Legacy B4 is stylish, stable on the road  

A non-turbo black Subaru Legacy B4 was Micheal Kamoga’s ride of choice in June 2020. Two years later, Kamoga says he does not regret acquiring the 2007 model.

The Subaru Legacy comes in two variations; those that are non-turbo, designed with two and one exhaust pipes, as well as those that come with two or one exhaust pipes, with a turbo-feature. The turbo is primarily meant for speed and has a small impact on fuel consumption.

Features

For urban drives, Kamoga says, the Legacy B4 engages the fuel economy mode. However, when you accelerate aggressively, the economy mode goes off and the engine switches to sport mode.

“The beauty with the fuel economy mode is that the car will burn less fuel even in urban areas that are characterised by slow traffic. On the highway, it has a sport option which means you will burn slightly more fuel compared to urban drives since you will most likely be driving fast. The harder you accelerate, the more fuel you will burn,” Kamoga says.

In terms of performamnce, the Subaru Legacy B4 is an all-wheel drive (AWD), which makes it safe to drive on any road terrain. However, the all-wheel drive system is symmetrical and engages itself depending on where you are driving.

This symmetrical system, according to Kamoga, improves on the vehicle’s stability and traction, especially when driving on the highway and in sport mode. This, he says, makes the AWD system a better performance feature compared to the four-wheel drive system because it consumes less fuel compared to the Four Wheel Drive(4WD) system.

Much as it runs on a relatively smaller engine of 2000cc, the Subaru Legacy has a lot of engine power, with an average consumption of approximately 10-12kms per litre of fuel in urban rounds. Its dashboard has a feature that shows how many kilometres the fuel you have in your tank will cover.  Unfortunately, even with these features, the Legacy has a low ground clearance which calls for extra care when driving in certain areas.

‘‘It is also wise to avoid sharing your car with anybody else,’’ Kamoga says.

Service and maintenance

When well-taken care of, Kamoga says, the Legacy does not break down often as long as you use genuine spare parts. For instance, it uses four plugs and each genuine plug costs Shs100,000 and must all be replaced at once. These plugs have no specific lifespan or mileage of functionality but depends on how often you service the car and the fuel type you use.

“If you use poor quality low octane fuels, you will replace the fuel filter more often. The car will have bad engine and exhaust emissions on top of replacing the plugs sooner than later. More parts will wear out faster than they would if you used high octane fuels,” Kamoga advises.

Service

The Subaru Legacy service is, such as most cars, dependent on mileage covered. Kamoga rarely travels out of Kampala and this means he carries out half service where he replaces engine oil and oil filter and greasing the door joints. Engine oil costs him Shs170,000 while oil filters cost Shs50,000. Some of the parts such as fuel filters are replaced upon recommendation of the mechanic since they are usually still okay at the time of service.

Kamoga sources his spare parts from Old Port Bell Road. He recently bought a pair of shock absorbers and each costs Shs1m. Other spare parts he has had to pay for  handsomely include the rear suspension system that came with the suspension plate and other parts where he spent Shs700,000.

“If you want to buy this car, first buy and drive a car close to 2000cc engine. If you have been used to an engine of 1200cc or 1500cc, you will realise the difference in fuel consumption. It is why there is a public perception that Subarus are high maintenance yet you do not take time to understand them before buying,”Kamoga advises.

If you drive on bumpy marrum roads because they are sometimes unavoidable, you have to drive cautiously to avoid damaging parts underneath the car. However, it is accommodative of bumpy roads if you service the suspension system well.

Interior

The Subaru Legacy B4 can seat five people comfortably. The seats are fully covered with high-quality leather. These seats are also very convenient and bring you a contented and smooth drive. Other interior features include wood grain interior trim on the left dash switch bezel, a multi-function remote that operates the door, manual and air conditioning, among others.