Subaru Justy joins the rebadged Daihatsu Boon clan

The Daihatsu Boon, the Toyota Passo and the Perodua Myvi triplets have a new sibling now in the form of the Subaru Justy. This is expected since Toyota has some stakeholding in Subaru now. The new Subaru Justy was unveiled at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show and is positioned as an entry-level model in Subaru’s line-up. The Subaru Justy is only available with a 3-cylinder 1.0 liter DOHC engine making 68 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 94Nm of torque at 3,600rpm, slightly higher than what we get in the 1 liter version of our Myvi - 57hp at 6,000rpm and 88Nm at 3,600rpm.

This is because the Justy uses the 1KR-FE 1.0 liter engine from the Passo, Boon and Aygo instead of our Myvi’s EJ-VE. This engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission with no automatic option currently. Two trim levels are available - the “sporty” 1.0S and the basic 1.0E, which to me actually look very similiar other than the wheels put on the car. The 1.0S gets 14 inch aluminium alloy wheels with 175/65/R14 tyres while the 1.0E gets 13 inch steel wheels with full wheel caps wrapped with 155/80R13 tyres. On the inside, the 1.0S gets more airbags then the 1.0E - 6 versus 4, with the additional 2 being curtain airbags for the front and rear on both sides. Other 1.0S exclusive options are a chrome accented gear knob and a manual seat lifter for the driver’s seat. Safety features include usual ABS and EBD for both models.