Subaru Legacy

When I met my wife, she was working for a television station in Houston and frankly not making very much money. She drove a Subaru 4-door sedan with a stick shift, which was the kind of car you bought when you were on a budget.
Well, this is the Subaru Legacy All-wheel-drive. Times have changed.
For starters, we’ll get this out of the way. That old Subaru DL my wife drove was just plain cheap…good but cheap. The Legacy Limited will run you just on the shadyside of $30,000.
But that is just the first indication that this isn’t your wife’s old Subaru. The Legacy has the kind of solidity we used to associate with cars that came from Germany. Well, those overpriced products of the Fatherland need to move over, because this thing is as well screwed together as an Abrams tank, and as solid as a banker’s heart.
Now, to be frank, the styling is not much to write home about. It is fairly generic Japanese, which isn’t offensive, but won’t be driven onto the podium at Barrett-Jackson 20 years from now.
So, OK, the styling won’t make your heart go pitty-pat. But the performance will at least induce mild tachycardia. Power comes from a turbocharged, 16-valve, 2.5-liter flat four cylinder engine. That’s right, it’s flat, with horizontally opposed cylinders like an old Beetle. That’s why when you look into the engine bay, the actually engine is way down there.
This whole setup makes 265-horsepower and will get the Legacy down the road to 60 in 5.6 seconds.
Handling is excellent. I’m not one who thinks all-wheel-drive is all that necessary in our neck of the woods, but the car does like to be thrown around.
Inside, the cabin is lovely, and would be lovelier without the pseudo wood trim. I’ve seem more realistic wood on the stock of a Daisy BB gun, so if it is a deletable item, be my guest.
Otherwise, this is one very nice machine.  And given our memories of my wife’s rather plain, but rock-solid dependable old Subie…well, we both felt a bit of nostalgia.
That’s our road test, I’m RG and I’ll see you on the road.