Clutch life is highly dependent on how the car is driven. Car
magazines are typically hard on their test cars and tend to go through
clutches quickly. With sensible driving you can expect the clutch on
any manual trans car to last much longer than that.
I've seen reports of widely varying clutch life on other Subarus,
particularly WRX's. People who were hard on them (and didn't know how
to drive MT properly) wore their clutches out at 20K or even less,
while others who treated theirs properly are still on the original
clutch at 100K+. My own WRX is over 80K and on the original clutch.
As for the cost that is probably a dealer price. A clutch replacement
should not cost that much if it's just for the disc, pressure plate
and TO bearing if it's done by an independent shop that does not
charge the same high labor rates as the dealers. If the flywheel needs
to be replaced as well the cost may be somewhat more.
You shouldn't let this deter you from considering the car. For
first-hand owner experiences you can check on the forums at
www.nasioc.com

my 02 Legacy had a clutch job at 77,000km (about 45,000 miles) - just
before I bought it... so ask me in another 45,000 miles if it's still
holding up. :)

I can drive a stick, I prefer sticks, but I am a rather abusive driver -
my Trans Am has 50,000km and the stock clutch is slipping... it's
probably the drag radials or the nitrous that did it in.

But I can't see my Legacy at the drag strip that often....

My Impreza needed a new clutch at 63K and I paid dealer $740 for
everything involved. About 50K of that was city driving with some degree
of clutch abuse.

DK

have no idea on the cost.  however, i recently replaced the original clutch
on my '95 legacy 2.2l.  198,000 miles, some of it fairly abusive.  the job
took about 6.5 to 7.0 hours, so perhaps the $1600 is in line with reality.

wally