(By request, I've updated this review to include a couple of versions with the new CVT. See post #34)
By CL member request, a Condensed Review of the 2010 Subaru Legacy GT.
http://www.subaru.com/vehicles/legacy/index.html
In a Nutshell: An all-new design with many changes this year; Some good........some not-so-good.
(Cloth seats shown)
I'm sill waiting for a number of CL-requested reviews of 2010-model vehicles to become available in the D.C. area, but, in the meantime, I just received a
CL-member request for a review of the new 2010 Subaru Legacy GT. Legacy GTs are currently in short supply in the D.C. area, but a dark gray 2010 was available close to me today (but not the regular VW/Subaru shop I've dealt with....more on that in a second). So, since I couldn't do any of the other reviews right now, I decided to do the Legacy GT while I had the chance. I did the usual complete static review, of course, but, since the available GT was the only one at the dealership (and apparantly the only one in a reasonable radius), they did allow a brief test-drive, but not for as long as I would have liked or needed for a full review. If I had been at my regular Subaru shop, they probably wouldn't have minded, because they all know me, but at the shop I was at, they wanted to keep the miles down on this car, so I agreed. Still, I got enough of an on-the-road impression to basically know how the car drove, and so I could write up at least a condensed review.
The Legacy/Outback line (particularly the Outback) has long been Subaru's bread-and-butter line in the American market. Much of the attention to Subaru in the auto press, of course, has centered around the WRX and STi Imprezas, but, despite the popularity of the turbo Impreza line, it is the Outback, and to a lesser extent, the Legacy and Forester, that keeps Subaru in buisness here in America. The mid-sized Legacy sedan/wagon was introduced in the late 1980's as a FWD/AWD competitor to the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Stanza. The first-generation Legacy was considered the first "normal" Subaru, a previous Subarus were well-known for their quirkiness. It sold resonably well, but, of course, not in Camry/Accord numbers. In 1995-96, when the Outback version was introduced (essentially a Legacy wagon with a raised suspension, more ground clearance, and SUV-like trim), the Legacy got standard AWD, along with all other American-market Subarus. In general, Legacys and Outbacks enjoyed a better-than-average reliability history, except for some head-gasket issues (on non-turbo 2.5L models) from 1999-2003 and some scattered rear-wheel bearing issues here and there. I have long thought very highly of these cars, and, of course, chose an Outback as my current daily driver. The Outback's strong popularity is proof that a lot of other people think it is the right car for them, too.
However, my job here is not to advertise or promote these cars (I don't get paid by Subaru), but to review them honestly and objectively, so that is what I will do. The Legacy/Outback line is all-new for 2010, starting its fourth-generation, and incorporates many changes this year, some of which I find well-done, and some annoying or smacking of cost-cutting. I won't go into the new 2010 Outbacks in detail here, because the specific request was for a Legacy review. All Legacys, like last year, are sedans, and all Outbacks are wagons; the Legacy wagon and the Outback sedan having been dropped over a year ago, for 2009. For 2010, Legacys come in 2.5i/Premium/Limited, Turbo GT Premium/Limited, and 3.6R/Premium/Limited versions. The non-turbo four-cylinder is the same 2.5L, 170 HP carryover from the past; the turbo version has tweaked HP/torque ratings, and the 3.6R H-6 model is the same engine formerly used in the Tribeca, also slightly tweaked this year. Base 2.5 and 2.5 Premiums get a choice of a 6-speed manual or an all-new 6-range CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission); 2.5 Limiteds get only the CVT. Turbo GTs get only the 6-speed manual (a marketing error, IMO....more on that later). 3.6R H-6 models get only a conventional 5-speed automatic like the one Subaru used in the past. Diesel Subaru boxer engines were supposed to have debuted here in America this year, but (apparantly) have been shelved for awhile (maybe next year). Base 2.5 Legacys, starting under 20K,($19,995) are, IMO,a bargain, costing about what a typical 2.5i Premium Impreza sedan does. And, the high-performaance Legacy GT Spec-B model has been dropped, at least from the American market.
