Subaru is synonymous with the boxer engine and four-wheel power structure, in addition to having an enormous fanatic following international. However I’d danger a bet that now not many of us realise the place that lineage descended from, nor what put Subaru at the map in rallying historical past.

Neatly, you’re taking a look at it. When the Legacy sedan changed the smaller Leone in 1989, it introduced Subaru up a notch with regards to high quality and area to check the Eastern manufacturing sedan pageant from Honda and Nissan. However along side the building up in bodily dimensions, the Legacy’s drivetrain gave Subaru an ideal base to contest the International Rally Championship with, which in flip would spice up street automobile gross sales.

So as pass rallying on the absolute best degree, Workforce A homologation necessities dictated a minimal amount of street automobiles produced. And the Legacy RS – along side the extra excessive RA-R and RS-RA variants – fulfilled that legal responsibility.

Subaru enlisted Prodrive to increase and run the automobiles, beginning what would transform a two-decade-long courting. The Legacy Workforce A gadget was once the primary of the Prodrive-built Subarus, and one instance nonetheless stays in Prodrive’s assortment.

Over the process time, maximum Legacy RS street automobiles – like this one I photographed at Rally Replay in Goodwood – have both ended up being changed for motorsport, been crashed, or are actually past mechanically-viable restore. Discovering one in this kind of neatly saved state 34 years after manufacture is scarce.

This automobile particularly had just one proprietor from new till it bought in 2021. It coated a scant 46,000km (29,000mi) in that point, and was once serviced religiously on time table.

The inner is unmarked, with era-typical velour and fabric figure-hugging bucket seats within the entrance and an identical bench within the rear. The clocks and sprint structure could also be a no-frills affair.

The one amendment from usual are sticky Bridgestone Potenza RE-01 tyres.

Against this to the later Impreza, the Legacy used a water-to-air intercooler for its turbocharged EJ20 motor. Its output – 220hp and 200ft/lbs of torque – would possibly not look like so much in this day and age, however in 1989 it supplied respectable efficiency.

As the tale is going, the Legacy Workforce A automobile was once in reality favoured over the later Impreza through each Colin McRae and Richard Burns, owing to its longer wheelbase and wider observe, which made the automobile extra strong.

So given the selection between a Legacy or an Impreza, which might you be grabbing the keys to? Whilst maximum would lean against the Impreza, the Legacy being slightly unknown and sedate taking a look is my selection. I feel it could be an excellent chance to hear a proverbial tape, moderately than CD, in Subaru’s again catalogue and provides a better appreciation for the inherent DNA handed right down to next fashions.

Chaydon Ford
Instagram: chaycore