Subaru have officially unveiled their new Legacy Concept at Detroit, and it’s even more strikingly not what nature intended than it was when it was leaked all over the Intarwebs.  Of course, it’s still masquerading under the auspices of being a “concept,” so perhaps the production model will be a little less…aggressively confused.  At least the leaked photo was shadowy and mysterious.  Now that it’s out in the full light of day, it’s…well…it’s not as hideous as what Chevy seems to be churning out, but it’s a definite step backward.  Or a shuffle, at least.

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t things to like about this concept.  Take away the clearly-just-for-show gizmos that likely won’t make it into the production model (but which you can, nonetheless, see in our photo gallery after the jump), and you’ve got a solid look into the future of this celebrated twenty year old marque.

Perhaps my main objection to the design philosophy behind this concept is that it’s just too…big.  In all the wrong places.  It isn’t sure whether it wants to be family-oriented, sporty, or both…and so it succeeds at neither.  And yet its lines are quite aggressive…so it’s a curious and unnerving combination of things.  Can we just call it the Subaru Legacy Gawky Teenager Edition and be done with it?  And also hope that it grows into something we can love in its next iteration?  Because I’d really like to.

I mean, it’s still got their trademark symmetrical all-wheel drive system, and according to the concept stats, a 3.6-L horizontally-opposed boxer engine (which lots of people speculate will probably end up in the STi version).  So the basics are there.  It just needs a good acne cream, and like a good percentage of the world’s population, it could stand to get out and run a few laps and lose a little flab.  Otherwise, it runs the risk of being an also-ran to the current generation Civic…which would just be sad.  The Civic is now also rather bloated and boring, but at least it knows it’s bloated and boring.  I’m not so sure this concept even knows that much about itself.