So, per the GT review request, I checked out a Graphite Gray GT Limited....the only one available locally, of course. As to be expected, it was one of the most expensive Legacy models, and, with options, listed for over 33K. I noticed both similiarities and differences between the new 2010 and the most recent, last-generation Legacy GT, which I also reviewed. Details to follow.
Model Reviewed: 2010 Subaru Legacy GT Limited.
Base Price: $29,995
Options:
Option Package 4: $995
Auto-Dimming Mirror: $186
Floor Mats: $69
Power Equipment Package: $523
Trunk Lid Spoiler: $593 (They've got to be kidding.....for a simple piece of plastic)
Destination/Freight: $695
List Price as Reviewed: $33,250
Drivetrain: AWD, Turbocharged, 2.5L flat-four, 265 HP @ 5600 RPM, Torque 258 Ft-lbs. @ 2000-5200 RPM,
6-speed manual transmission.
EPA Mileage Rating: 18 City, 25 Highway
Exterior Color: Graphite Gray Metallic
Interior: Black Leather/Wood-tone trim.
PLUSSES:
Choice of Premium/Limited Turbo GT models.
Peppy engine with minimal turbo lag.
Efficient, simple, well-proven AWD design.
Good steering response.
Relatively flat cornering.
Good wind noise isolation.
Relatively good brake pedal feel.
Gas hood struts replace the former prop rod.
Windows now have door-frame surrounds.
Noticeable increase in back-seat room this year.
Smooth-operating manual tilt/telescope steering column.
Well-done steering wheel.
Nice seat leather.
Relatively comfortable/supportive seats.
Power-seat controls for both driver/front passenger.
New radio-tuning knob replaces the awkward rocker-switch.
Excellent Harmon-Kardin stereo.
Nicely-done sun visors.
Good front headroom; OK rear headroom.
Good legroom front and rear.
Noticeable increase in rear-seat room this year.
Simple, clear gauges.
Built-in door-panel storage bins.
Nicely done interior wood/metallic trim.
Generally good exterior hardware.
Vastly improved exterior paint job this year.
Improved seat-heater switches despite fewer settings.
Handsome (IMO) grille.
Good underhood layout except for plastic engine cover.
Thick underhood insulation pad.
Well-designed trunk-lid hinges.
MINUSES:
Current tight supply of GT model.
Diesel version apparantly on hold for the American market.
Rather numb steering/road feel.
SI-Drive knob gone.
Long shift throws.
Smooth but grabby clutch.
Coolant-temperature gauge gone.
Folding side-mirrors gone.
No turbo/automatic version.
GT Spec B version discontinued.
Awkward electronic push-button parking brake replaces console handle.
Thinner doors than before.
Exterior styling (IMO) not as attractive as before.
Ugly (IMO) new headlights.
Only six (dull) exterior colors for the GT.
Only one interior color (black).
Low ground clearance from lower-body flares.
Temporary spare tire.
Relatively small trunk lid opening.
Rather cheap console-lid cover.
Stereo buttons too small for comfort.
Large plastic turbo/engine cover blocks some access.
Overpriced rear spoiler.
Turbo requires premium fuel.
Gas pedal too close to console for big feet.
Dated ignition switch.
