RE: Shed of the Week: Subaru Legacy

RE: Shed of the Week: Subaru Legacy

Author
Discussion

Cald0

6 posts

70 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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My parents had run of 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen Legacy estates growing up and I remember them fondly; probably where my fondness of estates comes from. They could shift for what they were along horrendous roads with a dog in the back. As others have said things can get expensive running them day to day - sadly when I reached 17 they were far too expensive for a plukey teen to drive so they went elsewhere.

Nowadays do like the idea of having a GT Spec B WR or STI though...

teacake

150 posts

190 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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ericmcn said:
I love my SpecB, handling is sublime and during the last beast from the east my biggest problem was avoiding all the other cars on the road (and thats with summer tyres). I am getting almost 30mpg on average (mostly stop start traffic in the south east so not too bad). One of the odd things about this car is that the economy seems to improve the faster you go, dawdling around just kills the economy.

I test-drove a brand-new one in 2006. It was very lovely, but I was put off by the reported 9mpg I got on the test drive.

I wasn't caning it that hard...

StrokesUK

44 posts

92 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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I had a 2.0 gen 4 wagon, and regularly managed a measured 40mpg, so not sure why the official figures were so terrible! Since moved on to a 3.0 spec b though, and 27mpg but considerably more rapid and quiet!

Gorbyrev

1,160 posts

153 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Loved mine, cost buttons to run as nothing ever broke. Parts are pricey as there are few/no pattern parts and its comedy hour at the Subaru dealership if you have to buy exhaust parts. But then that gives you every excuse to get something more warbly fabricated by your local stainless tubemeister. Never got 25mpg from mine, more like 30 and topped out at 36 on a fast run to Durham. Great for four wheel drifting in the snow, a real Swiss Army knife of a car. You also have the option of reducing the gearing through the low range transfer box if you need to get a move on out of a junction.

JMF894

5,478 posts

154 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Jon_S_Rally said:
JMF894 said:
You could have a Saab 9-5 Aero estate with change from a bag...................

Sure no 4wd but for a few quid more on mods you'd have a stage 3 with circa 290 bhp. And I mean just a few quid. DP 2nd hand and a noobed ECU for 90 sheets.
You could, but I'm not sure how many of those 290 horses you could use on a cold winter morning. Different prospects really, though both interesting in their own way.

I have been looking for a cheap estate and a Legacy did really appeal. Went to look at an 06 one last week and it was a total dog. Every panel was damaged, the interior was destroyed and it was making all sorts of strange creaks and groans. Was really disappointed, as it's a car I'd really like to own. Did find a 3.0 Spec B, but the owner didn't reply to my messages until I'd bought something else. Shame. Though I suspect the fuel economy would have ruined me. Maybe next time though.[/quote

In my experience with a few choice polybushes and decent tyres all of them once up and running. However you mention the spec B. Always fancied one of those but the running cost put me off. Flat 6, yes please......................

JMF894

5,478 posts

154 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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mrbarnett said:
A lot of people not really getting this car; keep talking about power and economy figures and suggesting 2wd alternatives. My guess is they live in town; if you live in the sticks, when the beast fro m the east has just dumped its load all over everything and you find you've just run out of milk, this thing at 15 mph will be the quickest car on the road.

When I was a nipper, the mk1 seemed to be *the* car to have around the villages - you barely even saw conventional 4x4's, save for the farmers, who had Defenders. One neighbour had the 1.8, which was okay, but another had a very rare 2.2 variant, in white; that thing looked the business to my young eyes. Today, my mum has an Outback, and so to does her neighbour. There are only 18 households, so that's 1 in 9 - not a bad stat for Subaru in this world of SUV's...
But 95% of the time the 4wd offered by the scooby hold zero advantage, it's not as if this one needs it to get its power down lol

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Gorbyrev said:
Loved mine, cost buttons to run as nothing ever broke. Parts are pricey as there are few/no pattern parts and its comedy hour at the Subaru dealership if you have to buy exhaust parts. But then that gives you every excuse to get something more warbly fabricated by your local stainless tubemeister. Never got 25mpg from mine, more like 30 and topped out at 36 on a fast run to Durham. Great for four wheel drifting in the snow, a real Swiss Army knife of a car. You also have the option of reducing the gearing through the low range transfer box if you need to get a move on out of a junction.
Used to get an easy 30 in everyday use, rising over 35 from our 2.5 auto, dunno what their economy figures came from either!

DaveEvs

280 posts

101 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Living in rural Wales, I get Subaru. We have two Foresters, one for my mountain bike business and the other for the lady’s GP house visits. Both are battered, unpretentious and simply go anywhere in any weather. Love them to bits.

If this was a 2.5, I’d be heading over for a look!

Roger Irrelevant

2,899 posts

112 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Konan said:
The one thing I will say, is I've always found a Subaru will actually manage the listed MPG in the real world. As opposed to a lot of cars that claim 40 and give you 30 (yes, Ford... you wink ).
This is exactly what I've found with mine - the official combined figure is what I get. Further, the onboard readout of mpg is consistently less than the actual brim-to-brim calcs. If Subaru got better at bullstting they might sell more than 6 cars per year in the UK.

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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teacake said:
I test-drove a brand-new one in 2006. It was very lovely, but I was put off by the reported 9mpg I got on the test drive.

