Subaru Outback 2021 review: Is this high-riding wagon a better alternative to a Toyota RAV4?

You are different, that's why you clicked on

this

video

review

. You don't want an SUV just for its looks. You are a practical person. You want a truck. You want something that looks tough but has all-wheel drive. fundamentals that it should have for a vehicle like

this

yes, you are a Subaru Outback customer and you want to know if this new Outback, the sixth generation version, is as good as the previous one, which was already very good and in this

review

, I am going to tell you if it is or not now, I'll stop and show you this

2021

interior in this review.

I'll tell you everything you need to know about the new Subaru Outback, but if you're curious. about something in particular, you can skip ahead, there are time codes on your screen now or in the YouTube timeline chapter markers below, if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget you'll find the link to the full written review at the car guide site. It's in the description, but now it's time to take a closer look at the new Outback Subaru Australia says customers wanted more

high

-tech,

high

-end stuff in the interior and the previous-generation version, well, it's biased towards the higher spec models in this There's more stuff, more safety, more technology and a lot more of everything, including more price.

Here's an overview of the entire range. Opening the line is the all-wheel drive Outback, which still costs less than $40 grand and has plenty of standard equipment like LED lighting, 18-inch wheels, roof rails, cloth interior trim, a huge tablet multimedia screen. 11.6-inch with Apple Carplay and Android Auto and, as expected, a lot of safety technology will cover those things later and on top of that is the all-wheel drive Outback. Sport Drive that gets a different water-repellent interior finish including heated front and rear outboard seats, electric tailgate, satellite navigation, different roof rails and 18-inch wheels and a black exterior styling package.

The car you see here is the all-wheel drive Touring, it is the most expensive model in the range, but it is still relatively well priced compared to five-seat midsize SUVs. This one has a few more luxury items including Nappa leather interior trim, a power moonroof, a nine-speaker Harman Kardon stereo with CD player, a heated steering wheel, and a few other items plus be sure to read the full story on prices and specifications on the car guide site. You'll see it appear at the top of the screen there if you're watching on YouTube. Next, we'll take a look at it. the design, do you consider the interior as an SUV or are you in the camp with a tall truck with me?

Well

subaru

australia describes it as a real blue mud in his blood. SUV with all-wheel drive. He now looks more like a forester than ever if you ask him. But tell us what you think in the comments section below. The model you see here is the top-spec Touring variant and has some unique styling elements, but all models come with the same blackened, ridged bumpers with underbody protection and all have LED lighting across the entire profile range, the Outback has some interesting lines, including those square wheel arch guards that look a little beefier than before, a little more XV-like.

You might think that the wheels are 18 across the range, but this is the best spec. The wheels on the model are a little too plain for me at the rear, which is where it can be difficult to choose this as anything other than a Forester. It has very similar taillights and bumper finishes, but it's still a pretty nice rear end and has plenty of detail. For practical reasons, you've also hit subscribe on our YouTube channel and also make sure to hit the bell icon to stay up to date with all of our latest video content. Next, we'll take a look inside the interior.

There's been a big change inside the Outback's cabin and it's right in front of you, it's the 11.6-inch multimedia screen, it's a vertical tablet-style screen that takes a little getting used to, but it's a real screen. good, fast and clean looking, has big icons which makes it easier to find your way around the screen and there are some physical buttons on the side and knobs for volume and tuning which makes it much easier to interact with everyone the Outback range models that come with this 11.6-in. screen although you have to get the mid or top spec to include sat nav this is the top spec remember and it even has a small CD player here yes CD players with 11.6 inch screens who would have thought that world would do it? have been around but the design of this cabin is really smart, it's very smart, very comfortable and very ergonomic, the steering wheel still has a lot of buttons, Subaru hasn't moved away from that idea, you get used to that design, although for some people it might be .

