Subaru Outback

Well balanced ride that honest, simple yet fairly well equipped. Having driven a Lexus GS sedan and a Harrier before the Outback, I feel the Outback is a great middle ground between the two in terms of ride and handling. What it lacks in power, it makes up in a more linear delivery and a better ride than the GS. It's not as comfy and soft sprung as the Harrier, but its handles with more confidence. Of course what's important is your particular reference point and emphasis, to me I prefer the Outback to my previous rides!

Its my first review in car forum. Not new to driving and certainly not new to cars. Outback is my 6th car over the last 20 years of driving. Been driving it for 2 years now and decided to give an honest review about this car. Mine is the 2016 model.

Suspension setup determines the comfort level when a car is moving. Outback shines in this area and comes with heaps of features. If you switch these features to auto, you can simply start the car and drive off whether it is day or night. Next is the reliability of this car. A 2.5 NA car will go a long way before it fails you. If you are concerned about FC, then you should not look at cars beyond 2L in general. This is just my experience with cars. Now Outback is a SUV afterall. Its balanced power and weight remind you the reason why you buy a SUV. Cornering ability and acceleration are not in the DNA of a SUV. I will be happy to drive in comfort and even let motorcycles overtake me. This is my mindset when I bought the Outback. I do not think I will drive it until the end of its COE but I think I will remember this car as a good family car with happy kids no matter where the destination is. Interior wise, it is solid build and almost everything is black in colour. Something I like actually.

Finally, if any subaru fan or staff at MI reading this. CVT in particular 2nd to 3rd gear ratio can be shortened to reduce whine/drone for Outback. Its not a TC car.

Owning outback 2018 for slightly more than a year. So share some of my views on this ride.

The engine is the same as last generation outback, a 2.5L NA. So performance wise should be the same. What is new on this car is memory seat, eye sight, upgrade console supporting car play. Some car mag also highlighted some CVT optimization, which I have no idea.

Power wise, decent but definitely can't outrun a turbo charged hot-hatch. In sport mode, and a heavy right foot however, I can do overtaking with ease, thanks for the good handling.

It has permanent 4WD, so I can corner with high speed if I ignore the comfort level of the back-seat passengers. (normally, I will get an earful from Mrs if I do that). During one of the trips to the north, we encountered pouring rain. But the car performed very well. I could still drive at 80km/hr without worrying about aquaplaning. I think it must be the 4WD helping to plant the car on the ground.

The car is very roomy, and high ground clearance than normal sedan. It is comfortable to sit in. With high ground clearance also means I can drive through puddle of water where sedans have to park at the side and wait.

It comes with eye-sight, which packs with all the high tech features like lane departure warning, collision prevention, blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruising. They are useful but I can also turn them off if I want. Other features like electric tail gate and harman kardon speakers.

My first Subaru was a 2005 Forester and I have grown to like Subaru's AWD system. I owned an Outback since 2016 and enjoyed the car ever since. The exterior styling was striking with strong lines and stance. The interior is typical Subaru and could use a little updating especially with the headunit that came without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Space in the Outback is aplenty with a carnivorous boot, you will never run out of space. WIth the 2nd row seats folded down, you can easily fit a whole road or mountain bike in it with the wheels attached. There will still be space left over for many other things.

The 2.5L Boxer never failed to perform, chugging out torque when you need it. You could tell the difference between driving a 1.4L or 1.8L turbo engine vs a 2 or 2.5L engine. The CVT is smooth and linear giving a very comfortable drive behind the wheel. Sure the fuel consumption can't be compared to a smaller engine car but one should expect that when considering a Subaru. I averaged 450km per 40L of petrol with 50% Highway.

The AWD system like all subbies allow the Outback to be solidly planted to the road. I am always confident behind the wheel whether the road is dry or wet.

In summary, the Outback is a great family hauler with distinct Subaru characteristics. I only wish the the infotainment system is more modern.

I was wondering does the all new Subaru Outback comes with a 3.6L with the new eye sight system?

OR

The 2.5L comes with the eye sight system?

Test drive on 5 Sep 2016, together with FXT.

The exterior is great, car is lower than FXT, which mean more comfort for the passengers, especially for backseat passengers.

The interior is spacious, backseat passengers felt more comfortable compare to FXT, we squeezed in 3 adult and 2 kids inside, same as FXT.

Driving is pleasure, smooth and comfort, lack of Turbocharge engine will mean lack of surge of powerful push when acceleration, even though it is a 2.5l engine. Due to the lower height of car, the passengers backseat felt lots more comfortable then FXT, also because of this car is slightly wider than FXT, also because there is air-con vent for backseat.

