Subaru Legacy West drive sedan since 2009 sedan

Test drive sedan Subaru Legacy 2.5gt. Is there a WRX inside?

He growls as if ready to break the road in front of him. When switching gears, he makes something like a cough, a typical sound for a forced motor. Listening to the sound of this engine, you clearly imagine bright blue rally cars approaching you along a forest road. Immediately you remember the WRC champion Peter Solberg how he turns to you and laughs. Well, if we take into account that at that moment we were a meter above the ground inside the rally car, then there really was something to laugh at.
This is how a 2.5-liter turbocharged Subaru opposite sounds, this song is familiar to anyone who has once been near Impreza WRX. The only question that you ask yourself from where did this sound come in a solid American style sedan, Subaru Legacy 2.5gt?
Big business and rear seat
Subaru has always tried to prove to the whole world that it is more than a secondary player from Subaru City, a place in Japan not far from actually, next to him there is nothing more remarkable. But with the release of Subaru Legacy 2.5gt 2010, a small company has a chance to stand on a par with such monsters of the Japanese automotive industry as Honda, Mazda and Toyota.
When about five years ago the development of the current generation sedans began, most Japanese companies decided to abandon their platforms with international dimensions and adapt the dimensions of sedans to the American market. Like the Honda Accord and Mazda6, which was heard in size for the sake of residents of the United States, Subaru Legacy also received an increase by 81 mm wheelbase, which now is 2,751 mm. In general, the car became 35 mm longer (4 735 mm) and added 76 mm in other directions, becoming 1,821 mm in width and 1 506 mm in height.
In the new Subaru Legacy passengers, as many as 2,917 liters of space are allotted, which cannot but impress. The increase is especially noticeable when you sit on the back seat, where the passengers received 10 additional centimeters of the legs space. This is a curse of cars for the American market, the convenience of which we measure the spaciousness of the rear seats, despite the fact that it is unlikely that anyone will put the whole family there for the next visit to the grandmother, because for this there is SUV in your garage.
And, of course, do not forget about a turbocharged opponent with a volume of 2,457 cubic meters with an intercooler, which develops 265 hp. At 5,600 revolutions per minute (when you reach this mark on the tachometer, it becomes very noisy in the cabin) and 348.9 nm of torque in the range between 2,000 and 5,200 rpm (optimal mode of operation). The 2.5GT permanent all -wheel drive system is built on the central differential based on the WISKOFTA, which distributes the torque between the axes of the axes.
Journey in American
Subaru Legacy loves American highweight. On the highway, he looks brave and tall, like a true American. To be honest, it even looks too high due to the high hood line corresponding to the new pedestrian safety standards, entering into force in the near future, and even a luxurious front optics, the air intake on the hood and elongated threshold lines are not able to give the car a rapid sports appearance.
Despite the fact that our 2.5GT is shod in 18-inch discs with rubber 225/45, it feels great on the asphalt (not on concrete coating), although it is sometimes subject to vertical buildup, like Subaru Impreza. The summer Bridgestone RE050A is a little noisy, but a turbocharged engine with four opposition cylinders works evenly, although it tumbles, which is typical for Subaru. In general, the working Subaru engine emits only 59 decibels at a speed of 112 km/h, which is actually much quieter than in the case of Mazda 6.
At the same time, sitting at the wheel of Legacy, you feel yourself in a traditional American car, since the color scheme and materials selected for finishing the front panel are simple and unpretentious, like the town of Lafayette, where the model is assembled. The GT equipment has a little more aggressiveness in the design of the salon than the usual 2.5i or luxurious 3.6R limited, which we also tested, although at the current level of competition this is more a step backward than achievement.
American speed
It is unlikely that anyone will be able to assume that a thirst for speed lives inside Subaru Legacy. Its current weight, which is 1,627 kg (not much more than before, but still a lot), persistent reaction to the traction entering the front axle when pressing the gas pedal, as well as the tendency of the machine, swaying on irregularities kill the desire to put it on the root The speedometer arrow. But in fact it turned out that Legacy is much faster and more agile than it seemed to us first.
It takes 5.7 seconds to accelerate to 96 km/h, but if you do not turn off the track control and save the clutch, then acceleration will take only 6.4 seconds. A quarter of a mile he passes in 14 seconds, developing at the finish of 160 km/h.
