I am a first time Legacy owner and have read the manual thoroughly regarding the BlueConnect system. I selected the 2.5i Premium trim based upon the fact that it comes with Bluetooth, a CVT transmission and not much else in terms of frills. I am writing this in the hopes that it will benefit others in their decision making process about buying this feature on future Subaru purchases.

I have a BlackBerry 9930 smartphone (on the "compatible" list from Subaru and commonly used by corporations for business purposes) and it pairs and connects flawlessly. It also streams music over bluetooth without issue. Great right? I thought so too since I did not have that on any of my previous cars. That is where it ends...basic functions that should be part of Bluetooth are unavailable or hampered by the nanny system/programming on this car (probably true of other Subaru models that share the same system as well, be forewarned!!). My first week with the vehicle, I had several instances of making a call from a parking lot (stationary position) and had the call go through with no problems. After the vehicle was in motion and I was on the highway, I called the same person back but they could not hear me after receiving the call and I could not hear them.

I decided to educate myself by reading the entire section on BlueConnect (not much there except how to pair phones) to take full advantage of the system. I then programmed all of the speed dial presets to make the most dialed numbers more convenient for daily use. Tried everything in stationary mode and all was well. The minute the vehicle was moving, the Bluetooth system would not allow me to connect using the presets. Instead, I found out that Subaru expects you to pull off to the shoulder (on the highway) to place the call and then continue on your way. The same presets, however, can be used to change the radio system while driving. How does this make sense in anyone's book for safety?

I have incidents where a call was received and displayed on screen, but the Bluetooth system would not let the call transfer through, so picking up an emergency call or answering a client was not possible on the road. This led to several incidents of angry clients not being able to reach me, when in other cars (even rentals) this would have been a non-issue.

Another observation - the system does not allow the upload of your phone book (with the exception of the iPhone, maybe), so a person must enter each of the numbers individually. I found this out (afterward purchasing the car) when I started looking at several Subaru Forums and seeing the common topics listed on the mysubaru.com enthusiast site..."No, the system does not support phonebook transfers via Bluetooth. You must enter phone book entries using voice commands."...(sponsored by Subaru - so they are aware of this issue, but did not disclose this little factoid on their specs when advertising their vehicle lineup).

In addition, you can only dial by number or name while the car is in motion. As such, everything must be preloaded so that you do this by voice and the system must understand you. Often times, the voice recognition does not interpret numbers correctly. I, and others, have had the system put a star / asterisk in lieu of numbers when the vehicle does not understand say 5. It can be frustrating trying to put in a single phone number for 10 minutes.

Although the car itself is meeting the basic requirements of my daily commute, this one system has made me regret getting the Premium model. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for those that have it integrated with their Navigation system in the more expensive models. Talk about throwing away your money!!

I am still trying to get Subaru to acknowledge the problem as something other than my phone's issue, but would advise those considering the Legacy to get the base model or opt out of buying this feature. That way, they can better use the funds to get a proper Bluetooth and navigation system that can be used the way it was intended - to prevent distractions while driving rather than causing them.