The keen-eyed folk over at the NASIOC forums have spotted a rather suspicious-looking Legacy cruising the highways of California recently, renewing speculation that this may be a prototype for an STI version of the mid-size sedan.

The WRX bonnet scoop is quite literally the biggest tip-off that there’s something fishy about this car, while the gaffer tape on the roof and the outline of some mysterious boxes inside the car further the notion that this is some kind of development vehicle, but a development vehicle for what exactly? A car just like this one (perhaps the very same vehicle) was spotted over a year ago, and forum warriors and armchair pundits eventually agreed it was a drivetrain development mule for the new GH Impreza, with whom it shares a floorpan. However, considering the GH is now virtually complete, what is the be-scooped Liberty still doing on the road?

Well, a couple of explanations exist: either it’s a development car for some kind of performance variant of the Liberty, or its still got some hard work to do for the GH Impreza platform. Given that Subaru is rumoured to be developing a DSG gearbox for the WRX STI, the latter scenario is probably the more believable one, but what do you think? Set the rumourmill in motion via the ‘comments’ form below!

[Source: NASIOC, via Jalopnik]
[Photo courtesy of bouse1]