2020 Subaru Legacy vs 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback

The 2020 Subaru Legacy presented a conundrum with its styling. It was a handsome car, but it struggled to stand out among its competitors. The Legacy had plenty of sharp angles and details, but these elements made it feel smaller compared to the larger and bolder designs of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The front end of the Legacy looked so compact that it could be mistaken for a Subaru Impreza. Despite its pragmatic sensibility, Subaru seemed to be attempting to go mainstream with the Legacy, but the design fell short of making a strong impression.

Inside, the Legacy featured a massive new 11.6-inch touchscreen, but many features were buried deep within the digital interface, complicating simple controls like climate and radio settings. The base trim came well-equipped with remote keyless entry, Bluetooth connectivity, dual 7-inch touchscreens with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and 17-inch steel wheels with plastic covers. Higher trims like the Premium and Sport added more features, including a leather-wrapped steering wheel, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a power moonroof. The top-tier Touring XT trim offered power-folding exterior mirrors, full Nappa leather upholstery, and heated and ventilated front seats.

The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback, redesigned half a decade ago, received some styling tweaks for 2020. The huge fake air intakes were toned down with body-color crossbars, the grille was new, and the headlights had a smoked appearance. New wheel designs also debuted. The top-of-the-line Sport Touring trim, dressed in Platinum White Pearl paint, garnered approval from onlookers, who mistook it for a Type R. Inside, the Sport Touring trim featured stitched leather on the steering wheel, soft surfaces, and quality materials, though there was still plenty of hard plastic.

The test car had a six-speed manual gearbox, previously reserved for the Sport trim but now available with Sport Touring trim for 2020. The Sport Touring’s MSRP was $28,980, including the destination charge. The base MSRP for the Civic Hatchback was $21,650 for LX trim, with the Sport trim costing $22,750, the EX at $24,150, and the EX-L at $25,350. The Civic Hatchback offered a stylish and well-equipped interior, making it a compelling choice for those seeking a compact car with a sporty edge.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy offered two engine options. The base, Premium, Sport, and Limited trims were equipped with a 2.5-liter boxer 4-cylinder engine, producing 182 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque. Power was routed to standard all-wheel drive (AWD) through a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with a manual mode and paddle shifters. The Legacy was responsive off the line, making it suitable for city and suburban driving, but it struggled to reach highway speeds without making significant noise.

For those needing more power, the Limited XT and Touring XT trims featured a 2.4-liter turbocharged boxer 4-cylinder engine, delivering 260 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque. This engine also used a CVT with a manual mode and paddle shifters. The Legacy’s chassis was impressive, with precise cornering and refined ride quality, making it a pleasure to drive. The auto stop-start system, designed to conserve fuel, was jarring, but the Legacy achieved an impressive fuel economy of 27 mpg city, 35 highway, and 30 combined with the base engine. The turbocharged engine’s fuel economy dropped to 24 city, 32 highway, and 27 combined.

The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback, equipped with a turbocharged 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, produced 174 horsepower with LX, EX, and EX-L trims, and 180 horsepower with Sport and Sport Touring trims. Torque measured 162 pound-feet with the CVT and 177 pound-feet with the 6-speed manual transmission. The front-wheel-drive Civic Hatchback had plenty of power, and the engine was quiet and refined. The transmission’s clutch travel and gearbox throws were long, differentiating the driving experience from the Civic Si, which was tighter and more powerful.

The Civic Hatchback Sport and Sport Touring trims offered a softer and more compliant ride, wider seats, and a quieter cabin, making them more enjoyable for daily driving. Despite not being as stiff and composed as the Si, the Civic Hatchback was fun to drive and confidence-inspiring. The EPA rated the test car at 32 mpg in combined driving, and it achieved 32.7 mpg on the testing loop, even with spirited driving.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy had solid trunk space for its class at 15.1 cubic feet, which was better than the 2019 model but still less than what crossovers and hatchbacks offered. The backseat head- and legroom were surprisingly generous, accommodating a 6'3" driver and another person of the same size in the backseat. The backseat also featured in-door cupholders, a fold-down center armrest with two more cupholders, and rear USB ports. The front seats were supportive, and the door pockets were deep enough for water bottles and other items. However, the center stack tray was small, making it difficult to plug in a USB cable.

The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback offered 25.2 cubic feet of cargo space, more than the Honda HR-V Touring’s 23.2 cubic feet. While the Civic Hatchback couldn’t match the HR-V for maximum volume, it provided better acceleration and fuel efficiency. The driver’s seat was low, making it less easy to get into and out of compared to the HR-V, but the Sport Touring’s heated leather front seats offered ample thigh support. The center console storage area was long and deep, with a sliding armrest, tray, and cupholders, accommodating an oversize water bottle. Rear seat comfort and legroom were good, but the lack of air-conditioning vents and dark tinted rear glass made it less comfortable for passengers.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy featured an 11.6-inch touchscreen with the Starlink infotainment system. However, many features were buried within the digital interface, complicating simple tasks like adjusting the heated seats or climate controls. The icons were large and easy to read, and the system didn’t have lag-time or bugs, but the portrait orientation scrunched Apple CarPlay into a third of the screen. The base trim had a dual-screen setup with similar issues, making it difficult to avoid the Legacy’s poor system.

The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback’s dashboard featured digital instrumentation and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system in all but the LX trim. The Sport Touring trim included Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, satellite radio, text-messaging support, a navigation system, a quick-charging USB port, and a 12-speaker premium sound system. The Civic Hatchback also had automatic climate control and Smart Entry with Walk Away Auto Lock, providing keyless entry and automatic locking. However, the infotainment system lacked a tuning knob, a larger screen, and reliable voice-recognition technology.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy came standard with Subaru’s EyeSight suite of driver-assistance features, including forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, and adaptive cruise control. EyeSight also had an alert for when the car in front started moving forward, helping to avoid causing a backup. Other standard safety features included front- and side-impact airbags, traction control, a reversing camera, and a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS).

The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback included the Honda Sensing suite of advanced driving-assistance and collision-avoidance safety features as standard equipment. This suite included forward-collision warning with automatic emergency braking, automatic high-beam headlights, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, and a Road Departure Mitigation system. Adaptive cruise control was also standard, with low-speed following capability in CVT-equipped versions. However, the lane-keeping assist lacked smoothness, and the adaptive cruise control occasionally braked for no reason. The Civic Hatchback did not have a blind-spot monitoring system or rear cross-traffic alert, relying on LaneWatch for the right-side blind spot. The 2020 Civic Hatchback did not earn a Top Safety Pick rating from the IIHS due to Poor headlight performance, but it received top marks for crash-test performance.