Subaru is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its iconic horizontally-opposed ‘Boxer’ engine, one of the most distinctive and celebrated engine designs of all time.
First introduced on the Subaru 1000 compact passenger car all the way back in May 1966, today every vehicle currently sold by the Japanese manufacturer is fitted with a Boxer motor.
So named because the movement of the horizontally-opposed pistons in the engine resemble the way a boxer punches their gloves together before a fight, more than 16 million have been made so far.
Smooth acceleration, better handling
Unlike inline cylinder designs where the piston and cylinder is positioned vertically or V engines where the cylinders are banked at an angle, the cylinders in the Boxer engine lay flat.
The opposing pistons cancel out the inertial force of each other, which results in less vibration and better rotational balance, providing smooth acceleration even up to the highest engine speeds.
Sharing a similar design to Porsche’s famous flat-six engines, the compact form of the Boxer also allows it to be fitted lower in the car, which lowers the centre of gravity and improves handling.
The Boxer's Boxer
It’s also one of the key components of Subaru’s famed all-wheel drive system, delivering high-speed stability which helped the marque eke out a legacy as one of the most successful rally teams in history.
Later this month, one of the most desirable Subarus of all time will go up for auction at Silverstone, a 1998 Impreza 22B STi owned by former World Featherweight boxing champ Prince Naseem.
Known as the ‘Boxer’s Boxer’, the car is one of the firm’s most iconic models, powered by a 276bhp 2.2-litre Boxer engine and sharing a look with the Impreza WRC cars famously driven by Colin McRae.
