The Subaru FF-1 G (also sold as the 1100 and 1300) was a compact car from the 1970s, replacing the FF-1 Star. It was a front wheel drive vehicle with a typical Subaru flat-4 engine. A fully independenttorsion bar suspension and rack and pinion steering were impressive for the time. The inboard front drum brakes was an oddity. Also strange were the dual radiators - the car used only a small radiator (which was also the heater core) on starting, speeding warmup.
The 1088 cc and 1267 cc engines found in the 1100 and 1300 had no cooling fan. An electric fan on the small radiator cooled the engine. The engines shared the same short 60 mm stroke, but the larger unit was bored to 82 mm rather than 76 mm. The small engines produced an impressive 80 hp (JIS).
Even in 1972, Subaru boasted about the foul-weather handling of their cars, and they were quite successful. Priced at just over US$2,000 and achieving 29 mpg, the Subaru quickly became one of the top-selling import cars in the United States.
"Subaru" is the Japanese word for the star cluster Pleiades that is depicted in the company logo.
Subaru's best-known vehicles are high performance turbocharged versions of its Legacy (known as Liberty in Australia), and Impreza, which offer outstanding performance and handling at relatively affordable prices.
Subaru cars (especially Imprezas) are sometimes affectionately referred to as " Scooby-Doos," "Scoobies", or "Scoobarus," due to the similarity in pronunciation between "Subaru" and "Scooby Doo".