Nevertheless, Subaru Legacy does not make the impression of a car adoring high speed, especially against the background of previous models. He lacks the accuracy of the steering, and the rear axle of the sedan of this class could be a little more lively. Although, most likely, this is a matter of personal preferences, since on the slalom with the stabilization system the car showed excellent 109 km/h. At first, it seems soft before it, although this is what helps the car accurately go into the turns on slalom, and at any time there is not even a hint of insufficient rotation.
Not for adults
This Legacy model is so large that you immediately begin to perceive it as an assistant, and not as a game partner. After all, there is a large rear seat and a trunk with a volume of 416 liters. And still, we found ourselves on a narrow road in the middle of the unknown, recalling with bright sadness those days when the Legacy sedan was more like Impreza WRX with a diploma of the Institute of Noble Maidens.
But here there was a place for a small miracle. The pickup of the front axle, at high speed perceived as a decay, helps the machine quickly enter the steep turns, which it passes with a lowered front and raised backwards along an ideal trajectory. At the exit, she gathers and literally jumps out of the turn to a straight line, already ready for the next turn.
This feature perfectly proved itself in the test for lateral acceleration, where the car showed 0.84G, and the stabilization system is configured in such a way that it does not affect the result of this test. The same story with the brake system: the brake pedal seems to be soft, which, however, does not interfere with the car on the relatively sticky Bridgestone RE050A 225/45 R18 91W stop from 96 km/h for only 33.83 m, and even after repeated attempts did not appear Signs of brake fatigue.
I admit that sometimes during an active driving on mountain roads it seemed to us that because of the forest there were welcome exclamations of Spanish rally fans. However, here, in the mountains of Santa Monika, even nobody wrote to us encompassing slogans on the asphalt ...
Then we switched the speed of a 6-speed gearbox, and dreams blown away like a wind. This is the best lever of switching speeds of all that we have seen with Subaru, our Subaru expert said that there is a clear progress and relative smoothness of the lever course here, but still with quick switching you cannot find the necessary transmission without providence.
Subaru traditions
Legacy 2.5gt is a mature car that Subaru has long tried to make a car, a car configured for the usual American driving style (as well as the style of American food, because it is from here that our solid dimensions). But in conditions of competition, it is almost as little in demand as before. It is as large as others, it is correctly equipped, correctly designed, but still does not reach the level of its class in terms of sophistication, style and pleasure from driving.
Legacy 2.5GT is interesting as it has always made Subaru cars with special unusualness. He has a funny engine with a loud voice, a constant all -wheel drive, helping out in bad weather or on a complex highway, and his own style, pleasantly allocating a car from the total mass. Turbidized 2.5GT is faster than 2.5i, with lower power, and more fervent more than a more expensive 3.6R LIMITED.
If you hope to find WRX here, you will be disappointed, because Legacy 2.5GT is too big and cute to become an aggressive sports sedan of your dreams. And yet there is much more boy in it than in its direct competitors from Honda and Mazda (and even in Acura TSX), because he alone has a manual gearbox, right? A rather unusual combination of qualities, but it is it that I like Subaru fans, who love to explain to others the essence of these oddities.
Alternative opinion
 
Caroline Parilla, Deputy Head. editors:
This is a car car. If I met Subaru Legacy 2.5gt at a traffic light, I would hardly have paid attention to it. Faceless medium -size sedan. Perhaps in the back seat a couple of kids fights, in the trunk for sure the purchase and a football uniform, and the mother of the family is driving. Not a single hint of the opportunity to compete. And I would be mistaken.
Subaru provided this boring sedan with a new 265-horsepower forced engine, thanks to which he easily leaves you to swallow dust as soon as the green lights up. This practical tarantass accelerates to 100 km/h in 6 seconds, almost like WRX.
Despite the fact that the new 2.5GT gained in weight and became more comfortable, it is as sports as its predecessor. I was amazed at how easily he copes with the winding mountain highway. There is turning, designed for 50 km/h, at a speed of 80 km/h and even higher. Yes, impressive. And the switching is so smooth, unlike previous models that I had to ride, that I even forgot, at the wheel of which car I am.
But no matter how fast and sports this car is, he is not for me, a lonely city resident who loves fast cars. It is much more suitable for a bored housewife who has not yet managed to know all the joys of motherhood. It is convenient and practical, with peppercorn, to feel the taste of which you can, perhaps, only when starting from a traffic light.
 


 

Source: Insideline