German Car Zone

Framless window doors are a thing of the past at Subaru. The reason for this is all down to achieving acceptable levels of refinement relative to the cost of the engineered solution. Customers are becoming fussier and the frameless window approach could no longer yield the desired levels of wind-noise refinement without additional cost being thrown at the solution.

Let's wait and see if the 2.5 GT throws in some styling surprises and better proportions due to larger wheels.

Well great designs aren't Subaru and this one is true to the tradition,i hope it drives better than it's looks.

Well after I saw the concept car, I am not that surprised about the official production version. It just doesn't look like a Liberty/Legacy anymore. It looks like a mixture of all the mid size Japanese cars. The car looks heavy and slow. Those excessively fat wheel arches looks horrible on the sedan, however it might work on the wagon version. Those headlights are just wrong.

The interior as lost its sports elegance styling, and the styling doesn't look coherent. There are all sorts of lines and random shapes going at different directions.

Engineering wise, the 3.6 L H6 engine looks pretty attractive, even though it is down on power for its size. The current 3.0L H6 lacks bottom end torque, the 3.6 L H6 should address this issue. I hope Subaru also improve on their 5 speed auto, it is a very frustrating gearbox to use.

I quite like the interior Monster, looks spacious, practical, hard-wearing, tightly screwed together and fuss-free like the previous generation's...

Get this weird shit...

According to subaru.com.au:

* What the...? How strange is this?

I'm trying to get in touch with my local Subaru contact to find out if he knows more...

here in ME we usually get what Australia gets. Let's hope the domestic Japanese one will look better at least IRL. I don't have problem with this one but I need to see the engines first.

Hmm, many things to say about this car.

But first, I have to say that i really miss some of the typical Subaru virtues in their latest cars. First, no sedan Impreza and now no pillar-less doors, and even worse, no more kind-of-conservative-styling with tons of elegance. This is very worring!

First of all, I always liked the Legacy! Very solid car, with nice design. Very elegant car. Now, though, it's gone more edgy and with many overtoned details, like all those lines in the front lights. On the other hand, it has many bland details, like the rear lights. In a few words: I like the old model more, but this doesn't mean that this is an ugly car.

Interior looks nice and solid, with nice details. Very Subaru!

Anyway, i'd like to see it IRL and hear more about how it drives!

It has very generic design. You can't really tell it's a Subaru without seeing the badge. I think they're trying too hard to bring new design language into Subarus. The result is a vapid, impersonal look.

As a curio the rear lights look like a mix of US Honda Accord & BMW 3er Coupe:

^ the problem is as Martin already said, the ratio of sheetmetal to wheels is very poor which makes the car look bloated and chunky. it needs better rims ASAP. I am looking forward to testdrive this one as I drove almost all the previous models and almost purchased the last generation as a family car.

Here's a more flattering picture - bear in mind that this is the bottom of the range 2.5i so we can't really expect any fireworks. Looks no less bland than a new Mazda 6 or Honda Accord which pegs it level in the styling stakes.