2020 Subaru Legacy vs 2021 Subaru Impreza

The 2020 Subaru Legacy was a car that balanced pragmatic sensibility with a touch of style. While it was a handsome vehicle, it often struggled to stand out among its competitors. The front end of the Legacy appeared smaller, making it easy to mistake for a compact Subaru Impreza. Despite its sharp angles and details, the Legacy's design felt more subdued compared to the bold and clean designs of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Inside, the Legacy featured a massive 11.6-inch touchscreen, but many functions were buried within the digital interface, complicating simple tasks like adjusting climate controls.

In contrast, the 2021 Subaru Impreza adopted a more conservative design approach. Both the sedan and hatchback versions featured sleek headlights and taillights, giving an impression of width and a nicely tapered front end. The Impreza Sport models added specific styling touches, including 18-inch alloy wheels. The interior, while not the most exciting, was functional with a split dashboard housing the infotainment touchscreen. The Impreza Sport also included model-specific touches like contrast stitching and aluminum pedals, while the Limited trim offered standard leather upholstery and LED headlights.

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. This engine was paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and standard all-wheel drive (AWD). The Legacy's powertrain was responsive, making it suitable for city driving, but it struggled to reach highway speeds without significant noise. For those seeking 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. The Legacy's chassis provided precise cornering and refined ride quality, but the auto stop-start system was jarring and required multiple steps to disable.

The 2021 Subaru Impreza came with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, generating 152 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque. This boxer engine was mounted lower in the chassis, contributing to a lower center of gravity. Most Impreza models featured a CVT, while a five-speed manual transmission was available on the base sedan and hatchback, as well as the Impreza Sport hatchback. The Sport trim also included model-specific suspension tuning and torque vectoring for the AWD system. While the Impreza provided a solid and refined ride, it lacked the engagement of competitors like the Honda Civic or Mazda 3. The Impreza Sport offered a good balance between ride quality and handling, but the engine's lack of power and noncommunicative steering limited its appeal as a true driver's car.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy offered solid trunk space for its class at 15.1 cubic feet, although it couldn't compete with crossovers like the Forester or Impreza hatchback. The backseat provided impressive head- and legroom, accommodating taller passengers comfortably. The front seats were supportive, and the cabin featured deep door pockets and a fold-down center armrest with cupholders. However, the center stack's small tray made accessing the USB port challenging.

The 2021 Subaru Impreza sedan had 12.3 cubic feet of trunk space, the least among current compact sedans. However, it featured a standard 60/40 split-folding rear seat for longer items. The Impreza hatchback offered 20.8 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats in place, more than the Mazda 3 or Toyota Corolla hatchback but less than the Honda Civic hatchback. With the rear seats folded, the Impreza provided 55.3 cubic feet of cargo space. Higher trim levels included an All-Weather Package with heated front seats, a heated windshield, and heated exterior mirrors. The Sport trim added keyless entry with pushbutton start, while the Limited trim featured a six-way power driver's seat and automatic climate control.

The 2020 Subaru Legacy featured an 11.6-inch touchscreen with the Starlink infotainment system. While the icons were large and easy to read, the system required multiple steps for simple tasks like adjusting heated seats or climate controls. The portrait orientation of the screen also scrunched Apple CarPlay into a third of the display. The base trim had a dual-screen setup with similar issues, making it difficult to avoid the Legacy's complicated infotainment system.

The 2021 Subaru Impreza's base and Premium trims came with a 6.5-inch touchscreen featuring Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth connectivity. Higher trims received an 8-inch touchscreen, with an option package for the Limited trim adding TomTom-based navigation and a Harman Kardon audio system. The Impreza also included a secondary display for information like estimated range, although it seemed redundant given the small LCD display in the gauge cluster. Overall, the Impreza's infotainment system was easy to use, with large icons and minimal menu digging for important functions.

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. The system used a head-up light display on the windshield for various alerts. Other standard safety features included front- and side-impact airbags, traction control, a reversing camera, and a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS).

The 2021 Subaru Impreza received an IIHS "Top Safety Pick" award for both sedan and hatchback body styles, with the highest "Good" score in all crash tests. However, it missed out on a "Top Safety Pick+" award due to the "Marginal" rating of its standard headlights. The NHTSA gave the Impreza a five-star overall safety rating. The Impreza's EyeSight safety tech was standard on CVT-equipped models, offering features like automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, and lead vehicle start alert. Additional safety options included blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear automatic braking.