EXTERIOR:
Walking up to it, while the new 2010 Legacy can still be loosely recognized as a Legacy (compared to the 2005-2009 models), it is obvious that a number of substcntial changes have taken place outside. First, the new body is substantially larger than the old one. Height and width (but not length) have both grown by more than 3 inches....this gives a roomier interior (more on that below). The wheel arches have a sharp, aggressive look. The handsome grille is the same type of Subaru logo/chrome-winged one used for the last couple of years. The new headlights, though, IMO, are ugly, too large, and too swept-back up the sides of the hood....an increasingly common design among automakers these days. The GT, as in the past, has a hood scoop, but it does not appear to be functional at actually delivering outside air to the turbo. The GT also has marked lower-body flares that reduce even more ground clearance on an already fairly low-slung sedan (this, despite the much higher roof this year), so care must be taken, with the GT, over speed bumps and ramps. It also has a grossly overpriced (on my test car, almost $600) plastic rear-spoiler, which, IMO, is unneeded and ineffective at any sane traffic speed. The roofline is humpback-whale-shaped (again, a growing tendency among automakers), but is generally high enough to give good headroom. The sheet metal quality seems to be more or less the same as last year. The entire door structures, though, feel thinner and lighter, though the formerly frameless side-windows are now in chrome-framed door/window surrounds like on most cars. As a result, the two front doors shut with a more solid sound, despite being lighter, due to the windows having more support in their channels. The new 2010 paint job, despite only having six exterior colors on the GT (and rather dull ones at that) is head and shoulders above the last-generation 2005-2009, and now approaches Toyota/Lexus is glossness, smoothness, and freedom from orange peel. It's a shame, though, that the GT model doesn't get the nice light (sky) blue color that other Legacys get. The exterior side mirrors, though, have been hit this year by the bean counters, having lost their folding hinges, and are now just attached solidly. The rear taillights, IMO, are not as ugly as the front headllights, and the rear end, in general, doesn't look bad at all, though the raked rear roofline, like many current sedans, cuts way into the trunk-lid opening (also more on that below). Most of the outside trim/hardware is well-done and of reasonably high quality.
UNDERHOOD:
Open the reasonably solid hood and you have two pleasant surprises this year (three, if you count the generally good underhood layout). The bean counters couldn't keep the old El Cheapo prop-rod of the last-generation model; like on new Forester and Impreza models, it has been replaced by nice gas struts this year. A thick insulation pad (to me, it feels thicker than before) lines the lower part of the hood. Underhood, as I mentioned, the general layout, with the same (but slightly tweaked) turbo flat-four as before, is pretty good, although the turbo 2.5L, unlike the non-turbo engine, has a large, annoying plastic engine cover that blocks access to most top components. But some components on the front and sides of the engine can be reached; the dipsticks, filler-caps, and reservoirs are easliy accessable, and the battery, up front and on the rght, is also easily accessed, with no cover on it. The flat-boxer engine, like on all U.S-market Subarus, sits relatively low in the engine bay, and helps lower the center of gravity for stability and handling. It also makes attaching the AWD hardware/drive system components easier, without the extra hardware needed to re-route the power from transversely-mounted engines on some AWD systems.
INTERIOR:
The interior of the new Legacy is noticeably different from the last-generation 2005-2009 model. Legroom, especially in the rear, is noticeably improved.......that was a weak spot on the old Legacy-Outback. Headroom up front, even with the sunroof, is excellent, and just good enough in back for my 6' 2" frame and baseball cap. The off-black seat leather (that is the only Legacy interior color available) is nice and fairly smooth......a nicer seat material, in fact, than I've noticed in a number of German cars at twice the Legacy's price or more. The seats are fairly comfortable and supportive, and, unlike past years, have power controls for both the driver and front-passenger. The sun visors have a nice fabric covering (The new Legacy/Outback did not go to plain, hard-surface visors like the new Impreza and Forester did). The wood-tone and silver-gray metallic plastic trim seemed nice and well-done, without a cheap look or feel, although the wood-tone could have looked a little more realistic. The center-dash air vents now angle toward each front occupant. The stereo is an excellent, a borderline-killer Harmon-Kardon unit. Ace Frehley and KISS did the music honors today with "Shock Me" (Hey, you gotta give the best stereos the best music). The 3-spoke steering wheel is well-done, well-shaped, well-trimmed, has a comfortable grip without sharp stiching on the fingers, and has nicely-done controls on it. It also has a manual tilt-telescope feature that works very smoothly....something that a lot of manual-telescoping units don't. The simple gauges are very clear, have nice chrome rings, and are easily read. The buttons/controls and hardware are generally solid, well-designed and work easily......with a couple of exceptions, which I'll get to in a second. The digital readouts are all simple and easily read, especially in my non-NAV-equipped car.
