Start with what the Subaru R-2 is: a 2-door Sedan (automobile) / sedan / 3-door van with 356 , built from 1969 to 1972, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer.
Where it came from
The Subaru R-2 is a kei car manufactured by Subaru from 1969 to 1972. The R-2 was a full model change of the popular Subaru 360, but with an updated appearance and increased interior space.
The R-2 appeared approximately one year before the Honda Life, Daihatsu Fellow Max and Suzuki Fronte kei cars, however, it continued to use the powertrain setup from the Subaru 360, which was the EK33 air-cooled 2-cylinder engine installed in the back, which is the inspiration for the name of the vehicle. It appeared around the same time as the second generation Mitsubishi Minica.
Under the skin
The engine is 356 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 430 kg. The wheelbase is 1920 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Subaru line-up the Subaru R-2 has a clear place: it replaced the Subaru 360; it handed the line to the Subaru Rex; the factory was Subaru-chō Plant, Ōta, Gunma, Japan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Range Rover Range Rover, the Peugeot 504, the Chevrolet Impala. Nearby in the Subaru catalogue sit the Subaru Chiffon and the Subaru Lucra.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Subaru R-2 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.
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