Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £20,400 to £27,400
Strong, smooth performance; refinement; a unique proposition; the usual Legacy strengths.
A little noisy at start-up; too idiosyncratic?
The most petrol-like diesel we've yet driven.
Smooth-riding, quiet and refined, the sophisticated Legacy is comfortable for long distance, with its well-designed cabin, user-friendly controls and supportive seats. Outback models add self-levelling suspension, to maintain a flat ride whatever the load in the back, and all versions cope well with bumps and uneven road surfaces.
The cabin is roomy up front, with a forward-slanted windscreen and high windows, and there's plenty of rear-seat room as well. The rear seats of the saloon don't fold flat, however, and those of the Sports Tourer and Outback are not especially versatile: they split and fold forwards, but do not tumble or slide.
The boot's big, though, with no intrusive suspension turrets, and there's more load-space than in a 3-Series Touring, for example. Outback models have a handy reversible load-bay floor, with one side carpeted and the other hard, wipe-clean and waterproof.
Equipment levels are high: all versions have cruise control, four electric windows, remote central locking, electric door mirrors, dual-zone climate control, a radio/CD/MP3, alloy wheels and a leather steering wheel. RE versions add full leather upholstery, heated front seats, heated door mirrors and windscreen de-icer, an electric sunroof and eight-way electrically-operated driver's seat; REn models have satellite navigation.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Subaru Legacy
wrote on 01 03 2008
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