Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its boxer engines this year. Engines with cylinders arranged horizontally opposed are called "boxers" because the movement of their pistons is comparable to two boxing fighters.
First pit engine in the Subaru 100
Subaru's now legendary boxer engine was introduced on May 14, 1966 in the Subaru 1000, a compact passenger car.
Subsequently, Subaru has always made optimum use of the conceptual advantages of the boxer engines, and for 50 years now, ever-improved units of this type have been used to power the vehicle range.
Today, every Subaru is equipped with a boxer engine. The only exception is a subcompact manufactured in cooperation and only offered on the Japanese market.
In the boxer engine, the two rows of cylinders are arranged horizontally on both sides of the crankshaft. As their crankpins are offset by 180°, the cylinders opposite each other are always in the same power stroke and, as a result, the inertia forces cancel each other out. Boxer engines are therefore particularly low-vibration and are characterized by very smooth running up to high engine speeds. The short design allows more freedom during installation and enables a low center of gravity, which has also given Subaru great advantages in rallying, for example.
