Subaru Outback
Jacked-up wagon offered the best of both worlds for 2010
Toyota may crow about how its Venza opened up a whole new market segment, but, in reality, Subaru invented the crossover 15 years ago when it launched the original Outback.
With its slick all-wheel-drive system and jacked-up stance, it blended the best of the station wagon and SUV worlds into a single package.
Since then, there have been many imitators. The 2010 Outback continued the journey, but with more refinement.
As with the Legacy that model year, the Outback was larger. Its wheelbase was 70 millimetres longer and it was 50 mm wider and 105 mm taller.
The upsizing not only improved passenger space, it increased cargo capacity. With the rear seats upright, there’s 34.3 cubic feet of room. Folding them flat, which revealed a flat floor, opened up 71.3 cu. ft. of space.
Adopting a new rear double-wishbone suspension design cut the usual intrusion into the cargo area, which delivered more width between the wheelwells.
The 2010 Outback also got privacy glass, a soft privacy cover — which could be stowed under the trunk floor — and the necessary tie-downs.
If the need to carry more cargo came up, there was a clever twist to the roof rails. Rather than having the crossbars in place all the time, along with the attendant wind noise, the centre section of each side rail unlatched and swung across the car to the other rail, forming the needed cross-car support. When the need to carry something such as a canoe came up, one simply swung the crossbar back and locked it into the side rail position. Sometimes, the smartest ideas are so simple.
The cabin was just as smart. Its layout was logical and there was plenty of comfort for all to enjoy. Up front, the 3.6R Limited tested featured perforated, heated leather seats with 10-way power adjustment for the driver, an excellent 440-watt harman/ kardon sound system and dual-zone automatic climate control.
For those relegated to the rear, life was not so tough. There was plenty of room and the rear seatbacks reclined.
The Outback’s powertrain lineup mirrored that of the new Legacy. The starting point was the 2.5i’s PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle) engine. Despite its cleanliness (90 per cent cleaner than a non-PZEV engine), it dished out 170 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque. It arrived mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.
The Sport and Limited models used Subaru’s regular (non-PZEV) 2.5-L, 170-h.p. engine. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) was optional on both the base and Sport models, and was standard on the Limited.
As with the Legacy, the driving experience was lively and, as long as one used the CVT’s paddle shifters during hard acceleration, it was suitably quiet.
The powertrain of choice, however, was the 3.6-L flat-six and its five-speed manumatic. The 256 h.p. and 247 lb-ft. of torque brought a higher level of urgency and more refinement to the drive. On long downhill sections, a quick flick of the paddle shifter dropped the transmission a gear as the engine rev matched, which smoothed the downshift and brought the desired engine braking.
When it comes to handling, the 2010 Outback was, again, a pleasant surprise. There was minimal body roll, the response to steering input was fast and understeer was at arm’s length. Factor in the all-wheel drive and P225/60R17 tires and it all came together very nicely.
The 2010 Outback brought the right blend of practical utility, on-road refinement and off-road ruggedness, all of which make it the ideal companion for anyone with an active lifestyle — or a really gnarly cottage road.