First drive review: Subaru Outback

Friday, 26 February 2021

25 years after the launch of the original, Subaru's all-new Outback has landed in New Zealand.

SUBARU OUTBACK
Price range: $49,990 to $57,490
Powertrains: 2.5-litre petrol horizontally-opposed four-cylinder with 138kW/245Nm, 7.3L/100km, continuously variable transmission, AWD.

The entry Outback is a remarkably well-equipped car that costs exactly the same as it did 25 years ago when it first launched in New Zealand.

Body style: Five-door wagon.
On sale: Now.

The Outback X adds more equipment and a more off-roady look.

25 years after the original launched as a variant of the Legacy wagon, Subaru New Zealand has unleashed an all-new version of its most popular car, the iconic Outback, now a separate model and packing more tech and luxury than ever before.

Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?

While the top-spec Outback Touring takes the more road-oriented luxury path. All are impressively capable off-road though.

The latest version of the Outback is the first to sit on the new Subaru Global Platform that underpins the Impreza, XV and Levorg and also features a “90 per cent new” version of the 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine with fractionally more power (up 7 per cent to 138kW) and torque (up 4.2 per cent to 245Nm) than the old one.

**READ MORE:

* Subaru bids farewell to the Legacy

Subaru are calling this incarnation the ‘Greatest Outback Of All time’. That’s what the number plate means, by the way.

* Sunday Drive: Subaru Outback X

* All-new Forester front and centre for Subaru New Zealand

Subaru has drastically upped its interior game with the Outback – it’s full of high quality, soft-touch surfaces now.

* Car, crossover, SUV: what's the difference anyway?

The Outback isn’t afraid to get dirty. Which was rather handy on the muddy and dusty road through the Nevis Valley.

That’s right – there’s no six-cylinder engines in the lineup, and there won’t be in the future either, although a 193kW turbo version has been confirmed as coming soon.

As always, AWD is standard across the Outback range, with the travelling to all four wheels through a “refined” version of Subaru’s Lineartronic continuously variable transmission, that now features an 8-speed manual mode, up one over the previous version’s seven.

The Outback is fractionally larger than the last one, being 50mm longer and 35mm wider and Subaru has drastically upped the quality of the interior, largely banishing the hard plastics that have been a Subaru interior hallmark for some time now in favour of high-quality soft-touch surfaces throughout the entire range.

The Outback X is our pick of the range. Whether you like it or not will depend on your attitude towards green highlights though.

Local version of the Outback is slightly different to the version that has been around in the USA for a while now, with a more “crossover-y” appearance, thanks to the black guards and a different grille, but the range is relatively simple at launch, with just one drivetrain and three trim levels to choose from.

First up is the standard Outback that kicks off the range at $49,990 and comes standard with18-inch alloy wheels, power front seats, a big 11.6-inch portrait-orientation touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Subaru’s Dual Function X-Mode off-road programme that now features a deep snow/mud mode, the new fourth-generation EyeSight driver assist system, self-levelling LED headlights and Subaru's clever roof rack system that integrates fold-out crossbars into the roof rails.

The off-road-oriented $54,990 Outback X gets all of the entry car’s features, but adds water resistant synthetic leather upholstery, dark metallic 18-inch alloy wheels, heated seats front and rear, a leather steering wheel, front and side cameras, integrated satellite navigation, a powered tailgate with a hands-free sensor in the rear badge (no foot waving here), a black grille, door mirrors, fog light surrounds, front and rear bumper guards and rear badge, as well as green exterior accents and green stitching on the interior.

Finally, the range-topper (so far) is the $57,490 Outback Touring that drops the X’s exterior bling (and green stitching) and adds gloss-finish 18-inch alloys, Nappa leather upholstery throughout, 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.

Where did you drive it?

Subaru New Zealand were, as always – and rightfully – confident in the Outback’s off-road abilities so let us loose through the legendary Nevis Valley.

Keep in mind that this is a road with warning signs each end saying that it most certainly isn’t suitable for cars, so the Outback’s ‘crossover’ status would be well and truly tested.

Except it wasn’t really – anyone who has ever driven one off-road in the past 25 years will immediately know that the Outback is remarkably adept at such things, regardless of its origins as a Legacy wagon, and that, well, legacy (sorry) continues with the new one.

We drove a base-spec Outback during the entire day and thanks to the fact that the entire range now gets Subaru’s Dual Function X-Mode, it certainly wasn’t left wanting by the higher-spec cars in an off-road sense. Or an on-road one either, for that matter.

On a sealed road the Outback feels instantly familiar, despite being on a new platform. That means it is beautifully composed and confidently planted, with the sort of cornering stance a full-blown SUV could never even dream of.

The ride is somewhat firmer than you would probably imagine, but it is never intrusive or unpleasant, and just adds to the general air of confident predictability that the Outback has.

The seats (just your basic cloth pews in the entry car) were simply superb, being both supportive and armchair-like in their comfort, while the newly luxurious interior is a simply massive improvement. Where previously Subarus have generally had a number of screens scattered around the cabin, everything has been wrangled onto the single large touchscreen in the Outback, making for a far more ergonomically pleasing experience.

There are still buttons for the essential operations, which is nice, although the large screen in the entry car did feel a bit like it was a big, impressive fancy screen that actually did very little without the embedded navigation of the higher spec cars.

The engine and transmission are probably the weakest link in the Outback’s otherwise impressive arsenal on the road, with the naturally-aspirated engine needing just a tad more torque to be truly convincing, while the CVT only added to that “ever-so-slightly lacking” feeling on the open road. Off-road, however, it felt well-suited to terrain crawling, with a nice, linear throttle response and deeply impressive traction for something without a low range.

What’s the pick of the range?

While we spent our time in the entry car, it would seem that the Outback X offers the best value-for-money and right feature-spec in the range. If you can get with the green highlights, that is.

That said, the entry car offers up a convincing package for very reasonable money – interestingly, at $49,990 it costs the same as the original Outback did back when it launched in 1996, making it even better value for money now.

Why would I buy it?

Because you want a roomy, comfortable, high-spec crossover without resorting to the unwieldy bulk of a tall SUV. Or because you are already an Outback owner and always will be. They tend to be like that.

Why wouldn’t I buy it?

You remain singularly unconvinced by CVTs and the Outback’s will do literally nothing to change your mind. Or because you are already an Outback owner and you are waiting for the 193kW turbo version that will be arriving at some stage…