The Subaru Legacy R will arrive in South Africa March 2015
These days you just don’t expect car companies to bring out engines larger than 2.0-litre capacity so when it was announced that the Subaru Legacy R was coming with a broad 3.6 litre engine I nearly choked on my breakfast. The Subaru Legacy R is the brand’s flagship model and it’s also a determined effort to be the furthest thing from a BMW 3-Series.
Anyway onto the 191kW/350nm six-cylinder boxer engine. It’s mated to a fuel-sucking AWD with torque vectoring traction aids. Driving the wheels is a Lineartronic CVT gearbox. We’re fine with the CVT as the only option, Subaru make them better than anybody else and manual versions in this segment simply don’t leave the dealerships.
The gnawing question here is why Subaru didn’t go for the 2.0-litre turbo engine in the current WRX. That engine makes more power (197kW/350Nm) and would surely be less thirsty and far cleaner. To add further confusion the current Subaru Legacy 2.5-litre turbo produces 195kW/350Nm.
The Subaru Legacy R has some design features to further its unique position; a new grille and a sleeker, sportier profile. At R530 000 the Subaru Legacy R will come up against less powerful versions of the C-Class and 3-Series and is expected to arrive middle March.
