The Subaru Legacy ES Nav is the entry-level model and it features the automaker's 2.0-liter boxer gasoline engine that produces 148 hp and 145 lb.-ft of engine. The power is sent to all four wheels via the 6-speed manual transmission. As an optional feature, customers can also order the "Lineartronic" CVT transmission. With the manual [...] Post published on Rpmgo.com Entry-Level Subaru Legacy Announced Read More:
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automaker's 2.0-liter boxer gasoline engine that produces 148 hp and 145 lb.-ft of engine. The power is sent to all four wheels via the 6-speed manual transmission. As an optional feature, customers can also order the "Lineartronic" CVT transmission. With the manual [...] Post published on Rpmgo.com Entry-Level Subaru Legacy Announced
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Whose CVT design is it? Nissan has one, and it's apparently somewhat problematic.
I've often seen prices numerically matching between US and Europe, despite the relative exchange rates. A £22,000 item will often be priced at $22,000 too. The market in the United States is just several times more competitive than anywhere else in the world, exchange rates don't matter.
We're seeing it up here in Canada too. After decades where the Canadian buck was a laughing stock, it's now solidly worth more than the American buck. But have we seen the benefits yet? What do you think?
We're starting to see American retailers clamouring to set up stores here in Canada, because they're hoping they can continue charging the higher prices here and increase their profit margins in their US headquarters. :)
Yeah, I saw that the other day! IIRC, the Canadian dollar was worth MORE than the US dollar.
When I used to go there in the 80's I used to save up money for stuff I would ordinarily buy here. Like the time I needed a new jacket. I could have gotten a good jacket here for $35, nothing special, but I wound up getting a really nice suede jacket for the same $35 (US).
Are we perhaps assuming that just because the Brits are getting this car that we will? Many cars that make sense in Europe won't be marketed here because the Subaru brass foolishly think they won't sell. I looked for a long time for a used 05 to 09 legacy GT wagon with a stick. I knew they existed since I had test driven one back in
05 when they came out. It wasn't until I'd been looking for a while that ?I realized why it is that they are so so rare. They were only offered with a stick in 05. After that Subaru decided that the legacy was luxury oriented enough that they coudl get away with not offering a manual.
Then when I went to look at the new legacy hoping to get a legacy wagon I found out that if you want the wagon you're stuck with the huge wheel jacked up soft-suspension outback. They decided that people wouldn't want a wagon unless they are in the market for an SUV. Not me.
So it would seem that this car solves both issues. It is a non-outback legacy wagon and it comes with a stick. Seems like subaru NA will kill that idea. I'd be very very surprised if we wind up getting this car. I'd love it if we did, but I don't see it happening.
My guess is cars with a stick sell poorly in the states. The trend for automatics has extended to the bundocks I live in. People here are piss poor on average and yet they got an idea somewhere they could pay the cost of owning an automatic. What actually happens, they let their car turn into complete pile of shit and they sell it to an unsuspecting idiot. Not a single automatic transmission fluid change ever.
Heck, I test drove a V8 A6 quattro while in the states. The slushbox was so dirty that car would not move in reverse until thoroughly warmed up. If owners of $40k+ new machinery in the states would not bother taking care of their slushbox make a guess what happens to the piss poor owners of automatics abroad?
Anyhow, back on the topic of small market share of 5-6SP in the states: subaru could just offer manual in the areas where it historically sold any. Or that could be the dealer call. Regardless, due to small volume if they do offer a stick consider that more of a subaru pittance to the enthuthiasts than a money making choice for the company.
Your current option is to get a 2-3 year old bmw 325xi or an A4 quattro: the manual transmissions are better as are the cars themselves and it would run you about what a new legacy would i'd guess.
The 3 series and A4 are both smaller cars than the legacy, reducing their utility, and also very hard to find in wagon, or 'estate' and 'avant' editions as they call them. I've fit chest freezers and sofas in my legacy wagon that would not have fit in the Germans. The 3 series and A4 are closer to the impreza in size. In fact I think the A4 avant cabin feels more cramped than the imprezza. Could just be perception though.
As for better... I just sold my M3, after deciding the legacy is more my speed. I see how one could say that the BMW and Audi cars are better, but in many ways I like the Subies more. The BMW is a driving enthusiast's car, but in my normal commute I can't use that car to its potential, and my concience won't let me use it to it's full potential most places I wind up driving since I worry about either kids on the residential roads, or cyclists are on the rural roads (I live on a state designated scenic route.), and the highways crawl. The limits of that car were so high that really pushing it involved taking risks I didn't want to take. I can still drive the right line and clip the apexes in my legacy without overdriving my sight distance. So being that I don't exploit the performance of the car, I prefer to have my gas-sipping car with cloth seats that breath and don't feel hot or cold-unlike the leather in the BMWs. Maintenance is much easier and generally cheaper in the subie too.
