Undeterred by this season’s heaviest snowfall, Speed:Sport:Life trudged over to McCormick Place from our downtown Chicago...
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Amongst car writers, it’s pretty rare for one of us to actually put our money where our mouth is and buy a brand new...
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I’ve had a spate of mid-size sedan loaners recently, which made this new Legacy’s arrival on my doorstep especially timely. In a...
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Few cars these days, even the fun ones, wear their hearts on their sleeves quite as triumphantly as the Subaru WRX. To wit – the ride on our World Rally Blue Pearl example is starched to such an extent that few beverage sips will go without spillage. Why? All the better to flatten out body roll, thereby imparting such immediate turn-in (aided by a new, quicker electric steering rack) that a few extra jostles are a small price to pay for handling precision, Subaru figures.
Subaru has issued this teaser of the upcoming 2015 Legacy Sedan, which is set to debut at the Chicago Auto Show on February 6th. Subaru says that the all-new Legacy will offer a more coupe-like presence which creates a more modern look as a sedan. We’re not entirely sure what that means, but we’ve got high hopes for this next-generation Legacy.
Top: Impreza Sport; Bottom: Outback
After receiving two Subaru loaners within three weeks, I felt it prudent to do a little comparison and contrast between the two most typifying members of the Subaru brand’s persona – practical, sensible all-wheel-drive station wagons.
In a marketplace with competitors numbered mostly at 1, Subaru continues to market and sell a raw, (once) rally-bred, four-wheel-drive sedan and hatchback on our shores. Lucky us – though Mitsubishi’s on again, off again relationship with the Lancer Evolution seems to be “on” at the moment, along with its presence on our shores, it hasn’t been that long since these cars first became available to those in the US, and it might not be that long until they leave those shores, either. For the foreseeable future, the same battle wages on – a brand new WRX and STI based on the latest Impreza chassis are just around the corner and as previously mentioned, despite threats to the contrary, a quick trip to Mitsubishi’s US homepage reveals that a 2014 model year Lancer Evolution can still be yours from $35,790.
Mitsubishi and Subaru each sold turbocharged, all-wheel-drive sport sedans back in the early 1990s, but while the Galant VR-4 and Legacy GT offered great performance for their time, neither were in the same league as the smaller Lancer Evolution and WRX STI that were just beginning to take the rally world by storm. The newcomers were raw, uncompromising, stripped out economy sedans that had been fitted with highly pressurized 4-cylinder turbo engines, sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems and suspension components, and aerodynamic add-ons bred not for sleek looks but rather effective stabilization at speed. And to the dismay of car enthusiasts, they weren’t offered for sale in this country. At least, not until 2003 – the year the Evolution VIII went on sale, with the WRX STI following in 2004.
Lead photo courtesy of Scion. Other photos by the author.
I’m writing this only six weeks after driving the FR-S, but it feels like it’s already years too late. Thanks to the wonders of Web 2.0, the FR-S was old before it even debuted. Like the Nissan GT-R and the new Chevy Camaro before it, Toyota and Subaru’s joint project came in riding a wave of hype that would shame a lot of west-coast beakers, fueled by daily speculation and rumor seeping out from the innumerable followers of thousands of automotive forums and outlets.
Photos: Subaru USA
Joining the 2013 Subaru model line in the United States is the Subaru XV Crosstrek. At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the XV Crosstrek as a dolled up Impreza hatchback, but looks can be deceiving. Much more than an Impreza sportback, the XV Crosstrek has undergone some of the same transformations from sportback to crossover that has made Subaru’s Outback line a runaway success.
