WHEN BIGGER BECOMES INCONVENIENTLY BULKY

+ Click to Enlarge BIGGER BUT NOT BETTER: the new Subaru Legacy is bigger in every way than its predecessor (inset) - which is not always an improvement.

October 12, 2009
By John Simister

Subaru's design team have created a monster. What were they thinking of?

Here's the new Subaru Legacy - due for release in South Africa on October 14 - flying the flag once again for Subaru's faith in flat-four engines and all-wheel drive.

Look at it and right away you can see it's got problems. It's longer, wider, taller, bigger in every way than the old one, although the old one was plenty big enough for nearly every purpose. Now it's become just inconveniently bulky.

The Legacy now needs to be berthed rather than merely parked and, frankly, it's ugly. Yes, aesthetics are partly subjective, but slab sides, overblown wheel arches and a generic nose design – whose droopy sculpting and smiley front grille could have come from any lesser-known manufacturer – do not make for a handsome car.

It's true that handsome cars are harder to make nowadays, given the strictures of safety standards. But with the Legacy it seems the designers just could not remember what it was they were designing. And nobody stood back and said: "That looks wrong".

Harsh words? Maybe. The tragedy is that the Legacy does have a positive design legacy. The outgoing version was the first of the breed to be a genuinely good-looking car, a machine which might tempt buyers away from an Audi on aesthetic as well as technical grounds.

So why has Subaru killed the goose? Maybe the US market still needs hefty cars and Subaru is big in the US. But the trend here and in Japan is, or should be, to make cars smaller and lighter for obvious environmental reasons.

Subaru, as a company with a strong innovative streak, should be in the vanguard of this thinking. That's a key reason why people buy Subarus: to be different.

The new Legacy, priced from £23 295 (R274 650) in the UK, is made in both sedan and station-wagon forms, the latter once again available also as a toughed-up Outback version.

South Africa will only get the sedan, all models with the four-wheel drive and flat-four engines (a configuration nowadays unique to Subaru) on which the brand is based.

That other Subaru nicety, frameless doors, has however passed into history. Cost is why; it's cheaper to make a conventional window frame than to fit seals sophisticated enough to keep wind noise low without a frame.

In Europe this latest Legacy comes with a choice of two engines, a 2.5-litre petrol unit with 125kW and and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with 112kW but considerably more torque than the petrol unit.

INTERESTING SOUND TRACK

There are no plans at present to release the diesel in South Africa but the petrol model will be available with either a six-speed manual gearbox or a continuously-variable automatic transmission called Lineartronic.

The diesel is unquestionably the one to have, with punchier performance, much better fuel economy and a more interesting sound track.

That said, the petrol version's CVT transmission is better than some other similar systems because it doesn't allow the engine speed to soar the second you squeeze the accelerator. It also has six manually controlled steps should you wish to assume control yourself.

Inside, you're surrounded by curves and sweeps and silvery plastic, all accurately made and neatly assembled but somehow lacking the restraint sensed in the previous Legacy. The seating is very comfortable and the rear seats' backrests flip forward automatically when you pull a handle in the boot. The resulting load-floor slopes uphill, unfortunately.

HILL HOLD

The centre console lacks any form of handbrake but there's an electric button on the lower right side of the fascia where it's hardly in a prime zone of ergonomic convenience. You have to pull it to release the brake; unlike some, it doesn't release automatically.

I cursed this system in an uphill traffic crawl, railing against being deprived of the accurate control that a regular handbrake lever gives, until I discovered the hill holder, a device which stops the Subaru rolling back. I should have known; nowadays quite widespread, the hill holder was a Subaru invention.

As for other driving qualities, the suspension lacks the suppleness once typical of a Legacy, the steering is numb, the roadholding is secure, the experience is underwhelming. This is an unusual car, which is welcome in a world of conformity, but it should be so much more than that.

THE RIVALS

Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI: SA price R376 000.
The only other four-wheel drive diesel estate in the UK has more power, style and drives beautifully. It's how the Legacy should be.

Citroën C5 Estate 2.0 HDI 140 Exclusive: £22 595 (R266 000).
Another car-maker famous for doing things differently. This C5 looks and feels good, oozes serenity, and is fine value.

Saab 9-3 Sportwagon 1.9 TiD 150 Vector Sport: £25 152 (R296 000).
Saabs are more Scandinavian clean design than technofest. Good car, too often overlooked.