Mazda6, hands down... why?
The Legacy has less torque and an AWD system, which means:
a. It'll be slower
b. It'll drink more gas
c. It'll cost more (much more, considering this is a Subaru) to maintain.
The added "safety" of AWD is kind of misleading.
An AWD car will behave like an FWD car 90% of the time. Push it too hard into a turn and it'll understeer. Trail-brake or turn too sharply, and it'll snap oversteer. Apply the gas and some opposite lock in
either car after you start oversteering, and it'll pull the nose out straight. Of course, most people's instinct would be to bury their foot in the brakes, which doesn't really help.
The safer car on the road isn't the one with AWD or FWD, it's the one with the better tires.
In other words, if you spin out, or go into speed-related understeer or start to fishtail out of control on the highway because of standing water, the AWD car will not magically stop spinning or brake faster. It's up to the driver to regain control, or, at least, not lose it in the first place.
The AWD's true advantage lies in the fact that you have more traction in slippery conditions, meaning you won't get stuck as easily in deep mud. It'll allow you to
accelerate faster in gravel, but at the end of the straight, right before the turn, it'll act exactly the same as an FWD car... is it any wonder that JWRC cars are mostly FWD?
C'mon, hasn't anyone else here "rallied" their compact car in mud? I drive my 626 and my RS in mud when I go to the farm, and I can hold them sideways for minutes at a time (well, it feels like it) with just a whiff of opposite lock... while RWD vans, AUVs and pickups are squirming and writhing all over the place.
Mazdaspeed 6 versus Legacy GT, though? I'd have to flip a coin on that one...
