearance of the XT in 1985. Today, we'll admire an example of the late Leone, a loaded wagon found in a Denver-area yard in 2024.
The Leone name was never used in the United States, despite the car going through three generations here. We got Leone coupes, hatchbacks, sedans, pickups and wagons during the 1973-1994 period.
Just to confuse everybody, Subaru spent many years calling its US-market Leones just "The Subaru" (except for the BRAT). That meant that the trim level designations became de facto model names, which results today in even ought-to-know-better American Subaru aficionados calling every 1980s Leone model a GL (the trim level above base and DL).
Then the bigger and more modern Legacy appeared in North America as a 1990 model, which meant that Subaru of America had to think up a new name for the Leone. This was the Loyale, which was the name used for the 1990-1994 cars.
We're not done talking about bewildering Subaru nomenclature yet! Subaru was a pioneer of four-wheel-drive cars but was a few years behind AMC and Audi in developing what we'd now call all-wheel-drive (i.e., a 4WD system that has a center differential or viscous coupling and doesn't require the driver to switch to 2WD for use on dry pavement).
Subaru called its early AWD system "Full Time 4WD" and first installed it in US-market cars around 1987 (the photo above is of a 1989 XT6). It isn't always clear which system a 1987-1994 Subaru has, because Subaru used a character that could be read as a 4 or an A on the decals on many of those cars.
This car has genuine all-wheel-drive, and that's just the beginning of the high-buck stuff within.
The MSRP for this model was $13,749, or about $34,963 in 2025 dollars. That makes it the second-most expensive US-market model for 1990, behind the the $14,099 Loyale 4WD Touring Wagon. Meanwhile, the new AWD Legacy wagon started at $15,994 (the '90 Legacy wagon could be had with front- and four-wheel-drive as well).
The automatic transmission added a staggering $2,700 to the price of this car ($6,866 in today's money). I thought that had to be a typo, but that figure appears in three different contemporary price guides from my collection. Automatics in non-turbo 1990 Loyales cost $550-$900, so perhaps the beefing-up process to survive behind the more powerful engine broke the bank at Fuji Heavy Industries.
This engine is a SOHC 1.8-liter EA82T, rated at 115 horsepower and 134 pound-feet. Not bad for a wagon scaling in at just 2,580 pounds, by 1990 standards.
The Leone seemed like a flyweight machine by American standards of the early 1990s, particularly at a time when the SUV was taking over Main Street. That's the reason the Legacy was created, and it became a tremendous sales success (especially when it evolved into the Outback wagon).
Still, the Leone/Loyale soldiered on all the way through 1994, and you could get it with "on demand" four-wheel-drive until the end.
This car had just under 100,000 miles at the end (or maybe the speedometer cable broke in 1998). The highest-mile junkyard Leone I've documented was a 1987 GL 4WD wagon with 324,780 miles; the best-traveled Subaru I've ever shot in the boneyards was a 1998 Legacy Outback wagon boasting 528,837 miles on the clock (both in Colorado, of course).
t was a bit rusty at the end, not too bad by the standards of Japanese cars of its era.
This ignition key with dealership tag tells us that today's Junkyard Find was likely a trade-in that wouldn't sell. Rust? Bad transmission? Blown head gasket? We'll never know.
Leo Payne, member of the Colorado Automotive Hall of Fame, opened the first multi-brand domestic/import dealership in Colorado and eventually owned 17 dealership franchises in the Denver metropolitan region. He sold the business in 1991, soon after this car was sold. This emblem now lives on my garage wall, of course.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo 4WD Turbo Wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.
via Autobuzz Today
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