Instrumented Test
Although Subaru excels at building quirky sporty cars, including two of the best low-buck fun machines available—the BRZ and the new-for-2015 WRX—the company has struggled at times with the formula for its less exciting Legacy sedan, which, along with the Outback wagon, receives a refresh for 2015.
Our first-drive review covered the basics of the new car, including praise for the Legacy’s mid-size capaciousness and the stability provided by the standard all-wheel-drive system. But now we’ve strapped our test gear to a top-shelf 3.6R model for a closer look.
The Legacy competes in one of the largest and most hotly contested segments in the market, a battleground that requires continuous improvements of its combatants just to keep up the fight for customers. Subaru’s position here is a unique one; it opts to carve out a niche for itself based on roominess, comfort, and standard all-wheel drive.
Compared with our long-term 2010 Legacy 3.6R, which had the same 256-hp 3.6-liter flat-six, our 2015 test car is 157 pounds heavier due to it being slightly larger in every dimension except wheelbase and height, as well as packing more sound-deadening material to quell road noise. That’s a minimal weight gain for an already hefty car, but the pairing of a continuously variable transmission to the flat-six (CVTs were previously limited to four-cylinder models) in place of the old five-speed automatic degrades the car’s driving experience and puts a dent in whatever modest fun the previous six-cylinder Legacy offered.
With the sprint to 60 mph taking 7.1 seconds and the quarter-mile passing in 15.5 at 94 mph, the new car is 0.7- and 0.5-second slower than our 2010 long-termer. The CVT features paddle shifters and does an admirable impersonation of a conventional automatic, working through six simulated “gears” and keeping the droning to a minimum. But it still feels weak and rubbery from a standing start. What’s more, the new car merely matched our long-termer’s 22 mpg, which is at the low end for mid-size sedans with higher-powered engines.
The only competitor in that bunch that is slower to 60 mph than the Legacy 3.6R is the equally fresh 2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T, which takes a full 8.0 seconds to do the deed. Even the Mazda 6—184-hp inline-four, six-speed automatic, 3294 pounds—bests the Subaru to 60 and loses by just a tenth in the quarter. The quickest car in the class, the Honda Accord V-6, is a rocket by comparison, covering the zero-to-60 sprint in just 5.6 seconds.
The rest of the drive in the new 3.6R, as well as the Legacy’s tidier-yet-generic styling, neither excites nor offends. Ride quality is decent at the expense of more body roll than we’d prefer, and the new 18-inch Goodyears produce less grip on the skidpad than our long-termer’s 17-inch Bridgestones, 0.79 g versus 0.82. The Legacy’s steering is light yet weights up slightly at higher speeds, but it’s always tight-lipped about what the front end is doing. At least the big car rotates more smoothly in corners now with the addition of Subaru’s brake-based torque-vectoring system. Admittedly, performance stats are hardly paramount for a family sedan, but we expect more from the makers of the WRX and for the 3.6R’s $32,585 as-tested price.
All 2015 Legacy 3.6Rs come standard in Limited trim at $30,390, which includes eight airbags, 18-inch wheels, leather seating, a 12-speaker Harman/Kardon audio system with a 7.0-inch touch screen, dual-zone climate control, blind-spot and rear-cross-traffic alerts, lane-keeping assist, and more. The lone option on our car was a $2195 package that bundled a sunroof, navigation, and keyless access and start. Along with being well equipped, the revised interior is handsome in its simplicity and dotted with solidly functional ergonomics, making it a pleasant place to pass the miles.
Subaru definitely played it safe with the Legacy’s latest redesign, which often is the norm in the high-volume world of mainstream sedans. But as a smaller company, Subaru would serve the Legacy well by leveraging a tad more of the zing found in its cult models. Rethinking the CVT would be a good place to start, because it only lowers the bar for the 3.6R. As it stands now, the Legacy 3.6R feels more like a sedan version of the Outback than a true competitor to mid-size stalwarts such as the Honda Accord and the Mazda 6.
