That does it, Subaru has officially gone nuts.

It was bad enough that the "new" Impreza was a huge step backwards (drum brakes on the base models, a WRX so uninspiring it became the 2.5GT, looks that even Subaru fans can't stand) and jumped the shark with the new Forester (an SUV? Seriously?) now they've ruined the Legacy as well. Behold, I give you the world's ugliest mid-size sedan!

And just in case the Suzuki headlights and Sebring tailights glued to a perfectly straight box with 5" of tire gap wasn't enough to win you over, it's heavier, bigger, and softer.

That's it Subaru, I am no longer a fan. You now officially suck.

Yeah I feel the same way and I loved my 06wrx it was so cool having 4 piston brakes, even if they didn't perform better than the previous 2 piston. And I loved my VAG eye styled front end.

I dunno, the 09 WRX is a pretty special car. Sure the 08 is a lame duck, but you can fix it. (especially after the car depreciates)

I don't really understand all the bashing about the looks of the new WRX/ Impreza. Styling has never been the point with these cars. It has always been the mechanicals that made them special. Besides, the WRX hatch is huge, and incredibly useful. I don't find them any uglier than previous versions. (well except for those silly tail lights) I actually think the new STI is much better looking (less boy-racerish) than the old model.

Although I do agree, that new Legacy is butt ugly. Especially since the outgoing one is pretty attractive.

I like the new imprezza hatches much better than the old wagons.

Bleah. I went off about the new Legacy before on another forum. The best you can say for it is that it doesn't look anything like as bad as the concept did.

The previous Legacy GT was utterly gorgeous in sedan or wagon form, especially pre-facelift. This thing is just awful.

Even the pig nose / hawkeye WRX looked better than the current mis-proportioned lump of an Impreza, no matter how "special" the '09 WRX may be. It's still awful looking.

After spending lots of quality time with our 08 WRX project, I've come to accept the styling. (Not like, just accept.)

It's a fantastic car to use monday-friday with a very comfortable and useful interior space. The suspension was soft from the factory, but after we upgraded it for the 1g article, it was as good as the previous generation, assuming the cars were equally upgraded. I do wish the base WRX still used the 2.0 liter engine for autocross classing purposes.

In the grand scheme, I'd agree Subaru has had a couple off years, but I'm not ready to say they suck yet. If they ever make the lightweight RWD coupe, it would certainly be a plus.

FWIW, the new Legacy is way, way better looking than the new Mazda 6.

The way I see it, good looking Subarus are the anomaly. Traditionally, they've almost always fallen out of the ugly tree and hit a few branches on the way down. We just forgave them because they occasionally put some good mechanical bits in the ugly bodies.

Yeah, Japanese styling has really taken a huge dump lately. I was thinking it was just starting to turn around, but apparently I was wrong.

I actively liked the previous generation Impreza as both a sedan and a wagon. I really liked both the bugeye and middle versions a lot, and didn't think they were ugly at all. The hawkeye took some getting used to, but I managed it without much trouble.

The last-gen Legacy GT was completely beautiful, and although the facelift was not an improvement, it wasn't a pasting, either. So I actively like some of their previous styling, pre-Tribeca. That was when they screwed the pooch.

I like the new imprezza looks and from what I hear the newer wrx's are on par for what they should be. THe old Legacy was really good looking and this one is pretty hideous. It's just very miss-proportioned. But I actually like the new mazda 6, the old one looked good but the 3 series made it look dated, more like a big protege. The new one looks good from every angle.

Duke wrote: Yeah, Japanese styling has really taken a huge dump lately. I was thinking it was just starting to turn around, but apparently I was wrong.

Eh... Kinda. Toyota has been completely boring since they lost the Supra and MR2 stuff, Mazda is getting uglier, but Honda and Nissan are looking pretty good IMHO. Subaru has never had a car that was that good looking; I actually like the new WRX.

But that Impreza is worse than a Camry

Tim Baxter wrote: The way I see it, good looking Subarus are the anomaly. Traditionally, they've almost always fallen out of the ugly tree and hit a few branches on the way down. We just forgave them because they occasionally put some good mechanical bits in the ugly bodies.

I really like the looks 2009 Impreza sedan.

what was wrong with the justy? besides the CVT... if i found one, i would drive the wheels off of it! Subaru is losin it!!!!

I know I'd seen this car before.

The pre-facelift Legacy GT is a gorgeous car. The pig-nose / hawkeye WRX/STi is a pretty car. The Blob eye, Bugeye, and 22B Imprezas are all distinctive, soulful, and aging well to be good looking cars. The old Forester had some really nice looking years. All had GREAT mechanicals! My second car was a Subaru because I was such a huge fan.

Now the Impreza is a bloated Camry with a downhill turn in performance, the Forester is too big and ungainly to be as useful as the old one, and the Legacy looks like a reject from even the industry-bottom Chrysler designers. What happened? Why did this company shift from successful, good looking products to total utter crap?

