2020 Subaru Outback Review | Not Just For Golden Retrievers

Hello everyone, today we are here on the Northern California coast taking a look at the new 6th generation Subaru Outback. This is a very important vehicle for Subaru because it is the best-selling Subaru. The

2020

period brings us not only all this. -New Outback but also a completely new Subaru Legacy that the Outback is based on because if you want to call it a truck, an off-road truck or an SUV, that's up to you, but it's very closely related to the legacy Subaru sedan. It doesn't stray too far from its winning formula with the front-end interior, so it's still instantly recognizable as a Subaru.

We have the super logo right in the middle with a strong bar running through things. They've definitely tweaked it and made a slightly more modern, but again instantly recognizable as an interior, we've got standard LED headlights on all models and LED fog lights down there on this particular model. If you get the top trims out of the box, the LED headlights will turn corners. Subaru is a brand that has definitely dedicated itself to safety, both passive safety and the crash structures that we find in the vehicle as well as active safety and the standard visual safety system that uses a stereo camera installed right here behind the windshield to give us adaptive cruise control functionality with full Stop and Go Lane Departure Warning Lane Centering Collision Notification Autonomous Braking and Pedestrian Detection In addition to the vision system, we also have Subaru's standard telematics system for accident notification and monitoring of vehicles, etc., but interestingly, there are two safety systems that are not standard on the Outback. you'll get the blind-spot monitoring system with rear cross-traffic detection and rear autonomous braking on higher-end models.

The Outback has grown up a bit for this generation. It now measures 190 1.3 inches long, which puts it on the long side of the comparison. segment that brings us to what the interior is, some people want to call it a crossover, some people want to call it an SUV, someone calls it a truck, what is it? I don't know if that really matters, what is it to you let me? I know down there in the comments section below you're telling me that this is a lifted off-road truck because from this area it's identical to the new

2020

Subaru Legacy, so the interior, the dash, the driver's seat, etc., front doors, front quarter panels. etc., they are all the same as the four or the sedan.

We have a very traditional truck profile here, not the more upright profile that we see on something like a Subaru Forester or the Subaru Ascent, so this is quite different than something like a Santa Fe. Murano, a blazer, a Ford Edge, etc., but this definitely ends up in that category due to overall price, overall interior space, and then overall size of the vehicle. It is about the same overall length as the Chevy Blazer. An interesting point of trivia is that the Outback. It is the only wagon variant in North America that again outsells its sedan counterpart.

This is the best-selling Subaru on this continent compared to something like an Edge, a Passport, or even a Grand Cherokee. We have a more reclined seating position in this vehicle overall. The body feels a little longer and a little lower to the ground, which puts the center of gravity a little lower than most of its direct competitors and really helps improve handling in the interior. Many people love the interior because it drives more like a sedan that looks less like a crossover but has all the advantages of a more rugged off-road vehicle. In this model we have a ground clearance of eight point seven inches, which is definitely above average for this particular segment;

In fact, if you want more ground clearance. Than this, you'll have to get something like a Jeep Grand Cherokee and that will be much more expensive than a compact crossover in the United States like Subaru's second best-selling vehicle, the Subaru Forester. Maybe you want to consider an upgrade to the Outback because you want the more premium interior finishes that we'll look at in a moment here or you want a more powerful engine like the 2.4-liter turbo available now, the model we've spent most of our time on. today it doesn't have that turbocharged engine because this is the one that most people are going to drive so this is the one that I wanted to get my hands on again we have a design that is very familiar to Subaru buyers we have a new tail The Lamps are combination items, so they also combine LEDs and incandescent bulbs, and then Subaru placed the exhaust under the bumper to help improve output.

Angliss in general, I'm sorry for all the dust that has been on this model. Subaru really wanted to demonstrate that. this was very capable so we have spent about 2 and a half or 3 hours so far on off road trails and I still have about two hours of off road trails left before I can get back on a paved road which is why this is so dirty as it is under the hood which, as you can see, opens very, very wide, like a snake that dislodges its jaw, we find two different engines, first we have a two and a half liter boxer engine which is a new design shared with the Subaru Forester that produces 182 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque, then we have an optional 2.4-liter turbo engine that is shared with the Subaru Ascent that produces 260 horsepower and increases up to 277 pound-feet of torque.

