Newbie looking for advice

[LegacyTom]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a bit of advice on whether to upgrade my car from a 76k - 2007 - face lift - Spec B Legacy to a 1.6 Levorg.

Just for some background information, I've owned the legacy for 9 months and spent £1000ish so far replacing the Battery, alternator & serp belt, idle pulley and another pulley (forgot which one) and another serp belt. It also has an LPG conversion which has just broke (fuses went. Changed them and it's still off) which I will eventually fix. It also has this weird, soft sounding clunk when rolling slowly and it vibrates a little over 50mph.

Now, I have hit the point of ownership were I have 0% faith in the reliability of the car, the petrol costs are high for regular trips to school and work and the smile on my face when driving it is almost gone. 

A lot of people online don't speak too fondly of the 2015 1.6 Levorg but I like the styling and I've at least had a brief sit in and drive. Is it as bad as magazines / some forum members say, or is it worth getting one? FYI, I have about £10.5k cash and maybe another £4k if I sell my Legacy so a 2.0 is out the question for now unless I find a cheap one.

Thanks for any replies and sorry for the long post 

[flat6]

I may be able to give some insight into this. Ive had my 2017 1.6 Levorg for 18 months, and previously ran an Outback 3.0R, which is pretty much the same as a spec B but with rubbish handling.

First thing to note is that there were 2 versions of the 1.6, with the "facelift" coming in 2017. This has many upgrades from the first ones, including suspension settings, the addition of EyeSight (adaptive cruise, lane departure, brake assist etc) and crucially, a recalibrated CVT, which addresses most of the criticisms of the motoring journos. It drives a whole lot better than the earlier ones, and the eyesight system is excellent (all the individual elements can be easily switched off if you want). So I would advise holding out for one of these rather than a 2015. They're easily spotted by the two cameras visible behind the windscreen either side of the rear view mirror.

The idea of a CVT puts a lot of people off, but most of the negativity comes from people who have never driven one. It suits the 1.6 turbo perfectly, with it's max torque from 1800rpm, so it doesn't rev high like a Yaris or something when pulling away. The whole drivetrain is very smooth, and it's deceptively fast. There are 2 Si drive modes, I and S. I use S as default, and I for cruising motorways. It's a much better transmission than the 5 speed auto on the spec B. The car isn't appreciably slower than the 3.0R, except from a standstill, but who cares? Once rolling, it's plenty rapid enough. The handling is spot on, very much a Subaru in feel (I've had 7 different ones). Fuel consumption isn't great, but 35mpg overall isn't bad by Subaru standards. It runs on regular fuel, and costs £150 pa tax.

All in all it's a step up from the Legacy gen4 in just about every area. Very happy with it. 

[LegacyTom]

13 hours ago, flat6 said:

I may be able to give some insight into this. Ive had my 2017 1.6 Levorg for 18 months, and previously ran an Outback 3.0R, which is pretty much the same as a spec B but with rubbish handling.

First thing to note is that there were 2 versions of the 1.6, with the "facelift" coming in 2017. This has many upgrades from the first ones, including suspension settings, the addition of EyeSight (adaptive cruise, lane departure, brake assist etc) and crucially, a recalibrated CVT, which addresses most of the criticisms of the motoring journos. It drives a whole lot better than the earlier ones, and the eyesight system is excellent (all the individual elements can be easily switched off if you want). So I would advise holding out for one of these rather than a 2015. They're easily spotted by the two cameras visible behind the windscreen either side of the rear view mirror.

The idea of a CVT puts a lot of people off, but most of the negativity comes from people who have never driven one. It suits the 1.6 turbo perfectly, with it's max torque from 1800rpm, so it doesn't rev high like a Yaris or something when pulling away. The whole drivetrain is very smooth, and it's deceptively fast. There are 2 Si drive modes, I and S. I use S as default, and I for cruising motorways. It's a much better transmission than the 5 speed auto on the spec B. The car isn't appreciably slower than the 3.0R, except from a standstill, but who cares? Once rolling, it's plenty rapid enough. The handling is spot on, very much a Subaru in feel (I've had 7 different ones). Fuel consumption isn't great, but 35mpg overall isn't bad by Subaru standards. It runs on regular fuel, and costs £150 pa tax.

All in all it's a step up from the Legacy gen4 in just about every area. Very happy with it. 

Ahh that sounds good. I don't mind the 3.0R gearbox so I imagine I wouldn't find much issue then except maybe finding a revised edition in my price range.

As for the MPG, I've only owned 2 cars, my Subaru and a GS3 Lancer (FWD only version of the Evo 10) and that done less MPG urban driving than the Levorg so that's another box ticked 😂

Really appreciate the advice, just gotta wait for the right one to come along. Is there a good aftermarket availability for it would you know?

 

[Jay762]

Wotcha and welcome - Keep us posted on your decision

[flat6]

9 hours ago, LegacyTom said:

Is there a good aftermarket availability for it would you know?

I had no difficulty in getting new brake discs and pads on eBay, and partsouq.com carry most things. The platform is the same as a WRX, so there's a lot of commonality of parts. You can even get a nice set of Ohlins coilovers for it. One thing I would recommend is a throttle controller - the standard throttle maps are very lazy, and fitting one makes it even better to drive.

As far as the cars themselves, most appear within the dealer network. The cheapest facelift on Autotrader at the moment is £14995, with a mileage of 58k Here

For £800 more, there's this one at 31k miles: Here

There's less than 500 Levorgs in total on the road, so not that easy to find.