Subaru Outback review and buyer's guide
The Subaru Outback has a growling turbocharged engine, a large five-seat SUV wagon body and it’s packed with features. For adventurous families, it will also tow and drive beautifully - all at a reasonable price.
THE SUBARU OUTBACK is a practical, performance SUV with lots of luggage space, proper all-wheel drive and good ground clearance, making it punchy, clever and affordable. But it’s also very reliable.
It might have a honking WRX engine bolted under the bonnet, making it the first turbocharged Outback in 20 years, but you can still have a modest, naturally-aspirated version if you just need a civilised, safe and well-equipped 5-seat family SUV.
You have the basic choice between a relatively low-key Outback or a more animalistic SUV that snarls and can tow (moderate loads), carry your holiday gear and accommodate your family. This vehicle takes all that in its stride.
Subaru Outback should absolutely be on your shortlist, especially if you’re shopping for either a medium SUV (think RAV4, CX-5, Tucson, Sportage, Forester or Outlander) OR if you’re considering a 7-seater without the guarantee of needing row 3 seats.
Large SUVs (where Outback is categorised) include the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento (dizygotic twins), the Mazda CX-9, the Toyota Kluger or Hyundai Palisade — or even if you’re ponder a 4WD like Pajero Sport or Prado without the explicit intent to go off-road, but you do want good all-wheel drive capacity. Outback parks three wheels, one in each camp.
Outback might not brag about having seven seats, but that means you don’t pay additional cash for seats that statistically probably never get used anyway. What doesn’t get acknowledged with 7-seaters is that they are a compromise - you have to sacrifice weight, cost, luggage space and entry/exit practicality for those row-3 occupants in order to give them somewhere to sit. Outback removes your burden to take the additional bums on seats by simply not having them. Yes, there’s an argument here for that being a fairly unscrupulous way to solve that problem.
The top-spec Outback’s pricing finishes about $5000 below a top-spec Toyota Kluger Grande which is only on-demand all-wheel drive, weighs nearly 300kg more, and can only carry 1150 litres or cargo versus the 1627 litres of potential you get with the Subaru. The Kluger outsells Outback most months of the year, but if you actually have to change a flat tyre, the Outback runs with a full-size spare while Toyota can only manage a temporary space-saver - and yet the Subaru is a centimetre shorter in length.
One of the grossly underrated aspects of an SUV like the Outback, which is essentially a Legacy wagon with uprated suspension, is that the body itself isn’t actually that comparatively tall compared with a lot of other large SUVs. This gives the rest of them a very high roofline, one that can be very difficult and potentially dangerous to access when washing your car.
With an Outback the roof is actually relatively accessible when you’re dealing with soap, water and heights. This same sentiment applies to accessing the wipers to change the blade rubbers, or just cleaning the windscreen itself.
Also having a more conservative set of 18-inch alloy wheels, including the spare, means in the event of a flat, lifting a tyre weighing just under 12 kilos means a typical person is probably going to be able to lift it where they might struggle with the 15-odd kilos of a 19-20-inch wheel on some large SUVs.
So, what’s a Subaru Outback really like, and is it a contender for you? Here’s my in-depth assessment.
This generation Outback is good, but the 2.4 turbo makes it great.
FEATURES & PRICING
There’s essentially 5 variants of Outback: three variants with the naturally aspirated (non-turbo) 2.5-litre engine, and two variants in ‘XT’ form with the 2.4-litre turbocharged engine from the WRX.
Let’s take a detailed look at the base model Outback, because it’s so affordable there’s a good chance you might be content with what it has to offer.
Outback base model - $47,600 driveaway
Here’s what you get by default in a sub-$50K Outback:
Tyre pressure monitoring
Dual X-Mode
‘Sport’ driving mode
18-inch grey alloys (225/60 Bridgestone highway tyres), full-size spare
Built-in roof crossbars
Driver monitoring system: distraction warning, drowsiness warning, facial recognition, climate control setting (last used)
Rearview reverse camera
EyeSight: All features:
Vision Assist package: adaptive driving beam (ADB), blind spot monitor (BSM), EyeSight assist monitor, lane change assist (LCA), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), reverse automatic braking (RAB)
LED steering-responsive auto-adjusting headlights
LED interior lighting
Dual-zone climate control
4 cargo tiedown points
Some might jokingly call the entry-level Outback the ‘poverty pack’, but it is anything but that. You get substantial list of gear almost to the point of being exhausting to read. So let’s do the headline features.
