Subaru Outback review

The Subaru Outback is a hybrid – but not in the way you might think. There’s no electrification going on in this rugged 4x4. 

No, the Outback is a hybrid in the sense that it mixes estate car and family SUV elements. In other words, it sits between two car categories.

The core shape is that of an estate car (hence we classify it as such) but every Outback gets off-road-ready features, including all-wheel drive, plenty of plastic cladding and a lofty ride height.

Direct rivals are rather hard to come by nowadays but the rival Citroën C5 X mixes SUV and estate characteristics in a similar way – although that gets front-wheel rather than four-wheel drive.

If you’re leaning more towards an estate car, the Skoda Superb Estate and VW Passat are worth a look. At the SUV end you have the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Toyota RAV4 for example.

Does the Subaru Outback represent the best of both worlds? Read on to find out how we rate it against key rivals...

Every Subaru Outback gets the same engine – a 167bhp 2.5-litre petrol – and comes with a CVT gearbox. The resulting 0-60mph time is 10.2 seconds. 

The Outback feels responsive and quick enough when being driven around town but it's less able on faster roads. There it demands a heavy right foot and even when you oblige performance proves weak. Many rivals get up to speed more quickly and with less effort, including the entry-level Skoda Superb Estate. 

On the plus side, putting your foot down is a less loud and unrefined affair than in many other CVT-equipped cars (the Honda HR-V for example). Subaru has programmed in artificial steps that reduce power briefly to give the impression that a gear change has been made. That bring down the revs, making it a bit more peaceful and akin to a non-CVT automatic gearbox.

The Outback is easy to drive, with light steering that makes low-speed manoeuvres a cinch. The steering is vague, though, and nowhere near as precise during cornering as the steering in the BMW 3 Series Touring.

Grip levels could be better and the car howls in protest if you try to push it. Plus, by estate car standards, there's a lot of body lean.

The four-wheel-drive system does what it says on the tin, providing excellent traction in all situations. That's good news for caravan owners who wish to get out of a muddy field.

The 2,000kg towing limit for a braked trailer is good but it's not the best tow car in its class. The brakes are strong, though, and very easy to modulate for making smooth stops.

Sadly, ride quality isn’t the Outback’s strongest suit. It settles down a bit once you’ve built up a bit of speed, but it's not as supple as it should be given its jacked-up suspension and relatively small 18in alloy wheels. 

The trade-off would be that the Outback is one of the most rugged estate cars off road, with better ground clearance than most to clamber over obstacles. Its low levels of suspension noise help you feel confident that you’re not going to break it while driving over rutted terrain. 

Refinement is decent during ordinary driving too. There’s not much road noise at a cruise and the engine is reasonably muted when you’re not demanding a lot from it. The only gripes are wisps of wind noise from around its rather upright windscreen and large door mirrors, and a rather abrupt engine start-stop system.

The Subaru Outback makes it easy to find a comfortable driving position because all trim levels get an electrically adjustable driver’s seat. Top-spec Touring models have a highly novel memory system that stores your settings then uses facial recognition to identify you and recall your preferences. 

Visibility is excellent in all directions thanks to the slim pillars, large door mirrors, huge rear window and plenty of glass in the rear three-quarters to limit blind-spots.

All Outbacks come with a reversing camera and rear parking sensors but, strangely, front sensors aren’t available, even as an option. Adaptive LED headlights are standard, and provide lots of light at night, as well as being able to alter their beam to avoid dazzling other motorists.

You don't need to be technologically gifted to adjust the air conditioning temperature or sound system settings in the Outback because there are real buttons and knobs for the temperature controls and volume.

The big 11.6in portrait-oriented infotainment touchscreen is used to adjust some elements of the air-con. The controls are permanently visible at the bottom of the screen so they're quick enough to find – although real dials would be more user-friendly. The screeb has very large icons and responds reasonably well to inputs but the graphics are very dated. The Skoda Superb Estate system looks much more modern.

There's nothing stylish about the Outback’s interior design but it is functional and has plenty of supple surfaces in areas you touch regularly. Much of the plastics lower down are hard and scratchy, but the same is true of the Citroën C5 X, the Superb and the VW Passat.

The entry-level Limited trim does without sat-nav, although the TomTom-based system you get on mid-range Field and above isn’t worth forking out more for. You’re better off using the standard smartphone mirroring (Android Auto and Apple CarPlay) to run a sat-nav app on your phone through the touchscreen.

The Outback in top-spec Touring trim gets an 11-speaker Harman Kardon sound system but the standard six-speaker set-up does a decent enough job too.

The driver and front passenger get lots of space to stretch out in the Subaru Outback – it beats even the Volvo V90 for head, leg and shoulder room up front.

There are a few storage spots, from the two cupholders in the centre console to the phone tray ahead of the gear lever with a couple of USB charging ports. The glove box is a decent size, although the huge owner’s manual almost fills it.

The Outback is just as roomy in the back, with similar overall measurements to a V90. Rear-seat passengers can fit their feet under the front seats, and there’s head room to spare for the middle-seat occupant. The rear seatbacks can be reclined for greater comfort, which isn’t an option on direct rivals.

You can fold the back seats completely flat in a 60/40 split using handles in the boot. It’s a shame they don’t split in a handier 40/20/40 arrangement as they do on some estate cars but the Outback's set-up is par for the course.

The 561-litre boot is large and a useful square shape, which will make packing a child’s buggy, for example, a breeze. You don’t have an awkward lip to lift items over, and there’s a lot of underfloor storage if you don’t opt for a full-size spare wheel. Other thoughtful touches include a couple of fold-out hooks plus eight tie-down loops.

The Citroën C5 X has a slightly smaller boot, while the Skoda Superb Estate and VW Passat each provide an extra 129 litres of space over the Outback. Nonetheless, the Outback’s boot size remains above average by class standards.

The Subaru Outback in entry-level Limited form is reasonably priced, costing similar money to the Skoda Superb Estate and less than the Toyota RAV4 and VW Passat. What’s more, it’s considerably more affordable than the Land Rover Discovery Sport. Even more remarkable is the fact that the Outback is likely to maintain its value far better than those rivals.

The Outback would make a costly company car because its high emissions putting it in the top bracket for benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax. Fuel economy isn’t anything to write home about either. The 33mpg combined figure is very low compared with much quicker rivals. That’s the price you pay for permanent four-wheel drive.

Of the three trim levels available, Limited is the one we’d pick because it has all the kit you really need and more, including front and rear heated seats, and automatic lights and wipers. Mid-range Field adds leather seats, an electric tailgate, aluminium pedals, rear air vents and sat-nav. Range-topping Touring has a fancier sound system along with swankier Nappa leather.

The Outback really shines when it comes to safety. It passed the Euro NCAP crash test with five stars, and Subaru provides every bit of automatic safety tech you can think of as standard.

Automatic emergency braking (AEB) is a given, as is lane-keep assistance and traffic-sign recognition. There’s also blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert to warn of objects crossing your path while backing up, along with an auto brake feature.

The Outback didn’t feature in our 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey but Subaru placed 27th out of 32 manufacturers featured. Its 89.0% reliability score isn’t very confidence inspiring, and the three-year/60,000-mile warranty you get is nothing special. Hyundai, Kia and Toyota all give you more generous warranties. 

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