Both engines are coupled as standard. Continuously variable transmission (no manual transmissions available here) and all-wheel drive standard. It's important to remember the standard all-wheel drive system when comparing the Outback or any modern Subaru, other than the BRZ, to the competition because none of the competitors, including the Grand Cherokee. They come with all-wheel drive as standard, as you would expect, fuel economy is better with the base engine giving us 29 miles per gallon combined again, although we do have that standard throughout the drivetrain and thanks it drops to 26 if you choose the 2.4-liter Turbo One of the design goals of the Subaru Outback was to give us the fuel economy found in a compact crossover and the overall capability found in a 2-row midsize crossover.

When it comes to front seat comfort, remember that the Outback is quite different from most of the competition, so some of this will be personal preference. Do you prefer the more reclined seating position we have in this more car-like position, where your legs are definitely in front of you? I'm looking for something that has a more upright driving position, more like a minivan or a truck, something we would find in a Passport, a Grand Cherokee, something like that. Personally, I like a more car-like seating position, so I think this seat is more comfortable than Unfortunately, the average in this segment is not as ad

just

able as some, we only have a two-way ad

just

able lumbar support for the driver's seat and no adjustable lumbar support for the passenger seat.

That lack of adjustability on the right side of this vehicle is why I'm taking a point off this car. We have an extendable thigh cushion for the driver, which is another nice touch, but we don't have that on the other side. We have a tilt-telescopic steering column with a pretty decent range of motion. movement and a two-position driver's seat memory in the door, this is the type of vehicle where it is very easy for shorter or taller drivers to find a good driving position, a more spacious rear seat is definitely a reason why you might want to look at the

outback

over the average compact crossover like a crv or rav4 with this front seat adjusted for me at 6 feet tall you can see i have about 6 or 7 inches of leg room left with 80 At 2.3 inches of combined legroom, this is one of the largest and most generous interiors in this segment, very similar to the Murano and Santa Fe, meaning you'll find more legroom here than something like the Honda Passport.

We also found a bit more width in this one than something like a CRV. or rav4, so adults will feel more comfortable in this rear middle seat and I have about an inch and a half of total headroom, although this middle seat is higher off the ground than the outboard seating positions I They move completely to the right. side of the vehicle, you'll really notice the overall legroom here because the front seat is all the way back and I still have about four inches of legroom left, the rear seats recline, we have a separate lever here on the side of the seat which makes the recline mechanism work which is separate from the release latch for the 60/40 folding rear seat back design the center seating position has a foldable center armrest right there but it does not fold independently of the other sides This It is a traditional 60/40 folding seat design.

One thing worth mentioning as we come back here is that the center seat belt comes out of the roof, not the rear seat backrest like we see on some of the competitive vehicles Subaru has. A loop was provided in the seat back to help adjust the angle of the shoulder belt, but it won't be as practical as seat belts that are built into the seat because it takes up some space in the rear cargo area. In this very dusty hatch we found 37 point 1 cubic feet of storage space or, if you calculate it using the newer calculation method, 32.5, the key thing to know about the outer book when comparing spec sheet to spec sheet from the competition is that Subaru is using a different calculation method to get the cargo capacity here and that gives us the smaller number of 32.5, so on their website that's the number you'll see, but Subaru told us than if you calculated it using the previous method. which is what Honda Jeep Nissan Kia Hyundai, etc.

They're all using that older method, so this would come in at 37 point one any way you look at it, we've got a pretty decent cargo area here compared to most of the direct competition, the Outbacks cargo. The area is a little deeper and a little squatter than most of them just due to the overall shape and profile of the interior, meaning you'll be able to fit different loads onto the vehicles, longer cargo items here in this area storage a little taller items in something like a Honda Passport. I would rate the overall practicality as pretty similar between them, but again, different sized items in the different cargo areas, we still have a decent slope here towards this rear window and that reduces the loading practicality.

A little below the load floor of the cargo area we find some additional storage space and also a place where you can store the jack for tires etc. and then if we lift up this foam divider, we find a compact spare tire on this particular model, now depending on what equipment you get, you can find a full size spare tire back here and all Outback models could be equipped with one full size spare tire if you want to add one yourself later while we look at the interior, note that we are not at the top. -In the Touring version we have driven both the XT and the regular naturally aspirated version of the Outback, but both have been Touring models.

The available moonroof is a fairly standard-sized unit. We have height-adjustable shoulder belts and four-way adjustable ratchet-style headrests. so we turn it forward like this at this top end so the front seats are heated and ventilated and you can see we have perforated sections right there in the leather. This is a kind of two-tone interior color scheme with the charcoal on the outside and the brown on the inside on the front seats not too aggressive, but you can see that we have reinforcements on the backrest and the lower cushion of the seat, as you would expect from a vehicle that is positioned as a more premium model.

