Subaru Outback information: everything you need to know if you own it, are thinking of buying one or just want to find out more about the crossover. Click on the links below for all of CAR magazine’s news, reviews, videos, scoops and spy photos of the Outback car range.
Background
Barring the BRZ and WRX STI models, the Subaru range seems to tread all over its own segments; and so it’s no surprise to learn that the Outback name is coined from past Legacy and Impreza derivatives. But today it marks a standalone car available with either a 2.0 diesel or 2.5-litre petrol.
60sec road test
The revised Outback is now a serious market competitor. A more premium interior, high levels of equipment and appealing on-road manners ensure the Outback can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its rivals and yet undercut them significantly in price. Better still, the Outback is true to the nature of a crossover by successfully bridging the gap between family wagon and a utilitarian go-anywhere 4x4. The engine struggles with the 1800kg bulk but in avoiding the CVT transmission it’s a perfectly liveable package.
The one we’d buy
2.0D SE Manual
The one we’d avoid like the plague
2.5i SE Premium Lineartronic
Rivals to consider
Audi A6 Allroad, Volvo XC70, or Volkswagen Passat Alltrack
For
Pricewise it significantly undercuts its premium badge competitors
Against
Claimed MPG is only mid-40s but even then you’ll dip into the 30s