Refined Near Luxury In an All-Wheel Drive Sedan
What We Like:
- Near-luxury interior materials
- Visibility
- Powertrain
What We Don’t Like:
- Sluggish Adaptive Cruise Response
- Stiffer ride than competitors
For years, Subaru products have been largely known as utilitarian, all-wheel-drive vehicles relegated to the snowy and wet areas of the country. While the AWD capability is still a big part of their products, the 2015 Subaru Legacy aims to change the rest of the story. With its upgraded interior materials, roomier cabins, more refined dash and buttons plus improved fuel economy, it is now a much stronger competitor in the mid-size car market.
Also helping the Subaru Legacy is the higher level of luxury. In fact, Subaru says this trim level is the most luxury they have ever offered in a Legacy. It comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, perforated leather upholstery, two-position driver’s side memory, hearted front and rear seats, rear seat climate control vents, Harmon Kardon 576-watt audio system with 12 speakers and a larger variety of safety features. Overall, this new Subaru Legacy will change many perceptions about the brand.
Subtle Exterior Upgrades
When redesigning the 2015 Subaru Legacy, the designers largely left the exterior alone. This isn’t to say they didn’t improve it. The look is definitely stronger than the past model.
From the front, the Legacy’s stronger appearance stands out. There is a new grille, the headlights have been reshaped to be more linear and the overall “sloped” look of the previous model is gone. This new front end makes a bolder statement and attracts more attention.
Moving around to the sides, they have more character lines and the rear finishes off the strong look with additional linear lines.
Overall, the stronger look works very well for the off-road capable sedan.
Interior Improved
The big news for the Legacy is on the inside. Not only did Subaru increase the cabin space by 1.6 cubic feet in the cabin, they improved the quality of the materials. While the layout may be too austere for some customers, the straightforward nature of the cabin design is attractive for those struggling to get used to overly complex vehicles.
The additional cubic feet has been well thought out and the cabin feels larger. Also, there is an additional 15 cubic feet of cargo capacity in the trunk. While other competitors may have slightly more room, the space is ample and isn’t a deterrent.
One of the things that hasn’t changed is the excellent visibility of Subaru models. For the 2015 model, Subaru improved on this competitive advantage by moving the windshield forward slightly. Along with the reduced pillars and additional glass from the side-mounted mirrors, the visibility is best in class.
Technology Offerings
Our test model came with a 7-inch touch screen display with navigation and multi-touch control swipe, scrolling gesture control, voice-activated controls, SiriusXM, SMS text messaging and iTunes tagging. There are also dual USB ports for streaming music from your smartphone or other devices.
While one may assume, a small automaker like Subaru wouldn’t offer competitive technology as the larger automakers. They would be wrong. In testing the features, the Subaru’s touch screen display was better than other comparable models.
Every model includes a variety of standard technology features like the four-speaker sound system with a single-disc CD player, HD and satellite radio, USB port/iPod interface, auxiliary audio jack and smartphone integration with Pandora and Aha audio streaming. Also standard equipment is a 6.2-inch touchscreen display that controls the entertainment and phone functions.
Driving Impressions – Improved, Powerful Ride
Along with the improved, luxury-like upgrades in the cabin, Subaru has improved the ride of the Legacy to be more smooth, quiet and comfortable than before. Indeed, the all-new platform of this sixth-generation sedan has the best ride yet.
Helping with the ride is the now standard Active Torque Vectoring and electric power steering. The torque vectoring system automatically transfers power to wheels, when needed, to improve the agility. Along with the electric power steering, the Subaru corners incredibly well and was pleasantly surprising.
Powering the Legacy is a 3.6-liter 6-cylinder BOXER engine producing 256 horsepower and 247 lb-ft of torque. This powerful engine is mated to a continuously variable transmission. The CVT transmission is better than most to adapting to the driver’s needs and creates a sporty feel. This combination also provides pretty good fuel economy for an AWD with EPA estimates of 20/29/23 city/highway/combined MPG.
In the end, the 2015 Subaru Legacy is a fun, fuel efficient, all-weather vehicle and is a much stronger competitor in the mid-size market. If you haven’t looked at a Subaru since the Brat, it is time to revisit them. These new Subaru models are much better.
Safety
One of the areas that Subaru prides itself is on safety and we would remiss without mentioning it. Their focus on this is clear in the Limited package with EyeSight driver assist system. This system includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Pre-Collision Braking, Vehicle Lane Departure Warning, new color stereo cameras and Steering-Responsive Fog Lights. In short, driving at night or in traffic is much easier and collectively safer.
We used the Adaptive Cruise Control system during rush-hour traffic in Denver, Colorado. They system worked really well and combined with the Lane Departure Warning (LDW), it greatly reduced driver stress. Our only issue was sluggishness in speeding up after coming to a stop and could be chalked up to personal preference.
Subaru has also added new front seat-cushion airbags to bring their total count to eight.
2015 Subaru Legacy Limited Specs:
- Engine: 3.6L H-6 BOXER
- Horsepower: 256 hp @ 6,000 rpm
- Torque: 247 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm
- Transmission: Lineartronic® Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
- Layout: Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD)
- EPA estimated mpg: 20 city / 29 hwy
- MSRP: $29,595
- Options: Moonroof Package + Keyless Access & Push-Button Start + Navigation ($2,990)
- Price as tested: $33,380
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