I wasn't caning it that hard...
Im easily getting 300+ miles on a tank on a mixed commute, driving 70-80 mostly, not including reserve tank, on a extended long run you can get 400 miles or so which is great for a flat 6 - about the same as I was getting on a K24 and this is a much better car.

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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dont see these figures very often, this is from a trip to Ireland recently - and on the quite Motorways in Ireland I was a bit naughty, for a flat 6 with AWD the economy on these is pretty decent all things considered.



teacake

150 posts

190 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Stop! I finally managed to convince myself not to buy another one, and you're not making it easy for me!

[clicks on classified ad pages]

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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lol

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Seems like loads of money for such limited performance - after all Speed Matters!


My BMW E91 325i coped just fine with the Beast from the East on winter tyres, and does well over 400 miles on a tankful.


I can't really see what it offers, unless you live in the back of nowhere!

Escort Si-130

3,270 posts

179 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Not one for me, looks boring and worse it doesn't even have any performance to make me want to take a second look.

Jongwilt

1 posts

66 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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I currently own a 1998 Legacy GT-B in Manual
(The 280Bhp Twin Turbo from Japan with Bilstein Suspension)
With 100k miles on.
Fantastic car! Prefer it to the Imprezas I have owned In the past. But I'm being royally screwed by insurance companies and have been trying to sell it for the last 2 months, so that I can get back into a Civic Type R EP3 (as it's a quarter the cost to Insure for me)
But haven't had a single call. And it was up for £3000 which I think is fair money for such a good car.
Maybe people just don't know about the Manual GTBS?
Now I'm undecided on what to do with it....

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Mr Tidy said:
Seems like loads of money for such limited performance - after all Speed Matters!


My BMW E91 325i coped just fine with the Beast from the East on winter tyres, and does well over 400 miles on a tankful.


I can't really see what it offers, unless you live in the back of nowhere!
you do know it can do 60 in about 6.5s right, which is not too bad for a 'limited performance' car, you really should have got a 330. The Legacy handles better than a 325 anyway but each to their own

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Jongwilt said:
I currently own a 1998 Legacy GT-B in Manual
(The 280Bhp Twin Turbo from Japan with Bilstein Suspension)
With 100k miles on.
Fantastic car! Prefer it to the Imprezas I have owned In the past. But I'm being royally screwed by insurance companies and have been trying to sell it for the last 2 months, so that I can get back into a Civic Type R EP3 (as it's a quarter the cost to Insure for me)
But haven't had a single call. And it was up for £3000 which I think is fair money for such a good car.
Maybe people just don't know about the Manual GTBS?
Now I'm undecided on what to do with it....
have you it on UK legacy?

Arthur2Sheds

2 posts

66 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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This Shed prompted me to rejoin PH!
My introduction to Subaru was the previous Legacy to this one with the 116? HP EJ20 engine. Picked it up for £400 with free crusty wheel arches and a few resident spiders and was one of best emergency buys I ever brought.
I think the MPG figure is a little pessimistic but not far off. You do get incredible levels of grip and you feel you get this strange sense of getting every bit of available power doing what it needs to. In pouring rain once in the rusty old Legacy at the traffic light GP i ‘accidently’ left an M3 for dead with it’s wheels just spinning as I left it in my wake...
Since then I replaced the old Legacy ( after 18 months of faultless driving) with an Outback, and following on from that I now have a 2008 Spec B Legacy. Mechanically they remind me of my old BMW E34...very solid but obviously less plush, with less to go wrong.
Not mentioned in the article is the fact this era of Scobby is very easy to work on. You open the engine bay and everything is very accessible. In fact the handbook with the car is more like a Haynes Manual!
If you know this right places parts are no issue - in fact I found everything over the years as easily as most VWs I’ve owned previously. This isn’t quite so true with the current Spec B but I sort of knew what I was getting myself into!
Top shed that won’t appeal to everyone - Subaru are one of those Marmite brands I feel.

LandRoverManiac

402 posts

91 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Great shed - yet sadly misunderstood by most. I haven't got a Legacy - but I do have a N/A Forester as a daily hack.

You buy one of these if you want a tool that gets you from A to B - whether 'A' or 'B' happen to be on tarmac or not. The off-road abilities of these are by far and away superior to most SUVs/Crossovers, etc. despite technically being a 'car'. Most non-turbo models come with low-range gears and the 4WD system is an old-school mechanical setup. That's why it drinks like a fish, but it also means that you have a 'proper 4x4' that won't get stuck on the first patch of ice it comes across.

You buy an N/A Subaru because the engine in non-turbo form is so lazy and under-stressed that it will happily chug away for decades with the bare minimum of maintenance. A non-turbo and a Legacy in particular is also less likely to have been owned by Gazza from the council estate and thrashed/crashed.

On the rare occasion you do need to do something under bonnet - the mechanicals are low-tech and simple to fix for anyone with more than two functioning brain cells. Same goes for suspension, drivetrain and electricals. Certain spares are pricey - yet not regularly required!

If you are concerned about soft-touch plastics, badge kudos and how fast your car can theoretically go around the 'Ring - look elsewhere. If you happen to live in the countryside (y'know - those big green bits between towns) - you'll see a lot of these pottering around for good reason. It's also worth noting that they tend to be owned by the same owners for a loooong time; until they then get replaced by another Subaru.