Stylish New Legacy Limited Unveiled At British International Motor Show

Subaru is unveiling a stylish new Legacy estate derivative at the British International Motor Show (NEC Birmingham, 23 October-3 Nov).

Called the Legacy 2.5 GX Limited and available in both manual and automatic forms, the new addition – which can be seen on Stand 2440, Hall 2 – combines special comfort features with a distinctive, sporty look.

Based on the GX with Luxury Pack, the Limited boasts gunmetal-coloured 10-spoke 16 x 6.5 ins alloy wheels with 205/50 tyres, white side indicators, sports front seats with side bolsters and six-way electric adjustment for the driver, a rear centre arm-rest and special cloth trim.

Also included in the Limited’s specification is a dark-coloured instrument panel, leather-wrapped handbrake lever, gear-knob and Momo steering wheel and electrically-powered twin sunroofs – the front tiltable and the rear fully sliding.

This is in addition to features such as All-Wheel-Drive, ABS, driver, passenger and side airbags, four electric windows, heated mirrors, seats and windscreen de-icer, side skirts, front fog lamps, climate-control air-conditioning and a radio/CD and cassette player.

And when ordered as an automatic, the Legacy Limited gains the extra active safety benefit of Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control.

This shares power between front and rear axles as well as dividing grip between each wheel. It uses sensors to register front to rear G-forces, side to side G-forces and has G-sensors to detect sudden swerves.

As a result, engine power and braking are automatically tailored for maximum grip but without affecting the Legacy’s highly-praised interactive handling.

Despite its extra equipment, the Legacy 2.5 GX estate Limited costs £21,245 on-the-road in manual form and £22,995 as an automatic – £750 and £755 less than the Luxury Pack which has full leather trim. Either metallic or mica paint is also standard, with the choice of a new colour exclusive to the Limited – Dark Grey metallic.

For the 2003 Model Year, all Legacys enjoy fuel economy improvements by as much as 5.3 mpg on the Extra Urban Cycle (Legacy 2.0 GL saloon automatic) and much lower exhaust emissions which reduce the tax liability for company car drivers.

Other 2003 MY advances include more powerful front seat-belt pretensioners, two ISOFIX rear child seat mountings, a Thatcham Category One alarm/immobiliser and door mirrors which are around 40 per cent better at staying clean.

For the record, the new Legacy 2.5 GX Limited estate has a 126 mph top speed and 0-60 mph time of 8.9 seconds and now returns 39.2 mpg on the Extra Urban cycle in manual form (124 mph/10.0 seconds/38.2 mpg – automatic).

Equally important for company car drivers, CO2 emissions are now 220 g/km (manual) and 226 g/km (automatic) – down by 10 g/km and 8 g/km respectively.