Very spacious and comfortable car to be in.

driven the Outback back to back with Forester on same day with a small area of wet roads.

Bodyroll is not as much compared to Forester.

Seats are very supportive

Space on the rear row is very good.

Can sit 3 little boys and 1 adult.(tried only in showroom)

Car is not fast off the line due its weight and NA engine, but once on the move, it does build speed pretty well. Land change from 60-90 is good. 2.5L better as its NA. NA forester have no such poke, only the XT Forester gets more poke.

Lovely car to have. Amount of features and goodies in and on the car is plenty. Some features may not be used locally.

i really loved the punchy engine when tested it out,however it is a 2.5 litre,hence i believe that subaru can improve on the car engine to give it more horses under the hood.although not very powerful,do not expect a 2.5litre engine to be slow and draggy like the xv,it is still very good in terms of performance,on par with thi really loved the punchy engine when tested it out,however it is a 2.5 litre,hence i believe that subaru can improve on the car engine to give it more horses under the hood.although not very powerful,do not expect a 2.5litre engine to be slow and draggy like the xv,it is still very good in terms of performance,on par with the mitsubishi outlander. exterior wise,it lacks the led running day lights otherwise perfect. however, the two reflectors at the back bumper of the car may not be to some of the drivers liking. if these two features are improved on, i believe that the outback is as good as or even more upmarket than most continental cars. interior of the outback is surprisingly huge thanks to the 2.7m wheelbase,giving rear occupants lots of legroom. personally, i would not hestitate to sit back in the subaru during long trips. if you are someone that uses the ns highway commonly, i believe that you will need to have good stability on high speeds. when i sat in my friends outback on a trip to kedah, we travelled along the highway. there were five occupants in the car,the was no sign of sluggishness nor was there any squeeze on the car. hence i can confidently say that the outback 2.5 litre has good engine power and lots of comfort due to the suspension which is neither stiff nor bouncy. the rear vents made the hot weather ignorable. thus, it is a very cool car to be in when compared to cars with weaker aircon,like the cr-v and x trail. the visibility of the car was also great. i can see the roads clearly with no pillars or any parts of the car blocking. driving the outback is more relaxing and less tiring thanks to the auto rain sensors , auto headlamps,blind spot warning and cameras in the car when parking. steering wise, the outback gave good road feedback,the steering does not make me feel that i am driving a 1.6 ton car. it also has more than 200mm of ground clearance, giving you the ability to park at any place without scratching the bumpers which is commonly seen in mazda 3 and mazda 5 which only has 95 and 100 mm of ground clearance. at the back of the outback, the boot space is phenomenal!!!! i just cannot believe how much it can win other suvs of about the same size. however great the outback is, there are some drawbacks of the car, for example the fuel consumption. the monster is thirsty. another problem is that in singapore road tax is expensivee mitsubishi outlander. exterior wise,it lacks the led running day lights otherwise perfect. however, the two reflectors at the back bumper of the car may not be to some of the drivers liking. if these two features are improved on, i believe that the outback is as good as or even more upmarket than most continental cars. interior of the outback is surprisingly huge thanks to the 2.7m wheelbase,giving rear occupants lots of legroom. personally, i would not hestitate to sit back in the subaru during long trips. if you are someone that uses the ns highway commonly, i believe that you will need to have good stability on high speeds. when i sat in my friends outback on a trip to kedah, we travelled along the highway. there were five occupants in the car,the was no sign of sluggishness nor was there any squeeze on the car. hence i can confidently say that the outback 2.5 litre has good engine power and lots of comfort due to the suspension which is neither stiff nor bouncy. the rear vents made the hot weather ignorable. thus, it is a very cool car to be in when compared to cars with weaker aircon,like the cr-v and x trail. the visibility of the car was also great. i can see the roads clearly with no pillars or any parts of the car blocking. driving the outback is more relaxing and less tiring thanks to the auto rain sensors , auto headlamps,blind spot warning and cameras in the car when parking. steering wise, the outback gave good road feedback,the steering does not make me feel that i am driving a 1.6 ton car. it also has more than 200mm of ground clearance, giving you the ability to park at any place without scratching the bumpers which is commonly seen in mazda 3 and mazda 5 which only has 95 and 100 mm of ground clearance. at the back of the outback, the boot space is phenomenal!!!! i just cannot believe how much it can win other suvs of about the same size. however great the outback is, there are some drawbacks of the car, for example the fuel consumption. the monster is thirsty. another problem is that in singapore road tax is expensive

Used to drive a 2011 forester xt and initially was having difficulty to decided if the outback would be the right car as the forester was really a fun vehicle to drive (smaller and more horses under the hood). However, after test driven the outback and found that it offers a very relaxing drive and very spacious. Finally bought one and had it delivered a couple months ago. The impression of the outback has grown better...More comfortable, quite, good fuel consumption and feels safe. The performance is totally acceptable (unless if one was carrying a full and heavy load) and handling well. No regret.....