Base Outback gets the big centre screen (11.6 inches - portrait orientation, too - bucking that ‘landscape’ trend). But, there are refinements which might make you think Subaru might actually be listening to customer and media feedback. For example, HVAC controls are now fixed to the bottom portion of said touchscreen, withing easy reach and view of either driver or front passenger, where previously they were put behind an irritatingly distracting sub-menu process that simply didn’t need to exist.
Happily, that’s fixed now. Well done, Subaru.
Outback actually looks quite smart these days thanks to LED lighting which is everywhere, including headlights, indicators, taillights and daytime running lights, even in ‘poverty class’. Respect to Subaru for packing all that in, for the basic price, and remaining competitive.
Normal 2.5-litre atmo Outbacks get 2000 kilos of braked towing capacity, or there’s notionally 2400kg in the 2.4 turbo - but I have a separate report on Subaru’s big towing claims vs reality >> which you need to watch in relation to that. Essentially you’ll have almost zero payload available if you stick 2.4 tonnes on the back. Not to mention it’s inherently unsafe to put that much weight behind a 1.7 tonne vehicle, speaking as an engineer.
It’s okay to settle for the atmo Outback. It will hustle as you learn how to get the most out of it. After a few months of driving, you’ll quickly figure out how to drive it ‘in preparation’ of prevailing traffic conditions.
The naturally aspirated Outback is good enough for the majority of buyers who don’t need performance, just a big boot, AWD and roof racks.
‘Sport’ models are given away by the green roof rail inserts and ‘Outback’ lower door sill badging. But it’s not all bad news. keep reading…
Sport - $52,600 driveaway
Adds:
Satellite Navigation
Black metallic 18-inch alloys
Side view camera and front view camera
Heated seats - driver, front passenger & rear outboard
Roof rails - but no crossbars; allows you to fit abnormally sized cargo baskets etc
Hands-free power tailgate
Water repellent seat trim
Sports pedals
8 cargo tiedown points
Touring - $56,600 driveaway
Adds:
Auto door mirror adjustment with 2-position memory
8-way powered driver’s seat w/ auto adjustment & dual memory position
Sunroof
CD player
9-speaker Harman Kardon stereo w/ subwoofer and amplifier
Heated (premium leather) steering wheel
Nappa leather highlights
And now the turbo versions.
‘Sport’ models are also given away by black alloys, rear badging and the lack of light-duty roof cross rails.
Sport XT - $56,600 driveaway
Gets:
2.4-litre turbocharged Boxer petrol engine
Water repellent sports seat trim
Dual function X-Mode: ‘Snow’ & ‘Dirt’
Heated front and rear-outboard seats
Sports pedals
Dual-exit exhaust pipes
6-speaker stereo
Lacks:
auto dipping door mirror (the one that tilts the passenger side to ‘help’ you, except it shows you the kerb you’re already on top of, instead of the one you’re trying to dodge.)
auto seat adjustment
driver’s seat memory function
auto rearview mirror dimming
heated steering wheel
ventilated (cooled) front seats
manual thigh support (ideal for taller drivers)
The lack of integrated roof crossbars on the Sport is a counter-intuitive thing. In one sense, having built-in crossbars you can deploy at a moment’s notice is very handy. But, fitted to base and Touring models, they’re absolutely not designed for heavy loads - and nor should they be, because they’re rated for safety and stability to about 80kg.
However, while you may not have kayaks that weigh 40kg each - unless they’re bloody big and made of something worse than fibreglass - the crossbars are limited in how wide your cargo can be.
Losing the crossbars and gaining the normal rails means you can attach heavier duty cross bars in the aftermarket or from Subaru to do those bigger jobs of carrying your gear into the wilderness.
Having wider crossbars, especially those with overhang, gives you additional real estate to loop straps around and hook them onto themselves, or to simply give you somewhere outside of your cargo to tie ropes to.