As an alternative to something like a RAV4, CRV, or Forester, we definitely found interior materials that are head and shoulders above the average compact crossover in America and that goes for the front and rear doors as well as the dashboard. As we go over there, we have a brown stitched section right there in the middle, then a charcoal colored top section on the dash, the little storage area where you can easily put things like a smartphone, whether it's Connected to the vehicle or not, right there on the passenger side is the more stitched trim and then a moderately sized container-style glove box underneath.

I'm not too sure if you could fit some of the larger iPads in there moving towards the center of the dash. One of the things you notice right away is that we no longer have that separate little LCD screen. inthe top for the trip computer and other readouts, in this particular model we find the facial recognition camera system right here, which uses technology very similar to modern iPhones to recognize the driver and adapt certain vehicle settings, such as the your seat position, etc., will recognize for five different drivers and can be used a little differently than the driver's side door position memory seats, but of course the biggest news on this dashboard is this huge new infotainment screen and just under 12 inches. of the largest infotainment screens available in the United States, but perhaps more important than the overall size of the screen is the fact that it will be standard on all versions of the Outback except the absolute base model, and that's quite a turnaround. big because when you take a look at something like the RAM 1500 or the heavy duty Ram trucks where you can get the big screen they are available only on the top and trims and even more interesting if you get the base version of the Outback, no For some reason, there is not only a small screen on the dashboard, but two seven-inch LCD screens, the upper one would be in charge of the infotainment system, the lower one would be in charge of climate control and the vehicle configuration, something similar to the layout we see on this big screen here.

If you want to know more about this LCD infotainment system, there is a full video about this, we will continue in this video. On each side of that large touch screen we find buttons for up and down climate control. You can also do it within the software, from there down we find an electric parking brake and if I move this shifter out of the way, we have a USB input for the infotainment system, there are two of them right there and then a single auxiliary input and then a storage pocket where you can easily store a smartphone underneath, we have a button for the front view camera, we have a front view and a rear view The view is not a 360 degree view like we see On some vehicles on the market, the fairly traditional console shifter unit is all the way back, right there, manual mode, to the left and then use the paddles on the back of the steering wheel behind the shifter. . we find two large cup holders, a softly padded center armrest and if we open it, this reveals a two-level storage area, an area where you can store smartphones or small knick-knacks, a larger area down here where we have a 12-inch power port. volts and then the optional CD player is standard on the top and trim and is available as a dealer installed accessory on the other trims on the driver's side we have a very similar instrument cluster to other Subaru models we have a large diameter on the left side a large speedometer on the right and then a color multifunction display in the middle the steering wheel has a round three-spoke design with sports grips on top and shift paddles at the rear we have bottom left and Top right on the left side of the steering wheel we find the controls for the infotainment system along with the voice command button and then the dedicated phone buttons.

These alternate down here alternate through the trip computer readout right there between the speedometer and the tachometer and then on the right side of the steering wheel. we have the controls for the standard adaptive cruise control system, this button here turns the automated steering assist on and off and then we have a button on the bottom for the steering wheel heater in case you're wondering the buttons for the standard telematics system, they're right here, right next to the rearview mirror, when you get behind the wheel, you'll definitely notice how much more compliant the suspension is in the Outback than in the average arrowhead crossover, something like a Chevy Blazer or the Honda.

Passport the Honda Passport surprised me a little bit because Honda was really pushing that as the off-road capable Honda and at the launch event for that particular model I spent hours on an off-road trail and it definitely got tiring after the first 20 or 30 minutes , the interior is very different, we've been on trails like this for just a few hours today and this is very comfortable, very livable in terms of the suspension, but the Outback is able to play two sides of the roll here because of its center of Low gravity Having a lower center of gravity helps improve on-road driving dynamics, so it is able to stay on the road much better than a Grand Cherokee, although we have a suspension with the same softness as the combination of similar attributes to those of a car and an SUV.

They are definitely what make the Outback an interesting choice because we have an overall seating position that is more car-like, the view of the road, the way you are sitting in the seat is very similar to that of a a car, but we have the ground clearance you would have. As expected in a tall off-road vehicle, as I said at the beginning of the video, we have spent most of our time in this model which has the base 2.5 liter engine from zero to 60 in this model came in eight point six seconds. which puts it at the top end of the segment, very similar to what we see in the base engine of the SantaFe for example, remember that most of the competition in this segment starts with a turbocharged engine or a v6 engine, but the Outback and the Santa Fe are the two that don't, we haven't had a chance to give this our official 0-60 or 60-zero test, so be sure and stay tuned for that video when we can get our hands on it for a full week .

