It’s plainly superb

MIKE TORPEY FINDS SUBARU’S FOCUS ON SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE MAKES THE CARMAKER’S NEW OUTBACK THE EPITOME OF UNDERSTATED EXCELLENCE

SUBARU OUTBACK 2.5I SE PREMIUM Price: £32,995

NOWHERE is Japanese car maker Subaru’s brand ethos of ‘Better Where It Matters’ more perfectly illustrated than in the company’s Outback estate model.

Line up a mixed bag of crossovers, SUVS or 4x4s and one of the last to be chosen on looks alone might be the Subaru.

It’s not an unattractive offering, but it certainly wouldn’t win any fashion contests. Far more a case of substance over style with the Outback.

Under the skin though is a gem of a vehicle, one boasting some serious qualities – including top notch safety gizmos.

Among these is something Subaru calls Eyesight, and it has been responsible for the brand being voted best manufacturer for safety features in the UK’S top car ownership survey Driver Power.

Eyesight, standard on every Outback model, comprises a front view camera to monitor a 180-degree area in front of the car that would normally be in the driver’s blind spot and a side view camera to help drivers squeeze through narrow spaces.

There’s also a ‘view’ switch allowing drivers to move between display options on the car’s central touchscreen.

And the safety suite also includes the likes of Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Sway and Departure Warning, Lane Keep Assist, Pre-collision Throttle Management and headlights that respond to the steering direction.

This all matters of course, but then so do the Outback’s credentials as a rugged crossover estate and an ability to go anywhere and do anything have been hallmarks of the model for almost 25 years.

The Outback’s exterior style, with its hexagonal grille and hawk-eye headlights, hints at the expectation of a hard life and to that end, with its permanent all-wheel drive system, it’s as comfortable squelching through muddy fields as city streets.

Two four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ engines are available in the shape of a 2.0-litre turbodiesel producing 150bhp or a naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre petrol unit developing 175bhp. Our version featured the latter unit with the company’s Lineartronic CVT with manual mode transmission, the combination of which brought strong performance when fully loaded with passengers and gear and an average fuel return only a couple of miles short of the official 38.7mpg figure.

Not only is the Outback’s loadcarrying capacity immense but it also boasts a limo-level amount of interior space – with the rear seats lowered we were able to transport a wooden bed frame, old toaster, two expired microwaves, three large plastic cartons of junk and the contents of a garden shed to the tip.