2010 Legacy pictures and review *and Outback pics*

[Ryan T]

So Subaru dropped off a 2010 Legacy for us to look at/play with for a few days. I was gone for the weekend but saw it when I came in at noon today and just had to take it out for a good thrashing with it at 171 miles. Here's a quick little review of it:

Styling: Looks like a mix of a Maxima and an Accord to me. It is taller and wider than the previous generation Legacy, to the point of being very noticable as soon as you look it it. While it doesn't seem to sit any higher from the drivers seat the car is noticably bigger. There is much more back seat room (our 6'3" sales manager is comfortable back there) and the trunk has more space than the previous model.

Interior: Like I said above, it's larger inside. The controls are similiar to the old body style with a few changes. You now have a knob to manual change radio stations without having to continuously press the "seek" button to change frequencies. The steering wheel mouted controls have gone to toggle switches instead of the old buttons which is much easier to use, in my opinion. The Navigation system is pretty much the same; intuitive and easy to use. Seats don't feel much different either. Harman Kardon Stereo System is excellent but the built in equalizer leaves something to be desired from a tunability standpoint. Heated seats are nice and warm. New gearshift design takes a little getting used to but is ultimately an improvement. The old manumatic gate shifter (push up to gear up and down to gear down) gives way to paddle shifters in this model, which were available only on the GT model in the previous generation.

Driving: It drives great. Feels a little heavier than the previous generation (because it is) but carries it's weight well. The model we were given has the 3.6L 6-cylinder engine with I believe 263hp. It has plenty of get up and go at low rpms. The transmission revmatches on downshifts under heavy breaking or spirited driving. It almost always does it when in manual mode and occassionally in automatic mode if you are really giving it the beans. The manual setting on the transmission is much more responsive than the previous generation delivering upshifts and donwshifts as soon as you request it...not 2 seconds later. The suspension is sporty, but not as sporty as the previous GT model. It has a more relaxed comfortable highway ride but is certaintly not out of place on a backroad. It feels solid and the steering is responsive, but it does carry some heft with it.

Enough with the blabbering, here's the pics:

[CaptainHenreh]

Hideous.

[V1GiLaNtE]

ew..... the rear looks like a lexus... The whole car looks gross.

[HAULN-SS]

wow. They made that look turrble, and I love legacys

[REED]

too bad, that last body style was really good looking - you are right though, it just looks huge now

[ScottyB]

used legacy prices are going to skyrocket based on the looks of this alone.

[Evan]

blame new japanese pedestrian crash laws for all the snub nosed cars

at least it looks better than the accord and maxima

[Apoc]

Wow, that side view is GOD AWFUL.

[BLINGMW]

Styling: Looks like a mix of a Maxima and an Accord to me.

Yeah pretty much. Oh well, so much for standing out in any way from the crowd. :dunno:

[Goodspeed]

Meh, I kind of like the styling. Not more than the old Legacy, but I don't hate it either. But DAMN, if there was ever a car needing larger wheels/tires.....

[Mike]

Styling: Looks like a mix of a Maxima and an Accord to me.

Damn, no joke. Ew! This belongs in the "WTF is happening with Japanese cars?" thread.

And the previous gen did look like a Camry... Now that they've hit all the other big guys for styling cues, what's next?

[Steve85]

I do not know what is going on with the fender flares coming out of Acura, Mazda and now Subaru. They start way above the wheel opening, come out a little and then have this awful broad flat side 3-4 inches wide. It almost looks like Subaru decided to give their flare a 3 angle valve job.

[Apoc]

Upon further investigation, I've come to the conclusions that it's still ugly as hell.

I like the interior and I even like the front end but holy fuck that side view is like a Maxima's cheap little brother.

[Jeff]

Looks like a Hyundai got stung by a bee...

[WRXtranceformed]

Subaru's styling has been going downhill? Welcome to 3 years ago.

[Ryan T]

Just for reference to the cars height, the guy you see standing in the 4th photo is 5'6" tall. The new Legacy is as tall as the past generation Forester!

[stevegula]

blame new japanese pedestrian crash laws for all the snub nosed cars

at least it looks better than the accord and maxima

any elaboration on that?

[Ken]

Back end reminds me of Hyundai Genesis.

[Ryan T]

Well if you didn't like the Legacy you won't be wild about the new Outback either. Pretty large car, sorta reminds me of some sort of Volvo SUV. Interior is the same as the Legacy so I didn't take any pics of that.

[ScottyB]

WTF were they thinking