Yes, Virginia, Subaru really does make more cars than just its Outback station wagon - the vehicle that Crocodile Dundee touts as "the world's first sport utility wagon" in those very successful TV commercials.
If poor Virginia didn't know that Subaru also markets an entry-level line of coupes, sedans and wagons under the Impreza model name, a pricey GT sports coupe dubbed the SVX, and three midrange sedans under the Legacy logo, she may be forgiven. It is rare for a full-line carmaker to be so closely identified with a single model.Subaru would like to change that perception, of course. The Japanese firm, a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, would like to be thought of in the same way as Toyota and Honda, or at least Nissan and Mazda, the four horsemen of Japan's automotive apocalypse.
Instead, Subaru goes on year after year as the little Japanese car company that could - or at least ought to. The company that makes a darn good all-wheel-drive station wagon that people who live in the snowbelt just love and was once the "official car" of the U.S. Ski Team.
(Disclosure: My wife's '90 Subaru Legacy AWD wagon just passed 100,000 miles, and she still likes it . . . and her name isn't Virginia.)
Alas, despite years of trying, Subaru has had only marginal success in broadening its appeal. The reason, I think, boils down to this: Subaru has never made a sedan or sports car or econobox that wasn't just a little weird, a little off the main track down which the rest of cardom was chugging at any given time.
The Legacy sedan always looked a little funky compared with an Accord or Camry. Same goes for the Impreza vs. Civic, Tercel, Escort and others. The SVX sports coupe with its odd "window-in-a-window" side glass simply can't compete against the Supras and Preludes and 300ZXs of the world - particularly at its high price.
Now comes the 1997 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT AWD sedan and after a week behind its leather clad and airbagged steering wheel I believe there is light at the end of Subaru's long tunnel.
By that, I mean that this is the first Subaru, other than the venerable wagon, that I could imagine buying for myself.
It looks great - not a weird line anywhere - especially clad in the silver paint of my test car (silver being my favorite auto color). It handles as well as any Japanese car I've driven so far and better than most (but BMW needn't lose sleep). Also, its interior is tasteful and well-appointed, and it has something Camry and Accord do not: AWD. (In auto parlance all-wheel-drive means the system is automatic and full time; 4-wheel-drive is used for systems that must be engaged by the driver.)
The term "GT" is code throughout the auto world for "this car's engine has been massaged and the suspension beefed up so that it goes faster and handles better than the same car we sell without those two letters." Or something like that. In Subaru's case, it separates the GT from the plain Legacy sedan.
In the GT's case, it means Subaru's trusty 4-cylinder "boxer" engine (meaning the cylinders are horizontally opposed) has been bored and stroked to produce 155 horsepower, compared with the 2.2 liter engine's 135 ponies.
Perhaps more important than the added horsepower, torque is also beefed up in the 2.5 liter, to 162 pound feet at 4,000 RPM. The result, says Subaru, is the most powerful four-cylinder engine in the entire compact segment.
I can believe it. My test car came with the new-for-'97 five-speed manual transmission (formerly only an automatic was available) and while it isn't the slickest shifting tranny I've encountered, it turned the GT into a really fun car to drive: fast, quick and agile.
Because of the car's strong torque and (apparently) low gearing, one can drive around town in 4th gear and rarely have to shift. I tried slowing to 2-3 mph in 4th and it would pull right out of it with scarcely a murmur of protest. Even in 5th gear, it will lug down to 10 mph and still recover easily without shifting down.
Also, the GT is sport tuned to aid cornering and a rather prominent spoiler is affixed to the trunk lid - can't have a GT without a spoiler.
I suppose all this should not be a surprise, since Subaru currently holds the World Rally Championship title, a race series that doesn't mean much in this country but is a really big deal in Europe.
Overall, my week with the Subaru GT was delightful. It is practical and functional (comfy back seat and roomy trunk) while remaining a blast to drive. As an added benefit, it gets 21 mpg in city driving and 27 on the highway - better than most sedans with "performance" as one of its claims to fame.
Price might be the only problem for the GT. The bottom line sticker price for my test car was $23,364, a bit high for people who are trying to decide between a Camry, Accord, Nissan Altima, Ford Taurus, and a host of other competitors in this segment.
I'm not saying the Subaru isn't worth the money, far from it. The car comes with numerous standard features, including power sun roof, a great sound system with cassette and CD players, power windows/ mirrors, remote locking and, of course, Subaru's state-of-the-art AWD system. It even has a couple of wood (or wood-like) accents in the cabin, a must-have luxury-car cue these days.
But the Legacy must compete with cars a bit less dear and with a long history of satisfied customers and high resale value. If Subaru could somehow sell this car for, say, $19,500, I think it could attract a lot of defectors from Honda and Toyota, but at $23K and change, it's a tougher proposition.
Still, last time I looked outside, Utah was still in the snowbelt and there are a heck of a lot of Outback and Legacy wagons plying our mean streets. If you have been a longtime Suby wagon devotee but would like to shuck the wagon image, give the Legacy GT a look. Or better yet, a drive.