Review of the new Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B Sports Tourer

It has to be said that as a nation, we're more than a little myopic when it comes to the Subaru range. Turbocharged Imprezas get the big billing but beyond that things get a little hazy. Normally-aspirated Imprezas often remain glued to showroom floors whilst Outbacks and Foresters are informed choices for the country set but get little attention from mainstream consumers. The Legacy Sports Tourer estate is an even dimmer point somewhere at the outer reaches of the Subaru universe. Opt for the most extreme version of it and you find a car that few realise even exists, let alone would consider buying. That's a crying shame as in the Legacy 3.0R Spec B, Subaru have one of the greatest sporting estates money can buy.

Granted, it's a bit of a mouthful but bear with us here. The Spec B is a more focused version of the standard Legacy Sports Tourer with a 3.0-litre engine instead of the entry-level 2.0-litre unit. There are a whole host of other incremental revisions that lend the Spec B a far sharper feel. The first is the feel of the steering, which has been retuned to offer more weight. The suspension has also been uprated with Bilstein dampers and STi-style inverted front struts. The look is generally low-key. There's none of the brash Impreza's blue and gold rally replica attitude. Instead there are some rather handsome 18-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels, a subtle lip spoiler on the trailing edge of the roof, corner spoilers on the front bumper and some chromed kicker plates on the sills. In your face it is not and that's what makes the Spec B even more alluring. Do not trifle with this car as it has some serious clout to fall back on.

Let's start with 242bhp. It's as good a place as any to start clobbering opposition like BMW's 330i Sport Touring or Jaguar's X-TYPE Estate 3.0 Sport. The six-speed manual gearbox really does make a significant difference to the car's sprinting ability as well. Any car with this amount of grunt and the traction advantage of four-wheel drive is going to get off the mark with some alacrity but the manual car sledgehammers home its surfeit of power. The sprint to 60 is dispatched in just 6.6 seconds, suddenly making the Legacy look quite the performance bargain at £29,597 or £29,997 for the 5-speed automatic with its steering wheel paddle shifters. Although the Subaru can't quite match the badge equity of its more prestigious competitors, on almost any objective basis it's got them nailed.

"Do not trifle with this car as it has some serious clout to fall back on"

The Sports Tourer version of the Spec B stacks up favourably against over £30,000 of equivalently specified Jaguar X-TYPE 3.0-litre and both the Volvo V70 T5 and the Audi A4 Avant 3.2 Quattro would be the thick end of £33,000, with none of them matching the Subaru's punch. It's closest competitor in terms of dynamics remains the BMW 330i but for one of these you'd be looking at over £36,000. Suddenly spending this sort of money on a rather unheralded Subaru seems eminently sensible.

The all-wheel drive traction benefit is a massive boon when accelerating from a standstill onto, say, a fast flowing roundabout or when you need to pull out of a T-junction safely. Because the flat-six engine is in-line with the gearbox which is again in-line with the prop shafts and rear differential, frictional losses are reduced to a minimum. In addition, the drive shafts are of equal length for a pure division of power, thus reducing the unseemly torque steer that powerful front wheel drive cars often suffer from. Should you attempt to defy the laws of physics when cornering, Vehicle Dynamics Control software will attempt to keep everything in check. This uses sensors in all four wheels to detect slippage and can brake certain wheels if it feels the vehicle is likely to slide. Experienced drivers can switch VDC off for more 'playful' rear-wheel biased handling. Where legal, the Legacy will run on to a top speed of 147mph.

The Spec B models now feature the SI-Drive system that manifests itself as a round dial on the centre console and steering wheel-mounted buttons. It allows the driver to select 'Intelligent', 'Sport' or 'Sport Sharp' modes which, in that order, deliver increasingly urgent throttle responses along with a growing eagerness to kickdown into a lower gear when paired with the automatic gearbox. The Intelligent mode not only implies that the performance junkies who routinely hare around with the Sports settings selected are something less than the sharpest tools in the box, it also provides a more relaxed and fuel-efficient driving experience. An Eco gauge on the speedometer shows just how well you're doing at conserving the planet's resources but everything's relative and miserly consumption is never on the agenda.

All the Subaru trademarks continue. The frameless windows, the boxer engine and the all-wheel drive transmissions are all present and correct, but the big difference is that the Legacy is, at last, a car that your passengers will enjoy as much as you do. Subaru poached Andreas Zapatinas from Alfa Romeo and in doing so they snagged a very capable designer. Subaru now seem to have a little more integration between their engineering and design departments. The latest model is distinguishable from pre-facelift cars by its revised light clusters and grille as well as its further smartened-up interior.

This Legacy is at last the car that most car nuts wish it always had been. The styling has been sharpened up, excised of all the fussy detailing and gawky lines. The basic silhouette still shouts Subaru, but the deftness of detail in the headlamps, the swage lines and the perceived tension in the body is something that had eluded the crayon-wielders at Subaru in the past. Everything is just that little bit neater. The mirrors house Mercedes style side repeaters, the wheelarches bulge gently out, topped by a pronounced hip. The roof pillars are elegantly slim and the wheels do a better job of filling the arches. The 2.0-litre car obviously doesn't have the showroom appeal of the 3.0-litre Spec B model - it lacks the big wheels and spoilers - but it nevertheless presents a very clean profile.

With a saloon version also offered, the Legacy 3.0R B Spec makes a very convincing case for itself. Fast, well equipped and comfortable, this range-topping Legacy would seem to have all the bases covered. Now if Subaru can only get people to realise there's more to their product portfolio than turbocharged Imprezas.