Touring XT - $61,000-$63,000 driveaway
Gets:
2.4-litre turbocharged Boxer petrol engine
Leather seats front and rear
Dual function X-Mode: ‘Snow’ & ‘Dirt’
Heated front and rear-outboard seats
Sports pedals
Dual-exit exhaust pipes
Premium 8-speaker Harmon Kardon stereo
And all the bits the ‘Sport’ lacks like:
auto dipping door mirror (the one that tilts the passenger side to ‘help’ you spot the kerb before you clobber it)
auto seat adjustment
driver’s seat memory function
auto rearview mirror dimming
heated steering wheel
ventilated (cooled) front seats
manual thigh support (ideal for taller drivers)
TRANSMISSION
The Continually Variable Transmission in Outback is very smooth and nicely integrated. A CVT, if you don’t know, is basically an adjustable pulley system, as opposed to actual toothed gears locking into place like in a conventional gearbox.
There are carmakers still not getting their CVT anywhere near as refined as Subaru has.
Outback’s CVT has a manual mode, too, which is very nicely tuned to what feel like real epicyclic gear ratios. They don’t really feel like ‘steps’, were it not for the engine sound, albeit not nearly as droning as it used to be. It tends to quieten down fairly quickly if you spike the revs. But please understand, CVTs are designed to spike the revs, because that’s how this transmission works, by giving you peak power on-demand.
The only tangible drawback with the transmission here is not co much the CVT itself, it’s the selector inside the cabin. If you’ve got a phone poking out the top of the cramped storage cubby fore of the shifter, shoving it into park can wedge your phone.
Paddle shifters do actually play a role in operating the Outback in any kind of dicey terrain or twisty mountain roads in the wet or at night, whereby you don’t want to be taking your eyes off the road for even a split second. And they’re pretty quick to respond, which is nice.
ENGINE
Senior executive Subaru dudes say the engine is 90 per cent new - but I’m on the fence about this engine. Like, it’s still 2.5 litres and atmo, and a boxer, and I’m sure it’s perfectly adequate for 90 per cent of Outback owners. In fact it is perfectly fine for the vast majority. And
The atmo 2.5 is good enough for most people, if lacking spice.
The 2.5 engine, now with direct injection for 138 peak kilowatts (up 7 per cent), is refined, but mediocre; adequate - meaning it’s exactly what a lot of people need/want. Speaking personally, however, I’m not one of those people. I’ll take ‘more’ and I did take more, owning two WRXs and a Forester XT, which were all awesome, trouble-free cars.
It is, therefore, with deadset joy that they have finally brought the 2.4 turbo petrol engine here, to Australia. This a real step forwards for Outback - they dropped the 3.6, and have replaced it with something properly punchy and - holy smokes - even inspirational.
So there’s now a performance option on the table for Outback. And whoever allowed it to take so fricken long, hang your head in shame. Some people want their family vehicles with performance from the get-go.
The 2.4 turbo boxer engine from WRX is a special motor; it completes the Outback.
And it’s a significant performance increase of over 30 per cent compared with the atmo 2.5. It’s no wonder that with an additional 10-15 per cent throttle input the thing just scurries on up the road. Much like the gnarly WRX from whence it came >>
Just remember, the 2.4 engine takes 95 RON premium fuel, too. So make sure to factor that in if you’re heavily scrutinising running costs, although I’d suggest that’s something of a fool’s errand with fuel because it’s particularly cheap here in Australia, on a global standard. If you’re buying a $50,000-$60,000 SUV, a few cents per litre isn’t going to make much difference over the next five years of ownership.
The performance sterilisation all those years ago seems to be slowly diluting. So that’s nice if you want a utility vehicle that’s actually sporty as well.
They needed a bit more passion in the boardroom at Subaru central - and I do think it’s coming back. This has been my biggest criticism of current Subaru Forester: review & buyer's guide >>
Hopefully the 2.4 turbo will be destined for Forester soon, too. Having said that, it’s still a good vehicle, ultimately, for most conventional SUV buyers. Check it out, as well as Outback, if you need a comfy, reliable and capable five-seat SUV that’ll go further than the other soft-roaders.
Now, if you want to know why the new 2.4 turbo Outback is such a big deal in technical terms, particularly in relation to its dinosaur predecessor, the 3.6R, you’ll want to watch my in-depth report on this here:
So, is the 2.4 turbo worth the extra cash upfront? It depends on what you want and what kind of driver you are. If you want to put your foot down and dash forward to round up some sluggish truck on a long uphill freeway, you absolutely want the 2.4 turbo.
