Subaru 6 (it's on the way)

[Konan]

I'm apparently now a 2015 Levorg GT-S owner. Just have to wait for it to float from Japan to the UK.

It's going to be replacing my Legacy GT, which I've had for around 10 years and added 80,000 miles to on now. Hopefully it slots into the role of practical runaround duties as well as the Legacy did. Not exactly expecting the last word in performance, but it'd be great if it matches the versatility of my old bus.



It'll be household Subaru number 6.

Started with a boggo standard bugeye that I picked up when me beloved Pajero blew it's top:



Then I went onto a lightly tuned blobeye with stupidly low miles:



Then picked up another tatty bugeye to learn to map on and use for track days - this was fairly modified:



And my wife has a Forester XT, which I have to admit to being very fond of:

 

[Arkatee]

My 2017 1.6 is my seventh consecutive Subaru, having had Foresters, Imprezas, Legacys and Outbacks. It's every bit as practical as the gen 4 Legacy, Very comfortable, great driving position and visibility, all the usual Subaru attributes. The only downside for me is the suspension - under damped, wrong spring rates, it could be so much better if Prodrive had a go at it. There are bespoke aftermarket solution available in Australia, but nothing here in UK. Apart from that, it's been a terrific car for long distances and load lugging alike. I'm sure you'll like it.

 

[Konan]

The only downside for me is the suspension - under damped, wrong spring rates

I've not had a great time with Bilstein quality on my BP5. It's on a good set of B6 now but the factory ones sheared off at the top mount on the front and knocked on the back.

I've got a set of Tein Coilovers on a Toyota JZX110 and, comfort wise it's about the smoothest riding car I've ever owned. Considering there's a 2 inch drop on it. Plus the paint actually stands up to a bit of UK weather, which is more than I can say for a lot of suspension parts.

I'm thinking of pre-ordering a set of Tein Endurapro for it - they have hydraulic bump stops so they should reduce the bounce when bottoming out that's reported on the stock Levorg setup. They're not that expensive. Not sure what I'd do on the springs.

I'll probably have it up on the lift in the first few weeks and swap out the rear knuckle bushing for an STi part and poly the one that always rips on the front lower arm.

 

[Arkatee]

I was going to mention the Tein Endura pros, they seem like a good possibility especially with the adjustable damping as it uses the original springs. I've not seen any reviews though. Could be worth a punt, as you say they're reasonably priced. The other alternative would be Ohlins from the WRX STI with softer springs, maybe 8kg front, 6kg rear. An expensive experiment though. There's a very good chassis under the Levorg, and the standard set up doesn't do it justice. The best suspension I've had on a Subaru was the Prodrive Bilsteins on my GF8 WR Sport Impreza.

 

[Konan]

I was just looking at the non pro version. As cool as adjustability is, I never know what to do with it. If there's a 'good' fixed recipe to follow, that's what I prefer.

The Tein H.Tech spring kit for the Levorg lists 5.2Kg front and 5.5Kg rear. A lot of comments on them not being stiff enough but I do tend to favor well controlled compliant suspension over the tuners choice of flat cornering.

My favorite day to day suspension was actually on my 2nd WRX. Brand new KYB Excel G and stock springs! The OEM It just soaked up the B roads around here.

The track car ran Ultra SR and prodrive blue springs with a big dollop of front camber and a scaffold pole in place of an ARB at the rear. Lift off oversteer on demand Twitchy thing on the road though.