Driving the new 2015 Subaru Legacy, an underrated star

Subaru launched the sixth generation of the Legacy mid-sized sedan last week. You can be forgiven if you missed the previous five. Most people did.

Mid-sized sedans, after all, are the car industry’s equivalent of the soccer World Cup “Group Of Death.” The Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Ford Fusion sit on top of the segment, and the rest of the entries barely have room to breathe. Kia’s Optima and Hyundai’s Sonata are perfectly good choices, but are buried by the big three. Probably the best overall car in the segment, the Mazda 6, doesn’t even come close to cracking the top 5 in sales. By those standards, the Subaru Legacy has traditionally been like the Saudi Arabian team: Qualifying for the tournament, but an afterthought, gone as soon as the first round is over. (In 2013, Subaru sold half as many Legacy sedans as Dodge sold ancient, wheezing Avengers.)

At a glance: 2015 Subaru Legacy

• Engine: 2.5L flat four or 3.6L flat six

• Power: 175 hp; 256 hp

• Transmission: Continuously variable auto

• Drivetrain: All-Wheel Drive

• MPG: 26/36 for 2.5; 20/29 for 3.6

• Base Price: $22,490

• As-Tested Price: $30,390 (3.6R Limited)

I took the new Legacy on a test drive last Saturday in Northern California. My high school buddy and personal physician Dr. Gregg came along with me. He was the perfect person to gauge the vehicle. His wife also works as a doctor. They have two cars: a 2004 Volvo and a 2006 Acura SUV, and they regularly drive up to Tahoe and Mammoth to go skiing and snowboarding. In other words, they’re upper-middle-class outdoorsy types who like to drive, the exact customers Subaru wants to poach from higher-end vehicles.

Dr. Gregg had little to say about the exterior of the car, because it’s almost comically generic, but the interior impressed him a lot. It had comfortable cream-leather seats, nice clean dash lines, plenty of legroom, a nice wide navigation screen, up-to-date Bluetooth tech, and all the modern bells and whistles that cars boast now. For someone who hasn’t bought a car in a decade, it’s like going into the future.