Subaru LEGACY SPORTS TOURER RANGE
Many Believe Subarus Legacy Is At Its Best In Spacious Sports Tourer Guise. Andy Enright Checks Out The 2.5-Litre SE Variant
Think
Subaru and unless youre firmly attuned to Impreza mode, youll probably be thinking of rugged all-wheel drive estate cars with tough flat-four engines. Leave aside the rally replicas for a moment and youll find this is Subaru heartland and the company needs a strong model in this market sector. The trouble is many manufacturers had not only caught up with this game, but had left Subaru behind in terms of sophistication and desirability. Needing a more refined and elegant car with which to do battle, Subaru unleashed a revised Legacy and the Sport Tourer promised a completely different ownership experience.
Thats what the script promised in any case.
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In reality, the experience was much the same. You still got the same reliability and satisfaction of ownership. The same spaciousness and commonsense design and the same high equipment levels. What had changed was the fit and finish.
Think less farmhand and more landowner and you get the point even though the asking price remained as sensible as ever. Prices start at £17,350 for the 2.0i version and top out at £27,900 for the 3.0R spec.
B. However, its the 2.5SE version we feature here, retailing at around £21,400, thats not only likely to be most popular but is most typical of Subarus fresh tack. The Legacy Sports Tourer is a full 35mm wider than the Legacy Estate range it replaces yet has an improved drag coefficient of .
30. Whats more, around 55kg has been shaved off the weight of this station wagon thanks to the widespread use of aluminium and high-tensile steel. Many all wheel drive cars are rather heavy things and manufacturers go to great lengths to disguise the fact that theyre usually significantly slower than their front wheel drive cousins, but tipping the scales at just 1390kg, the Legacy Sports Tourer is lighter than, say, a
Peugeot 307SW. The load bay is quite a size, offering a fully carpeted and reassuringly surface which conceals an underfloor storage bin to keep valuables out of the sight of crooks.
With 459 litres of capacity, youll find the Legacy Sports Tourer a cut above Sportwagon style rivals like the
Lexus IS SportCross or the Alfa 156 Sportwagon. You get a full 76.5cm from boot floor to ceiling height and 41cm from floor to parcel shelf. The other dimensions that matter are a 108.
5cm length with the rear seats in place and a width of up to 136.5cm. Thats a whole lot of fresh air.
"Helped by the use of aluminum componentry, the Legacy Sports Tourer tips the scales at less than something like a Peugeot 307SW"
The 2.5-litre engine featured here might seem initially familiar but 80 per cent of its components have been redesigned for this model. Most of the internals have been lightened to reduce inertia and a fly-by-wire throttle has been introduced.
Subaru have emphasised the inherent low centre of gravity of a boxer engine by mounting this powerplant 22mm lower than in its predecessor.
Capable of developing a worthwhile 162bhp, the engine will propel the Legacy through 60mph in 9.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 127mph. These engines have gained a reputation as being tough but ultimately rather thirsty but an overall average of 29.4mpg is a fair return for a car so generously proportioned.
Lifelong Subaru fans will be reassured by the trademark frameless windows, the boxer engine and the all-wheel drive transmission, but the big difference is that the Legacy is at last a car that your passengers will enjoy as much as you do. Subaru have poached Andreas Zapatinas from
Alfa Romeo and theyve snagged a very capable designer. Encouraged by recent part-shareholder General Motors, Subaru now seem to have a little more integration between their engineering and design departments. The latest Legacy is at last the car that most car nuts wish it always had been.
The styling has been sharpened up, excised of all the fussy detailing and gawky lines. The basic silhouette still shouts Subaru, but the deftness of detail in the headlamps, the swage lines and the perceived tension in the body is something that has eluded the crayon-wielders at Subaru to date. Everything is just that little bit neater. The mirrors house Mercedes style side repeaters, the wheelarches bulge gently out, topped by a pronounced hip.
The roof pillars are elegantly slim and the wheels do a better job of filling the arches. One can almost imagine Zapatinas taking a red pen to blueprints of the old car. If you think that the exterior lines have been sharpened up, just wait until you drop into the cabin. Although its probably too much to expect
Audi or
BMW style at the first strike, the fascia is one of the better designs out there.
Gone are the acres of brittle grey plastics, flimsy cupholders, scratchy fabrics and uninspiring dials. In its place is a dashboard of sleekly industrial metallic finish, overlapping aluminium-ringed dials, soft-touch surfaces and rubber and felt-lined door pockets and cubbies. Despite only featuring height adjustment for the steering column, its an easy cockpit to get comfortable in. Head and legroom are generous up front and the seats are reassuringly supportive.
This is a Subaru, remember. Access to the rear isnt the best, the wheelarch making the door shape a little awkward, plus theres a big transmission tunnel marring foot space for a third central passenger. This estate version boats better headroom than the rather sloping roofline of the saloon. Tweaks to the suspension geometry and componentry make the latest car an even more accomplished handler than its predecessor and due in no small part to that significant weight loss plan the cars a good deal quicker too.
The price for this dynamic focus is a slightly firmer ride but its doubtful too many UK enthusiasts will mind. Think of it as a scaled up Impreza and youre not too far off beam. Spend a little time with the Legacy Sports Tourer and youll come to the conclusion that most of the competition appear to be offering a lot less for a good deal more money. If you wanted a BMW or an Audi in this price bracket, youd be well down on both performance and standard equipment.
Whether these factors can overcome the brand equity of the German marques is doubtful but those who do take the plunge with Subaru ownership are, almost without exception, a massively satisfied bunch. Your Legacy Sports Tourer might not win the badge war but ask yourself some searching questions regarding your motivation for buying an estate car and youll find it has most of the right answers.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Subaru Legacy Sports Tourer range
PRICE: £17,350-£27,900 on the road
INSURANCE GROUPS: 11E-15E
CO2 EMISSIONS: 183-234g/km
PERFORMANCE: [2.5] 0-60mph 9.2s / Max Speed 127mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.5] (Combined) 29.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front airbags / ABS with EBD / Seatbelt pretensioners.
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4720/1730/1425
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