2005 Subaru Legacy GT
Saturday, October 21st, 2006
The Legacy looks much like the Outback, just riding a bit lower to the ground. In turbo form the cars are especially similar, as the Outback’s cladding is then body color rather than gray.
One nit with the light blue metallic sedan: the clear lens silvery tail lamps just aren’t working well with this color. This car would look better with traditional red lamps.
The interior has changed much more. Compared to last year’s car it has been thoroughly upgraded. Like that of the exterior, the styling of the interior is attractive in a strictly conventional way. No funky control schemes or instrument graphics. Just attractive forms and nicely executed details.
The latest Acura interiors look very similar, with pieces of trim—faux metal with gray interiors and faux wood with tan interiors—sweeping down the sides of the center stack and then smoothly curving to continue along the sides of the center console. That said, the materials are of higher quality in the Subaru. Nearly every piece of trim is of the soft-touch variety. The grab handles on the doors, made of a soft-finished hard plastic, feel especially nice.
Especially with the perforated leather found in the turbo models, this is one sharp-looking interior. The faux wood is much nicer than most. Like BMW with the 7-Series, Subaru opted for a matte finish that recalls fine Scandinavian furniture. Though the teak isn’t real, it looks real. Interesting that a matte finish can make faux wood seem more real while a glossy finish often makes the real stuff look fake, but it looks good here. If you want to avoid it anyway, then get the gray interior. The six-cylinder Outbacks feature real wood on the upper part of the steering wheel rim. The turbo four models have an all-leather rim.
The GT Limited sedan comes standard with a conventional sunroof. One more reason to get the wagon instead: a huge two-panel sunroof is standard in all leather-trimmed wagons. It automatically opens and closes in three stages, so there’s no need to keep a finger continuously on the ceiling-mounted switch. A VW-style rotary control would be nicer still, though. A retractable sunshade is included for those days when the sun is uncomfortably bright.
With the wagon, cargo fares better than rear seat passengers. With the rear seat up 32 cubic feet are available; this increases to 62 with the seat folded. (Unlike last year the headrests do not have to be removed before folding the seat.) Cargo volume figures are a bit slippery, since there are multiple valid ways to calculate them. Those for the Outback are similar to those in most similarly-sized wagons (Mazda6, Passat). Interior storage compartments are on the small side, though.
The cargo situation is not so good with the sedan. The trunk is about average in size for a large compact, but the rear seat does not fold down. Only a pass-through is available.
Legacy GT Limited remains heavy for a compact. No doubt the standard all-wheel-drive is responsible for a couple hundred of these pounds. Too much mass for the non-turbo 168-horsepower four to be any more than adequate. The 250-horsepower turbo four, on the other hand, moves the car very well.
With any turbo there is the issue of boost lag, and I’ve read some reviews that complain about said lag in this car. I didn’t mind it much. Below 3,000 RPM the engine produces little thrust and , as with the 2.4-liter Chrysler turbo, I felt minor surging and lagging with a moderate to heavy throttle foot. This fault is minor—most people won’t even notice it.
Also, it’s easily fixed—just downshift to get the engine over 3,000 RPM. Do so, and you’ll find buckets of thrust with zero or nearly zero lag. Maybe this is more difficult to manage with the automatic? Perhaps, but the manual-shift feature of the automatic should help.
The Legacy rides lower than the Outback and is fitted with stickier tires. Not surprisingly, it corners more flatly and sticks to the road better. Steering effort remains higher than today’s norm, but this is less of an issue with more thrust to help move the car about the road.
The car still responds to steering inputs less quickly than desired. A quicker turn-in, and perhaps a faster ratio as well, would be very welcome, especially at lower speeds. On the other hand, steering accuracy is excellent, and steering feel is good if not great. Maybe I should just accept that this is, after all, much more a grand touring sedan/wagon than an all-out sports sedan/wagon. It is at least nicely tighter around the elbows than even the Mazda6, much less the Altima.
The manual transmission GT comes with a viscous center differential all-wheel-drive system that normally splits torque 50/50 between the axles. I’d rather they shunted a bit more to the rear axle—the higher-tech electronic system that comes with the GT automatic splits torque 45/55–but this is better than the front-biased systems found in many front-drive-based all-wheel-drive vehicles.
Bottom line with the all-wheel-drive: floor the throttle in turns and the car just bites and goes. Don’t try this in a front-drive Acura TL or rear-drive Infiniti G35—you’ll just invite the intervention of the traction control and in the TL will find a ton of torque steer to boot. In the Subaru it’s possible to induce a touch of oversteer with a heavy throttle in turns, but just a touch and it’s very easily controllable.
Normally the chassis is inclined towards moderate understeer—not sporting but certainly safe. Perhaps they’re trying to be safe, and perhaps the nose-heavy weight distribution prevents a more neutral handling balance. The upshot: the front tires slide wide well before the rears work up much of a sweat.
But this is not to discredit the overall experience of driving the car. On sweeping curves–the faster the better–it handles very well and inspires confidence. Subaru Legacy GT cost around $28,795.
Tags: subaru legacy gt, subaru legacy, 2005 subaru
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