legacycentral bbs

While waiting for a credit union to approve the loan for the buyer of my XT, we stopped at the local Subaru dealer and poked around. They had a sparse selection of used cars, and anything I'd be interested in was either sold or just not there.

After some chatting with a reasonably nice sales rep, I was in a 2015 Legacy Premium for a test drive.

Yeah, I can't believe it either, but after the debacle that was the 5th generation Legacy, they genuinely redeemed themselves with the new model (except for no wagon that's not an Outback). This is a thoroughly modern car, well-assembled, appointed, big-but-not-huge and something that I'd almost consider leasing if I were looking for something new and fresh. A great test drive, the CVT and 2.5 really impressed me. It's a far cry from my 01 Outback's clunky 4EAT and the EJ251, that's for sure. the new F-engine is _nice_

I know I'm not going to convert a soul here, but if you can, go by and look at the 2015.

The second car I drove was an 05 Impreza RS. Yup, the little wanna-be WRX even had the spoiler and fog lamps. What it lacked was the turbo, but with a 5MT it was really a fun drive around and there's something to be said about the very rigid chassis, lighter weight, simpler suspension, and inherent Impreza dynamics that newer cars can only approach if they're designed to drive that way. The 04-05 were the years before the Impreza really went upscale, and the RS really was a continuation of the first GC/GM chassis concept: big-bore engine, 5MT, tighter suspension, lighter weight.

If this one wasn't silver (ugh) and didn't have the WRX spoiler, I'd think more seriously about it.

I agree the GD is a great chassis. I've only owned one "premium car" to compare the interior to, and yes it was a disappointment. However, I've been driving GC/BC/BD/SF's for so long that the GD interior, especially the seat material and instrumentation, is a nice evolutionary bump.

I haven't driven the new FA/FB engines yet but most reviews are positive like yours. Progress, right?

Don't the cvt transmissions go out quickly?

Is the chassis as playful as earlier Legacy's, or has it grown up quite a bit?

I've heard CVTs have been getting much better in reliability. That they use CVTs in the WRX and XT now tells me that Subaru (hopefully) has some beef behind theirs. Especially now that it's replacing the automatics across their entire range, they are gonna have a REALLY bad next few years if they don't hold up.

CVTs in the Nissans of the last decade were a bit flaky, but, like the 7-10 speed autos, they're increasingly reliable and clever. The Subaru CVT can emulate gears, has paddle shifters, and like I said, changes personality depending on the situation.

The salesperson started out the test drive and really flogged it through a 25MPH corner at over 50 and it stuck, nearly flat. Color me impressed.

As I was driving the BH to work, up the same long hill I did in the '15, I couldn't help but think about how much the EJ251 and 4EAT was struggling versus the new car. Progress for sure.

Glad to hear that the 5th Gen was a debacle. I like mine. And I dont consider 340 wtq from a Stage1 tune a debacle exactly, more of a freak of nature.

Thanks for sharing Dave. At some point my 97 Impreza may give up the ghost and used older Subarus aren't too common down here, so it's good to know there are some newer models that aren't poop.

A co-worker of my will be taking delivery of a '15 3.6R next month-after blowing up his '06 2.5T Leggy-I want to take it out for a drive!

You won't be disappointed with the 3.6r, I got to drive one a couple weeks ago. And it made me really depressed getting back into my old beaten forester. The power and delivery through the cvt is impressive, I think the paddle shifter programming could use improvement, as I was flogging the car and shifting out of "1st" it went directly to "3rd". But I can say this, the cvt technology has come leaps and bounds in the last few years. I would actually own one of the new ones. And I haven't said that in about 6 years.

As long as the CVT does what the driver wants and not only a narrow set of factory programs (my biggest beef with older CVTs and many autos), and it proves not to be a money pit in the long term, I would have no problem choosing one over a manual. That last part remains to be seen.