Volkswagen Passat vs Subaru Legacy: which is more reliable?
The Volkswagen Passat and the Subaru Legacy are level on the federal record — 71/100 against 73/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
The record, side by side
Volkswagen Passat
- 11 model years scored
- 2,372 owner complaints on record
- about 17 complaints per year on the road
- 58 recall campaigns, 32 safety-critical
- best year 2019 (95/100) · worst 2014 (26/100)
Subaru Legacy
- 13 model years scored
- 999 owner complaints on record
- about 10 complaints per year on the road
- 49 recall campaigns, 31 safety-critical
- best year 2023 (90/100) · worst 2020 (45/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Passat against Legacy
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Volkswagen Passat
- Air Bags — 1,181 complaints
- Electrical System — 370 complaints
- Engine — 311 complaints
Subaru Legacy
- Visibility/Wiper — 243 complaints
- Electrical System — 238 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 200 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Passat's complaints concentrate in Air Bags, the Legacy's in Visibility/Wiper. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Volkswagen Passat — avoid: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Subaru Legacy — avoid: 2020.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Volkswagen Passat prices at about $23,600 and a Subaru Legacy at about $30,400 — the Volkswagen Passat is roughly $6,800 less, and they return 28.0 against 30.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Volkswagen Passat or the Subaru Legacy more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Subaru Legacy scores 73/100 against the Volkswagen Passat's 71/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Volkswagen Passat and Subaru Legacy years should I avoid?
Volkswagen Passat: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. Subaru Legacy: 2020. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Volkswagen Passat and the Subaru Legacy?
The largest complaint group on the Volkswagen Passat is Air Bags (1,181 complaints); on the Subaru Legacy it is Visibility/Wiper (243).
Is the Volkswagen Passat or the Subaru Legacy cheaper to own?
A recent used Volkswagen Passat prices at about $23,600 and a Subaru Legacy at about $30,400, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.