From Subaru's NĂĽrburgring Specialist
By Peter Lyon
There's not too long to go before the introduction of a face-lifted generation of the Subaru Legacy, but the rally specialists at Subaru STi just can't wait. The 2008 Subaru Legacy STi S402 is their vision of what a mature, high-performance Legacy can be, the best-handling version of Subaru's mainstream sedan.
Unfortunately there will be just 402 examples of the 2008 Subaru Legacy STi S402, and you can buy one only if you live in Japan.
We realized that Subaru had something special for us when we learned that Hideharu Tatsumi would accompany the car for our exclusive drive in the shadow of Mt. Fuji. As Subaru's chief development driver for the last 20 years, Tatsumi has driven the Legacy for thousands of miles on the NĂĽrburgring and he understands the car like no one else.
King of the Road
Hideharu Tatsumi has just moved over from Subaru to STi (Subaru Tecnica International), and he's the chief engineer of the 2008 Subaru Legacy STi S402. When we first bumped into him in the public parking area of the NĂĽrburgring Nordschleife back in 2006, he was using a Legacy and an Impreza STi to instruct Subaru's next generation of test pilots on the finer points of the 'Ring.
Today he's arrived with the S402. Boasting a chiseled and stocky physique, Tatsumi is tough and direct. He is quick to admit that certain budget restraints on the design side meant that he could not play around with the Legacy's sheet metal very much for this specialty car. "But even with those restrictions," he tells us, "We have a car that looks like it does business and delivers on the road."
The S402's unique mesh grille is complemented by flared front fenders that have been widened an extra inch to enclose wider BBS rims and 235/40R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires. Tatsumi and his chief stylist wanted to also redesign the front bumper section to give the car an even sportier look, but a price tag of around $600,000 for the special mold that would be required quickly put an end to their dreaming.
"When you divide our limited run number of just 402 units into $600,000, well, that adds an extra $1,500 to each car. And the bean counters would have none of that," he laments.
Fortunately the money STi has saved on cosmetics has been spent on hardware.
NĂĽrburgring Credentials
One look at the specifications sheet suggests that Tatsumi's team had to deal with less budgetary shackles on the engineering side of the equation. In fact, Tatsumi hints that he wouldn't have taken on this job if the STi bosses weren't prepared to let him make the S402 all it could be as far as driving is concerned.
To do this, Tatsumi stresses that he had to take this car to his second home for the last two decades — the Nürburgring Nordschleife. "Otherwise Japanese enthusiasts wouldn't have given the car any street cred," he explains.
Come to think of it, none of us would have given this JDM (Japanese Cosmetic Market) car much credence without its Nürburgring credentials, right? It's got to the stage today where any performance car must put in some time at the 'Ring if it's to be taken seriously by rev-heads around the world. Proof of that is that there are now three Japanese supercars — Honda's V10-powered NSX, the Lexus LF-A and the Nissan GT-R — all testing in Germany and vying for lap time honors.
Same Power, More Response
The 2008 Subaru Legacy STi S402 has an Australian-spec, turbocharged 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder under its hood, and STi has created a special calibration with a twin-scroll turbo, more boost, a tweaked ECU and low-restriction sports mufflers. This engine's output doesn't seem particularly different from the standard turbo engine, as it pumps out 282 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 289 pound-feet of torque between 2,000 and 4,800 rpm. In fact, power and torque are both just marginally improved.
But as Tatsumi tells us, "That wasn't our aim. We were striving to enhance the whole driving experience." By carefully tuning the S402's boxer to the six-speed manual transmission from the Impreza WRX STi and revising some of the gear ratios, the STi engineers have created an engine that might have been taken straight out of a rally car. Some 95 percent of peak torque is available at just 1,800 rpm and it also pulls strongly right up to 6,000 rpm. As a result, you can now take 2nd-gear corners in 3rd gear thanks to the beefy bottom-end torque and instant throttle response, so there's more traction and more control.
On the Road
As you're extracting the torque from the engine, punching the deliciously notchy shifter and shooting effortlessly around corners, it can be easy to forget the fact that the S402 comes standard with Subaru's SI-drive, which allows you to choose among three modes of power management. For some strange reason (well, maybe not that strange) we found ourselves flicking the SI-drive to the Sport Plus position and testing the upper reaches of the gutsy power curve.
If you were to describe the way the S402 responds to the driver, you'd say "instant." There's less play from the throttle action and less wind-up in the drivetrain than you find in the conventional Legacy, so the power seems to get to the wide Bridgestones without wasting time or motion. Subaru's own stability control is also fitted as standard equipment, so the car will catch you if you get into trouble, but intervention comes only after you've exhausted the resources of the exquisitely balanced all-wheel-drive system.
The S402 also turns into a corner with instant response thanks to reconfigured steering, and the feedback from the tires is superbly communicative. Tatsumi has tweaked the steering rack with a quick 13.0:1 ratio (replacing the standard 15.0:1 ratio), and then helped the car respond to such inputs with special STi-tuned dampers and springs. But Tatsumi is most proud of the S402's secret weapons for Nürburgring goodness — three semi-flexible reinforcement bars to not only improve chassis rigidity but also tune it. There's one between the top of the front suspension struts, one between the bottom of the front struts, and a third across the rear suspension towers in the trunk.
The Magic of the Bars
The Subaru Legacy STi S402 goes exactly where you want it to go and keeps all four tires firmly planted at the same time. But more than that, the construction of the bars with their semi-flexible midsections help the chassis absorb those brief, unwanted lurches as the car changes direction, so the car feels magically composed. Meanwhile, the chassis reinforcement enhances feedback from the tires just as you'd expect. The combination is pure magic, and the S402 has an overall feel that's as close to perfection as we've ever experienced.
It's just a pity about the swanky seats with their soft leather upholstery, which unfortunately don't quite offer the support you need when pushing through fast bends. But then, as Tatsumi pointed out more than once, the S402 is a grand touring car, and it actually rides much better than the high-performance Subaru Legacy GT spec.B with its 18-inch tires.
We don't have to forgive anything about the brakes, though. They are phenomenally powerful, featuring Brembo-built, six-piston, monoblock front calipers and two-piston rear calipers. The S402 might be the first-ever Japanese sedan with a brake package that actually feels overengineered. One STi engineer later admitted that four-piston Brembos would have been more than adequate for the S402, but STi felt this car needed something special.
The combination of progressive pedal action, no brake fade and good tire grip means you can go deeper into a corner with the Legacy STi S402 than just about any sedan we've tested before. And because the S402 features standard rotors without slots or drilled holes, there's no risk of cracking these rotors with abuse, and there's no squeal during daily driving, either.
Subaru might think the S402 is a simple GT-style sedan, but we beg to differ. It's got a Momo-built steering wheel with an STi logo, a leather-trimmed S402 shift knob, aluminum-covered pedals, an STi speedo calibrated to 260 km/h (150 mph), carbon-fiber-style trim, cupholders with special red illumination and a bright red ignition button. This car is plainly built to be punished with speed.
'Ring Ready?
So we had to ask. Tatsumi-san, what settings on the 2008 Subaru Legacy STi S402 did you change after your laps around the NĂĽrburgring?
"Ah, none. The car was fine."
Tatsumi has fine-tuned dozens of Imprezas and Legacys to perform at the German mega-track over the past two decades, so we expected nothing less.
Just hope the next all-new generation of the Subaru Legacy — due out around 2012 — will be compatible with high-performance modifications in both right- and left-hand drive. As Hideharu Tatsumi admits, STi certainly seeks global recognition for its very best work, even at a price tag of $53,000. It's the kind of Subaru that should come to America.
