Greetings, Subaru Gurus. Shopping for a new vehicle to replace my Daihatsu midgetII (deceased, sob.) I want a 1200cc, all wheel drive, auto, Subaru Sambar (Actually a Domingo), but they are rare. There are a lot of 660cc variants. Is it possible/practical to fit the bigger engine? ie, import a nice 660cc car from japan, and then go find the bigger engine and find a good grease monkey to do the spanner work. Thanks Fay
Where do you expect to find the Domingo engine? While there are plenty of old Subaru Justys around, their engine has the exhaust/inlet orientation flipped, and you will have to do a LOT of custom fabbing to get the ducting/exhaust to fit, and the oil pan to work. I'd 2nd the advice to be patient and keep looking for a good Domingo with a well-maintained auto transmission. The old Subaru auto ECVT transmissions are notoriously finicky and hard to repair.
Ahhh! Interesting aside on the auto box, would I be better off with a stick shift? 600 supercharged really wouldn't be up to the odd longer trip, London-Manchester, Show, Manchester-London? Really good to find a little group with some hands on knowledge, re:- "their engine has the exhaust/inlet orientation flipped, and you will have to do a LOT of custom fabbing to get the ducting/exhaust to fit, and the oil pan to work." Algys Autos are helpful but lack detail on the marque. Thanks people, Fay
Glad you found us too, Fay. There's much less to go wrong with a stickshift, compared to this archive of suffering.
I've driven the Domingo with the automatic as well as the manual transmission. It's not for use in hilly country or if you carry a larger load (as in all 7 passengers). It robs too much power from the drive train ... The manual transmission is adequate for most purposes, but it's still a 1189cc pipsqueak engine. The manual transmission is great on the highway though, keeps up with traffic with no problems at all.
Out of curiosity I googled that distance. London to Manchester = 290 Kms 181 miles. I hope your 660cc van can do that. My minicab has to do 360 kms through the mountains to get to the closest Canadian Tire and back. To buy gel-pads for the seats as my butt is totally numb.... I'm planning to bring it to Vancouver (1100 kms each way) this summer.
olddatsunfan is going to like my truck I think! Basic but tidy, 1200cc, 4x4 and autobox. full sunroofs. I've been offered a 3 year warranty for £500, and will probably take it. £3980 FOB, Hoping to attach a photograph. Wish me luck! Fondest, Fay