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Never known as mundane, Subaru has gone an exotic step further with its 1992 SVX. The sports car, which arrived in Indianapolis this month, looks like it could have come out of Star Wars.

Subaru says the SVX is an expression of everything it knows about building a sports car.

It is represented locally by Speedway Subaru, and the Tom Wood Group, which has moved its Subaru operations into Wood’s Jaguar-Volvo agency.

What the local dealers have on hand is a motor car with a healthy dose of horsepower and drive-train technology that gets that power to all four wheels. The SVX has the ability to stop as well as go, and a style guaranteed to turn heads whenever the car goes past.

Subaru apparently has pulled off a tall order with its flagship SVX, but at a price. The entry-level cost is just over $25,000. One with the luxury touring group can go to $28,500.

“This is our new image,” said Rick Shewmake, general sales manager of Speedway Subaru. “This is the new Subaru. We’re not portraying it as expensive. We’re portraying it as high tech, top of the line.”

The SVX is high tech. Subaru, a longtime devotee of the flat-6 engine design, has put all its whistles and bells into this one.

Its SVX engine configuration features individual banks of three cylinders lying opposite each other and sporting double-overhead cams. The four cams actuate four valves per cylinder.

Anytime you are running four cams and 24 valves in a 3.3-liter (202-cubic-inch) aluminum engine you’re developing horsepower — in this case 230 horses.

Getting that much horsepower hooked to the road is the next trick, so Subaru has initiated a full-time four-wheel-drive system.

On slick pavement, four-wheel drive is a major improvement over two-wheel drive when it comes to getting hold of the asphalt.

The car has a curb weight of 3,525 pounds. It has a 102.8-inch wheelbase and an overall length of 182.1 inches.

For comparative purposes, the SVX is just a shade longer than the Mustang GT, and just a bit shorter then the Chevrolet Camaro. However, the four-wheel drive makes it considerably heavier than either of the American cars.

The weight influences the coupe’s acceleration characteristics, four-wheel drive notwithstanding. Zero to 60 miles per hour is rated at 7.6 seconds, quite respectable but not a time that stands head and shoulders above other sports cars in this power range.

But top speed is worth some attention. That’s 143 mph. To stop the rocket, anti-lock braking is standard.

The automobile is meant to appeal to drivers other than gearheads. Luxury items include plush seating for four, a full complement of power accessories, an integrated security system controlled by an infrared remote transmitter, automatic climate control, an 80-watt audio system and an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission.

A couple of styling innovations are a glass-to-glass canopy effect that bonds glass over the roof pillars, and a window-in-window design th at allows open-window driving without the elements intruding on driver and passengers.

“We feel the car is going to appeal to the more mature professional,” Shewmake said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of doctors and people who have wanted four-wheel drive getting out of the Blazers and utility trucks and getting into this more stylish vehicle.”

Subaru has never done anything like this before. But by taking Giorgetto Giugiaro’s design study and having the designers at Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan refine the shape for production purposes, the company has brought forth one of the more exotic-looking cars on the market.

It is, of course, slanted towards a market niche that calls for a personalized, limited-production automobile.

“I don’t know how many they’re going to build,” Shewmake said, “but I believe the larger Subaru dealers will get maybe three or four a month. The smaller dealer will get maybe one or two.”