Subaru Legacy Outback 2.5XT Limited

kerz likes to paint me as a Nissan fan to the exclusion of all else but really I've been a Legacy fan at least since the previous generation. Today I got to drive an '05 2.5XT Limited, and I was fairly impressed.

Styling

• Understated, attractive lines.
  
• Color selection somewhat limited, although a few blues/greens/blacks are stylish.
  
• Two tone paint is great, something I wish more car companies would use on their cars. The expanded ride height of the Outbacks makes the wagons look more muscular but looks awkward on the Outback 3.0R sedan, which looks like a Legacy sedan on stilts.
  

Interior

• Interior design and materials are excellent for its class, they are roughly the equal of the Honda Accord (the Accord may still slightly have the edge in this regard). If you load the car up and compare its price at the upper range ($32-35k) to near-luxury cars available from manufacturers like Acura, BMW, Infiniti etc and are anal about interior fittings like I am you begin to notice the odd detail flaw, such as the way the various pieces of trim around the door handles go together... it's not that they don't fit together well, it's just that in say the Acura TL the way they join has been finessed such that if you look closely you really get the impression the car has been well thought out. Also, there were some strange areas where I could see through the trim and into areas with rough exposed fabric, etc. But for a car whose price starts in the low 20s it's generally excellent and in the top two for its class.
  
• The top shelf models have an electroluminescent gauge cluster that does the "needle swoop" that the newer WRX STis do.
  
• The center stack, with its matte-to-touch wood flanks is nice, as are the seats, and the huge panoramic sunroof on the XT Limited wagon.
  

On the Road

• I rode as a passenger in the 3.0R (H6 engine) sedan and drove a 2.5XT Limited wagon (both Outbacks). Subaru's product lines are somewhat confusing. The Outback models are basically Legacys but are organized in the US line separately from the Legacys, along with the "Outback Sport" which is just an Impreza wagon with two-tone paint. Adding to this confusion the two lines use different trim levels. Both start with 2.5i and 2.5i Limited normally aspirated models (sedan and wagon for the legacy, wagon only for the Outback), the Legacy has 2.5GT and 2.5GT Limited models (sedan and wagon), the Outback has 2.5XT and 2.5XT Limited (wagon only), while the Outback line also has 3.0R sedan and wagon and a 3.0 L.L. Bean edition wagon. I was told initially by the dealer that the 3.0 model had "more displacement, more power and more torque" - only th first is true, both 3.0 and 2.5Turbo models have 250hp, and the 2.5Turbo actually has 35 more lb-ft of torque. As a result the benefits of the 3.0 litre engine seem a little dubious. The diminished value becomes apparent when you hit the road.
  
• I drove a 2.5XT Limited with Turbo, with the 5-speed SportShift automatic (wasn't interested in the 5-speed manual as I wouldn't buy a manual as a second car when I already have a 6-speed coupe).
  
• Lag in the 2.5T is fairly severe, power doesn't hit until about 3000rpm, but when it hits, hoboy, away you go. This is one of the faster cars I've driven, and it's fairly effortless, and it's amazing considering that it's just a four banger. You can work around the lag fairly easily with the sport shift transmission (just another automanual - up and down selectors in the shift gate, buttons on the steering wheel), although you need to plan your moves a little since there's a slight delay in the automanual. Nonetheless it turns out to actually be a useful tool (unlike in most cars) since you can, as I said, use it to work around the turbo lag with judicious downshifts.
  
• Steering is acceptably quick and assisted, although a little dead/lacking in feel compared to my G35.
  
• Brakes are good/average, but they don't feel like they'd be capable of stopping the car as well as the Brembos on my G35 have demonstrated considering how fast the XT goes. Nonetheless they're not grabby, and have reasonable progression. The bite could just be a little stronger as you push in harder, is all.
  
• I drove an Outback, and as such the ride height was fairly tall, and probably as a result the car felt a little tippy when I pushed it fairly enthusiastically through a number of back street turns. A regular Legacy would probably fare better.
  
• The car is, I'm told, "Symmetrical AWD" which means a default power split of 50-front, 50-rear. I'm used to driving rear drive cars and you can tell there's a lot of power going front in this one because it has noticable FWD characteristics (the feeling of the front end pulling you and towing the back end, the slight nose-heaviness), but in general it feels more neutral than most high powered FWD cars I've driven. As such the car felt a little weird through some of the high speed turns - coupled with the tippiness it felt like the balance was shifting all over the place.
  
• The best remedy to all of this might be a differential lock such as that in the WRX STi - I'd probably dial it "all the way back" (35 front, 65 back), which gives the STi delightfully (and almost dangerously) neutral handling characterestics that actually offer less understeer than my G35. That, the lower ride height of the regular Legacy and a stiffened suspension.
  
• The car, as I have said, is very fast. However it's a pussycat when off boost and feels like it'd be a pleasant cruiser in traffic.
  

Conclusions

• Ultimately it was good to get back into my G35, but it's a car that's harder to drive fast. Harder because of the stiff clutch and heavy shifter, harder because being normally aspirated means you don't get the same "kick" when taking off and so tend to need to kick it more to get the same effect. But the G35's wheel feel is better, the turn in is sharper, the front-rear handling balance is much better, the suspension is pleasantly stiff and is pretty damn near telepathic when you throw it around - a rare trait for such a big car. But practical car it is not. I suspect if I drove a Legacy 2.5GT Limited many of my handling quibbles (and minor quibbles they were, at that) would melt away. As it stands I don't have any hesitation in saying the Legacy is at the top of the midsize wagon heap.