Subaru’s Legacy

Mike Whelan, a senior product guy at Subaru, is a techie who knows a great deal about the 2005 Legacy and Outback models. Last week at the press introduction in the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan, he went on at length, accompanied by slides and diagrams.

I wrote down, "Sudden throttle application: the transmission makes a positive downshift to maintain engine power." And, "Cannon-mount steering rack has a new damper valve."

There was a great deal more along these lines, but I looked around and noticed that other people weren’t taking notes, so I started doodling and writing logistical notes to myself about the wonderful concert I was going to later that night: The Great High Mountain Tour, with Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, the Reeltime Travelers and more.

It’s not that I’m not glad Subaru has made many important upgrades to the Legacy and its SUV-like cousin, the Outback. My wife and I own a 1995 Legacy Outback, our second in a series. These are seriously good and reliable cars, much beloved of outdoorsy environmentalists who wouldn’t be caught dead in an actual SUV.

The company, which has done much to rejuvenate the station wagon, goes out of its way to identify the product with mountain bikers, skiers and hikers. (It also courts gays and lesbians, as viewers of the excellent Showtime series The "L" Word are aware.)

That said, some greens are disenchanted with Subaru, which they see as suffering from a self-inflicted wound. Last January, the New York Times reported that 2005 Outback sedan and wagon models would be tweaked just enough (with higher ground clearance and other adjustments) to qualify for classification as light trucks, rather than passenger cars.

As trucks, Outbacks will have to meet a much-less-stringent fuel economy standard of 21 miles per gallon (compared to 27.5 mpg for cars) and will help the company meet its federal fleet average without penalties. But the move can be seen as an effort to exploit loopholes with a license to pollute. "This is a new low for the auto industry, and it would make George Orwell proud," Dan Becker of the Sierra Club told the Times. Whelan responds that the changes are in response to feedback from Outback owners, who want vehicles that ride higher.

It’s a shame that Subaru is getting embroiled in green politics, because its vehicles really are what the company describes as "the intelligent alternative to standard SUVs." If you haven’t heard the news, all Subarus offer all-wheel-drive, and the Outback offers enough SUV design cues (high ground clearance, body cladding, big wheels and tires) to satisfy buyers who would otherwise be in an Excursion or some other nightmare.

The 2005 models have been thoroughly massaged, though the new body design is an evolution, rather than a dramatic change. Standard Legacys now get a 168-horsepower, 2.5-liter version of Subaru’s familiar boxer engine. The flagship 2.5 GT manages 250 horsepower from the same displacement. Cars with the five-speed automatic can be manually shifted from the floor or the steering wheel.

I tuned out of Whelan’s exhaustive technical description of Subaru’s four separate all-wheel-drive systems, but suffice it to say that these systems (some with stability control) vary in the torque split they offer when wheel slip is encountered.

I was able to try out a 2.5 GT on a fast blast to upstate New York and lunch at the bucolic and lovely Clinton Vineyards. The GT is much improved, and serious fun for people who don’t think they can get through a winter without all-wheel drive.