But if you’re quite happy sitting behind said truck while it lopes over the Great Dividing Range, or if you’re just a school taxi for your kids with absolutely no appetite for giving it the beans - stick with the atmo Outback.
FUNCTIONALITY
Back in positive territory: Luggage space - winner. Length is the most useful dimension, of course, and Outback offers heaps of that. Size really does matter. And Outback really packs it in.
Despite not being the biggest SUV of them all, Outback has always taken long items well.
And while you’re…down there, under the boot floor is a full-size spare wheel on all variants. So, in the event you do gash a sidewall on some sharp, malignant rock, once you’ve changed it over, you’ll be back up to normal speeds, including 110km/h on the freeway, at night, in the wet, with sleeping kids and wife snoring away as you negotiate B-doubles and 1/4 gradients.
But overall, what I’m saying is: I did not feel like a second-class citizen driving the so-called ‘poverty’ Outback. Recommended drive-away price is about $45,000 for the poverty - but if you spend about $5000 more and buy the Sport, you get a bunch of convenience features: Sat Nav (pro tip: Google Maps is just better) plus different 18-inch alloys, front- and side-view cameras, four heated seats - four - and a hands-free powered tailgate. Oh, and sports pedals - be still, my beating heart. That’s on the mid-spec Outback AWD Sport for about $49,500, drive-away, undiscounted.
Outback drives perfectly fine around town, which will suit the majority of buyers.
Perversely, you lose the roof rails with integrated cross bars - one of Outback’s cleverest features. It’s standard on Poverty. But not on Sport. And, it’s back, on the top-spec Touring. But not on Sport. So you can take the family to the snow and enjoy those toasty heated seats - but leave the skis behind, unless you purchase a set of crossbars separately. Interesting product planning decision there...
Of course, if you hurl the budget into the weeds you’re looking at $3500 more, for the Pimp’s Cadillac of Outbacks - the AWD Touring, for about $53,000. Undiscounted. Drive-away. This is a lot cheaper than, for example, a fully loaded Santa Fe or Sorento - although admittedly these two, and the CX-9, all offer seven seats.
You also get leather on Touring - leather accents, actually - definitely not a hit with the vegans. Plus an electric sunroof, fat beats from Harmon Kardon, a CD player (for your antique music), plus a heated steering wheel, dual memory driver’s seat, glossy alloys (but still 18s). No ventilation on the seats, though, for our long, hot, sticky, sweaty summers...
On balance, I’d suggest Outback is a net evolution for Subaru - long awaited, but a proper step forward, in most respects. Subaru does have its bolted on fans. There’s a lot of people who will only ever buy another Outback, until they prize the keys from their cold, dead fingers. They don’t shop around. The Symmetrical AWD and the awesome customer care - it certainly builds loyalty.
Plus, 213mm of actual ground clearance, so Outback has some legitimate off-road ability. You even get the two-stage X-Mode in the base model, for dirt/mud or deep snow.
Across rough gravel tracks, Outback drives and handles better than just about any other notional SUV.
Outback has a lot of appeal - especially if you are in Club Conservative. Nothing wrong with that.
But the passion deficit is a thing. It kills brands. Just look at Honda and Nissan - both having near-death experiences today. I think some other brands - like Hyundai and Kia - are taking the fight to Subaru, and their incremental evolution is proceeding at a faster rate than Subaru’s.
And maybe that’s not a problem today - but if the trend continues, exacerbated by Subaru’s current ‘passion deficit’ there’s a risk of being overtaken, in the medium term.
Even bolted-on customers can become detached over time. You know that expression: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’? I think Subaru needs to channel its inner product planning Ghandi, and reverse the tide on passion - if only to protect the terrain it has fought so hard to occupy today.
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INTERIOR
I definitely wasn’t a fan of the fresh sixth-gen Outback’s big, profound portrait-oriented tablet-style touchscreen. It defied Subaru’s motto about ‘confidence in motion’ and being ‘all 4 the driver’.
Anybody who studied human factors would have told the marketing and product planning team that it was riddled with cognitive conflict for the driver who is typically not a rusted-on car nut, but in fact a regular person thinking about normal things and trained in mundane daily driving.
But things are different now. They’ve changed things, and noticeably for the better.
