The Outback just gets better
The Subaru Outback is 25 years old and still the best at what it does, writes Nile Bijoux.
The Subaru Outback has always been an exceedingly capable machine, on and off the beaten track. Earlier this year, the Japanese brand launched the sixth generation with a wide array of updates, and we have the range-topping Touring variant on hand to check everything out.
Thanks, Subaru, for still making off-road-capable station wagons. This still a wagon, right?
is It might not necessarily look like it at first, but the Outback is larger than the Forester in all dimensions except height, where the latter is taller by 70 millimetres with an extra 7mm of ground clearance (220mm versus 213mm).
That makes the Outback longer, lower and wider. . . which sounds a lot like a Legacy wagon but taller. Funny that.
I don’t like change so I’m going to call it a wagon.
Go for gold. Whatever segment you put it in inside your mind, the Outback is still a very attractive machine.
Outside are evolutionary changes, with refreshed headlights that wrap further around the redesigned front end, tail lights that sort of mimic the look of the Forester’s but smaller and rotated 180 degrees, LED lights at both ends
The interior has been given a thorough once-over, with many of the hard plastics banished to the fifthgeneration’s Wikipedia page.
This new Outback gets plenty of softtouch surfaces and the Touring adds leather coverings almost everywhere, an electric sunroof, a Harmon Kardon
audio system, driver recognition (that uses the driver monitoring camera to automatically recognise the driver and change the car’s settings to their pre-saved personalised choices), a CD player, a heated steering wheel and satin finish door mirrors.
The leather pews in the Touring offer decent support all around with good amounts of padding while the light brown trim in the tester here gives it an upmarket, European feel.
A headline change for the interior is a big new portrait display, which is quite impressive to behold. Unfortunately, the operating system behind the hardware hasn’t quite been fully updated to take advantage, with the navigation system
and the main menu about the only screens that use all that new digital real estate.
Should be an easy fix though, given it’s software-related.
What about hardware? Any changes there?
Subaru has put the new model on the Subaru Global Platform which has allowed for a bump in length and width by 50mm and 35mm respectively, as well as improvements in comfort, handling (onand off-road), structural rigidity and cabin noise.
There’s one powertrain across the board at the moment, a retuned version of the 2.5-litre naturally aspirated boxer four, now coming with 138kW/245Nm.
It’s still paired with a CVT, now getting eight ‘‘speeds’’ instead of the previous seven.
As it stands, the powertrain is fine. It’s mature enough that Subaru has ironed out any lingering niggles and the
CVT is arguably the best of its kind, thanks in part to its metal chain/pulley system, but it still suffers from drone and flaring inherent in a CVT system.
However, it’s tough to overlook the punchiness of turbo-charged engines, especially modern ones that have all but eliminated turbo lag.
On that, a 193kW turbo-charged version is in the works, but there’s no exact ETA just yet.
Am I right in assuming the Touring is the more on-road oriented model?
You would be. The mid-range X is aimed at people who want to go bouncing around the bush while the entry model is the budget offering, comparatively lacking in equipment but the only one to drop below the $50k mark.
We already know the new Outback is supremely capable off-road and, despite the lack of forced induction, we can confirm it’s supremely capable on-road too.
It might be tough to detect initially but the move to the new platform has resulted in some nice improvements to the handling characteristics without sacrificing comfort.
The improved sound deadening is apparent at speed, with barely any road and wind noise entering the cabin.
Ride comfort is, as you might expect from an Outback; superb. The suspension setup is unchanged from the previous multilinks and Macpherson struts (why fix what ain’t broke?) but hollow sway bars are new, helping keep weight down while maintaining cornering composure.
Bump absorption is fantastic and Subaru says the new platform can soak up an extra 40 per cent of crash energy.
The lower centre of mass compared to something taller like the Forester means the Outback hugs the road a bit more and doesn’t exhibit as much roll through the corners.
Quality Bridgestone Atenza rubber and that honed suspension means this is definitely the SUV for car people, if that makes sense.
Any other cars to consider?
There aren’t many that can do what the Outback does, in all honesty, at least to the same high standards.
Some manufacturers offer similar off-roady wagons around the $50-$60k price point, like Skoda’s $65k Superb Scout, which is probably better on tarmac thanks to a more powerful engine and nicer transmission but will be literally left in the dust once in the bush.
There aren’t many ordinary station wagons in this size/price range either, other than the non-Scout Skoda Superbs, but then you would just look like an unmarked police car.
As for SUVs? There is no shortage of options, with the likes of the Kia Sorento ($59,990 and Hyundai Santa Fe ($62,990) entry level models starting just above the top-spec Outback Touring’s asking price and being the closest to it in terms of driving experience, albeit taller.