Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 9:41pm
Subaru is a brand that’s known to do things a bit differently than other mainstream car manufacturers. All but one of its cars come with standard all-wheel-drive, it has a historic commitment to occupant protection, and all of its internal combustion-engined cars feature a unique horizontally opposed engine layout. These horizontally opposed engines are called “boxer engines,” and they are oriented differently than every other engine configuration on the market.
You probably already know that V8 engines are V-shaped, and inline-6 engines are oriented in a straight line, but what about a flat-4, horizontally opposed boxer engine? Boxer engines earn their namesake because their pistons are laid out flat, and when they move as the engine runs, their motion mimics a boxer punching their fists together. Subaru is the only mass-market automaker that uses boxer engines, though the Subaru/ Toyota partnership that resulted in the Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ means Toyota technically has one boxer-engined car too, but it is primarily produced at Subaru’s Gunma, Japan manufacturing facility. Porsche is the only other carmaker that currently uses boxer engines, but it only uses them in its 911 and 718 sports cars at the moment.
