1999 Subaru Legacy: It's better than walking!

When I went home for the holidays I was in awe of my friend, Kim's new car, a stunning shiny 1999 GT Legacy Sedan. It has a spoiler, gorgeous! After a stuffy flight the lush seats and smooth ride was a welcome relief as she whisked me away. She frequently talks about how it rattles "so much". As we were driving down the freeway having a conversation, she would stop mid-sentence and scream "DO YOU HEAR THAT!! THE GARAGE SAID THEY FIXED THAT!!" I didn't hear anything but I humored her while playing with the moonroof and six different ways to adjust my seat.

I had the unusual reviewing experience to not only get to drive this car a bit but I also took a nap in the backseat on a daytrip that started too early for me. The last car this girl owned was a 1992 Subaru Legacy Wagon which was much more pleasant to nap in (tons of legroom!) but therein lies the difference between wagons and sedans. The backseat is perfectly plush and lovely. I see Subaru has decided automatic seatbelts aren't as cool as they did in the early 90's.

The stereo and temperature controls are pretty logical and aesthetically pleasing in faux wood. The default sound system is a tape deck and nice speakers. Motley Crue, Rick Astley, and Johnny Cash all sounded great.

The car drives incredibly smoothly and accelerates with great ease. I got up to 80 mph and the engine was only mildly purring which is surprising since 4 cylinder engines usually whine a lot on the freeways. Interesting fact: the Legacy has the same engine has the Impreza. Oh yes! My favorite bit about this car: remote lock controls! Click once to unlock the driver door, twice to unlock all doors and automatically turn on the dome lights.

The gear shifter is kind of scattered around it almost looks like a standard but it works well. The Legacy gets between 21-27 mile per gallon which is very high for a car so luxurious. The Legacy seems a much plusher model of the Mazda Legacy the exterior and interior design are very similar but there is a few more levels of cush in the Legacy. I've also seen it compared to the Audi and VW Passat. I've ridden in a Passat and I thought it was a bit more high-end than the Legacy (heated leather seats, ooh!) but I am basing my knowledge on the mid-level of the Legacy.

A few little quirks about this car: when you add gas to the tank it only makes the gasometer go up once you start driving, which can be frustrating when you start the engine and think "hey! $10 in gas isn't what it used to be". I suppose the rattling can be an issue humoring nod to Kim and you can only see the clock (which is in dashboard) if the lights are on.

But the only thing that truly irritated me about this car was the headlights. They are so dim! It has daytime running lights so there is always some form of light being broadcasted but at night even with the brights on there was not enough light to be driving down old residential streets.

Despite the lack of light this car has tested extremely well in long-term reliability and safety. On the Jennifer North scale of excellence the Legacy gets a 10.