That centre screen - yeah, it’s big, but like a lot of carmaker integrations, they could learn a lot about being slick in the GUI (graphic user interface) from Apple and/or Google. Because, while it’s better than the old Outback’s supposedly steam-powered touchscreen, the new one still has a lag after pushing icons.
Speaking of which, the icon to open vehicle settings (in order to disable the lane-keeping ‘features’ and the still kinda rough and unrefined ignition auto-stop start) is on the wrong side of the screen - at least it was untile they put the auto-stop/start button in the centre of the home screen. Hooray. But that ‘vehicle settings’ button, it’s on the far left, not the right (the driver’s side) in our market. This means your eyes come off the road, ever briefly, in order to push the icon, which is also too small.
Regardless, you’re gonna have to make friends with that screen and learn how to play it like a violin. Once you do, you’ll be able to hit those icons with your eyes closed; maybe even integrate those ‘disable’ functions into your morning start sequence routine. Brake - ignition - mirror check - seatbelt - screen - lane-keeping off - stop/start off - heated seat on - reverse.
At least the auto park brake release is pretty smooth.
DRIVING
Just quickly, there is also a tangible improvement in the way the 2.4 Outback handles, particularly on Australian roads. See, the rather American-ised nature of Subaru’s product line-up means they lean more towards softness and less-sharp handling characteristics, which in Australia might leave drivers wanting more.
While the naturally-aspirated Outback takes a bit longer to recover from various bumps, dips and crests, sometimes three or even four cycles of the dampers and springs before composing itself, the 2.4 does not.
Subaru says:
There has been a tailored suspension tune for Subaru Outback XT variants.
To suit the 2.4-litre DIT Boxer engine, the damping force of the front and rear dampers, and the spring constant of the front coil springs, have been tuned.
This tuning helps deliver both driving stability and ride comfort.
This updated Outback, in concert with all the other tweaks, feels much better, much more compliant. Two cycles of the suspension over similar terrain is noticeable, even to the more mediocre drivers among us. So there’s that.
Why choose all-wheel drive?
Outback’s primary advantage in the market today is Symmetrical all-wheel drive, which countless people, especially motoring journalists, think gives you ‘more grip’ or ‘extra traction’ or somehow ‘enhanced traction’ whenever it rains or it’s not bitumen beneath your wings.
Strictly speaking, that’s not really accurate. If you want a more technical understanding of how tyre grip & friction works, click here >>
What AWD actually gives you is greater predictability and reduced wheelspin when the road turns to slush.
All-wheel drive does not offer ‘more grip’ or ‘extra traction’, nor does it send ‘more power’ to the road. It simply reduces likelihood of wheelspin.
The freeway is four lanes wide, it’s pouring with rain, you can’t see a thing because of the spray and there’s standing water everywhere. Or that grassy campground is blanketed in September frost, maybe even your long farm driveway is all chopped up from a week’s worth of rain and your eldest son’s dirtbike. AWD means you get a more progressive transition from grip to slip - in particular when applying power.
Essentially, all four wheels are driving all the time, and that means, for any given level of overall tractive effort, each wheel is only required to deliver, broadly, half the drive torque, compared with most of those front-drive-only SUV competitors.
Result: Less loss of traction from the driving wheels. Symmetrical AWD is also better than many on-demand all-wheel drive systems of competitors, which can take too long to catch up with changes in either the traction underfoot or the driver’s acceleration demands. I say ‘too long’ because by the time the computer detects wheelspin, you’ve typically lost your momentum and are basically stationary, so the coefficient of friction (and therefore the required energy to get going again) is greater than when you had momentum.
A rally-inspired Outback will help Subaru sell more units and ignite the passion its customers miss.
But because you’ve got minimal or zero grip (tyre interlocking), you’re stuck and that ‘on demand’ AWD can’t save you. Point being, don’t lose traction or momentum in the first place. Buy a Subaru.
You do not want to be in a position where you drive down some fire trail to an idyllic campsite, where you can burn the dinner and commune with nature, and then it drizzles overnight. Because in the morning, if you try to get out and don’t have any momentum to start with, you generally won’t be able to drive out in a 2WD/on-demand system.
Regular trips to the snow, launching a boat on a ramp, rural property with driveway from Hell - all excellent reasons to own the AWD Outback in any variant or powertrain.
