Leaving Behind a 36-Year (Subaru) Legacy

It’s not every day that you say goodbye to a vehicle after 36 years of production, so to mark the occasion, Subaru officially sent its long-running Legacy sedan out with a fitting ceremony earlier this month as the last model rolled off the line. That’s a pretty long career for a car these days, one that leaves behind a … wait for it … interesting legacy as a solid sedan with some unique history and highlights.

The Legacy, which was built to help Subaru compete in the then hot midsize sedan market in the U.S., helped prove there was an appetite among the American car-buying public for an AWD sedan, especially in the snow-belt states. It’s a car that likely helped pave the way for Subaru to bring the WRX here, and it also spawned a vehicle that has since become one of Subaru’s core models.

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When it debuted in 1989, the 1990 Subaru Legacy was somewhat unusual in that it was initially offered here in sedan and wagon forms. Sure, the 1980–1988 AMC Eagle was the first unibody vehicle to offer AWD in the U.S., but the Eagle’s higher ground clearance signaled its mission as more of light off-roader, making it something of a niche vehicle. The Legacy, however, looked more like a normal car for the time. It didn’t feel too tall, and at the outset you could also get it with front-wheel drive. While it was an economical vehicle in its FWD trim, the one you wanted was the Sport introduced in 1991. This was the only model around the globe to get the Alcantara gray interior, and it came standard with the 2.2-liter turbocharged boxer-four and AWD. The next year, the Legacy would get a face-lift to match the SVX.

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Fast-forward to 1997, and within the third year of its second generation, Subaru would change the drivetrain that the Legacy and all future Subarus would offer until the BRZ. Rather than two drive layouts (FWD standard, AWD optional), Subaru would make AWD the standard drivetrain for all Subarus going forward. This second generation also marked the first time the Legacy Outback, a more SUV-like version of the Legacy wagon, would be offered in 1994. It proved so popular that Subaru would eventually turn the Outback into its own model.

After this came the third-generation Legacy in 2000, which was also marked by the introduction of the Baja, a uted out version of the Legacy Wagon only offered in the U.S., Canda, and Chile. Unlike the original Subaru Brat, the Subaru Baja didn’t feature reverse jump seats, but its 41.5-inch-long bed was augmented by a small hatch between the rear bulkhead and a tailgate-mounted bed extender to increase the carrying capacity. The Baja also had a tow rating of 2,400 pounds, so there were some good truck-esque features from this unibody ute, but it was discontinued by 2006.

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Around the end of the Baja came the fourth-generation Legacy, which won the Automobile All-Stars Family Car award in 2005. It also marked the reintroduction of a turbocharged engine in the Legacy with the EJ255 engine, a 2.5-liter turbo boxer-four derived from the Impreza WRX. For 2006, a 500-unit limited edition was introduced, the 2.5GT Spec.B, which featured Bilstein dampers, 18-inch wheels, and Vehicle Dynamics control. This would eventually become a regular but sedan-only model in 2007 while also including a six-speed manual transmission and Subaru Intelligent Drive, better known as SI-Drive. In 2008, the Legacy wagon and Outback sedan were discontinued, but the 3.0-liter boxer-six EX30 from the Outback was introduced in the 3.0R Limited trim.

Which brings us to the seventh and final generation of the Legacy, which began in 2019 with the 2020 model. The blandness of the sixth generation was starting to be a bit too much, and sales had already slowed considerably by the time it was introduced. While most Legacy models could be seen as decent performance sedans, both the sixth- and seventh-generation cars had embraced civility, with underpowered engines and average dynamic abilities. But it made up for that with a roomy, well-built interior and a suspension calibration that allowed it to ably absorb road imperfections.

When pushed hard, however, the 2020 Legacy we tested understeered excessively, ruining what little fun you could wring out of it otherwise, though the 2.4-liter turbo model was no slouch in a straight line. Despite its interesting beginnings and offshoots as part of its 36-year run, the 2025 Legacy ends production as a straightforward, unpretentious, and practical sedan. Yes, the Subaru Legacy is dead, but its legacy will live on as one of Subaru’s seminal modern era cars.