You should expect overall stopping distances to be fairly comparable to most entrants in this category. Overall curb weight is pretty well controlled inside, so I don't expect this to be long; It should probably be in the middle. The overall dynamics terms, especially emergency braking and steering maneuvers, will definitely be tidier inside due to its lower center of gravity and more car-like overall design if the two and a half liter engine is not It's fast enough for there. Of course, it's the available 2.4-liter turbo and that's the model I'm driving now, although it looks identical to the model I was driving a few seconds ago, in fact it's a completely different vehicle that looks almost the same on the outside.

There's no visual differentiation other than the almost 3 seconds faster than the base 2.5 liter model, some of our fans on facebook.com slash Alex Nadas were complaining about the fact that Subaru has removed the h6 engine inside to be completely honest, I don't miss it, the engine 6 cylinder was not. The smoothest engine Subaru has ever built and it was also quite heavy and that meant we had a lot more weight in front of the front axle on that model. It really felt like you had a ship's anchor up there. This one definitely has it. Improved driving dynamics compared to the 6-cylinder boxer design and we get much better performance.

The turbocharged engine gives us a lot of low-end torque and that, combined with this new CVT design, means we get significantly better acceleration and better overall handling because if we have less curb weight in the front, you'll really notice. that when the road starts to twist here, we don't have terribly wide tires on this top-of-the-line, touring version of the Outback, but we still have excellent handling, suspension fans and the crowd will be glad to know that the Outback has a front suspension double wishbone, not a McPherson strut design like we find on most of the competition.

It's actually only this one and the Jeep Grand Cherokee that use that double wishbone design. Generally speaking, suspensions with this type of design give a better contact patch with the tire on the ground and that is one of the reasons why Subaru can get away with slightly narrower tires compared to some of the competition and still give us better handling in general. Now, on the negative side, there have been times here on the road where I thought the CVT software could use a little more polish, the way this changes the ratios and the way torque goes in and out with the The turbocharged engine could integrate a little more smoothly, but overall this is certainly the most fun you can have in the

outback

, so if you're thinking the outback is too slow, this is definitely the option you'll want.

Talking about fuel economy is a little difficult because obviously we've done it. I've been driving this on the same test track that we drive all the other vehicles on. Generally speaking, Subaru vehicles have been pretty efficient and I don't expect anything different from this generation of the Outback, so the EPA numbers are twenty-nine miles. per gallon combined for the two-and-a-half-liter engine, 26 miles per gallon combined for the turbocharged engine is quite likely. I suspect that if you treat this turbocharged engine very gently, you'll probably get more than 26 miles per gallon total on the highway in this still unmistakably Outback Subaru.

If you liked that about previous generations of the Outback, you'll love this. It's definitely a refinement of the same idea, but if you didn't like the Outback before, this probably isn't going to change. While I prefer to call the Outback a truck, this could also be seen as one of America's most authentic crossovers because it has the capability you'd expect from an SUV or crossover, but it has the on-road driving dynamics. of a sedan or a station wagon and that, in my opinion, is really what a crossover is supposed to be and now, the nitty-gritty, the pricing for 2020 starts at twenty-six thousand six hundred and forty-five dollars, that's an increase quite small compared to 2019 that we get. standardized site standard apple carplay and android auto 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and the dual LCD infotainment system in the dash, which again is different to the model we've been driving today, that's a jump of about four thousand dollars over the Subaru Legacy which seems like a pretty big increase to be able to overtake the Outback over the related sedan;

However, $26,645 is notably less than most two-row competition that you might want to compare directly to the Outback. This is significantly less. expensive than the edge, so the passport is definitely less expensive than a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but it's not too far off from what we see in the Hyundai Santa Fe until you take into account the fact that we have standard all-wheel drive on this model and again That's something to keep in mind when comparing this to the competition, both in terms of overall price and in terms of fuel economy. You may get slightly better fuel economy on some of the front-drive alternatives, but it won't really improve. fuel economy, if you compare this to some of the all-wheel drive options out there, most people will probably be interested in the premium version which starts at twenty-eight thousand eight hundred ninety-five dollars and gives you the 11, 6 inches. system that we saw in this model, we also get key features like dual-zone climate control, uncontrolled driver's seat, the Premium package also allows you to add options, so for fourteen hundred dollars we can add blinds but monitoring with traffic detection rear crossover, keyless entry and Keyless access that does not come standard on this model and then the power tailgate as well.

