Subaru Real Estate
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- The Legacy GT Wagon mixes practicality and pace superbly
By Nick Syn
THE GENERAL SENTIMENT is that estates or station wagons don’t do huge numbers locally because many of us irrationally associate them with hearses. Either that or the practical, workmanlike mien that estates tend to somehow carry engenders perceptions of chronic uncoolness.
This is wrong as cool estates really do exist. For example, at the top end of the cool estate spectrum sit the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Estate and the Audi RS6 Avant. As you’ve probably gleaned, most of the coolness comes from the fact that these cars sport vastly powerful engines shoehorned into probably one of the most innocuous of bodystyles extant. The resultant paradox makes for a very enticing ownership prospect for keen drivers with an even keener sense of irony. If you’ve driven the Legacy GT, you’ll likely find it to be an excellent medium sedan, powerful, very capable, dynamically and endowed with character and styling that’s more European than it is Japanese. A good start for building a cool estate, then.
For starters, there are no worries with regards to having to squeeze in a bigger engine, the turbocharged 2.0-litre boxer unit in the sedan already pumps out a healthy 245bhp. And as with the sedan, Subaru hasn’t chosen to loudly advertise the fact, only the flush-mounted bonnet air scoop gives any clue to the car’s potential. You can clearly see the similarities to the GT Wagon’s close sibling, the Outback crossover vehicle but the former car is much less conspicuously adorned, making
for a cleaner, more handsome overall shape.
The estate graft has resulted in an increase in overall length to the tune of 55mm, but the car never seems anything but poised and visually balanced. The boot is wide but a little on the shallow side, still the rear seats do fold forwards so most trips to Ikea should be more than comfortably accommodated. The rest of the interior is as per the current Legacy GT sedan’s, that means high quality materials, a premium McIntosh in-dash CD changer and secret-until-lit Optitron instrument dials that perform a nifty start-up sweep, adding no end to the sense of occasion.
The boxer engine with its cylinders horizontally-opposed is very smooth, especially at idle with precious little vibration filtering into the cabin. There’s great swathes of torque from low down in the rev range too, so there’s hardly any need for anything more than a lazy twitch of your right foot to send the scenery into reverse, hitting 100km/h from standstill takes just 7.0 seconds. The transmission is smooth, if a little on the slow side, but you can effect gearchanges using buttons mounted on the sporty Momo steering wheel for a quicker response.
On the road, the GT Wagon displays a more cosseting ride than its already comfy sedan sibling. Bumps and ruts are dispatched with plenty of aplomb and overall refinement is very good. The softer suspension does lead to less resolved body control if you feel a bit enthusiastic and decide to push. And with 245bhp on tap, you tend to feel enthusiastic a lot. This isn’t a big problem, especially assuming that if you’ve gone for the estate option out of a need for more practicality in the first place, you’re less likely to be prone to hooligan episodes.
That’s not to say that the car constitutes a soft option, it’s got the pace to leave many a so-called sportscar in the dust at the traffic lights, and it packages that sort of ability with practicality and executive car comfort. If it’s a cool estate that you’re after, the Legacy GT Wagon is well worth a gander.
NEED TO KNOW
SUBARU LEGACY GT WAGON
ENGINE TYPE 1,994cc, 16V in-line 4
MAX POWER 245bhp at 6,400rpm
MAX TORQUE 310Nm at 2,400rpm
GEARBOX 5-speed automatic
TOP SPEED 180km/h
0-100 KM/H 7.0 seconds
PRICE $118,000 with COE
WARRANTY 3 years / 60,000km
CONTACT Motor Image Enterprises
TELEPHONE 6473-0333