SAFETY
Virtually all the safety systems are standard which, admittedly, are a bit intrusive at times. But it’s the nature of the beast - modern cars, that is. Poverty Outback is, essentially, fully-loaded on safety - including driver monitoring and autonomous emergency steering. This is one area where Outback really delivers across the range, and you do learn to adapt to these systems, generally.
And even the more annoying features like lane-keeping are no longer the nanny overload forcing you into the centre of your lane. It’s more of a very gentle coercion, which is very easily overridden now, especially for anybody who likes to position the vehicle to one side of the lane in certain driving conditions, like ascending mountain roads where oncoming overloaded utes could clean you up as they round the same turn.
It needs to be said that Subaru’s systems have, for a long time now, been generally the best example of not being overdone and intrusive. There are very few false-positives and the stereoscopic cameras don’t usually scream at you unless it’s feasibly relevant to you. I think this is the legacy of having developed their EyeSight safety gear years before anybody else was doing it in the mainstream brands. Subaru pioneered them and got the R&D done properly.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Brake Light Recognition
Intelligent Speed Limiter
Speed Limiter
Speed Sign Recognition
Lead Vehicle Start Alert
Emergency Lane Keep Assist
Lane Centring Function
Lane Departure Prevention
Lane Departure Warning
Lane Sway Warning
Pre-Collision Braking System
Pre-Collision Brake Assist
Pre-Collision Throttle Management
Autonomous Emergency Steering
EyeSight was one of the earliest mass market systems featuring adaptive cruise, emergency braking and vehicle-to-vehicle monitoring. Subaru developed the system using stereoscopic cameras developed from some of Logitech’s earliest webcam technology.
Essentially, Subaru still uses this kind of technology today, favouring the clever software and image processing method over sole reliance on infrared and sonar-based systems which you might recognise on vehicles with a smooth, shiny piece of plastic at the front of the vehicle, either in the grille or doubling as the vehicle’s logo.
For many years, EyeSight has been something of a benchmark in terms of offering adaptive cruise, lane-departure and auto emergency braking to mainstream car buyers at an affordable price, when premium brands were charging thousands on top of their already expensive cars.
But things have changed. The market has caught up and base models from Kia, Hyundai and Mazda all offer these safety features.
What matters with EyeSight is how well it’s integrated, how Subaru has designed its system to brake gently when vehicles merge in front, the way the lane-keeping and departure warnings are present without being alarming and panic-inducing - despite their occasional dim-wittedness.
Because they’ve been improving their system the longest, Subaru has managed to keep the false-positives and intrusions to a minimum. Although, I hate that the ability to deactivate these systems, compared with the previous model, have now been put being the touchscreen menu, rather than a simple one-push button on the dash above the driver’s left knee in the old car.
(Same goes for turning off the ignition stop/start, which defaults on every single time and cannot be permanently switched off, and has to be deactivated by accessing the vehicle menu in the touchscreen.)
Outback was tested in early 2021 under fairly recent ANCAP test protocol, but they have been superseded from 2023 onwards. This means Outback was not tested against criteria such as ‘vehicle submergence’ (however inapplicable that scenario is like to be), ‘child presence detection’, and specific pedestrian injury types like tibia & knee, femur, and pelvis protection.
However it did score pretty well in the vulnerable road user tests (these include cyclists and pedestrians). It performed poorly when head impacts were tested against the lower parts of the windscreen and pillars, but this is fairly common among similar tests on many vehicles. It was also marked down two points for failing to engage auto emergency braking to stop in reverse at 4km/h.
Having said that, that hallmark EyeSight collision avoidance system was flawless, meaning there’s a better chance you’re going to avoid the collision entirely over someone’s noggin actually collecting with that hard lower windscreen region.
In all the critical crash tests, Outback was pretty good. But there are two concerns as to how Outback’s safety standard will carry into the future because front-centre airbags are present in all new vehicle models coming out these days, particularly since the 2023 model-year. But Outback doesn’t have a front-centre airbag and that’s a bit concerning because it prevents or minimises head-to-head impacts during lateral impacts and that is one area Outback didn’t score any points.
The underlying issue here is that airbags are part of the vehicle’s platform fundamentals. You can’t just stick one in during some model update a few years later, otherwise Kia and Hyundai would’ve probably put curtain airbags in row 3 years ago, but couldn’t.
