Subaru, already an outsider with its flat-four engines and all-wheel-drive systems in passenger cars, looked to the far corners of the engineering world in the early 1990s to devise a novel solution ...

Subaru and flat, or "boxer" engines are practically synonymous with one another. Beyond the Japanese automaker and Porsche, no other major manufacturer regularly utilizes flat engine configurations ...

Car geeks love a weird flex with their engines, and this one comes straight from Japan. Imagine a flat-four boxer engine with two turbos working in sequence, chasing boost like a rally stage start.

Although Subaru didn't invent flat engines, and isn't the only automaker still using them, those motors have become a defining characteristic of the brand. (The same can be said for all-wheel drive, ...