Subaru’s large sedan is a lesson in managing expectations
When it first debuted in 2009, the Legacy struck a more muscular, more aggressive figure than its slab-sided contemporaries from Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Today, the sedan still looks more aggressive than your average Camry or Accord. Muscular fender flares serve as reminders of the all-wheel drive system beneath the sheet-metal and the sporting heritage that it shares with the likes of the smaller, more nimble WRX. Large, eagle-eyed headlamps house high-intensity discharge (HID) projectors that crisply illuminate the road ahead. The Legacy is just a giant wing and a set of plus-sized mags away from looking like a FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) racer. She looks fast, but does so in a way that doesn’t scream boy-racer.
Proportionally, however, it’s just as big and imposing as its more pedestrian competition; which is sort of unavoidable if it hopes to offer the passenger and cargo volume that will keep it competitive in this class. Its performance — which we’ll come back to — is also just as conservative as the rest. As it turns out, building a car that looks fast is quite different from building one that is fast, though I’m not sure that the latter was ever Subaru’s goal with the Legacy’s 2.5i configuration.
The 2014 Legacy is aggressively styled, but its performance is more subdued than you’d think.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)
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