THE FACT that Subaru's Legacy has, in a wide variety of guises and over many years, failed to make any significant impression on the UK sales charts is one of the great, unsolved mysteries of modern motoring.
While contemporaries like the Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis and even the Nissan Primera have strengthened their positions with each successive model over the last 20 years or so, the Legacy has defied all attempts to provide them with any serious competition on the showroom floors of Britain.
Which, in turn, defies all logic.
The Legacy has always been a sound proposition, whether as a saloon, an estate or, more recently, in "crossover" Outback guise. It has always looked tremendous value for money with high equipment levels, spacious cabins and distinctive and powerful "boxer" engines. Meanwhile the undoubted benefits of full time all wheel drive ensured that it was a dynamic match for most of its competitors.
You would also think that Subaru's flagship would benefit from the brand's rally successes with the Impreza WRC car, but no - the Legacy has always been a minority choice in the mass market.
Those who have chosen it, however, have invariably come back for more. Drivers bitten by the Legacy bug carry the infection for a long, long time - and many of them tend to be rural dwellers who fully appreciate the benefits of all wheel drive as well as the brand's enviable reputation for reliability.
And they will be knocking at dealers' doors next month to be amongst the first to get their hands on the latest incarnation of the Legacy - a car which is superior to the model it replaces in every department.
But Subaru also needs to preach to the unconverted and the UK importer is confident of at last doing that with the latest versions - so much so that it is looking for conquest sales amongst owners of what it calls "prestigious European sporting marques". For that, read VW, Audi, Saab and even, perhaps, BMW.
No surprise then, that there are clear hints of BMW in the sleeker styling of the new model, from the lower eyelids of the headlights to the sculpting of the rear end on the saloon. It's still not the world's most sensational design, but it is certainly more up to date and confident, helped as much by its lower stance and wider track as by the new body styling.
It's a different story inside, however, where Subaru's stylists have brought the Legacy into line with the best that Europe and Japan has to offer. The interior - one area of major criticism in the past - has been transformed with classy looking soft touch materials, vastly improved seats and an altogether better driving environment helped by better switch gear location, improved instruments and a more co-ordinated approach to the entire cockpit environment.
On the move, the latest Legacy feels even more stable than before thanks to a lower centre of gravity and the lighter weight of the new bodyshells.
This car has simply astonishing grip in fast cornering and rock solid stability in high-speed straight line M-way cruising and all of this is achieved with little compromise in ride quality, which is smooth and progressively damped even on broken surfaces. If there is one minor criticism in this area it is in the lack of feel and feed-back from the steering.
The latest Legacy comes with a choice of three petrol engines - all of them in the company's traditional "boxer" configuration with horizontal rather than vertical cylinders.
At the top of the range there's a powerful new 245PS six-cylinder unit which is only available with a five speed, sequential shift auto box and endows flagship versions with top speeds of up to 147mph and 0-60mph acceleration figures from 7.9 seconds.
Mid-range models come with a 2.5 litre flat four, but my pick of the bunch is the two-litre unit. On paper its top speed of 122mph and 0-60 sprint time of 10.9 seconds are nothing to write home about, but it feels so much quicker and has more than enough mid-range poke to allow full exploitation of the Legacy's wonderful chassis dynamics. In saloon form, it costs £15,750 or £16,750 for the better-equipped S model - and that's an absolute bargain.
The Legacy is generously equipped with all-round electric windows, powered mirrors, climate control air-con, alloys, keyless central locking, CD player, alarm system, front and side airbags and ABS fitted on all versions.
Prices of most models in the range show significant reductions on the outgoing versions with the cheapest version of the Outback - the 2.5i - now costing £1,250 less at £20,000.
Running costs should be lower too thanks to dramatically improved fuel economy and spectacular cuts in CO2 emissions. The two-litre engine now falls into the 20 per cent BiK tax band compared with 27per cent for the old engine.
There are, in fact, plenty of compelling reasons to buy the latest Legacy. Frankly, if Subaru can't make more of a dent in the sales charts with this one, they never will.