Subaru also lets you add more premium options to that particular trim, like navigation and an optional sunroof that we don't usually see on lower-end trim packages in this segment, so you could get a very well-equipped premium version of the Outback. for about the same price as a base model Passport, now the Passport like the Murano, the Grand Cherokee, the Blazer, etc., come standard with a v6 engine and if you want more power, the hood of your Outback, then you will have You have to go up to at least the Onyx trim to get the 2.4-liter turbo that is below this model and that will cost you at least thirty-four thousand eight hundred and ninety-five dollars.

The XT version is the more youthful version, so we have blacked out trim on all sides, we have the dual .4 liters and then the limited and Touring models are thenext in the line and are available with the two and a half liter engine or the 2.4 liter turbo which we have driven in both versions today in the top of the range Touring model that will establish the top of the range Touring XT model. Return thirty-nine thousand six hundred and ninety-five dollars as usual for our full comparison section. It'll have to wait until I can get my hands on the Outback for the full week, but let's go over some of the options right here.

I have some notes. To help me out, the all-wheel drive Hyundai Santa Fe with a naturally aspirated engine will start at twenty-seven thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, it will definitely be more expensive than the all-wheel drive version of the base interior, then we have the Honda Passport. thirty-three thousand eight ninety starting with the slightly less expensive thirty-one thousand ninety all-wheel drive Ford Edge model, you could probably also compare it to a Nissan Murano that starts at just over $32,000 and wants a Jeep Grand Cherokee. which is also an interesting competitor for this thirty-two thousand one ninety-five, but that would only give you a rear-wheel drive v6 Grand Cherokee, so it's easy to see that the Outback is a very, very good deal in this segment, just like we do.

As we've come to expect from Subaru, you can say the same about almost every Super out there in the base trim, but a lot of Subarus end up falling apart a bit when it comes to the top-of-the-range trim, so, for example, if you take a look at the Subaru Forester , the high-end trim of that compared to some of the top trims from the competition, we don't find the same feature content in that Forrester, but the Outback is a little different because the The Outback here with its 2.4-liter turbocharged engine It's one of the quickest vehicles in this segment in our initial zero-to-sixty testing here in Northern California, it was under six seconds from zero to sixty, putting it significantly faster than something like the Honda Passport even. with Honda's new 9-speed automatic transmission also means it's significantly quicker than the Nissan Murano, the Hyundai Santa Fe with a 2-litre turbo and, interestingly, almost as quick as a cutting-edge ST, but this will also cost a ton less.

We have Subaru's latest interior design here, which definitely has the ability to compete with the best in this segment. Now it's not as stylish as some of the higher-end versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but again it's significantly less expensive than the higher-end ones. The final finishes will be better than this and perhaps most importantly the interior is definitely ahead of what we see on the Honda Passport interior that dates back to 2016 because Honda just lifted the interior of the Honda Pilot and put it in the interior competitor. This they didn't do, they gave it a completely new interior with that huge in-dash infotainment system.

In many ways I think it's the Outback's toughest competitor and again we'll get into this in more detail when we get there. What we have in our hands for a full week is the new Hyundai Santa Fe. It also has an excellent value proposition, although It's again less expensive in base form and you can get some of the same premium features in the top-end trim, but that Santa Fe will never be as quick as this turbocharged Outback and it'll never have that huge infotainment system screen. You can thank the low center of gravity in the Outback for that handling ability and more car-like driving nature.

Plus, this one will also consume a little more fuel than the Santa Fe, so if you're shopping for a more premium two-row crossover in America, you should definitely put the Subaru Outback on your shopping list and it's no surprise that the Outback is one of the best-selling crossovers in the United States. In this more premium two-row segment, only the Grand Cherokee beats the Outback and I think that has more to do with the fact that there are so many different varieties of Grand Cherokee there is a 5.7 liter V8, a 6 .4 liters and a 6.2 liter supercharged V8. There are also some very capable and well-offered Grand Cherokees, but most of the Grand Cherokee line is a direct competitor to this one, and I suspect if you exclude all those other models, the Outback. could be outperforming the Grand Cherokee in terms of overall sales for a very good reason, let me know what you think about it in the comments section below and if you were shopping in this segment between about 27 and $40,000, what would be your best option?

If you haven't found us on facebook.com slash Alex Noto make sure you do now and if you want to support us click at the top of the screen and you will be taken to patreon comm. see you next week