Subaru Legacy Tourer ON THE ROAD

Review by Rob McSorley

If ever the phrase "does exactly what it says on the tin" was used to promote a car Subaru's Legacy would be the perfect fit. It's not a crossover or a glitsy mish-mash of several different types of car it's simply a large, traditional family estate car. What makes it unique however is that the entire range comes with Subaru's symmetrical four-wheel-drive system making the Legacy an ideal car for rural dwellers. 

Previous Legacy Tourers have always looked distinctive thanks to frameless doors and wrap around windows but this time Subaru have ditched these features. The styling lacks the finesse promised by the dynamic front end instead it looks a little dull. It's not helped by our ES Nav test cars small 16 inch alloy wheels that are dwarfed by the cars size. What we did find odd is the height of the roofline and tall window area which makes the Legacy look top heavy and slab sided when viewed in profile. Still it's far from ugly.

The generous proportions lend themselves to a spacious cabin that has a modern, striking design with its domed centre console and quirky steering wheel. The layout is faultless with simple to use switchgear where you would expect to find everything. The seats too are perfectly shaped and stupidly comfortable with plenty of adjustment. Subaru seemed to have forgotten that cars of this type need to be built with materials more plush than a city car. Instead they have used hard unappealing materials on all of the areas drivers interact with most although there is not faulting how well screwed together it is.

If you want a car with plenty of cabin space then the Legacy is the car for you. There's acres of space in both the front and rear making carry five adults very easy. Legroom in the rear is particularly generous and thanks to thin pillars and large glass areas it's a bright and airy place to be.

Plenty of oddment storage can be found throughout the cabin. The boot too its massive boasting 526 litres of cargo space extending to 1,726 litres with the seats folded. It's worth noting that the Subaru is one of those rare cars that has a completely flat loadbay with the seats folded and there are also two handy levers in the boot making folding them simple. 

Equipment levels are good with standard fit alloy wheels, powerfold mirrors, auto lights and wipers, cruise control, four electric windows, dual zone climate control, electric drivers seat and a touchscreen navigation system with a reversing camera. All Legacy's also come with an electronic parking brake conveniently located to the right of the steering wheel. It was a little annoying however that it doesn't activate automatically when switching the engine off and a few times it failed to deactivate when pulling away.

With Subaru's extensive experience with all-wheel-drive systems it's no surprise that the Legacy has more mechanical grip than you would ever need. When cornering it grips and grips and thanks to a sorted chassis it handles incredibly well. The steering is also nicely weighted and offers excellent feedback making country roads really good fun.

What's most surprising is the comfort on offer as the Legacy has a beautifully well damped ride coping well with the poorest surfaces. Despite its soft setup it always feels poised and well controlled although the trade off is noticeable body lean when cornering. Refinement is also top drawer with a relaxed, quiet cabin on the move.

There are a choice of two petrol and one diesel engines mated to either a six speed manual or a CVT (Lineartronic) automatic transmission. Fitted to our car was the smaller 2.0-litre 148 bhp boxer petrol engine mated to a CVT transmission that has six ratios. Acceleration is diluted by the CVT resulting in 0-62 mph taking 11.3 seconds but the gearbox is one of the smoother ones around with seamless changes. It also seems to keep the engines revs within a good range for swift overtaking and rarely makes the engine feel strained as with other CVTs. 

With a list price of £24,095 for the model you see here the Legacy goes up against top spec Mondeos Estates and base spec BMW 3-series Tourings but it offers more kit than the Ford and a lot more space than the BMW. Admittedly it isn't as classy as either. Running this Legacy isn't going to be cheap though as we averaged just 27 mpg over mixed conditions which is some way off what it's rivals achieve and with emissions of 187 g/km it's also costly to tax falling to VED band J.

Tech Data

Price as tested: £24,095
Engine: 2.0 litre 16v 148 bhp - 0-62mph: 11.3 secs - Maximum Speed: 120 mph -
Economy: 26.2 mpg (urban) –43.5 mpg (extra-urban), 34.9 mpg (combined) - Emissions: 187 g/km (Band J) - VED (12 months): £250
Dimensions: Length: 4775 mm - Width: 1780 mm - Height: 1535 mm - Wheelbase: 2750mm
*data from Subaru UK

DriverVIBE Verdict

Subaru should be commended for their no-nonsense approach to family transport. The Legacy is well upto the job with a cavernous cabin that is well equipped and attractively styled. To drive the Subaru will surprise many with its grippy, poised chassis that can be a lot of fun on the right roads helped by excellent steering feel. When fitted with the 2.0-litre petrol engine and CVT transmission the Legacy is a very relaxed cruiser with a supple, refined ride. The areas of weakness are the cheap feeling trim, poor fuel economy and lack of visual flair. Despite this it's hard to beat the Legacy's simple charm and honesty.

All photographs and text are the exclusive property of Rob McSorley (except where stated otherwise). They are made available for your personal viewing enjoyment only. No images are within the Public Domain. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without the prior permission of Rob McSorley (info@DriverVIBE.co.uk).