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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
It's easy to be a copycat. You don't have to think as much and there's less risk of failure. Remaking a known commodity like the "A-Team," for instance, has a better shot of bringing in $500 million than an indie film. The same goes for the midsize family sedan segment, which consists of seemingly countless vehicles that play it safe by riffing on the same formula. One notable exception, however, is the 2011 Subaru Legacy.
For years now, the Legacy has resolutely kept beat with its own drummer, and the current car is little different. While nearly everything else goes with the surefire formula of front-wheel drive and a choice of either inline-4 or V6 power plants, the Legacy keeps on rocking its standard all-wheel-drive and horizontally opposed four- and six-cylinder engines, including one that's turbocharged. Then there's the styling, which has always stood out from the crowd -- for better or worse. Despite setting itself apart in such key areas, however, the Subaru Legacy is still a viable family sedan, with top crash test scores, decent four-cylinder fuel economy and comfortable driving dynamics.
However, some of the Legacy's quirks do have downsides. Standard all-wheel drive has obvious traction benefits in poor weather, but the associated mechanical inefficiencies keep the Legacy from being as competitive in fuel economy and acceleration as it could. The turbocharged 2.5GT isn't available with an automatic transmission, which limits its widespread appeal. Also, increasingly common electronic features like Bluetooth, iPod control and navigation are either haphazardly designed or only available in the top-of-the line Limited model with navigation.
Certainly, being a bit different means the Legacy is unlikely to ever match the mighty Accord and Camry for sales supremacy, but it does mean that it has burrowed out a little niche for itself. Still, there are others to consider. The Ford Fusion and Suzuki Kizashi also offer all-wheel-drive, while the Mazda 6 is a good choice for driving enthusiasts. The new Hyundai Sonata is also a class-leading, well-rounded family sedan. Yet, if you're the sort of person who doesn't automatically follow the crowd, the 2011 Subaru Legacy is a solid, non-conformist choice.
The Legacy's interior design is sleek and sophisticated, but you better like silver paint, because the center stack is covered with it. Though the interior plastics look upscale, most of them are hard to the touch and lack the more premium feel found in models such as the Ford Fusion.
The seats are comfortable and the Legacy's provide plenty of headroom and rear seat legroom. In terms of technology, iPod control and streaming Bluetooth audio are available, but you have to ante up for the top-of-the-line Limited trim in order to get it. We've also noticed the nav system's functionality is hampered by fussy controls and small touchscreen icons. You should also note that sound quality from the base sound system is poor and we highly recommend the available Harman Kardon upgrade system. Trunk space is an average 14.7 cubic feet.
Outside, the 2010 model is much more assertive than the outgoing car, which itself was a bit of a shrinking violet. After the departure of designer Andreas Zapatinas and his Edselian B9 Tribeca, the Pleiades brand seemed to lose a bit of its design nerve and the will to create a unified corporate face. But now, it finally seems to be seeking out its mojo once again with this new Legacy.
We're not entirely sure this is a good thing, as the Legacy has gone from understated confidence to a jumble of incomplete ideas (Chrysler Sebring hawkeye headlamps, chrome-happy "wing" grille, hulking flared fenders to emphasize the car's all-wheel drive) that fail to live in complete harmony with each other. We'll leave final judgment up to you, only with the knowledge that the whole package looks better on the street than it does in photos (particularly when fitted with larger alloys that don't get lost in the cartoonishly overemphasized wells) and our divisiveness towards it softened over time. Thankfully, Subaru sales have never been predicated on beautiful sheetmetal, and we can't see this model being any different.
Open up the wider-angle, newly-framed doors (the old, rattle-prone sashless jobbies are gone), and a significantly larger and much-improved interior awaits. Dominating the instrument panel is a silver-effect center stack topped with a birdbath-like information display. The vertical array houses the usual complement of audio and HVAC controls (along with an eight-inch navigation screen if so-optioned), and it has a deep storage pocket for odds-n-ends. Plastics are nicely grained and solid fit-and-finish was in evidence, but greater use of soft-touch surfaces and more sincere-looking faux wood trim on Limited models wouldn't go amiss.
All the controls are easy to reach and intuitive to use, with the exception of a too-crowded and too-low panel that houses the power mirror controls, electronic parking brake, hillholder and traction control defeat buttons, trunk release, gauge brightness control, and a couple of odd-looking blanks. It's simple enough to use once you get the hang of it, but we'd prefer to see the parking brake located on the center console and a larger, separate trunk release. We were a bit surprised not to see the availability of some sort of keyless start system, but as they're often more trouble than they're worth, the absence isn't worth grousing over.
In addition to its obviously heightened quality, the big story with the 2010's interior is its newfound space. In particular, rear accommodations are now genuinely large, with an extra four inches of legroom thanks to the longer wheelbase and deeply scooped-out front seatbacks. Our six-foot, five-inch co-driver had no trouble getting comfortable, and even when he was in situ, there was plenty of knee- and toe-room left behind him for full-grown adults. Total EPA volume is up by 9% to 117.7 cubic feet and betters that of the Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Passat, while trunk space swells by 29% to 14.7 cubic feet (more capacity than Honda's larger Accord).
At the bottom of the lineup, the 2.5i continues with a mostly carryover 2.5-liter, 170-horsepower four-cylinder. Subaru says that a new resin-based intake manifold lowers the engine's weight and improves low-end torque, which stands at 170 lb-ft. -- now at 4,000 rpm versus 4,400 rpm before. Subaru also says that improved cooling and a revised catalyst will boost fuel economy figures above the 20/27 (manual) and 18/25 (automatic) before. The 2.5i will now come standard with a six-speed manual (versus a five-speed in 2009) and it will offer a CVT automatic rather than the four-speed conventional automatic from before.
The 2.5GT features a revised 2.5-liter turbocharged boxer four with 265-horsepower and 258 lb-ft (a 22 horse and 17 lb-ft. improved over the old model). A modified turbocharger and a reduction in rpms required for peak torque -- the torque curve is flat from 2,000 rpm to 5,600 rpm, Subaru says -- make it both faster and more efficient than before. A six-speed manual and five-speed automatic remain available.
At the top of the range, the 3.6R model gets an uprated version of the 3.0-liter flat-six previously offered. Subaru says that the 3.6-liter six, which now uses regular fuel, puts out 256-horsepower and 247 lb-ft. of torque (compared to 245/215 from the outgoing engine). It�€™ll be paired to a five-speed automatic exclusively.
The CVT in the 2.5i, which is expected to make up the bulk of sales if historical figures are to be considered, is the first longitudinally-mounted CVT system in an all-wheel-drive car.
Every 2011 Legacy comes standard with stability and traction control, antilock disc brakes, front side airbags and side curtain airbags. In Edmunds brake testing, the 2.5i came to a stop from 60 mph in a good distance of 121 feet and the 3.6R was in the same ballpark. The 2.5GT stopped in an excellent 111 feet.
In the government's new, more strenuous crash testing for 2011, the Legacy earned an overall rating of four stars out of a possible five, with four stars for overall frontal crash protection and four stars for overall side crash protection. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also gave the Legacy its perfect score of "Good" in the frontal-offset, side and roof strength tests.
reference:autos.aol.com,www.leftlanenews.com,www.edmunds.com
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