Rental Car Ruckus 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Jake]

Over the weekend, I had the chance to sample one of Subaru's finest, the 2015 Legacy. A friend and I got a really good deal on it from an unnamed rental agency around the Washington DC area and were surrounded by airplanes when we went to pick it up. Odd, I thought that was a Saab thing.

We picked it up on Friday night, I had some wedding to go to in Leesburg on Saturday, so my buddy took the car and I met him on Sunday morning to see some other friends of ours for the day.

It was "Carbide Gray" and looked like this:



Ours was the 2.5L flat-four (braaaaap) mated to Subaru's used-in-errything CVT. 175 hp and equal amounts of torque, shoved through all four wheels, all the time. We got the "Limited" trim, and the leather seats and Harman/Kardon audio both greatly contributed to the enjoyment of the vehicle throughout the weekend. Oh, and the A/C was pretty good. Heated front and rear seats weren't used but hey, it's nicely equipped.

Some impressions... nice and roomy. Comfy seats. H/K audio is good but not as good as the H/K in my mom's 2011 Outback. The infotainment system is "fine" (I think the software is cribbed mostly from Toyota) but the touchscreen attracts dust/dirt easily. We had to continuously wipe it down over the weekend, just to select between 80s on 8 or Pop2k on the included XM subscription. Gas mileage was impressive, at a reported 34 mpg driving through the mountains to [REDACTED], Maryland.

The car has a "M" mode for the transmission, with paddle shifters. But, it upshifts at redline for you and then will only occasionally downshift if you slap the (-) paddle again. Reliability may be suspect, however, as we did incur an "A/T Oil Temp" warning light about halfway through the day on Sunday. We suspected this was from too much playing with the paddle shifters, so we ended up leaving the car in D for the rest of the day. It behaved better and honestly, the CVT is intended to hold the motor in the power band and does a good job of it.

Suspension was a bit wallowy for my taste. The wheels were (I think?) 18's, but the tires had just enough sidewall to soak up bumps and keep the ride from being too jarring.

The 2.5 isn't a lot of motor for how big the car is. They do offer it with a 3.6 (which my mom's Outback has) and that would be the more appropriate motor. Subaru has programmed the throttle to be super aggressive right at tip-in, which makes it feel fast away from a stop. But, keep rolling on the throttle and there just isn't much to use.

Overall, it's not a car that I'd buy but I respect it for what it was for us - it was a fighter, an underdog amidst a sea of old, grizzled, prepped Subarus and BMWs and Miatas that had seen some shit. And y'know, it greatly contributed to the quality of my weekend.

Can't beat that for $24.99 a day.

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