So Outback has to go another 5 years without that front-centre airbag. It’s one of the only large SUVs without one in 2024 and beyond, and that’s a bit disappointing considering Subaru makes a big deal about its safety credentials.
TOWING
Subaru has upgraded the frontal cooling of the new Outback with a larger capacity to dissipate heat compared with the previous model.
This is what was actually holding the old car back, not some rumour mill bullshit like the CVT’s reliability or some weakness in the drivetrain. It was simply a heat management limitation in the previous Outback’s radiator design which meant they couldn’t offer a towing capacity greater than 1500kg (braked) on the 2.5 or 1800kg on the 3.6R.
The new car, of course, now offers a segment competitive 2000kg of braked towing capacity, with 200kg of towball download, governed, of course, by a 2200kg Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM). This leaves you a payload of just 292kg if the full 2000kg trailer and 200kg of towball download limit are applied to the Touring spec. If you need max payload, I’d be going for the lighter base model and getting back an extra 35kg.
While the peak power output has increased just 7 per cent to the same as the old 3.6R, the new Outback in its heaviest Touring trim, is 1708kg with a full tank of fuel (63 litres of 91 RON).
As pictured in the brochure, try not to tow 2.4 tonnes with your 1.7t Outback, despite Subaru saying it nearly 10 times.
The Outback XT is being sexed up as a bigger towing option than the atmo version, and on a technical note, that’s true. But the notion of Outback pulling 2400kg - a trailer weighing about 500kg more than the Outback itself - is fundamentally sketchy from a safety perspective.
If you pull 2.4 tonnes with your Touring XT, you will be travelling solo because as pictured above, you won’t be getting many passengers or their luggage aboard for the big Easter camping trip to Dingo Piss Creek.
So be modest with your towing assignments for both the atmo and turbo Outback, keeping everything below the weight of the underlying vehicle which happens to be between about 1673kg and 1777kg, variant depending. The reason I say ‘about’ is because Subaru quotes tare weight, which excludes a full 63-litre tank of fuel.
Keep your trailer below 1.6 to 1.7 tonnes and you’re on the safer side of Newton’s Laws of Motion. That second law’s a doozy >>.
Subaru Outback sales, 2023
According to VFACTS data, Subaru Outback had a rockstar 2023, locked in battle with Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento and Mazda CX-9. Also, the Kluger struggled for once in its life.
Here’s what the sales figures looked like, ranked in order.
2023 total large SUV sales (non-4X4)
WARRANTY & SERVICING
You’ll be servicing your Outback every 12,500kms or 12 months, whichever occurs first. And Subaru has a pretty good customer care record here in Australia, so there’s that.
Outback warranty is: 5 years/Unlimited kilometres, plus 12 months roadside assist
CONCLUSION
Which Outback should you pick?
If you’re on the fence at this point, here’s some help getting you off it and choosing an Outback model grade.
Given the fact Subaru has made the smart commercial decision to run the large tablet screen across all its models, and the fact the atmo model range has shrunk to three, the high spec-level of the base model Outback has to be the best of the naturally aspirated bunch.
If you forgo pointless things like satnav, sunroof and heated steering wheel - all pretty trivial and largely unnecessary - in favour of a far more practical towing capacity and payload, that could be a good place to start. Why? Because you can always add things and spend more. If you want to get the most adventurous use out of your Outback, the base model is the one to go for.
You get all the key EyeSight safety features, and now tyre pressure monitoring which is an excellent addition to the Outback range (and it’s a pretty good system as far as I’ve tested - accurate within 2 PSI, easy to access and clear to read).
However, if you’re never going to aspire to have a towbar fitted (let alone hitch a trailer) and pack to go away for the school holidays, then perhaps the niceties of the premium stereo, power tailgate and heated seats front-to-rear are going to get more use. Particularly if you live in Tasmania or the Blue Mountains.
So for anybody looking to squeeze the most from their Outback, losing the extra kilos on the Touring in favour of satisfying the GVM, the base model is superior and $8000 cheaper.
But if you’ve been waiting patiently for Subaru to reinvigorate the Outback and give it that thumping heart of a turbocharged Boxer - for the first time in 20 years you can have exactly that. A family car that’s a fun to rev as it is to shove your stuff into. The Touring XT is undoubtedly a return to punchy, exciting wagon-based family travel dads like you have long been waiting for.
And that’s hard to put a price on.
