Subaru Outback review

Introduction

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.

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What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)

2.5i Limited Estate 5dr Petrol Lineartronic 4WD Euro 6 (s/s) (169 ps)

Expected annual mileage	6000
Term months	60
Deposit months	12
Monthly payment	£505.30
Initial payment	£6,063.60

Step-by-step

Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

What you get

When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:

• Full manufacturer’s warranty
• Road tax and roadside assistance included
• No admin fees
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£6,064 initial payment, 60 month contract, 6000 miles p/a. Subject to status and conditions.

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

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...

What’s new?
April 2024: Outback range widens with addition of new Touring X limited-edition version, which features heated leather seats all round, a reversing camera and Harman Kardon sound system
September 2021: Outback earns five-star rating from Euro NCAP, and it is later announced that it achieved the highest score of any car tested
May 2021: all-new Outback announced, with more tech and off-road ability. Prices from £33,995

Overview

If you're looking for genuine all-weather abilities, tonnes of safety technology and lots of interior practicality, the Subaru Outback has plenty going for it. It's a sensible choice for private buyers thanks to its reasonable buying costs for the entry-level version and decent resale values. It's not the most pleasant car to drive, though, and high emissions count against it as a company car choice.

Our pick

2.5i Limited Estate 5dr Petrol Lineartronic 4WD Euro 6 (s/s) (169 ps) review

RRP £40,615

Pros

• Impressive safety tech
• Good residual values
• Excellent traction in difficult conditions

Cons

• Ride could be smoother
• Needs more power
• Uninspiring handling

Our pick

2.5i Limited Estate 5dr Petrol Lineartronic 4WD Euro 6 (s/s) (169 ps) review

RRP £40,615

Trims available

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Limited

Our preferred Outback spec includes 18in alloys and adaptive LED headlights.

Touring

The top-tier Touring is trimmed with fine nappa leather and has an 11-speaker Harman Kardon sound system.

Field

Mid-range Field adds leather, an electric tailgate, aluminium pedals, rear air vents and navigation.

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Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

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.

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

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.

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

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.

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

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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