Compare the2025 Kia K5VS 2025 Subaru Legacy

Both the K5 and Legacy have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The K5 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Legacy’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The K5 EX/GT1 has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Legacy only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.

The K5 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Legacy’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the K5 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Subaru charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Legacy and its not available on the Base and the Legacy’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.

Compared to metal, the K5’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Subaru Legacy has a metal gas tank.

Both the K5 and the Legacy have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.

The K5 comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Legacy’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the K5 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Subaru covers the Legacy. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Legacy ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

There are over 23 percent more Kia dealers than there are Subaru dealers, which makes it easier should you ever need service under the K5’s warranty.

To reliably start during all conditions and help handle large electrical loads, the K5 has a standard 760-amp battery. The Legacy’s 620-amp battery isn’t as powerful.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are better in initial quality than Subaru vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia fourth in initial quality, above the industry average. With 20 more problems per 100 vehicles, Subaru is ranked 12th.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Kia vehicles are more reliable than Subaru vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia above average in long-term dependability. With 3 more problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, Subaru is rated below average.

The K5’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 9 more horsepower (191 vs. 182) and 5 lbs.-ft. more torque (181 vs. 176) than the Legacy 2.5i’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The K5 GT’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 30 more horsepower (290 vs. 260) and 34 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 277) than the Legacy Sport/XT’s standard 2.4 turbo 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the K5 GT 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Legacy Sport/XT 2.4 turbo 4-cylinder:

On the EPA test cycle the K5 gets better mileage than the Legacy:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Kia K5 uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Legacy Sport/XT requires premium for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The K5 GT’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The Legacy doesn’t offer launch control.

For better stopping power the K5 GT’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Legacy:

The K5 stops shorter than the Legacy:

For better traction, the K5 GT’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Legacy (245/40R19 vs. 225/55R17).

The K5 GT’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Legacy Sport/Limited/Touring’s 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the K5 GT has standard 19-inch wheels. The Legacy’s largest wheels are only 18-inches.

The K5 has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Legacy doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the K5’s wheelbase is 3.9 inches longer than on the Legacy (112.2 inches vs. 108.3 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the K5 is 1.6 inches wider in the front and .7 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Legacy.

The K5 GT handles at .85 G’s, while the Legacy Touring XT pulls only .78 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The K5 GT executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 2 seconds quicker than the Legacy Sport (26.3 seconds @ .69 average G’s vs. 28.3 seconds @ .59 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the K5’s turning circle is .8 feet tighter than the Legacy’s (36 feet vs. 36.8 feet).

The Kia K5 may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 200 to 250 pounds less than the Subaru Legacy.

The K5 has .8 inches more front headroom, 3.3 inches more front legroom, 1.1 inches more front hip room, .6 inches more rear headroom and 1.8 inches more rear hip room than the Legacy.

The K5 has a larger trunk than the Legacy (15.6 vs. 15.1 cubic feet).

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the K5’s trunk can be opened just by waiting momentarily behind the back bumper, leaving your hands completely free. The Legacy doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its trunk, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

The K5 uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Legacy uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The K5 EX/GT1’s standard easy entry system glides the driver’s seat back when the door is unlocked or the ignition is switched off, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Legacy doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The power windows standard on both the K5 and the Legacy have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the K5 is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Legacy prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

On a hot day the K5’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Legacy can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The K5 has a standard Smart Key that allows you to unlock the doors from either front door handle, open the trunk, and start the engine, all without removing the key from the pocket or purse. Keyless Entry and Start costs extra on the Legacy and isn’t available on the Legacy Base.

The K5’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Subaru only offers heated mirrors on the Legacy Premium/Sport/Limited/Touring.

The K5 has a standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. Dual zone air conditioning is only available on the Legacy Premium/Sport/Limited/Touring.

The K5 is available in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations. The Legacy doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

The Kia K5 outsold the Subaru Legacy by almost three to one during 2023.