ShareThisThe Outback is dead! Long live the Outback!
Obviously, a rallying cry like that requires explanation. Back about a decade, when Japan's Subaru had a tidy lineup of all-wheel drive sedans and station wagons.
American motorists had become infatuated with sport utility vehicles, most based on trucks. Gasoline was cheap and vehicles like the popular Ford Explorer were riding high.
Subaru did not have a truck to use as the basis for an SUV. So it did the next-best thing. It jacked up its mid-size Legacy station wagon, called it an Outback and peddled it as a "sport utility wagon." In truth, it was an early if crude version of what now is called a crossover -- a tall, SUV-like vehicle based on a unit-body automobile instead of a body-on-frame truck.
Despite an awkward look because of its increased road clearance for snow and light off-road duty, the Outback captured a niche in the market that remained steady over the years.
For 2010, all that has changed. The old Outback is dead, replaced by a brand-new Outback that no longer is simply a jacked-up Legacy wagon. They now are separate vehicles with different styling and purposes, though they still share engines, transmissions and some other components.
The new Legacy has its own distinct personality. It is available only as a four-door mid-size sports sedan; the low-down old Legacy wagon is gone. Similarly, the Outback now is available only as a wagon -- or, to adopt the current descriptive lingo, a mid-size crossover.
But the Outback is remarkable because of what it has become. It looks less like the ungainly wagon it was and more like the modern crossover it is. From the back, it is pure Subaru. Viewed from the front, it bears a fleeting resemblance to an Infiniti. Looked at from the side, it would be easy to mistake it for the hot-selling Audi Q5 luxury crossover.
Although they compete for disparate customers, the comparison to the Q5 is apt. The 2010 Outback is about an inch shorter and more than four inches taller than its 2009 predecessor, which makes it about a half-inch taller and five inches longer than the Q5, for a similar profile.
The Q5 is wider by about three inches and is about 200 pounds heavier. It also has less space inside for passengers and cargo -- 98/29 cubic feet versus 105/34 for the Outback. However, the Audi can tow up to 4,400 pounds compared to the Outback's 2,700.
To make the comparison stick, you have to take the top-of-the-line Outback, the 3.6R Limited model with its 256-horsepower, 3.6-liter horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine, and put it up against the Audi's 270-horsepower, 3.2-liter V6. Fuel economy is similar, at 18/23 on the EPA's city cycle for the Q5 and 18/25 for the Outback.
The Audi Q5 has a starting sticker price of about $38,000 and can easily climb to more than $48,000. The Outback Limited starts at less than $32,000 but can earn a sticker of more than $35,000.
The next howl you hear will come from the Subaru and Audi camps, with both arguing that Audi customers would never deign to consider a Subaru and Subaru customers would never be so chi-chi as to look at an Audi. That may be true, so let's focus on the Outback.
Like all Subaru models, it has standard all-wheel drive. The base car, starting at $23,690, has a 170-horsepower, 2.5-liter horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine mated to either a six-speed manual gearbox or an optional continuously-variable (CVT) automatic transmission. With the CVT, it delivers a remarkable 22/29 miles to the gallon on the EPA's city/highway cycle. The stick shift has a 19/27 rating.
The problem with the four-cylinder, either with the stick shift or the CVT, is leisurely acceleration, especially with a load of passengers and cargo. Likely it's not something that will bother diehard Subaru fans, but the anemic performance could bother some potential new buyers.
The only other combination is on the 3.6R, which has a 256-horsepower six-cylinder engine that runs on regular gasoline and a five-speed automatic transmission. There's nothing in between.
A high-performance turbocharged four is available, but only in the Legacy sedan with a manual gearbox. It actually has more power and about the same fuel economy as the six. What the Outback needs is an in-between engine, perhaps the Subaru Forester's milder 224-horsepower turbo four.
With its horizontally opposed or boxer, engine lying low and flat, the Outback has a unique combination of a low center of gravity with almost nine inches of ground clearance. Although its center differential does not lock, the 3.6R can handle almost anything short of extreme off-road duty.
The new Outback also comes with full safety equipment and a lot of cool stuff, including an electronic parking brake and a roof rack that comes with folding cross bars. Base price on the tested 3.6R Premium model was $29,690. With options that included a motorized sunroof, XM radio, Bluetooth and remote starting, it had a sticker price of $32,229.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. For more columns, go to scrippsnews.com)
DriveWays with OUTBACK-SPECS
