Enduring Legacy

After 36 years, Subaru Legacy production is about to end. STEPHEN DOBIE reflects on the lineage's diverse appeal

- STEPHEN DOBIE

The turbulence of this transforming new car market has already claimed some notable victims. Who would have imagined a world without Mondeos and Fiestas just a handful of years ago? And true car obsessives will soon have another name to mournfully raise a glass to, because Subaru Legacy production will end this spring.

Okay, its loss won't garner the same school-run or L-plate anecdotes as those famous Fords, but the Legacy is a car of importance to people like us. For those of a certain generation, it was a punchy purchase for a modest bunch of credits on Gran Turismo; for others, it's the machine that Colin McRae drove to his first World Rally Championship win back in 1993. While its legend may pale beside the Impreza's, its legacy (yes, yes...) is no less impressive.

It's a heck of a lot cheaper to buy used, too. As Impreza prices rise seemingly by the minute, the most celebrated 22B versions nudging quarter of a million, Legacys continue to sell for peanuts.

The square plates signify the origin of the 1999 GT-B we have here as the Japanese domestic market (JDM), and it represents one of the most potent iterations in the Legacy's 36-year life, yet it can be easily bought for less than £5000 in decent nick. Well, once you've found one for sale...

Alongside it is the survivor, the amalgamation of Legacy DNA that you can still buy showroomfresh in Britain. Indeed, 752 people did just that in 2024, making the Outback Subaru's best-seller amid successful year-on-year stats. Launched in 1995 as a raised and cladded variant of the Legacy estate, the Outback soon became a model all of its own-one with a life still ahead of it.