General Comments:
Car is excellent, my first "Japanese" car built in Indiana, USA. Alongside Toyota Camry's on the line! Freaky, eh?
Car feels planted, except with stock tires on winter roads, you NEED winter tires on this AWD car to keep it pointed straight. 17" rims can be downsized to 16" for the winter wheels - good way to go and keeps expense down too.
The car is more "deliberate" feeling when driving, not twitchy, or sporty. Feels sure.
When the car is really workin' to plow through high drifts, or steep hills on gravel, the center differential smells like it is burning (clutch slip?). Apparently normal for this car.
Not that powerful feeling for the base engine given its Hp rating, even worse with automatic so stick with the stick. Gas economy could be a notch higher.. it consumes more because it's AWD all the time, and the ECU is tuned at idle to rev high when engine is not up to temp.. Until this thing warms up, it sucks the gas.
Shorter than average leg room on front passenger seat. The computer is under the foot rest on that side stealing maybe 4" of leg room.
Seats a little more narrow than average, and a little short in thigh support for long legs.
Tilt steering, but no telescope to help tall driver position.
Windows are clear glass and absolutely needed aftermarket tinting to keep from becoming an oven.
Windshield seems to crack and chip more easily than other cars I've had. I've heard the original windshield is worse in this regard than aftermarket replacements, we'll see.
Missing some typical convenience features found even in low-line cars these days, like retained accessory power, one-touch up and down window. Added some aftermarket gizmos that solved these deficiencies for little money.
Some interior trim pieces are a bit cheap feeling, or thin feeling, or don't wear well (eg. easily scratched, or thin paint rubs off).
The car took a hit in the rear, low speed, bumper to bumper, but they rode up over mine. Assessed at $1400 damage.. but literally, you can hardly see the scratches in very good light, I just drove away from the scene, and did all the paperwork later. Still haven't bothered to repair that "damage" even though other party insurance is going to pay full.
The sloped windows of the rear wagon area cuts down on the size of rectangular objects (box) that you can fit in there. Just fits a 50lb dog kennel (open wire type) and not much else at the same time. Get a minivan if you need to haul lots of stuff all the time.
This car is one of the safest cars you can buy for any money, and is the primary reason why I picked it as the family hauler.
So far, this Legacy is way more reliable and less expensive and less hassle to operate & maintain than the VW Passat I had before it.
21st Oct 2010, 03:37
Like you I went from a Passat wagon to a Legacy and don't regret the change one bit. The Passat was a complete and utter dog on the reliability stakes and the tiptronic change was a joke. The legacy is still heaps of fun to drive, versatile, a great ski wagon and reliable!