360 · 1958–1970/71
The car that made Subaru a car company — and the one Consumer Reports called 'Not Acceptable.'
Launched in 1958, the 360 was the vehicle that introduced the Subaru name to the market, built to Japan's kei-car regulatory class with an air-cooled two-stroke inline-2 (356cc). Power rose from 16 PS at introduction to 25 PS by August 1968, with the sportier dual-carburetor 'Young SS' making 36 PS. Malcolm Bricklin's newly formed Subaru of America imported roughly 10,000 units starting 1968 at $1,297 — the sub-1,000-lb curb weight exempted it from contemporary US federal safety standards, a fact Bricklin's marketing reportedly leaned into rather than hid. In April 1969, Consumer Reports rated the US-spec 360 'Not Acceptable,' citing (per secondary retellings, not yet verified against the primary text) roughly 37-second 0–50 mph acceleration and safety concerns from a crash test against a full-size American car; the widely repeated 'most dangerous car in America' characterization has not been confirmed as a direct quote from the original review.
JDM by default; a small, troubled US import episode (1968–c.1969–71, ~10,000 units via Malcolm Bricklin's Subaru of America) and a much smaller 1961 Australian import (~73 units) are the documented exceptions.
CoverageGeneration tracer-bullet · 23 July 2026
Powertrain
Engine options
| Engine | Years | Power | Torque |
|---|---|---|---|
| EK31/EK32 Two-Stroke Inline-2 | 1958–1968 | 16–25 PS | — |
| Young SS (dual-carburetor) | 1958–1970/71 | 36 PS | 27 lb-ft (37 N·m) at 6,400 rpm |
not captured in the research corpus yet. This site shows unknowns as gaps rather than filling them with unsourced figures.
Configuration
Trims and transmissions
Total production is commonly reported as 392,000 units, though this figure has not been traced to a primary Subaru/FHI production record.
Identify & buy
Identification and ownership notes
US-imported 360s are the sub-1,000-lb, Bricklin-era cars specifically tied to the Consumer Reports controversy; do not conflate this narrow US episode with the much larger JDM production run.