Could someone 
>describe the EV engine for us?

At the wrong end :-)

>I have a question about this. I heard that the suburu [legacy] engine
>was either designed by or based on the vanagon flat 4 type engine.
>The subaru is however 'blessed' with 2! timing belts- so what's up?

The only connection between the Subaru and VW engines is that they are both 
Flat 4 layouts. The Subaru has overhead cams, one per head, with a belt to 
drive each. BTW there is a rallycross Beetle in the UK with Subaru 4-valve 
heads, a turbo, four wheel drive and, wait for it, 500 HP! Who says VWs are 
slow. 

Andy E.

A.C.Erskine@lut.ac.uk