You are probably right. My A4 avant with a stick run $150 over kbb and finding a car in decent shape was a challenge for the (professional) guy I hired to find and ship it. Maybe A6 would fit your bill? in case you can get a late model one in the states with a stick. I suspect it's a feat that can only be accomplished for 2.7T which is probably sold only in sedan trim. a decade old A6 feels much roomier than a decade old legacy. Haven't fancied the current legacy crop enough to compare.
I found A4 capable but not inviting. As if the car was saying "bring it on, I can do it fast if that's what you want" but not asking the driver to be driven hard like M3.
Not where I live. VW dealers are everywhere and subaru are too expensive where I live. (A single dealer in a city of 2 million). If it was the same 2/3 cost of purchase and 2/3 cost of maintenance as in the states i might have reconsidered. With the current subaru car and parts prices in belarus subaru just makes zero sense to me. Though I am already (unpleasantly) surprised at what a spare entry/ ignition key for A4 would cost me.
Anyhow, you probably love your kids way too much if you can transition from M3 with a taut if not neck breaking hard suspension to the legacy wallowing through every turn.
That and the feel of the stick on subaru. Did I mention the odd gear ratios in subaru and 5sp in subaru vs 6sp in M3? Not sure if the gear rations would've been any less weird (far far apart) with 6 cogs on subaru versus current 5 though. The folk at FHI seemed to have some sick sense of humor half a decade ago when they cobbled OBS together.
To me "gobs of ground clearance" does not equal "noodle soft suspension". BMW probably got it right in the X series. It's too expensive for me to verify that.
I will admit that the BMW had much better handling than the subaru. To give some background, I've done a lot of racing on tracks, and the culture there is one of safety. You go slow in the paddock. Like first gear idling slow. You behave on the streets around the track. You also get so much thrill out of going fast on the surprisingly safe environment of the track that it's really hard to match that on the street without then thinking about how you are now bringing a lot of unwilling participants into your risky game of driving fast. So I guess racing off the street has made me mroe concious of the risks associated with going fast on the street, and thus has slowed me down. (Which probably has saved my life.)
So yes, the BMW handles great, but I can get quite a bit of fun pushing the legacy a little here and there and taking the same blind corner at 45 versus 55, and not have to worry about what is waiting on the other side of that corner quite so much. The transitional behavior and maximum grip of the subaru definitely lacks compared to the BMW, and the communication with the driver lacks too, but the subaru is satisfying in that it is easy to place, and like the BMW the attitude of the car at the limit is very controllable with the throttle. Back in my stupider days I used to have quite a bit of fun with my low 100 something horsepower totally stock 95 legacy 2.2 liter by doing off- throttle-oversteer induced slides through intersections. It was very easy to place exactly where I wanted it even in a slide. Now I'd never do that. And to really enjoy that BMW that is what I needed.
So yeah, maybe I've been spoiled by fast race cars. Maybe I'm destined to drive relatively slow cars on the street, but I still prefer the control of driving a manual, and the utility of a wagon. Darn. I just realized that I am not the typical driver. Maybe that's why nobody makes manual wagons in the states.
you've gotta watch the episode of star treck where capain laments about his stupider days when he was young and Q obliges to provide an alternate reality for the testing of another, sensible version of the captain. I gotta tell ya: It did not end up all that good.
That legacy generation was somehow fun despite the 90 front 10 back torque split. And the gearing somehow felt right. The clutch pedal was adjustable too if I remember correctly. I've had 93, i suspect 95 was not ruined also. and then the marketing came...
Yeah, The 90 to 94 had the same mechanicals as the 95 to 99. It was a very driftable car. I used to have lots of fun in the snow with it. Oddly enough, the car that I've enjoyed driving in the snow the most is not even the subaru, but my 88 volvo 240DL. That was a very very predictable car.
My other current subie is an 04 outback that I bought for my wife. It is a night and day difference as far as the feeling of heft. It feels a thousand pounds heavier. It might actually be with all that outback specific and safety stuff. The 95 felt very nimble compared to the 04. It also had the 14X6 alloys, which took 205/60/14s pretty well. there's even a noticeable difference between the 95 and the 98, which has the 14X5.5 steel wheels and 185/70/14s.
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