rai

I picked up a 07 Legacy Wagon 2.5i Black. 175hp H4 2.5L engine with 5-MT. This is the base/lowest level you can get with the Legacy, which means no sunroof or power seats (included on most Legacy), no leather, no heated seats etc... for about $20,400

I decided to get a Legacy without a sunroof so I get an extra 2 inches headroom in front. I decided for the wagon b/c I get an extra 3” of rear seat headroom. With the wagon I can sit comfortably in the rear seat, the sedan I could not fit in the rear at all.

6 months ago I drove the new Civic and Fit, this week I drove the new Camry and Accord.

I came away from the Fit with a feeling it was too small (light) and (possibly) unsafe on the highway. It has great room probably as much as the Legacy Wagon, but the Legacy weighs 700 lbs more than the Fit and has more guts (power to weight) also the Legacy is rated as the safest car in it’s class. I don’t know about the Fit, but I’d bet the Legacy is a good deal safer (hope I never have to find out). The Fit sport with MT costs ~$15K and I got the Legacy Wagon for about $20K (I think the extra money is well worth it for an AWD wagon +700 lbs of weight).

Civic, was too small (note: I’m 6-3 200 lbs) so maybe OK for a small adult. But for the price they want, I’d lean towards an Accord for an extra few grand.

Accord SE 5MT is the mid-level accord. No sunroof or leather, but does have 4-disc brakes and alloy wheels and 6-disc CD changer. It had a good deal of room front and rear. Driving the Accord was OK, it has a nice engine and MT, but problem if you use all the power in 1st gear I spun my wheels several times and it was 100% dry weather.

Camry CE 5MT is the lowest level of the Camry, has all the basic features just like the Legacy. Overall the drive was about the same as the Accord, but less fun to drive than the Accord. It doesn’t do anything wrong, but it just is not exciting.

Drove an Outback wagon 2.5i basic which is the same as the Legacy wagon except has another inch of ground clearance, and has power and heated seats. I was considering this car, but it cost $1400 (more than the Legacy wagon) and I don’t like the SUV style cues like the wheel arches. I almost got it b/c of the heated seats that my wife wanted, but didn’t want to pay the extra $1400 just for that feature.

Finally the car I got, the Legacy Wagon. I was thinking I would like the Accord better, but after a good long drive (solo) in the Accord it not was as fun to drive as I had hoped. So I went to the Subaru dealership and while the Legacy is not the most exciting car in the world, between the Camry/Accord/Legacy (IMO) the Legacy is more of the drivers car. The Legacy was smaller than the other mid-size cars, really I’d compare the interior room of Legacy (sedan) to the Civic sedan. But the Legacy Wagon is just big enough.

I guess all things being equal I was won over by the awd of the Legacy. The ergonomics of the Legacy could be better, most of the radio and climate controls are too low on the center stack. The materials are not the best, but they feel durable especially the seat fabric. I like the 3-spoke steering wheel.

The Legacy is really fun to drive. It’s not going to win many races, but once you get going it holds the road well and it’s got 17” wheels. If I did anything I’d firm up the suspension a bit.

As far as acceleration, the test Legacy had a good bit of punch, but you do have to rev it and keep the engine spinning. I am keeping the revs low on the break-in, not much more than 4000 rpm, that makes the car feel slow.

The Legacy wagon is a nice car for the money and I am very happy with it and have no regrets at all.

bizzy928

Nice buy!!!

Subaru's make some VERY sturdy vehicles. Our 06' Impreza has been great so far!

I was surprised when you said the FIT had more room than the Civic. I've been in the new Civic's and they have a LOT of room!

Nextourer

Sounds good! $20k seems reasonable especially since you can't get an awd wagon for that price anywhere else!

rai

yes, this is to replace my 99 Passat, which I bought in 1998. Back then I paid ~$26K for the Passat V6 and 5-speed AT with tiptronic. The Passat is a bit larger inside, and had some nicer quality switches. But the Legacy stacks up nice to the Passat in many ways.

