#NYIAS An unassuming gray 2010 Subaru Legacy 2.5i was on stage for Subaru's press conference today in New York, but a short while later a red Legacy GT found its way into the booth. For full details on the bigger, sedan-only 2010 Legacy, check our full story
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Like the 2010 Outback, the 2010 Legacy should go on sale in August. It's rumored to start around $20,000 and we've been told it will definitely beat the 2009 Legacy's $20,795 base price.
Preliminary fuel economy estimates are 22 mpg city/29 mpg highway for a Legacy 2.5i (which has the 170-hp, 2.5-liter boxer-4) with the new six-speed manual gearbox driving all four wheels through the standard all-wheel-drive system. Choose the CVT and that goes up to 23/30.
Impressive figures for an AWD midsize sedan, but we'd rather have the Legacy GT, which has a 265-hp turbocharged boxer-4 and the six-speed gearbox. But it's only going to get 17/23. Same goes for the 256-hp, 3.6-liter H6 in the Legacy 3.6R (not shown today at Subaru's stand), which has a five-speed automatic only.
One other tidbit: There's no SI-Drive in U.S.-spec 2010 Legacy GTs, though the feature will carry on in Japanese- and European-market Legacys. "We felt it was important to simplify the car to make it more acceptable to more people," Dave Sullivan, product manager for the Legacy, Outback and Tribeca, told us.
huyracing says:
01:06 PM, 04/ 9/09
Subaru must be trying because no one accidently does ugly this good...
lexuslvr says:
04:03 PM, 04/ 9/09
I really don't like how Subaru lets their 2.5 turbo just crap all over their 6-cylinder.
tube_amps_rule says:
04:13 PM, 04/ 9/09
Subarus don't photograph well. I'll reserve judgement until I see it in person.
Kudos to Subaru for making so much more interior space and rear legroom while only increasing curb weight by 1.4% (or approximately 50 lbs). Part of that weight increase is a higher capacity fuel cell (18.5 gallons vs. 16.9) and larger wheels on the GT (18" vs 17")
Anyone else notice that the GT peaks torque @ 2000 rpm? The '09 peaks @ 3600 for comparison. That's got me extremely curious.
billt9 says:
09:26 PM, 04/ 9/09
"We felt it was important to simplify the car to make it more acceptable to more people,"
Huh, huh, huh. America the country where RTFM is impossible and even journalist reviewers can't comprehend that cars have adjustable engines, transmissions, and suspensions, and set it in the right mode for the review. Car ends up with super low review scores because the car was set in the wrong mode. Fail.
subytrojan says:
10:23 PM, 04/10/09
Hooray for summer tires--Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires no less! :o)
pd83 says:
10:28 AM, 04/11/09
damn thats ugly. I'll stick with my 2009 Legacy. Much sexier than this thing. What was subaru thinking??