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Introduction
Subaru Legacy GT spec.B - 2008 Review: "Now this is a little more like it," he thought as he steered the 2008 Subaru Legacy GT spec.B through one of his favorite mountain roads. The car gripped, then started to understeer slightly. He applied power, the all-wheel drive sent it to the rear wheels and the GT corrected itself, hauling through the tight second-gear corner with ease. If you understood that, keep reading, as this Subaru might just be for you. On the other hand, if you just want a roomy sedan with plenty of creature comforts for a reasonable price, well, that new Chevy Malibu is pretty darn good...
What We Drove
The options sheet on our test Legacy was short, in fact, the only actual addition to the car's $33,995 sticker was the $645 destination charge, for a total of $34,540. That price includes the turbocharged engine with the SI Drive manually selectable boost controller, all-wheel drive and the sport-tuned suspension. Also included was the leather interior with heated front seats, navigation system, automatic climate control and a six-disc CD changer audio system that was pre-wired for both XM and Sirius satellite radio services.
Performance
The Legacy comes in several different trims, including outdoorsy wagons if you want to ignore Subaru's separation between the sedan and Outback versions. The GT is powered by the same turbocharged flat-four engine found under the hoods of Impreza WRXs, here putting out 243 horsepower and 241 lb.-ft. of torque. It's routed to all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission and Subaru's Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. Despite having 3,530 pounds of Subaru to haul around, it's still quick, and has more than enough power to be fun when you want it.
Performance: SI Drive
To further enhance the spec.B's fun factor, Subaru has added a three-mode throttle controller to the Legacy GT. Press the button for Intelligent and you get weak kneed throttle responses but better fuel economy. Turn it Sport and things improve, with quicker throttle response and less turbo lag. Click it to Sport Sharp (marked Sport #), and you get immediate throttle response and virtually zero lag. However, in either Sport mode we noticed hesitation under full-throttle acceleration, as if the computer were retarding the timing to prevent detonation. Maybe our car had a bad tank of gas, but it's annoying at best, and indicative of poor engine tuning at worst.
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