As for the other Japanese makers, Toyotas's last gasp was the MR-S and even that was a snoozer. The last Celica GTS was the last Yoduh to have any soul, style, or performance. Honda hasn't made a good looking car since the S2000 and the Civic gets more massive and less fun with every restyle. At least Mazda is still in the game, though the new 3 needs a kick in the teeth to wipe that stupid grin off it's face. At least an aftermarket bumper can cure that blight off of an otherwise very sharp car.

Oh and I wasn't a fan of the new 6 because I really, really like the old one. After seeing one in person I'm starting to come around. It's one of those cars that you have to look at in real life to appreciate the styling. Very sharp, especially in that dark purple.

I just don't know how they can get it so right with something like the 22B or the outgoing Legacy, but be so wrong most of the time. They are not capable of making an "OK" looking car. They are either gorgeous, or ass.

I have noticed over the past 10 years or so that everyone complains about how ugly the newest model Subaru is when it comes out. Nobody actually LIKES any of them the first time they see them. It's my conclusion that it just takes people several years to get used to them, or at least drive them a few times and begin to forget how ugly they are. Then when the next model comes out, we get a new batch of ugly that we just aren't used to yet, and that becomes the object of everyone's revulsion. This happened with the bugeye, the propellerface, all of them. The only reason anyone ever liked the looks of the GC8 was that they weren't paying any attention when it came out, and had 8 years to develop a positive connotation with their rally cars. When it debuted, I was 11 and even I knew it was ugly. It was a stubby 3/4 scale Toyota Camry clone, fercrissakes. And we all know the design of the early '90s Camry SCREAMED driving excitement. As soon as we get used to these and forget how much we hate them, they will have another fresh crop for us and we can go through this all over again.

I agree the new Subaru stuff looks BAD. Toyota is all snore mobiles. Nissan is all parts from the same bin, cant ell what model they are any more. I am loving the Honda/Acura styling right now, unfortunately all are wrong wheel drive, but they look great!

Folks, I pity poor Subaru. They get dumped on by the car mags and a lot of us, because they produce an ugly model or two....and they get dumped on when they try to go mainstream. Too many folks said the 1st Tribecas were ugly...Subaru listened, and viola, a stand-in for just about any minivan on the market. Same with the Impreza and Legacy.

I have this VERY bad feeling that when the anticipated sport coupe produced by Subaru/Toyota appears, it will be seen as THE most boring sport coupe on the planet.

I disagree Josh, this is a whole new hate. I actually liked the propeller-face and bugeye models but that's beside the point. It's not just the styling that's gone bad, it's the mechanicals as well. This isn't hate on a nose-job, it's hating that an entire car has gone backwords evolutionary.

Think about it like when GM released the FWD Impala. Compared to the 96 SS B-Body with it's LT1/RWD and gorgeous Vader looks the FWDer is a poseur POS, it went backwords.

And SupraWes, you really like Acura's new giant silver plastic schnoz's? You'd be the first person I know who does!

i hated the STI with the Tribeca front end, but it kinda grew on me. Think the went the wrong way with the STI Wagon...

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: what was wrong with the justy? besides the CVT... if i found one, i would drive the wheels off of it! Subaru is losin it!!!!

You want one? I might sell you mine. No CVT.

I could even deliver- I drive through Cumming once a month.

SVreX wrote:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: what was wrong with the justy? besides the CVT... if i found one, i would drive the wheels off of it! Subaru is losin it!!!!

You want one? I might sell you mine. No CVT. I could even deliver- I drive through Cumming once a month.

DAMN!!! YOU SERIOUS? IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE! HOW MUCH?

Sure, I'm serious. Decent driver, been sitting a while. 2wd. Needs carb.

Might even sell you a WRX 2.0Turbo, if you wanna go completely nuts!

I liked the GC8 in RS trim without reservation from the first time I saw it. Ditto the bugeye WRX - unhesitating approval. The blobeye was a fine but unnecessary change - I certainly wasn't complaining about the bugeye. The hawkeye was an unnecessary but NOT fine change (who was complaining about the blobeye - not me), but mechanically that gen car is better enough to make up for the WTF nosejob.

The '90s Legacy was dull but clean. The '00s Legacy was striking and clean. This is neither.

I can live with slightly anonymous styling as long as it is well-proportioned and cleanly detailed. But generating "identity" by pasting crap all over a lumpy and badly-proportioned shape is not really a good move.

For similar reasons, I can't understand the whole Decepticons thing Acura has going on - the last generation cars were all great lookers. Now, not so much.

And can somebody please explain the hugely overscaled frontal openings, most of which are just blanked off with solid black material? That seems to be a recent trend, from Audi through Mazda. It sucks.

SVreX wrote: Sure, I'm serious. Decent driver, been sitting a while. 2wd. Needs carb. Might even sell you a WRX 2.0Turbo, if you wanna go completely nuts!

hell ya!! i WILL buy it off of you!