While the exterior brings the Legacy cruising into 2010, the interior has me a little worried. It's a nice interior, but the seat upholstery's pattern, which looks like small flames, reminds me of the 1980s. Leather seats are available, and they'd keep the interior from looking dated too quickly.

While the fabric is weird-looking, the seats' comfort level is indisputable; they're wonderfully supportive. The center stack is a visual buffet of plastic that looks like brushed metal. It was a bit too much for me, but others might like it. What I really liked about the center stack is there weren't too many buttons. While that might seem like a backhanded compliment, I assure you it's not. I'm on the verge of becoming a Luddite because constantly changing technology is killing me. I loved getting into the Subaru without having to memorize new commands, input locations, navigational procedures or key-insertion processes. Everything was simple and straightforward.

Typical of most sedans, there's a lot of in-cabin storage for little things like cell phones. The center console has a top shelf and a deep bin below. The glove box is good for holding a pair of gloves and the owner's manual but not much else. There's a modicum of door storage; a water bottle and small pack of wipes are right at home there. There's an overhead storage area for sunglasses, just not your glam, oversized sunglasses.

In the backseat, the kids had plenty of legroom. In the front row, my husband and I had our seats in our preferred positions and our kids never complained about a lack of space.

SENSE AND STYLE

Family Friendly (Not Really, Fair, Great, Excellent): Great

Fun-Factor (None, Some, Good Times, Groove-On): Some