The heated-seat switches have fewer settings, but are more solid-feeling and snappy in their operation than before. The door panels have black leather inserts to match the seats. A pull-down center arm rest in the back seat has two cupholders. The front door panels have nice cubby-compartments built into them to carry things. And the ceiling has a nice fabric (but not soft) headliner.
But, all inside is not roses.....there are some annoying features, too, some of them being new this year. Chief, IMO, among the annoying features inside is the loss of the coolant-temperature gauge for American-market models....something, unfortunately, that the new Impreza and Forester also did. While home-market Japanese Subarus keep the temperature gauge, American-market models dump the gauge for a vaccum/fuel-mileage gauge that fits into the same space, to the left of the tachometer. Engine temprature is now monitored by blue/red dash lights that indicate a cold/hot condition. That's fine, as long as the car is fairly new and you're not likely to have cooling-system problems, but as the car ages, the chances (like with any car) of an overheated engine increase.....and it's nice to know that the engine is heating up BEFORE the critical point occurs, instead of having a sudden red light catch you by surprise. This is a serious goof, IMO, and something that Subaru needs to correct on all of its new models.
Also annoying is the new electronic parking-brake push/pull button, now integrated into the lower-left dash with several other buttons. This takes the place of the old, simple, foolproof console pull-up lever. The electronic brake is supposed to release either manually, when you pull the control out, or automatically, with an automatic transmission, when the car is placed into gear (you must still re-engage it manually when you park by pushing the button). There have been some stories about the system not working properly and releasing, thus immobilizing the car until you go through a programmed re-setting routine (Subaru also gives you a special tool to unstick it and release it manually if that doesn't work). A very low or dead battery can also prevent the release, which makes for difficult towing. Sometimes low-tech controls should be simply be left alone.....this is one of those cases.
While not as annoying as the electronic brake or the loss of the temperature gauge, several other things inside also merit some mentioning. The softer materials on parts of the dash and door panels on the previous model have been replaced by harder plastics, though the plastics don't look or feel cheap and seem durable. The stereo knobs, IMO, are too small for comfortable use, though the small round station-tuning knob is an improvement over the too-fast-tuning rocker switch on the old model. The SI-Drive knob on the center console, standard equipment in the old Legacy GT, which programmed the engine computer for varying throttle response, is gone.........apparantly another victim of the bean-counters. And the center-console-box lid has a rather light, cheap feel and is secured with a light, flimsy snap-lock.
CARGO AREA/TRUNK:
The design of the rear roofline impedes somewhat on the size of the rather small but reasonably solid-feeling trunk lid, but it opens up wide enough, thanks to the well-designed scissors-type hinges that allow it to go straight up past vertical, to load all but the biggest items fairly easily. The cargo area itself is fairly roomy, due to the wider width of the new Legacy, and is finished OK but not very plushly, with thin but fairly nice black carpeting on the floor and a very thin, fabric-like substance on the walls that feels almost like hard plastic. Legacys don't get the rubber cargo-area tray on top of the carpet that Outbacks do, with Subaru (apparantly) figuring that Legacy owners don't carry carpet-damaging cargo as often as Outback owners do. The split-rear seats, of course, fold down for added cargo space. Under the trunk floor is the usual temporary spare tire, a bean-counting (at 33K) carryover from the previous-generation model.
ON THE ROAD:
As mentioned earlier, I was not able to get as long a test-drive as I would have liked (The dealership asked me to keep the mileage down), but I got enough to at least give a general on-the-road description. The turbo, 2.5L boxer flat-four is started by a rather dated, side-column ignition switch and transponder key, just like in past Subarus (why, with an all-new car, they didn't go to a contemporary START/STOP button beats me). The engine starts up smoothly and quietly for a boxer design, a far cry from the old Subaru boxer engines of the 70s and 80's that ran and sounded like farm tractors. The nice thick underhood pads, of course, helps a lot, along with decades of refinement on the engines themselves. The turbo engine has good torque, runs fairly smoothly and quitely even under acceleration (the exhaust is noticeable but not too loud), has little turbo lag, and, with the 6-spped manual transmission, gives you a fair shove in the back if you push it. Unfortunately, like most turbos, you have to feed this one premium fuel...the engine's power and refinement don't come without a small price.
