Subaru Legacy 2.5 GX Review

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Subaru Legacy 2.5 GX
3.4 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.4 out of 5

From 2 ratings and 11 reviews

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O Rait's Review of Subaru Legacy 2.5 GX Estate Car

19th Apr 2006

Overall Rating

4 stars
  • Value for money
    3.5 stars
  • Length of ownership
    1year 3months
  • Performance
    3.5 stars
  • Reliability
    3.5 stars
  • Year Manufactured
    1999
  • Doors
    5
  • Practicality
    5 stars
Good Points

Rugged with class-less appeal (approving glances from boy-racers through to landed gentry).
Competent, reliable and safe family car easily copes with snow, ice or mud.
Comfortable, smooth and quiet.
Few around, so is relatively unique and mildly qwerky compared to the alternatives.
AWD without the anti-eco SUV 4X4 tarnish.
Handles well, but it's no sports car.
Good value second hand buy.


Bad Points

Fuel consumption 23-33mpg (average 28mpg).
Reliable but frequent costly visitor to garage.
Franchise dealers friendly but fiercely expensive.
Parts similarly scarily expensive and often have to be imported - with heavy lead times (e.g. 4 weeks - exhaust).
Rarity means few aftermarket parts available, most parts can only be sourced from Subaru (see above).


General Comments

The Subaru Legacy estate 2.5GX auto is a great all-round family car. We've taken it to all round the UK from Devon to Scotland, and across the continent to the Alps, it has never let us down. It is not a cheap car to run. Car has done 78k miles, we have owned it for just over a year, in addition to scheduled servicing (7,500 mile intervals) we have carried out the following:
Cylinder head gasket (common problem) - £1,200
Four wheel allignment (required at intervals) - £250
Ignition coil, leads and plugs - £350
Exhaust (no aftermarket alternatives available) - £600
Suspension (ride height has a life of it's own - it has pumped itself up to High and has taken up permanent residence there.) - £tba
Routine servicing costs are reasonable at an independent garage, but more technical jobs need to be done by Subaru who are great to deal with, but parts and labour prices are extortionate (even compared to prestigious German marques).
Not as fast as I had expected, 2.5 GX is a comfortable family cruiser, auto box and four wheel drive drain ooomph. Foot to the floor prompts kick-down, revs and noise are exciting but result is gentle acceleration.
Hopefully we're running out of things to replace and it will be as the reports say - an extremely reliable car.

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