Subaru vs Porsche, who makes a better flat motor?

[Tacoboy]

Both Porsche and Subaru use flat engines.
Has anyone compared the quality?
Are Subaru's engines copys of Porsche designs?

[lanciachris]

Alfa :P biased central here

[timf]

Porsche.

the subaru eats it's main bearings after 24,000 miles
and you have to jump through hoops to get it fixed under waranty

[stevieturbo]

Subarus do not eat big ends at 24k.

There is a random problem there, but if you maintain them properly, and use good oil, it will be a very very rare occurance, and may well never happen..
There are already quite a few proven 550+bhp Subarus in the country, and they seem to be holding up.

Generally speaking they make for a very very good engine. Very nicely put together, and very nice to work at.

Ive never worked at a Porsche flat 6, but would have no doubt it is superior in every way to a SUbaru engine.

[Trooper2]

I've always heard that Subaru's are bomb proof, my father's last 2 cars have been Soobys and he drives about 50,000 miles a year. There are an awful lot of old Sooby flat engines on the road here in the states so they must be doing something right.

[cyberface]

I don't have a bad word about Scooby engines, neither of mine went pop (but mine weren't highly tuned, I suppose). Equally none of my Porker flat sixes have given any aggro, and my current one is supercharged.

However as to design / engineering quality, you have to appreciate that Porsche have been making this type of motor since the 1950's.... plenty of time to iron out all the bugs. The 993 motors (last air-cooled flat six designs) were, and are, pretty much bomb proof. Porsche have had some teething troubles with their newer water-cooled designs, but the general opinion is that this is due to cost-cutting and design to cost (for example, the new Turbo and GT3 engines are equally regarded as bomb proof, but they are very expensive engines to replace)

The issue is that the typical 2 litre Scooby turbo'd flat four is not really a fair comparison to the Porsche flat six. I don't believe there are enough stats to make a significant comparison between the SVX engine and the recent watercooled Porsche engines. And the 2.5 litre fours in the american Scoobys and the Litchfield type 25 (now that's a car I'd buy!) are equally rare, aren't they? (per power, not really considering Forester engines vs. 911 engines)

Personally, an aircooled Porsche flat six with a decent exhaust is God's own motor for sound (and I'm an atheist...) however an Impreza motor with the old Scoobysport backbox comes second...

I have no idea whether this is due to the fact that I've owned both these cars, or whether boxer motors simply sound better. Anyone care to enlighten me? For reference, I've also had a TVR Griffith, and even though it sounded fantastic, I still rate the tweaked Scoob and 911 higher. Is it just me???

[pib]

I drive a family members flat scooby six or H6 as they like to call it. I believe it is 3 or 3.2 litres. It is amazingly smooth (smoother than the Bimmer 3.2 straight six I drive but less torque) and it seems to have a good sound but it is so quite. It lacks torque big time though. I have often searched the internet in vain looking for airbox or exhaust mods hoping to cure this but havn't found any for the 6. It seems to me the 4 banger is more torquey than the six! (Outback wagons) The six is very smooth and an interesting alternative to most cars in it's class. I don't know if it is available in the UK or not.

[timf]

stevieturbo said:

Subarus do not eat big ends at 24k. There is a random problem there, but if you maintain them properly, and use good oil, it will be a very very rare occurance, and may well never happen.. There are already quite a few proven 550+bhp Subarus in the country, and they seem to be holding up.

i must have had the worst 2 then

both brought with dealer fsh
one on 23k within 2 weeks @ 1000 miles bearings go.

other had 25k and bearing knocks out at 70 on the a12 2 months later

[stevieturbo]

Dealer service history means nothing. Id trust main dealers less than most smaller garages.
A lot of dealers also seem to use Magnatec in Subarus, despite it being pure rubbish.

Using the wrong certainly wont help matters.

[Tacoboy]

Which cars have used flat-12 motors?

[Trooper2]

Tacoboy said:

Which cars have used flat-12 motors?

Ferrari Berlineta "Boxer" 512 I know for sure.

[ettore]

Ferrari BB512 and the Testarossa. Racing wise Porsche 917, Ferrari 312PB and a raft of mid seventies F1 Ferrari`s. I`m sure there are others.

[Tacoboy]

And also a V-8 vs. flat-8, in the 5 to 6 liter size?

[Mr Whippy]

I think the WWII Typhoon engine was pretty cool, it was two flat 12's ontop of each other, with the cranks driving a common output.

That was a proper H engine, H24 I believe it was called.

Scoobys H6 is just a joke, it's a flat 6. H, pah.

Dave