Subaru Outback Review

[@joshnnik]

A very fair and honest review. I live and play in the countryside. I’ve owned my 2019 Outback SE from new. It doesn’t have leather seats, electric tailgate or a sunroof but it does have front ,n/s door mirror and tailgate cameras which are so useful. It’s virtually unstoppable off-road and often more economical than expected. It carries wet and muddy people and dogs everywhere, I love it.

[@davidviner5783]

Very comprehensive review of an under-rated car.

[@AutoBears]

Thank you very much for the comment David. I am happy to hear you enjoyed the review.

[@russellhomans2173]

Interesting review David, when i purchased my outback i was relying on translated Russian reviews. My thoughts after owing my car, a touring like the one you tested, for over a year and 16,000 miles. Well screwed together despite an intermittent rattle in the front dash. My average mpg is 35.9 on mixed driving and 40 mpg on a recent drive from Bristol to the Lake District. Around town however you can almost see the gauge dropping. Very comfortable, in my view ride and seats better then my old Volvo V90 and the boot space is more useable as well. The cvt can be intrusive on hard acceleration but otherwise the car is relaxing and the the assisted steering is wonderful on the motorway, again better then the Volvo system. Subaru are replacing the rear light cluster under warranty due to unexplained cracks. The safety features can be intrusive however and yawning does make the car tell you to stay alert. I have driven in snow and on very muddy building sites and never had to use the X mode. Overall relaxing and smooth but not a WRX in any way shape or form. test drive one and you might be surprised but the dealer network is a bit sparse.

[@robertpreston3965]

Without a doubt the best car on the road.

[@minnybiker4505]

I want this car pretty badly. Hopefully I can afford one someday soon. Nice review, Bear, thank you!

[@AutoBears]

You're most welcome. Thank you for the comment. Hope you're able to to get yourself a nice Outback soon!

[@minnybiker4505]

@@AutoBears I ended up ordering a Limited in the new Dark Mahogany Pearl. No Nappa leather, sadly, but just couldn't stretch the budget. But very excited about everything else!

[@adrianjacobs1478]

The powered tailgate has a gesture opening feature - hold your hand/elbow near the blue badge.

[@askaniuk]

Shame we don't get all the variants within the outback range the wilderness, xt, xt oynx

[@willotoole4118]

Looks great 👍

[@ycding1807]

Subaru is not selling well in China. 2 weeks ago I ordered my Outback to replace my 13-year old Highlander. I got it for 1 week and totally fall in love with it.😍

[@peterbredo7019]

Good review, but the Outback or any Subaru with permanent AWD does not understeer - they are neutral and predictable when cornering, which is one of Subaru's commitments to safety.

[@robertpreston3965]

The sound system on the field version is alright. The bass settings muddy the sound, but if you turn this down and tweak with the bass and beat enhancer you can get around this.

[@Majklovo]

I'm thinking about this car as a new one for our family. Right now we have Octavia 2 combi and it's a huge different. I checked Outback and than at same day new Skoda models. For that price is Outback much better car. In all aspects 😀

[@MarthaMansbridge]

Try owning one and see how it feels after a few thousand miles… engine, gearbox, economy, pace and build quality are way off the mark

[@timothypierce8986]

Interesting comment about the lack of front parking sensors and 360• camera. Did you find the front facing camera was insufficient for parking in tight spaces?

[@AutoBears]

Thank you for your comment Tim. The front camera was fine but for a top of the range vehicle, it would’ve been nice to have the 360 degree.

[@adrianjacobs1478]

There is a passenger side camera too, but not driver's side, go figure

[@MarthaMansbridge]

The cameras aren’t very good - the front view is almost ‘fishbowl’ style so aside from poor quality of the image it’s also a very unrealistic view so it demands even more driver attention to look at it - not ideal. For a car this big (it’s one of the longest cars you can buy) it definitely needs a 360 and a good quality one at that.

[@Mart16g]

Is this a good upgrade on a Volvo XC70 ?

[@randyreynolds1045]

Great❤suv!

[@Doc1855]

I love the nose on the Outback in Europe. Here in the States it’s boring. Other than that, we Love our Outback

[@MrMeflying]

Not a fun of the green color anymore, I was in the green car and my car was hit by another car, he simply did not see my car among the summer greenery.

