apexjapan Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 http://www.apexjapan.com/dev/usdm_legacy/usdm_legacy.jpg A big thanks to SOA and SOJ for allowing me a week's time in a Legacy GT Limited. I had some time to get more, ah, intimate with the US version of the Legacy GT. Southern California is likely the least useful location for the AWD system on the Legacy GT. Inclement weather in sunny L.A. comes mainly in the form of wind, not exactly a big test of grip. This was good for a balanced view of Legacy as simply a good drive. And from Anaheim to California Speedway, downtown L.A. to Beverly Hills, I certainly got my time in behind the wheel. A lot of my time driving was spent at night due to work constraints, which was a shame. But looking out from high up in the hill of Beverly Hills at night is quite a bit more moving than during the smog of day. One thing I noticed is that the headlights, despite not being HID, are as bright as the HID headlights on the Japanese Legacy. The color is not quite the same of course, but visibility was. A night cruising through the tight back roads and along Sunset Blvd. gave me an appreciation for the 2.5-liter base for the turbo motor, as it is much smoother to drive at low rpm's than the 2.0-liter turbo motor in Japanese specification vehicles. Taking off from a stop is easier as well. Overall, the motor is not as peaky, having a nice linear feel all the way up to it's 6500rpm redline thanks to a lower boost pressure and bigger displacement. Drive by wire also seems to work a bit better with this setup, a pleasant surprise. Suspension calibration is indeed on the comfortable side more than the sporty. It's not that it cannot hold it's own in the twisties. Rather, it has been tuned for more of a middle-of-the-road lifestyle. Which is rather on target for the majority of Legacy owners. Roads in California are not the smoothest, yet they are smoother than many other pothole infested areas of America. When it goes over the washboard which seems to make up half of L.A.'s freeways, it was right at the edge of comfort. Any harsher of a setup and relaxation would be a distant concept in the Legacy GT. The only area where it did feel lacking was the small rear stabilizer bar, which only made the car feel less capable during harder cornering. It does hold on as long as you keep a steady foot on the gas and stay within the barely adequete levels of grip that the RE92 tires posess. As time passed I appreciated the suspension setup more and more for the ability to drive in a relaxed manner. Many sports sedans with more buttoned-down setups were indeed much easier to drive in a sporty manner than this car. But the downside of those vehicles is that you feel a need to always drive them in a sporty, aggressive manner. When you are not in full bore driving mode, they do not feel that comfortable nor pleasant to drive. Life is a compromise, and the Legacy compromises towards day-to-day liveability. If I could change anything, I'd simply stiffen up the rear end with a bigger rear bar and put some nice summer rubber on. Overall this is a very well balanced vehicle. It's not perfect, but perfect tends to come at a price, and a price of under 30K for a base GT makes up for a lot of small imperfections. Cheers, Paul Hansen http://www.apexjapan.com http://www.avoturboworld.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axis008 Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Nice review, Paul! Looks like that picture was taken near California Speedway? If you had to choose between ultimately modifying a 2.5GT or 2.0GT Spec. B, which would you pick and why? -ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apexjapan Posted December 27, 2004 Author Share Posted December 27, 2004 Nice review, Paul! Looks like that picture was taken near California Speedway? If you had to choose between ultimately modifying a 2.5GT or 2.0GT Spec. B, which would you pick and why? Yes - out back inbetween shoots of JGTC and D1 runs. I was running a full schedule while I was there, I had little time for anything but late evenings. I was running on 2-3 hours of sleep a night for most of my time there. Better than the D1 drivers and some team members - a group of them took off right after the race to Las Vegas (sunday night) and were going to stay up gambling until their drive back Tuesday (early morning) for their Tuesday afternoon flight back. I would hate to be in their section of the plane on the flight, I am sure it was quite fragrant. If I had to choose between the two... It is a tough choice. The JDM car is better out of the box for people looking at a light tune with no turbo replacement. Better initial suspension setup, better stock rubber, and the twin scroll is good for about 350hp on Japanese gas. Yet if I had to run it in California on what passes for high octane gas, I'd definitely be running towards the 2.5 liter motor at that point. And to be honest, if I am modifying the car for light track duties, I would end up replacing the springs/dampers, wheels and tires, and some other bits and pieces here and there. In that case the 2.5 is just as good of a base to start out with, and it has a better motor for modifying. Turbo units are going to be easier to come by and will be cheaper than twin-scroll replacements, and the other system components are just the same (exhaust, intake, etc.,) which means the cost of replacement would be just the same. In a way... It is about dead even. I could get a 2.5-liter short block for about the same cost as a new turbo for the 2.5-liter. So costs are likely to be very close at the end to get to the same goal. Of course, I may have to buy a non-twinscroll setup to use bigger turbo's. Hard call. Cheers, Paul Hansen http://www.avoturboworld.com http://www.apexjapan.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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