2015 Subaru Legacy 3.6r Limited on 2040-cars

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Takata air bag recall list

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed yesterday that 33.8 million vehicles with Takata airbags are going to be recalled. It's the largest recall in automotive history. The already record-breaking rate of automotive recalls this year shows no signs of slowing down, especially since millions of cars with defective airbags made by global supplier Takata are under ongoing scrutiny. The federal government is warning owners that inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed. The faulty air bags have already been blamed for multiple deaths. How do you know if your vehicle is safe? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released an updated list of vehicles under recall. Sometimes however, the government's website will crash and the list may not be complete. Check your VIN at the NHTSA website to make sure. The list of cars affected by the recall has not been released, but seem to span multiple models over the years for many of the automakers.

Junkyard Gem: 1980 Subaru 4WD Hatchback

Living in Colorado, where they might as well issue you a Subaru at the state line, I see plenty of worn-out Pleiades-badged cars in the local wrecking yards. Most of them fall into the 15-to-25-year-old age group, but I'll spot the occasional Malaise Era Subaru, from the era when the Leone was sold in North America as, simply, "the Subaru." Here's a 1980 base-level hatchback with the four-wheel-drive option, spotted in a yard just outside of Denver last month. In 1980, the US-market Subaru could be had in three trim levels (STD, DL, and GL), and as a coupe, sedan, hatchback, or wagon (the pickup version was known as the BRAT). This STD hatch is the cheapest possible Subaru available in 1980 with four-wheel-drive, and I'm just disappointed that they didn't put STD badges on the base-level cars. The driver had to choose between front- and four-wheel-drive by hand, using this lever. If you left the car in 4WD for long periods on dry pavement, you'd wear out the tires and/or break something. By 1997, all US-market Subarus had full-time all-wheel-drive, with no driver decisions about driven wheels needed. Subaru offered an automatic transmission and a five-speed-manual for these cars, but just about all buyers of late-1970s/early-1980s Subarus went with the cheaper four-on-the-floor manual. When you see a junkyard car with the keys still present, you can assume that the car ended up here after being totaled by an insurance company or traded in on a new car. A battered 39-year-old Subaru won't get much interest at the sort of auction these cars go to, and so the junkyard ends up being the next stop. The owner's manual was still in the glovebox, and of course I took at home and scanned a few pages (look in the gallery, above, for those scans). The folks at Subaru PR were interested in this book for their archives (they don't have one), so I'll make sure it gets to them soon. Rodent bedding and poop fill the engine compartment, and the employees of this yard marked the car as a hantavirus biohazard. I'd wear a mask if I needed to pull the engine from this car, because hantavirus is a real problem in Colorado and has a scary 35% mortality rate. Speaking of the engine, you're looking at 67 mighty horsepower here. With the car scaling in at about 2,200 pounds empty, drivers needed patience on uphill freeway onramps (actually, they needed patience when driving anywhere). By the standards of Japanese cars of this era, the rust problem doesn't look too bad.

2020 Subaru Legacy First Drive | Deserving of more attention

OJAI, Calif. — No brand has benefited more from the crossover boom than Subaru. SubaruÂ’s spectacular rise – from fewer than 100,000 sales in 1995, to a record pace of roughly 700,000 this year – was fueled largely by all-wheel-drive crossovers like the Outback and Forester, as the American market basically fell into SubaruÂ’s lap. But unlike some competitors, Subaru is keeping full faith in sedans, as evidenced by the all-new 2020 Legacy. Its impressive redesign underlines the advantages of the humble family sedan, from a more-affordable price to superior fuel economy. In true Subaru fashion, or perhaps anti-fashion, the LegacyÂ’s self-effacing styling  that's hard to distinguish from its predecessor wonÂ’t blow anyone away. But look past the workaday sheetmetal, and youÂ’ll find a decisively improved sedan. ItÂ’s roomier than any class rival save the Accord, notably quiet and lavishly appointed, too. Consider the standard Eyesight suite of accident avoidance tech and a driver-monitoring system thatÂ’s still AWOL on most luxury cars, including Teslas. And the 2020 Legacy is a solid value, at $23,645 to start. That undercuts the most-affordable Accord by nearly $1,000, and the Camry by $1,120 – and thatÂ’s despite the LegacyÂ’s standard, full-time all-wheel drive, which has few peers in this segment. The 2020 Nissan Altima S AWD starts well north of the base Legacy, at $26,345, and although itÂ’s slightly more powerful than the Subaru, it's not enough to justify the premium. So if you buy a Legacy, itÂ’s like getting AWD for free, if youÂ’d care to look at it that way. (Subaru certainly would). 2020 Subaru Legacy View 21 Photos The LegacyÂ’s exterior may have people stifling yawns, but the interior will have them catching their breath. SubaruÂ’s new 11.6-inch, tablet-style multimedia touchscreen is a revelation for a brand thatÂ’s been notorious for antiquated infotainment.