Aussies might buy Prados and Pajeros but the Subaru Outback is the SUV most people really need. It's a Liberty wagon in a blue singlet basically, although that's not what Subaru says in the brochure. Let's find out how the Subaru Outback weighs in, in the real world. He is Car Advice road tester, Paul Merrick.
Paul, this is an SUV that even Greenpeace couldn't have a problem with, right?
I highly doubt it [xx] And why is that? It's got to be the weight, because it's 1,000 kilograms off some of the SUV heavy hitters. It's just 1.5 tons, and I mean if you compare that to something like a Prado, which is normally two tons, you're really getting great value for an SUV here. Or a Nissan 3.
I mean, come on. The thing about this car is it's been a success for Subaru since the year dot because it's really just A liberty with its hair make up done differently right.yeah if its, it has all the benefits of a liberty, but you can take it off every now and then when you hit to the bush and Piot on the pretensive hitting of the raw for the family, but never dude.
okay, how to perform family wagon it's good, and you can't think too unrealistically about this car. It has great grand clearance at about 220 mil, so it'll get out of most rocks and that sort of business, and it's got Subaru's great old drive system and with the diesel you get plenty of torque down low so you can get out of the mud and all that sort of stuff you get thrown at with just camping and bush situations There are three engines in the range.
A four cylinder petrol, a six cylinder petrol and a four cylinder turbo diesel. Which one's the pick? I'd have to go with the diesel. The fuel economy is awesome, 6.7 liters per 100 K's. I mean, you could save the world and head out to the bush at the same time. There's simply no better SUV on the market.
Isn't that like forty something miles a gallon in the old money? That's pretty good for a family wagon, right? It's amazing. And it still handles. It It's been one of the best handling SUV's since stuff like the BMW X5 on the market it handles like all other Subaru's and just grips to the road.
OK. What about transmission?. Walk us through the options there.
One man manual but unfortuely for the diesel it's only a six speed manual. Luckily though, it's a great six speed manual. It's this shifting unit and easy to drive for anyone.
Okay, what else we need to know? Comes with an electronic parking break. And for those who don't know, the electronic parking break, it's basically a replacement for the old-school cable type arrangement. So it never needs tightening and it's always ready to work. The only canon sure thing in the Subaru's is that instead of pulling to take the hand break off, you have to push, so it's often a bit confusing when it comes to getting out of park.
Okay, so what's the Outback like to drive, because it's got that extra grand clearance. Is it a bit roly poly? And it's probably got tougher tires as well. Does it grip okay?
Not even a worry in the world if you lob it through corners. It's just like any other Subaru. You point and shoot. Hold the throttle in, the torque comes on and away you go. It's a really impressive engine and it's a box a day as well. Subaru has hung its hat off symmetrical since they got and they've kicked the real goal with it, but what does it mean?
Essentially, instead of being an on-demand or well drive system which will send Rear wheels when the front wheel are slipping, the system permanent all wheel drive, so you have the added surety of grip and constant contact with the road at all times... tell us about the accommodation in the back for the kids...more than enough you can fit out [xx] if you like, so it really is a big car with off-road credentials, but without the price tag and without the fuel tag.
Okay, have you had a serious drive on the dirt yet? And what's it like.
Yeah, it does surprisingly well. It holds nice, and even a bit of mild off roading it doesn't mind getting its paws dirty. So for this very small percentage for whom Honey we might cross the Sims in desert actually turns into a camping trip in the car. You're not gonna be disappointed or anything.
Not at all. Kicks all the boxes. It's a really great car from Subaru and I think its totally under rated.
And compared to the Liberty, if you thinking about the Liberty you probably in a defector were in the market for an Outback, where would your jump be? Obviously the Liberty is more oriented to a sportier ride and you definitely wouldn't want to take the Liberty off road because it's much lower to the ground.
the Outback's more for the people who have that in the back of their mind. And funnily enough when we were test driving it we had three separate people come up and chat to us about it, two of which had placed orders on one. So it It's to show that these are pretty popular cars with people that want to cover all bases when it comes your way And the Liberty's just with the Liberty/Outback platforms just had a major rework it's an all new deal from the ground up. What do you think about the styling, the cars gotten bigger as well, is that a good thing or bad thing? At first I wasn't to sure about the styling in pictures, Subaru's wet keep stalling why it's often getting people uneasy, but it looks really great in person and the lines really work well on the Wagon more than the Sedan.
So I think we've done a good job. The bonnet stays pretty cool as well. So what don't you like? I can't think of anything to be honest, I think the fact there is no auto is the only down-side, if you had to live with the manual it really is the perfect SUV. that's gotta be a European thing, hasn't it?
Because the turbo diesel manual thing is so big in Europe, they hardly ever drive autos.
Yeah, in Australia it seems to be that autos are the bigger uptake and people just don't want to stick with the manual. So it'd be nice if they did something about it, but you're not really losing that much because of it.
Thanks, Paul. That was Paul Maric and it's all good news for the Subaru Outback. You can read the Outback review online, download the specifications, add your comments, even get a quote from a Subaru dealer. Just follow the links on this page.
