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The 2020 Subaru Legacy has new safety technology, including the DriverFocus system that alerts drivers when their eyes remain off the road for more than 3 seconds.

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The interior of the 2020 Subaru Legacy features an 11.6-inch touchscreen that operates like a tablet.

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The 2020 model year brings an all-new Subaru Legacy to the market with all kinds of safety and driving enhancements. These include all kinds of things from the huge new 11.6-inch, high-resolution, tablet-like touchscreen to a new segment-exclusive DriverFocus system.

Just what is a DriverFocus system? This was one of the first questions we had when looking over the literature that came before the Legacy arrived at our home. Anything that can keep a driver’s attention on the road or react to a driver that is not paying attention had to be a great addition in our book.

When he sat in the driver’s seat for the first time, Craig immediately noticed a message on the screen between the tachometer and speedometer indicating the Legacy was scanning the driver’s face and preparing this new system. This was even before pressing the start button to get the new sedan engaged and moving.

On his first drive around our city, he immediately found out just how active and attentive this new system is. If the driver takes his eyes off the road for a mere 3 seconds, a warning beep sounds and a message is displayed on the center screen to focus the driver on the road again.

During the first few drives, it seemed this system was being a little over reactive. Craig referred to it possibly being his second wife reminding him to pay attention to the road as 3 seconds would go by quite quickly.

However, on day three of our week-long test drive, he had to head from Provo to Ogden with three of his work colleges and figured this would be a great test for not only the new DriverFocus system but also the other safety systems now included in the Legacy.

The new system performed flawlessly. In fact, there were times when he wondered if it might be just a little too active in its warnings, but it kept the conversation lively with the others in the car wanting to know all about it while also reminding Craig to keep his attention on the road.

This system will also bring the Legacy to a slow stop if the driver continues to ignore the warning and not turn his attention to the road, and it will call for an operator to speak with the driver if he is completely unresponsive.

So, yes, this system is designed to save lives and help us drive better, as it has been proven across our great country that inattentive driving is one of the leading causes of accidents every day. After a week with the new Legacy, we went from thinking that it was a bit of an annoyance to enjoying the reminders, especially after Craig took the longer 160-mile round-trip journey. We found that it also works just as well at slower speeds.

Subaru’s great Eyesight package is included and is now even better on the new Legacy. It includes an adaptive cruise control that now comes for the first time with a lane-centering assist package that helps keep the sedan within the lane when engaged.

Of course, the great safety features we have come to love on Subarus are also included such as blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alerts that worked great when we were backing out of parking spots at the grocery store.

Another first for Subaru is the new, awesomely huge 11.6-inch touchscreen that takes up the entire center console. It is surround by a beautiful high-gloss black inlay with buttons for some of the most important functions so they can be easily used by the driver.

The screen can also be split into two sections, top and bottom, which is a great way to keep track of both navigation and audio or other functions during a long drive. The new screen functions just like a tablet with swipe and zoom functions, so it is very easy to get accustomed to. It seems our home lives are moving into the autos we drive.

The interior of the new Touring edition is now clad in Nappa leather, including seating surfaces, dashboard and door panels. This was all done in a beautiful brown color. The front seats are both heated and cooled and there are heated rear seats, which kept everyone happy on the trip to Ogden as the temperature was still in the mid-’50s at 7 a.m. when they began the drive.

The interior sound level has also been lowered by 3 decibels over the previous model to help with conversations among the occupants and to keep the fantastic Harmon Kardon audio system sounding a great as possible. This may not sound like a great reduction, but in the decibel world it is quite a change when you know that every decrease in 10 decibels in 100 times softer than the previous reading.

There is also a new turbocharged engine that has been added to the line, a 2.4 Boxer liter 4-cylinder version that now produces a very strong 260 horsepower and 277 ft.-lbs. of torque. This was standard on the Touring edition. There is also a 2.5-liter Boxer non-turbo engine that gets 182 horsepower.

During our week with the new Legacy, the engine proved to be quiet a little powerhouse, having no problems out on the freeway or just motoring around town. We think having the extra horsepower would be the best plan for the mid-sized sedan.

Being a Subaru, it should be expected that the Legacy is a go-anywhere vehicle. It comes with 15.1 cubic feet of trunk space, enough for 4 rolling suitcases, and this year’s model has an additional 1.4 inches of rear leg room space.

The new Subaru Legacy sedan would be a great addition to any active family and is now more technologically and safety advanced than ever.

2020 Subaru Legacy Touring XT

Base Price: $35,895

Price as Driven: $36,795