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72 hours in a 2010 Legacy GT 6 Speed !! ( suspension review)


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I have just spent 72hrs in a 2010 Legacy GT( 6speed). Thanks Jeff N. First impressions were more relaxed than when I drove the car at my wife’s dealership. Knowing I had some time in the car I decided to be open minded, and let it impress me.

 

The car grows on you for sure. The first feeling you get is one of large platform, not as heavy as it "feels" looking out over a hood that "seems" long, but actually isnt. The bottom line is the car has tons of potential.

 

Front suspension is loosely based on the GH Impreza with 5x100 hubs and a new designed front sub frame that has the sway bar mounts ABOVE the sub frame instead of below it. Sedans get a 23mm front sway while Wagons get a 24mm sway. 3.6 Sedans get the 24mm front. Looks like the Whiteline ALK( caster bushings) will work from the previous Leg and the current Impreza( GH).

 

The car when driven spiritedly, wants to push a little, but then HOOKs in and really takes, but that requires some commitment from the driver. So as usual the car in the hands of a good driver will work well. No commitment and the front will just push, which is the typical factory engineered " cant let a novice have too much fun safety factor" that is designed into the handling.

 

Mid corner lift near the limit only results in a neutral feeling of...." ok, so I wont die" type feeling( which is good). This will change in favor of the enthusiast with a thicker rear bar and that is what is needed for the car to handle better. ( of course keeping it safe, but increasing feel and decreasing body roll).

 

The Hummer like ride height is simply due to the car being larger than the previous car which had a wedge type shape. The new car has more of a Camry, tall, feeling ( stock) and has alot of pitch and roll. But here is where it gets touchy. This car is limited on travel like the previous Legacy. It has 12mm more front travel than the previous, BUT the wheel well openings are ROUND( in case you hadn’t noticed) and this gives an illusion of even more HUMMER like height. So while our eyes say.....LOWER ME FOR THE LOVE OF GOD !! .....alot of design discretion needs to be used here if the car is retain good functionality. Sure if you want it to look kool.....then the springs that some will make will be great and lower the car 1.5 inches or more...but that WILL put the car on the bump stops when not moving.

 

The issue there in my opinion is the choice of these HUGE wheel wells and the smallish 18inch wheel choice. 19's on this car will look like 18's on the previous model. So 19's and a conservative drop will be the ticket. This car also wont want short side walls either. 19’s with a decent conservative sidewall will work well.

 

Rear suspension is IDENTICAL to the GH Impreza. Sway bar rear shocks, mounting points, dimensions etc. Newer version of a good multilink, but with a hair less travel than previous gen. So Subaru is opting for better handling of the stock platform and limiting the amount of lowering that can be done. To m this spells mainstream audience/buyer attempt. But that’s debate for another day. The rear works well on this car. You can feel the rear has TONS of grip and the reduced overall travel doesn’t become obvious in the stock car, unless you have a full tank and two 250 lbs people in the back seat over the very rare type of large dips. So some of you know that if you lower this car too much…..then bump stop engagement will be happen often.

 

One thing that is noticable right away is that Subaru learned from the past. They have made the natural rear ride height taller by 8mm than the front and from the previous model. This is awesome because when we filled the tank, had our test springs in the trunk 80 lbs for 2 sets and two 250 lbs adults....the car was level !! The previos generation car would be on the bump stops almost.

 

The shocks seem to be valved very mildly. Again…if spring companies make a 1.0 or lower spring for this car and only raise the rates a hair…..you will have an intimate relationship with your bump stops ! I have a new set on the way and will dyno those to see how much of a ceiling there is for rate increase. Do to the new locations of various parts under the car the front sway bar has room for a major increase…but I don’t think that’s the way to go. I think this car will greatly benefit from a good rear bar to make it very neutral.

 

We did confirm our new GR/GH( STI and WRX) chassis REAR 25.5mm hollow sway bar will fit this car. As does our new TARMAC 2 coilovers as well.

Overall I really like this new car. I feel it has potential. Once you get over its much larger visual size…it starts to grow on you. It needs some type of trunk deck flat style spoiler to make the trunk longer. Good brake pads, lines and fluid would help pedal feel which is a bit spongy yet fitting for the way the car is stock. But once you do some springs and a sway bar, I think most of us would want a tighter pedal.

My son who is almost 10, after about 1 mile said..." so will you do springs or shocks to this car dad..." I asked him why?..and he said..." well with the soft interior it doesnt need much to be better,just stop it from leaning so much...".The leather interior is very supple and could be paired with an Alcantara steering wheel for a more Euro feel. Knowing the owners last car, I know he will agree with me too !

 

Thanks to Jeff N. from Virginia for letting us use his car to do our measurements for future projects.

 

 

 

Our plans were to install our existing 08 STI Regular guy springs but we have to make a special front spring for the 10 Leg.

 

Wont be long.

 

Myles Williams

RCE

 

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs112.snc3/15943_177692579222_59572734222_2735757_8038907_n.jpg

 

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs092.snc3/15943_177616464222_59572734222_2735386_6737973_n.jpg

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awesome! i like the way it looks from that angle. are those 18's or 19's? specs? tarmac 2 FTW. if the wagon comes out its going to be my next car LOL. are the previous legacy's that travel challenged? on the forums i don't see people talking about travel that much as compared to nasioc about the 08+ impreza's. everyone is talking about, omg you can't lower the car or you'll ride on bumpstops. i assume the strut/spring combo you guys have for the impreza will fit or be similar?
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awesome! i like the way it looks from that angle. are those 18's or 19's? specs? tarmac 2 FTW. if the wagon comes out its going to be my next car LOL. are the previous legacy's that travel challenged? on the forums i don't see people talking about travel that much as compared to nasioc about the 08+ impreza's. everyone is talking about, omg you can't lower the car or you'll ride on bumpstops. i assume the strut/spring combo you guys have for the impreza will fit or be similar?

 

18's with 225/45-18. Yeah the older Leg is that travel challenged and no most dont talk about it, or its not the topic all the time.

 

We are doing a special version Bilstein for this car that will be obtainable and warrantable within the USA.

 

Myles

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lol those rims look so small on that car! Def need a drop and perhaps a slightly more aggressive offset to fill out those fender wells. It would look good when done though.

 

When we looked on the insider there is about 20mm of clearance!! Outside there is MORE than 1.5 inches !!

 

Can you say....19x9.5's with 265/40-19 Michelin PS2 !

 

:)

 

Myles

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