UberNoob

thats a good buy

btw do u go offroad in ur isuzu trooper?

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

mmarshall's gonna be happy. Heck he's near you and could have helped you purchase it.

Anyway, as a former Legacy wagon owner, congrats! They're GREAT vehicles, and you're absolutely right about the AWD - makes the car a LOT more fun to drive, and wait 'til you get some snow.

rai

never went off road, it's got Lo range and all that, but I never went off road.

Best I did was almost 2 feet of snow.
.

rai

Yes I drove a Legacy GT a long while back in the snow, it was incredible.

I just hope it's reliable, because I can see keeping this for a very long time. Even when I get better cars, it's nice to have an extra car bad weather. That's part of the reason I tried to get a cheap car so it can be more of a work-horse no nonsense car.

MMarshall did offer to help me, but I thought I got a fair deal. I don't sweat about a few bucks I could have saved. But maybe later when I'm looking for a more expensive SUV for my wife I may be asking if anyone can help on the price.

mmarshall

Depends on where it is purchased. Probably didn't make much difference.

VA has lower sales tax on a new car : but allows high dealer processing fees.

MD has higher sales tax but doesn't allow high processing fees.

I could have set him up with the VW-Subaru salesman me, my brother, and several of my neighbors have dealt with...he routinely does deals 3-4% over wholesale...but it would have been a little ways for rai to travel...especially for routine service.

He did pretty well as it is, and seems to have found himself a nice car at a price he can afford. That is what matters. In fact, he may have actually done BETTER buying it in MD, because some dealerships in VA charge MD residents the higher MD sales tax PLUS the preparation fees. ( That is one reason why I bought my first Saturn, years ago, in MD....as a VA resident, I paid the lower VA sales tax on Saturn's no-haggle-list and saved the processing fee besides )

For rai, it basically came down to a choice between a non-turbo Subaru Legacy / Outback and a 4-cylinder Honda Accord, and I was as fair and objective as I could be, and laid out the pros and cons of each. Rai, of course, made the decision.

rai

here's a few pick. I have to figure out how to make them a little larger:

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Looks nice, Rai!

mmarshall

I see you got the manual climate control.....a wise choice. You not only save money but it is also much easier to adjust than with the automatic unit. Subaru's automatic climate-control system is not one of the better-designed ones, despite being purpose-designed for bad weather.

If your Legacy is like my Outback....and many things on the dash and steering wheel appear to be identical......you have the full-sweep gauges on startup, a warning light for overheated transmission fluid, ( your manual-transmission car may not have that ) and a handy red multi-position warning light to show if any of the four doors or liftback are not shut all the way.....that liftback-open warning light has been useful for me several times.

You may notice that the A/C cold-air system is a little different than most cars. On my 2006, ( and most of the 2005's ) it does the job and cools the car off, but the air out of the vents does not come out continuously cold...it varies from ice-cold to tepid in cycles, and at engine-idle is cool rather than cold. Still does the job, though.......just takes getting a little used to.

rai

One thing that's not so good is that the controls are way down on the center console. Especially with the MT you have to snake your hand in there to make any climat control changes.

The Accord had steering-wheel mounted audio controls and most controls were on the top half of the center stack. But I do prefer the 3-spoke steering wheel of the Legacy.

mmarshall

Still a better choice, IMO, than the auto unit. Subaru's automatic climate-control has been the source of a number of complaints. See for yourself in the Subaru forums and Internet sites.

I myself am not a big fan of steering-wheel-mounted controls ( one reason why I did not get the L.L. Bean or VDC Outback with all the stuff they hang on the admittedly nice, wood-trim steering wheel ). It is too easy to turn something unwanted on/off or up/down when all you are doing is gripping the spokes or turning.


But anyhow...it's not worth going on and on about. Hey....you got a NICE car. enjoy it.

SecPole14

Congrats, excellent choice, I too would go for the base level Leg if I were buying right now. It's almost impossible to fault Subarus, especially for the price.