Considering a 2020 Legacy

I will be coming from a 2018 Toyota Camry. I’ve read a few things in reviews that make me nervous. Would love any comments on these from those who have the car...

 

The start/stop CVT being a pain to turn off

The infotainment system glitches, hard to use, and voice control not working

The star link app not working

Is Apple car play full screen now

 

 

Also a couple other questions

Are the cloth seats comfortable? I test drove a limited but it’s out of my budget. I read in consumer reports that they get uncomfortable on long car trips.

Is the wood grain trim for the interior worth the money?

 

Anything else you would like to share to inform a potential first time buyer would be most helpful.

New software has just recently been released. It makes the stop/start a little more convenient to turn off, 2 taps instead of 3. It also fixes, hopefully, many of the glitches people were experiencing with the head unit and Starlink. Apple Car play is full screen also. My wife has the 2020 Onyx Outback with the Startex material for the seats. The seats are extremely comfortable and I would expect they would be in any fabric. Hers came with the wood grain trim but it’s in locations where I never really notice it so I don’t consider it worth paying for. I like hers so much I placed a Legacy order in January, I’m currently driving an ‘06 Legacy. Due to Covid and factory shutdown I haven’t gotten the car yet, it’s a possibility that I may get it by August but I’m losing hope and just may cancel and place an order for the 2021s when they start accepting them. Mine is a Limited XT which are rare right now, the other models seem to be more readily available. I did not include the wood grain, from my wife’s interior, which is identical between the Legacys and Outbacks in the front, I’d be paying for something I’d never notice.

Start/Stop is still annoying, although knowing that you can depress the brake harder to get the car to re-start before entering an intersection is a blessing.

 

I'm still running the old software on the infotainment haven't trusted myself to flash the upgrade yet. But as JP said, the new software is out there with full screen carplay. I haven't had issues with the starlink app.

With the new update start/stop is easier to turn off.

 

The new update is supposed to fix the issues people have had with the infotainment, it is too early to tell if it fixes all of them.

 

The starlink app has worked great for me.

 

I have android but as said above car play is now full screen in the new update.

 

I have a legacy xt so i can't comment on the seats, but i love this car. This is my first Subaru and so far i am very happy.

I had read on another forum that start/stop doesn't actually kick in unless you press the brake pedal fully (all the way to the floor) when you stop. Any truth to this?

 

In any case, it's good to hear the option is easier to get to with the newest infotainment update. I have a Touring XT on order and start/stop is my one major reservation about it. When I test drove one it never actually shut off when I stopped.

Edited July 6, 2020 by hatch97

I had read on another forum that start/stop doesn't actually kick in unless you press the brake pedal fully (all the way to the floor) when you stop. Any truth to this?

 

In any case, it's good to hear the option is easier to get to with the newest infotainment update. I have a Touring XT on order and start/stop is my one major reservation about it. When I test drove one it never actually shut off when I stopped.

That's not true at all, there are a bunch of different factors that go into when the start/stop kicks in. For one the capacitors that allow it to restart must have a charge, which doesn't typically take long, but I'm sure that depends on the driving type/style. Also if you have the AC cranked or heat cranked it won't kick on.

 

For me, I usually stop normally, and when the car comes to a complete stop, if I've been driving for a little bit it'll stop. I'll typically press down harder on the brake to get it to start the motor back on before I try pulling out of an intersection.

 

I have about 3k miles on my car now, almost an hour of "Stop" time, it's saved a whole ... 0.39 gallons of gas. So not worth the savings in my mind, really wish someone would come up with a permanent delete/disable.

Edited July 7, 2020 by gibjer
Added 0 for more clarity

That's not true at all, there are a bunch of different factors that go into when the start/stop kicks in. For one the capacitors that allow it to restart must have a charge, which doesn't typically take long, but I'm sure that depends on the driving type/style. Also if you have the AC cranked or heat cranked it won't kick on.

 

For me, I usually stop normally, and when the car comes to a complete stop, if I've been driving for a little bit it'll stop. I'll typically press down harder on the brake to get it to start the motor back on before I try pulling out of an intersection.

 

I have about 3k miles on my car now, almost an hour of "Stop" time, it's saved a whole ... .39 gallons of gas. So not worth the savings in my mind, really wish someone would come up with a permanent delete/disable.

At you trying to say your car would have idled away 39 gallons of fuel in an hour otherwise saved by start stop? I really hope you are joking.

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

If you look at the reply, it was .39 gallons.

I had read on another forum that start/stop doesn't actually kick in unless you press the brake pedal fully (all the way to the floor) when you stop. Any truth to this?

 

In any case, it's good to hear the option is easier to get to with the newest infotainment update. I have a Touring XT on order and start/stop is my one major reservation about it. When I test drove one it never actually shut off when I stopped.

As @gibjer stated there are various factors that affect this function. Some have been able to modify what they do to circumvent it but not consistently. My wife has had her Onyx XT Outback since January, she refuses to turn the function off, and has not been able to effectively stop the function. The XTs seem to restart more quickly for whatever reason than the others. By that I mean that after the engine stops it will restart even when she’s done nothing, no release of the brake pedal, no touching of the accelerator or any change in her interaction that she’s aware of. It appears that the non-XTs require more action from the driver to trigger the restart. The only real consistency is that keeping the defogger on will prevent the function from kicking in. It annoys me a lot when I’m in the car with my wife but she doesn’t want to mess with the controls.

 

I wouldn’t mind if the feature had been implemented with some kind of time delay - such as being stopped for 30 seconds or more when in a heavy traffic backup or at a long stoplight with a lot of traffic. I do that manually myself frequently when in those situations. But to shut down because you’re at a stop sign or pulling into a parking spot (and then restarting as you lift your foot off the brake pedal) is ridiculous.

As @gibjer stated there are various factors that affect this function. Some have been able to modify what they do to circumvent it but not consistently. My wife has had her Onyx XT Outback since January, she refuses to turn the function off, and has not been able to effectively stop the function. The XTs seem to restart more quickly for whatever reason than the others. By that I mean that after the engine stops it will restart even when she’s done nothing, no release of the brake pedal, no touching of the accelerator or any change in her interaction that she’s aware of. It appears that the non-XTs require more action from the driver to trigger the restart. The only real consistency is that keeping the defogger on will prevent the function from kicking in. It annoys me a lot when I’m in the car with my wife but she doesn’t want to mess with the controls.

 

I wouldn’t mind if the feature had been implemented with some kind of time delay - such as being stopped for 30 seconds or more when in a heavy traffic backup or at a long stoplight with a lot of traffic. I do that manually myself frequently when in those situations. But to shut down because you’re at a stop sign or pulling into a parking spot (and then restarting as you lift your foot off the brake pedal) is ridiculous.

 

I put mine in Neutral whenever possible when I get at a light and don't want the engine to stop for nothing. But the best would be a simple toggle on the console, same for AVH...

As far as comfort goes, I drove my Sport 520 miles without stopping for food or gas. The only stops we made were for red lights and stops signs. 8 hours straight through, and the seats were comfy the whole time. Sport has cloth seats with leather down the middle.