“Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism dude, at least it’s an ethos”-Walter Sobchak The Big Lebowski.

I love companies with an ethos.  BMW with rear wheel drive. Coca-Cola with Stalinesque world domination. Google for having to remind themselves not to be evil. Dolce & Gabbana with making pants that only fit 14 year old street urchins (which is a nice change to companies whose clothes are made by 14 year old street urchins).  The list goes on and Subaru is firmly on it.  It’s patented and ubiquitous All Wheel Drive System is second only to quattro perhaps. With Audi bringing out the next generation of its game changing system on the RS5 soon, the new Legacy would have to be better than its last incarnation.  That’s kind of the point of making newer versions of cars isn’t it?  The brilliant (and not because I just bought one) previous gen has dedicated fan forums all over the world.

The Legacy has always been the more suburbanly urbane older brother of the twitchy-eyed WRX, while still being able to fly into a martial arts and vodka inspired rage. Controlled and aggressive, it was a family car with a dark side. But a good dark side, like Jamie-Lee Curtis in True Lies or Benicio Del Toro in his daily life.  I had just received my 2005 Legacy Sportwagon 2.0GT when Subaru dropped the new one in our driveway.

Let’s start with the looks, which is Subaru’s strong point in the same way Bruce Willis’ blues band is his.  The previous Legacy was svelte, cultish and purposeful, but the new one just looks a bit flabby.  It doesn’t seem to quite fill the wheel arches well enough which adds to its bulbousness.  It seems to take styling cues from Honda Accords, Lexi and a bit of a 5-Series around the back.  And no-one wants to take “a bit of a 5-Series around the back”.

The Legacy’s strength has always been its understated design, until it punches quicker looking cars out at the lights.  But somehow this blandness doesn’t convey that same wolf in sheep’s clothing attitude nearly enough.  Little things seem to almost wantonly try and make it less sporty.  For instance, putting the Auto into Sport # (sharp) mode makes the car a bristling devil cat, but once you turn off the engine and get back in, it’s reverted to its standard drive setting of “Intelligence” so you presumably don’t gun it up your driveway through your kids’ backs.

The inside bit.

I don’t quite understand keyless ignition in this country.  We live in a hijacking jackpot and if a car opens up when you approach with your keys in the pocket at gunpoint, I’m not sure it’s doing you any favours.  Unless you can convince your criminal masterminds that your car doesn’t require keys leaving them to push the Start button, drive away and cut out some way down the road while you have made your escape.  I think they might have figured that out though.

The Legacy however has gone with the keyless vibe, and there’s always something a bit Le Mans about punching an Engine Start button.  Unfortunately the slightly lunatic sound of the 2.5 Turbo boxer is a little muted in the new car, another casualty of it’s sturdier bulk no doubt.  Planting it though, you’re in no doubt you’re in a Scooby.  It’s amazing how they can still surprise you and bring a smirk to the jaded corners of your mouth.  Inside it’s still Subaru and they’ve even started to make it not look like the interior was designed on a lunchbreak in the 90s.  It’s a great place to be.  It’s more refined and stately, but is that what you’re after in a Subaru?  I still want it to feel a bit more rally.  Like it should have a leather stitched roll bar and Colin McRae’s signature  somewhere you can’t see it.

Make no doubt, this is still a superb car but eyebrows will be raised at the club when you tell them you payed R439 000 for a Subaru.  When Subaru will outlive this stigma is anyone’s guess.  They’re brilliantly engineered but not within an inch of their lives like say an Audi.  There’s still room for some “whoa, fuck me” driving as the Japtech under the surface keeps the car planted as an ancient tree.  It has a massive boot and fancy acronyms like LineartronicTM CVT to tell co-workers about.  And it’s a hoot, we just wish it was slightly more stripped down.  The WRX’s older brother has stopped drinking (12.2km/l!!!!) and now talks about something he saw on TV at braais.  It’s alright to grow old, just don’t grow up this quickly.

-Gavin Williams

The new Polo. It’s nice, you should buy one.

Ciro De Siena

In a move which is the exact opposite of everything thought sane by car companies, Subaru has admitted that it fluffed up. They’ve finally given up on that awful hatchback version of the much-revered Impreza and gone back to basics by giving it an arse.

After what seems like years of justifying the new design to your mates, you can now look at the Impreza WRX and smile. I’ve never been so chuffed to see a bigger backside in my entire life.

It rounds of the car and prevents it from looking like an eleven year old Kia Rio. Dark 17 inch alloys, a subtle spoiler at the rear and a neat intercooler up front round off what has become an exciting package.

But with Subaru, it’s never been about appearance, has it? It is quite simply all about the drive, but more on that in a bit. It certainly has never been about the interior. Looking at the dash in this car, I couldn’t help but think that Subaru’s henchmen are so single minded that they literally forgot about it. Either that or they just don’t know what ‘an interior’ is. It’s like having a 17 year old brother who lives in his darkened room, endlessly hacking into the Pentagon but couldn’t operate the washing machine if his freedom depended on it.

The after-market radio is so awful that it’s laughable. I simply can’t understand how in 2009 a Japanese car company can install an after-market radio which is flummoxed by an MP3 disc. You invented the bloody thing you wallies. Get it right.

Thankfully, when they weren’t rummaging around in old parts bins for a light switch, the other 99% of this car’s development time was used by the drivetrain geniuses at Subaru HQ to perfect the best all wheel drive system known to man. Honestly, throw this car into any corner at any speed and you will a) frighten your passengers to death, b) create an orchestra of tyre squeal and c) come out of the corner perfectly in tact.

I’ve never felt so brave and yet so safe. On a good road at an ungodly hour and with plenty of fuel on board (this car has a drinking problem) you’ll struggle to have more fun in anything near this sort of money.

The best part about everything this car does is what it doesn’t do. This is the only car I know that doesn’t try and flatter you. Every car these days is built so that a blind one armed orang utan can do a 1 minute 29 around the Nurburgring in the snow.

But the Subaru just isn’t. If you aren’t careful with the clutch, you will stall. If you don’t work the gears, you’ll be slow and boring. Short-shift in 3rd or 4th and you’ll bang your nose on the steering wheel.

But concentrate, grab the car by the scruff of the neck and drive it like you’re in a bar fight, and the Impreza WRX will never fail to deliver you to sheer driving…heaven.

Totsiens.

That's Serge trying to get his mate's valuables out of the car.

Don’t you just love the interwebs? Yesterday we published the sad story of the wrecked Aston Martin in Sandton JHB, and today, thanks to couple hundred twitterers, we’ve got in touch with someone who was involved in the whole sorry saga.

His name is Serge, and he was lucky enough not to be in the crunched green Chevrolet Spark. He’s written a full account of the incident on his blog.

For more images see our other article here.

Thanks Serge!