The last contender is really the fan favorite. If you haven’t read my thoughts on the Acura TL, or the Volvo S60, you can click on the names to got there now. Don’t worry I’ll wait. Good now, If you had asked me 2 years ago what car I would have, a Subaru would have been at the bottom of the least. But after a few snowy winters I realized that an All-Wheel drive vehicle made really good sense. Sure they take a hit on fuel economy but for true all weather performance; it’s a hit I’m willing to take. I checked out the Subaru while my truck was being serviced. I took a quick look at the Legacy’s they had in stock. I quickly removed the 2.4 liter engines because I knew I wanted at least a 6 cylinders. So I asked to take the 3.6R Limited out for a spin.
The first thing I noticed about this car is that it’s very roomy. Like the other 2 vehicles, they offer lots of space for the occupants and the interior is luxury car like. Turning on the ignition brings this puppy to life. I drove around to the back of the dealership where I learned that they have their own little fuel supply (you learn something new every day). The other thing that caught me off guard was that the salesman let me take the car for the test drive without him. Can you say joy ride. This car is stable, with the symmetrical all-wheel drive you have more grip on the road than with a two-wheel drive vehicle. This grip is felt from the moment you hit the gas. Yes the other vehicles have all-wheel drive but this one felt different, it felt more consistant. I took the Legacy over to the mall parking lot to get a feel for the handling of the Legacy. I tried to give the Legacy some tests of my driving habits, thought they were slightly subdued by my standards. The Legacy hugged those corners like glue. I really felt like it would take much more pushing, but I was not about to mess up a car during a test drive.
One thing that I found interesting is that the Legacy comes with a MPG gauge. I’m not sure how accurate it is but it is nice to 
know when I’m not being eco-friendly…which will probably be a lot. It will also help for those road trips. It could be a game, to see how long you can keep the gauge in the green. Another nice thing about the Legacy (the Limited one) is that it comes with a 440 watt stereo with a subwoofer and as an option an iPod control. I love my music so with the option of buying only a new portable GPS unit I’ll take that over having to shell out money for a new car stereo.
With so many things to like about this vehicle there are things that are slightly lacking. The auto-manual while it comes with paddle shifters, it’s not a true manual, which isn’t that bad considering that I can’t drive a manual. I found that when you downshift, the engine doesn’t rev up like I’ve seen in a real manual. Again this isn’t a big thing as I will spend more time in “D” then in “M”.
So there you have the 3 contenders for a spot in my driveway. Who will win the covenant prize?
Stay tuned to find out.