ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: The Subaru Legacy, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry
all come in at about $23,000. Equipped with four-cylinder engines, they
all deliver about 175-185 hp, so really it all comes down to
preference. The Legacy, though, is the only one that offers all-wheel
drive.
I don’t know why it gets outsold by the
thousands every year, because it offers nearly everything the other guys
do, plus a little extra style to go with that AWD.
The
2.5-liter H4 is sufficient, but to make any sort of moves or passes,
you have to basically floor it. The CVT makes fake shifts near redline,
but that sound...it’s hard to get over, especially when you’ve been used
to manuals and standard automatics most of your life. At least in the WRX the trans is tuned for fun; in the Legacy it’s tuned for efficiency. I guess 36 mpg on the highway is a good selling point.
It
is relatively quiet on the highway, with wind and road noise kept at
bay. It does seem to be working hard to keep the car at 75-80 mph.
The
interior is clean-looking, though. I don’t really like the seat
material, which feels like a hybrid between nylon and cloth. It’s soft
enough, but feels a little cheap. On the other hand, I
love the new dash and instrument panel. The touchscreen radio looks
good and works well. It feels like a thick piece of glass as opposed to a
flexible piece of plastic like some cars. The metal-looking mesh on the
doors and dash look good, too.
The Accord is
probably a little bit more car for the money than this, but at least the
Legacy has some character -- and of course, symmetrical all-wheel
drive.
The interior of the 2015 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium looks clean, and the new dash instrument panel is a big plus.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAHAM KOZAK: That’s
an interesting point about the Legacy never getting close to segment
standbys like the Accord or Camry despite comparable pricing and the
bonus of standard all-wheel drive. I don’t know whether this has been
due to a relative lack of dealerships, less cash for marketing or some
vague notion among the car-buying public that Subarus are somehow
simultaneously for both crunchy outdoors types and boy-racers, but something’s changed of late, and Fuji Heavy Industries is moving a fair amount of product stateside.
I
think the sales boost is due to two things. First, buyers are coming to
see all-wheel drive as a necessity (or at least something that should
be available as an option) and AWD sales accounted for something like 30
percent of the market in 2013.
And second, Subaru
has hit on a design language bland enough to appeal to a wide range of
buyers. The 2015 Legacy is not a bad-looking car by any means. But I
challenge you to find one remarkable -- let alone polarizing --
style feature on this thing. Perhaps Subaru and Hyundai are able to
offer such value-oriented cars because they split styling costs; the
more I compare the 2015 Legacy to a 2015 Sonata, the less difference I see.
No
matter. The Sonata represents a solid value for the non-enthusiast, and
the Legacy does, too. You’re trading some of the Hyundai’s interior
refinement, such as it is, for the Subaru’s all-wheel drive. That
doesn’t mean the Legacy is dreadful inside -- the light-colored seats
seem like a questionable choice for an outdoor activity-inclined person,
but it’s comfortable enough.
I’d like to give the
3.6-liter a shot, but honestly, there was nothing underwhelming about
the 175 hp 2.5-liter or its (whiny) CVT. That much, at least, seems like
a carryover from the 2014 model, despite marginally increased
horsepower. You’re not going to be whipping this car around -- that’s
what the BRZ and WRX are for -- but if past experience with other Legacy
models holds true, it will be excellent in snow.
Like
its immediate predecessor, the Legacy offers acceptable power,
acceptable refinement and a respectable list of features -- like that
all-wheel drive system -- at a palatable price. When I say that it’s
possibly just boring enough to appeal to a wide range of sedan buyers, I promise that I don’t mean it as an insult.
The 2015 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium features a wonderful all-wheel drive platform.
0 comments:
Post a Comment