I'm torn in between. Should it be identified as a Stationwagon or Crossover or SUV? It's pretty tall, drives like a wagon, goes and behaves in off road condition better than some SUVs (as seen on online videos), comfortable interior and full of features that some Continentals do not offer (extra options alternatively). Sturdy drive, high observable driving cockpit with great display and decently quiet on well paved roads. Great Harmon Kardon sound system connected to the awesomely easy to operate Subaru audio entertainment. Bluetooth connectivity is easily paired. Enjoying the ride so far and I hope to get plenty more joy for the next many years, until COE prices recedes again that is...

Have been driving in a well behaved and cultured manner during this running in period to maximise the fuel. 7.8litres / 100km (Summary since collection). Getting slightly more that 500km with 1/8 of the tank indicator left. (Last top up at same mark. 1st top up was until 7/8 indicator). Pretty decent consumption but hopefully it gets even better beyond the first servicing.

Can't comment much about power though since I've been rather disiciplined with the handling and careful not to stretch beyond the 3k RPM. Doesn't sound gruffy when pushed slightly.

Test driven the new Outback with new gearbox - acceleration is normal for a car of this size & running on a 2.5L NA engine. It is a pity the Outback does not utilize the same engine as the Forester 2.0 XT. Car handling is excellent with comfortable suspension; Cabin is good unless when reving the engine hard.

Went for a test drive recently. The outback is really eye catching vehicle on the exterior. It is a much improved version of the hey day of the legacy outback wagon. It's taller, wider, sleek, sexy headlights. It is basically a bigger version of the Legacy. Red pearl colour in particular is appealing.

Inside the vehicle, you'll be amazed at how much space there is inside. It has a luxurious feel, with seriously a lot of seating space for passengers. Driver's seat is positioned nicely and the driving view is excellent, it being a tall vehicle. Boot space is obviously great too, being a wagon. I feel this is the outback's selling point - loads of space for the family. In fact, it beats the forester flat in terms of space.

Tech has also been improved for the Outback. Electronic seats, cruise control, reclining rear passenger seats, electronic parking brake, larger screen for reverse camera and interactive system, auto tailgate, rear air con vents. Really not too bad!

The drive however is lackluster. I test drove the forester XT before this so in comparison, this is really a far cry. You can really feel the weight of the car when moving off, and the 2.5 NA engine felt insufficient to move this monster. The Lineartronic CVT didn't help that much either, although I felt in Sport mode, using paddle shifters made it a little better to drive. The drive is smooth though, so if you're the type of driver that likes a simple safe smooth drive, then you can give the Outback a shot.

With grandsons and their gear, a wagon or SUV would be the practical choice. After living with a W123 Wagon, then 2 V70's in a row when the children were younger, I have come to realize how practical such cars are when there are prams, bikes and safety concerns. I test drove this new Outback which is prettier than all the previous ones - which I had actually considered vs the Volvo V70 more than a decade ago. I find SUVs a bit imposing and clumsy to drive so I thought why not try the Subaru. I must say the interior is much better than I remembered. The drive more compliant and quiet with very good handling and excellent turning radius. The CVT which is not my preferred gear train, performed quite responsively and with the paddle gear shifters you can get the beast hustling. Space is excellent. Took it for an extended road test and I must say it is now near the top of the list of cars I am considering to change my current aging XJ6L.

I was originally in the market for the Subaru Legacy and couldn't help but notice the evident similarities between the Legacy and this new Outback. I have never been much of a crossover lover but seeing that the Outback looked so similar to the car I originally wanted and with even more space offered, I hopped into one and gave it a go.

The Outback was in instant hit with the missus (shes a sucker for all things spacious). It is a surprisingly easy drive given that the Outback is far from bitty. Driving position is pretty close to perfect and the console dials are all easily within reach.

The Outback isn't a slow vehicle but I expected a little more punch from the 2.5L engine. However, reminding myself that this is a crossover, the ample space in the car made up for it.