Subaru Legacy Boxer Diesel Test 2
Wed, 23 Apr 2008
This is a car so many people have been waiting for so long that as well as commissioning a write-up I had to test it myself.
You can read Danny Cobbs test at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=306. For my impressions, read on here.
I found this a very honest car. In the spec that showed up it’s fairly basic, with things like alloy wheels, aircon and cruise control, but not much else. I have to say I actually prefer the wide, flat cloth seats to the leather bound chairs in the last Legacy I tested.
Start up and it can sound like someone is rattling an old box of spanners under the bonnet. It’s certainly not as smooth as the new Accord diesel, or the KIA Cee’d/Hyundai i30 chain-cam diesels for that matter. (Unlike Subaru petrol engines, the 2.0 Boxer diesel is chain-cam.) But once you’re underway the noises recede and the awareness you’re driving a diesel comes from the strong torque rather than the chatter of the engine.
Where many diesels are geared at around 35mph per 1,000rpm in 6th, the Legacy boxer only has 5 gears in its pleasingly precise shifting box and 5th gives around 32mph per 1,000rpm. This not only makes it more flexible and gutsy in 5th (and should make it an excellent towcar), it also seems to be very good for economy. Subaru claims nearly 50mpg and in some very mixed motoring I averaged 45mpg.
The balance between engine torque and gear ratios is exactly right and means you can make rapid progress at quite low revs. All you really need is between 2,000 and 3,000rpm and the engine tugs well from around 1,400.
At first I thought the handling was a bit understeery, a Legacy of the past, perhaps. But once I got with it I found that the excellent balance between engine torque and transmission ratios is also shared by the four-wheel drive chassis. You just have to find its sweet points, then it will hang round bends beautifully, catapulting out like a quattro.
There is a bit of road noise. Quite a lot more than the new Accord with its rubber bushed rear suspension subframe. But you can reduce it considerably by remembering to close the blind over the luggage area.
Sitting in the car, locked in cruise on my way back from an auction I asked myself the question every private buyer has to ask.
Would I be happy in this car for three, four or five years? For 40,000 to 100,000 miles or more?
I was getting 45mpg. I liked the combination of torque and gear rations, the comfort, the satisfying handling.
The answer was yes.
Test of Legacy 2.5 auto SW at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=303
You can read Danny Cobbs test at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=306. For my impressions, read on here.
I found this a very honest car. In the spec that showed up it’s fairly basic, with things like alloy wheels, aircon and cruise control, but not much else. I have to say I actually prefer the wide, flat cloth seats to the leather bound chairs in the last Legacy I tested.
Start up and it can sound like someone is rattling an old box of spanners under the bonnet. It’s certainly not as smooth as the new Accord diesel, or the KIA Cee’d/Hyundai i30 chain-cam diesels for that matter. (Unlike Subaru petrol engines, the 2.0 Boxer diesel is chain-cam.) But once you’re underway the noises recede and the awareness you’re driving a diesel comes from the strong torque rather than the chatter of the engine.
Where many diesels are geared at around 35mph per 1,000rpm in 6th, the Legacy boxer only has 5 gears in its pleasingly precise shifting box and 5th gives around 32mph per 1,000rpm. This not only makes it more flexible and gutsy in 5th (and should make it an excellent towcar), it also seems to be very good for economy. Subaru claims nearly 50mpg and in some very mixed motoring I averaged 45mpg.
The balance between engine torque and gear ratios is exactly right and means you can make rapid progress at quite low revs. All you really need is between 2,000 and 3,000rpm and the engine tugs well from around 1,400.
At first I thought the handling was a bit understeery, a Legacy of the past, perhaps. But once I got with it I found that the excellent balance between engine torque and transmission ratios is also shared by the four-wheel drive chassis. You just have to find its sweet points, then it will hang round bends beautifully, catapulting out like a quattro.
There is a bit of road noise. Quite a lot more than the new Accord with its rubber bushed rear suspension subframe. But you can reduce it considerably by remembering to close the blind over the luggage area.
Sitting in the car, locked in cruise on my way back from an auction I asked myself the question every private buyer has to ask.
Would I be happy in this car for three, four or five years? For 40,000 to 100,000 miles or more?
I was getting 45mpg. I liked the combination of torque and gear rations, the comfort, the satisfying handling.
The answer was yes.
Test of Legacy 2.5 auto SW at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=303