The 6-speed manual transmission is noticeably less impressive than the engine. The clutch is smooth enough on initial engagement, and does so at about the expected height off the floor, but, as it lets out further, tends to bog the car down and then hop off with a jerk, somewhat like the clutch on my old 1980 Chevy Citation. I had this happen several times in a row, despite my efforts to let it out carefully....perhaps time with it, and getting used to it, would help; perhaps not. The shift lever was well-designed and comfortable to hold (a Momo sport-shift knob is a dealer-accessory), but the shift linkage is not terribly positive, and the throws are rather long (a short-shift kit is another dealer accessory). I missed several shifts while getting used to it....not enough to harm the engine. For 2010, Subaru will not sell the GT with an automatic, so this transmission is take-it-or-leave-it........a marketing error, IMO, especially if it is going to be driven in dense or stop-and-go traffic.
The chassis is a fairly good blend of ride/handling, but a little short of German standards. The power-steering response was fairly quick, but a little dull in road feel....in fact, the road-feel in the new power steering this year seems more dull than the last-generation units. Cornering, however, was precise and fairly flat, with little body roll....something that the Legacy has been very good at for years. Due to the shortness of the test-drive, I didn't have the car on enough different road surfaces to thoroughly test the ride and noise level, but on standard asphalt with some small bumps, the ride was fairly quiet, with a small amount of tire noise and firm, but not harsh, on the ride comfort. Wind noise was low......helped, in part, by the new frame-surround windows in the doors, although the last generation model, with the frameless side windows, was not noisy by any means. The brakes felt smooth, responsive, and didn't seem to have much if any sponginess. I had no problems with the pedal placement and my big size-15 shoe, but I found the gas pedal a little too close to the console for easy resting with that same big foot.
THE VERDICT:
The new Legacy and Outback have some tough shoes to fill......the outgoing cars, IMO, were some of the best and most versatile daily-drivers on the market, especially for bad weather, and had a cult-like following from many buyers. The old Legacy GT had a reputation as one of the better Japanese-esigned AWD sports sedans, and was well-liked, particularly in the Spec-B trim, by those for whom the WRX and STi Imprezas were simply too juvenile and unrefined.
The CVT in the new cars is a real gem (although it is new and unproven in reliability), but it is not a factor in a Legacy GT review (I'll cover the CVT in another write-up), as that transmission is not offered with the GT, perhaps because of the GT's added torque. The new Legacy does have some significant improvements over its predecessor, such as the gas struts for the hood, substantially more passenger room inside, a well-done turbo engine, better interior trim than its Impreza/Forester brothers, a superb new paint job, and a killer Harmon-Kardon stereo. But the front-end styling, IMO, has taken a step backwards, the loss of the folding side mirrors is annoying, the loss of the coolant-temperature gauge and conventional parking brake are even worse, the power-steering road feel is more dull than before, and the manual transmission/clutch are not the best I've driven, especially compared to super-slick Honda manual transmissions.
So, the new Legacy/Outback is a mixed bag....I'll talk more about the new Outback later, which has some nice features that the Legacy doesn't. Still, underneath, they are Subarus, with versatility, proven reliability (except for the new CVT), perhaps the best AWD systems on the market under $35,000, and a cult-like following that has attracted a LOT of people.....including me.
(Updated) Review: 2010 Subaru Legacy GT
I'm honestly a bit disappointed in the new Legacy. I got some seat time with it at the local dealership and everything just felt a bit hollow and the interior in general just reeked of cost cutting. I prefer the outgoing model much more.
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