5k: 1980 Subaru DL Hatchback 4WD

The Subaru Leone (Italian for Lion) was a compact sedan manufactured by Fuji Heavy Industries from 1971 to 1994 and marketed as the DL in the USA.  It was the predecessor to the extremely successful Subaru Impreza, available as a coupe, sedan, hatchback, truck and wagon, and all Leones were powered by boxer-4 cylinder engines.  This 1980 Subaru DL Hatchback is equipped with a manual transmission, 4WD and is offered for $4500 in Bellevue, NE via craigslist.  Thanks to reader Andy L for the tip!

This little Lion is sold as a single owner 90k mile survivor car with maintenance records, new windshield, always garaged, basically the nicest Subaru DL Hatchback you could find on the web.  The asking price isn’t insane, so we expect this is being offered by the owner (potentially a ‘flipper’ who bought it from the original owner and did some cosmetic fixes to get it ready for sale) for a fair price given its condition.

 This DL is powered by the EA81, a 1.8 liter horizontally opposed 4 cylinder (boxer) engine putting out 74 horsepower into a 4 speed manual transmission that puts the power to all 4 wheels via a driver selectable switch. 

 The inside of this DL is a nice shade of lion mane tan – with darker brown accents on the dash – very late 70s indeed!  The seats have recently been recovered and look like new, and the rest of the interior looks good as well.

This little 4WD Lion looks to be in great shape for the cash and while it does deserve a closer inspection for rust as the thin gauge sheet metal doesn’t survive many years.  The seller does say its 99.99% rust free indicating it may have a few rust spots, but regardless we still like this little hatchback.

See another Lion with a flat-4 growl?  tips@dailyturismo.com