19/07/2008 14:56. I enjoy visualising what is going on inside an engine when I'm driving. It is a hidden, wonderful world of ingenuity. We pay it scant regard, yet so much of our everyday lives depends on it.

The real driving forces of modern life are little workaholic pistons going up and down relentlessly, like your legs do to turn the wheels when you pedal furiously on a bicycle.

That's the way most cars work.

Things are a little different in the case of the Subaru Legacy saloon (and others in their lineup). The mechanical 'limbs' don't go up and down. They go over and back: like two opposite rows of arms and fists 'boxing' each other.

It is hardly surprising, then, to find that such engines are called Boxers. There is one in the Legacy saloon reviewed here.

Not only that, but it is a diesel.... // Irish Independent