[@user-wt8jp4qx6l]

I've owned an OB for just over a year now, and while I'm really very impressed with it, especially for rural and light off-road use, it has a massive achilleas heel - the battery! Don't leave it at an airport carpark for a couple of weeks and return from your flight expecting it to startup. Very disappointing and Subaru have known about this issue for 5 years or more on all their models. Other than that it's a no nonsense reliable, safe drive. PS - I'm glad there's no e-boxer version and only wish we got the turbo engine here in Europe and the wilderness variant too - tasty!

[@Doc1855]

Contact Subaru of America and they’ll replace your battery for free bc of a Class action law suit.

[@user-wt8jp4qx6l]

@@Doc1855 Sadly David I don't think that'll apply to cars in the UK. Nice thought though, and thanks for your supportive reply.

[@AutoBears]

Thank you for your comment J. It does seem to be something I've heard about on Subaru cars. Especially the BRZ & GT86. I would love to start reviewing cars in the US. Love to see the Outback Wilderness.

[@katsm-wo9704]

I have had my 2023 outback touring since November and haven’t run across any issues with the battery at all and I live in a very rural area with cold temperatures in Canada. I’m glad to hear about this though because I will watch out for it if if I have to leave the car for an extended period of time.

[@katsm-wo9704]

I have a front view camera in my 2023 outback touring XT. Are you reviewing a 2022 or 2023 model

[@Doc1855]

I see that you too have to endure depressing grey or death black interior colors, that became popular in 1990. Thankfully here in the States we can get the Limited with Ivory leather or cloth interior (like ours), or in the Touring model we can get Napa brown leather interior.

[@AutoBears]

Hi David. Thank you for your comment. Should I come to the US to review some cars across the pond? That is an idea I've had. The wilderness spec looks good!

[@Doc1855]

@@AutoBears Sure, come on over. We live in north central WA state in a mountainous area. A LOT of people drive Subaru’s here. The Wilderness trim is a great off roader. I’m sure Cascade Subaru in Wenatchee Washington would let you borrow a Wilderness to do a review with.

[@markt9023]

The seat setting is not that good, if you wife is small and sits close and your big you can't get in the seat for the scan to work!! Button would be better

[@MarthaMansbridge]

I’ve had this exact model now for nearly 18 months - without doubt the worst car I’ve ever owned in terms of build quality and fit and finish. Mine suffers from a ‘known’ (as in nearly all sunroof models have it - rife in America where they sell 700k cars a year!) issue with the roof panel detaching from the roof struts - Subaru have glued it, siliconed it, taped it - to no avail so whenever the car is in motion, even the tiniest flex in the body resonates into creaking on the roof - it literally sounds like an old wooden ship. The interior trim squeaks and rattles on the dash and especially the door panels. The speakers make the door pockets vibrate. The 11” screen looks nice but is slow and glitchy - constantly resets itself, hates CarPlay for more than 20 minutes. Engine is gutless, slow off the mark and terribly unrefined in terms of noise - covered 16k and averaged 28mpg. Huge amounts of noise and revs amounts to utterly ponderous progress - as for a lack of Hybrid? Steer clear - Subaru’s e-Boxer engines are even worse offering no economy or pace advantage at all - what this car needs is the 2.4 turbo engine they offer everywhere else. The cameras front and back are dreadful in terms of quality - reversing this car in the dark is like Russian roulette - you can’t see a thing because the camera is terrible in the dark and the reversing lights are like Victorian gas lanterns. Subaru’s ‘famed’ symmetrical AWD is mostly hype - there’s nothing it’ll do that any decent Haldex system can’t - Haldex AWD is found in all the Volvos, VW, Skoda, Audi, Seat to name a few. One other thing to watch - if you’re a young family and you need ISOfix seats - there’s something about the design of the rear bench, comfortable for people, but the angles are all wrong for many Baby Seats - they just don’t fit tightly at all - make sure to really check which will because almost every Silver Cross, Britax, Cybex, Joie Baby are poorly fitting - I’m sure they’re safe but they just don’t fit snuggly either to the seat back or base. All in all I’d say you can find far better AWD cars in this price range with better reliability, and a more plentiful dealership network which you will undoubtedly need quite often. To give the car some credit - it’s very spacious, it rides and handles very well - it’s clearly well engineered in terms of suspension - it looks good, the Autumn Green colour is classic Subaru - I’d you live in the Country this looks the part - I desperately want to love it but my real world experience of ownership has put me off not only the car but the brand.

[@rsmnh7892]

Are always like this with women?

[@shaun1900]

You have shit cars built in America, right-hand drive cars are built in Japan and they are rock solid.

[@rarecuts3832]

Why did you buy one then

[@mileskinnersley7426]

You have ranted so much I can’t take this review seriously