From the 2009 New York Auto Show, Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2010 Subaru Legacy.
Transcript
<v Announcer>Cars.com auto reviews. Hi, I'm Kelsey Mays from cars.com. We're at the New York Auto Show. Checking out Subaru's redesigned Legacy. Subaru ads have always touted that special something that makes a Subaru a Subaru.
This car goes up against the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. And what makes this Subaru special is of course, it's roll up your sleeves utility, even in a sedan package. Let's check it out and learn more. Certainly more controversial look than normal. You've got these L-shaped headlights. They look a little bit like the lights on Infiniti's G37 sedan. Subaru's winged grill here sits on top. A pretty complicated lower bumper actually, there's this sort of division here. It's separating the different segments here. Overall, an interesting look, you'll have to decide whether you like it or hate it. The outgoing Legacy wasn't the roomiest car. This car doesn't feel a whole lot roomier, but again, the story here is about utility. And toward that end, there is quite a large glove compartment. The center console here has decent room. The seats are a little bit flat for me, but they're comfortable. I'm not sure I have quite as much thigh support as I would like. This cushion doesn't extend that far out. It's okay. The adjustment range is fine for adults. It goes quite a ways back. Cabin material is, okay, not great. The center stack here of controls has sort of a nice, grainy finish to the silver trim on it. The dashboard plastics are hard to touch. In this range, you'd hope for softer plastics up here. And the wood trim doesn't look great, It's kind of plastic-y. Backseat, much better story. The old legacy was definitely one of the smaller cars in the backseat. Subaru says there's about four more inches of back seat leg room. Definitely shows, I'm 5'11, this is where I'd sit to drive. And as you can see, I've just got tons of leg room here. Good thigh support, decent room underneath the foot Wells here. About as much room as you'd have in the Accord. Another car with tons of leg room in the back. The only thing here is that the Legacy being an all wheel drive car has a substantial center hump here it's much larger than the humps you're getting in a lot of front wheel drive competitors. Definitely something that you're going to want to think about if you've got that fifth passenger here. Seat split folds here, 60 x 40. This is a very wide opening actually. There's a little bit of a ledge here. Trunk's about 14.7 cubic feet. That's right between the Accord on the low side and the Camry on the high side. A nice wide opening here, low lift over height. You're not going to have to strain real hard to throw things in. Nice flat floor, not quite as large, an opening as we'd like to see, but overall not a bad setup. So Subaru is all about utility obviously. And the Legacy, even in this crowd, certainly comes off as one of the more utilitarian players. Quality might not be up there with what Honda and some of the cars from GM and Ford now offer. But certainly it isn't well below the field at all. Definitely a car worth checking out, especially if you're an all wheel drive fan obviously. The Legacy, like other Subaru's, has its standard. <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to Cars.com, or our blog, Kicking Tires.net.
