FIRST DRIVE: Subaru Legacy Sports Tourer diesel

Next time you see a Subaru Legacy in your rear view mirror, that sporty-looking bonnet scoop could be hiding something special. We’re all familiar with the performance Legacy variant, but now there’s a new model boasting a level of performance unheard of until now.

It’s not another turbo-nutter model, although the engine is turbocharged. And you had better be careful which fuel pump you pull up to because the car prefers diesel to petrol.

Yes you read that right: diesel. But it gets better; not only is this Subaru’s first diesel engine, it’s also configured like the petrol units in the firm’s trademark ‘boxer’ or flat-four design.

A flat-four diesel? Oh yes. It’s unlikely to come as a surprise to Subaru fans though, they know the company has a reputation for doing things a little differently.

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The reference to the car’s bonnet scoop is an important one: this small addition is the only way to differentiate the diesel model from its regular petrol relatives because you’ll struggle to spot them as the oil burning model is quieter than you’d expect.

For a first attempt it’s nothing short of incredible. Granted, the firm’s hand has been forced slightly. To sell more cars in Europe a diesel is pretty much essential. However, Subaru’s four-wheel drive system and boxer engine layout meant that a conventional in-line engine simply wouldn’t work – and precluded the chance to buy in ready developed technology.

Fear not, though, as the end result has been worth the wait. Although a different layout to its rival engines, Subaru’s unit follows the widely adopted 2.0-litre, 150 horsepower (148bhp to you and me) format. And the engineers have done their homework – CO2 figures are impressively low (151g/km) and the official combined fuel economy figure is pleasingly high (49.6mpg).

The economy figure is all the more impressive when you consider that the Legacy – like all Subaru’s – comes with permanent four-wheel drive. The impact is most noticeable on the petrol models, which make the performance of the diesel variant all the more important to company car drivers and anyone concerned about the cost of fuel.

But enough scene setting, how does the car perform in the real world? The answer is a simple one because it would appear that Subaru’s engineers have nailed it on their first attempt. Sure, you know you’re in a diesel when you first turn the key from cold, but the diesel noise you hear is much softer than what you’d experience in something from the likes or Volkswagen or Ford. And it only takes a few minutes before all you can hear is a distant thrum – a bit like the petrol versions.