A little intimidating because there are so many options to choose from. One thing I didn't like is the flashing remote, it's fine, it turns on great, but I found that it stays on longer than it should and I end up leaving. just turn there, we hit a lot of traffic and that's a bit annoying, but otherwise there are other nice touches that look like Subaru might have borrowed from the Toyota playbook here with a nice shelf in front of the passenger that's good for storing a phone and it's also rubberized, there are two USB ports under the screen and a little storage caddy in there, but no wireless phone charging, there are deep cupholders between the seats, now let me show you how deep they are, it's a cafe medium or large and means it's a little bigger than necessary, which might affect you if you order a large coffee every time you go to the store, there are bottle holders on the doors with ditches and they're not huge, but they are big. enough and the seat comfort is really good, plus all Outbacks have electric seat adjustment and that is for the driver and passenger which is a nice touch and in this spec there is also a electric sunroof which is a Pretty nice auto-dimming rearview mirror and of course, Of course you have Subaru's excellent vision safety system here, I'll tell you about that in a second and the sunshades actually fit a little

better

on this car than they do on cars with vision, Well, they were a little too small in many cases. but now it seems they have thought about that.

Next, let's take a look at the back seat. The Subaru Outback is a little larger than some of the midsize SUVs it plays with in price and that means you get a very practical and spacious cabin. It really is a big truck, if you want to look at it that way, there is a lot of space here, this seat is prepared for me. I'm 182 centimeters or six feet tall and look how much space I have, lots and lots of towing space. of knee room and plenty of head room too, and this car also has plenty of width in the cabin so you could fit three of me, luckily I'm not three, but if you have kids there are seat anchor points children with ISO fixation. and three top tie down points too, plus the ones at the back will be happy with the fact that they have directional air vents, plus there are two USB ports also back here and in this spec, the top spec also has heating in the outside seat. and that's a nice addition, especially if you frequent the snow, which many interior buyers do, and there are some nice map pockets here too, although I don't really like the yellow foam backing which looks a little cheap, there are bottles. supports in the doors with little ditches, here there is also a folding armrest with cup holders and these seats, as I will show you in a second, fold flat which is really nice, but there is also a good level of seat back recline and These seat belts don't get in the way when folding the seats, which is a really smart thing because this type of car will probably have the seats folded down quite a bit.

Don't believe what they tell you. It's a truck. It may be tall, but it has the practicality of a van, as you can see, the car guide already has luggage here. There's 522 liters of capacity in this boot meaning it can fit this amount of stuff and even more which means it's a really practical option for family buyers and the top two specs also have an electric tailgate. At the time of filming we do not know the ancap crash test rating for the interior, but here is a summary of the safety equipment installed, there is automatic emergency. braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, as well as lane-keeping assist, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, as well as automatic high beams.

All models have a driver monitoring camera that will guide you to keep your eyes on the road and there is a standard reversing camera, while sport and touring models also have front and side view cameras, traffic sign recognition Speed ​​and adaptive cruise control are standard and all models come with eight airbags. Following engine specifications, all Subaru Outback models get a familiar 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol boxer. engine and if you don't know what boxer means, it simply means that the engine is horizontally opposed and has a slightly different configuration to most four cylinder cars, but it means you get that Subaru rumble, although not too much in the case .

From the Outback, this is a new 90 engine and while it has more power and torque than before, it's not the really powerful turbo engine you get overseas, of course all Outbacks have all-wheel drive in their names, which means that have the brand's symmetrical all-wheel drive system. drive setup and, like the previous model, there's a continuously variable transmission or CVT that thinks about the engine, but unlike the existing Outback, the new one doesn't have a diesel engine option and there's no gasoline towing capacity either. six-cylinder for the entire Outback. The autonomy is 750 kilos for a trailer without brakes or 2,000 kilos for a trailer with brakes.

We suspect a hybrid will be offered at some point and hopefully that turbo engine will also be able to find out what I think about how this engine behaves on the road if I skip to the driving section, but next we'll take a look at the consumption fuel, as I said, there is no hybrid or diesel, but the official combined cycle fuel consumption for this 2.5 liter petrol engine you will see on your screen now. that's decent and this is what we've seen in a real world driving mix with this car that's on your screen. Now is the time to look at the ownership prospects for the Subaru Outback.

Subaru doesn't go above and beyond in terms of ownership with a five-year unlimited kilometer warranty being standard now and there's a year of roadside assistance included. There is a five-year maximum price service plan and you can pay for maintenance upfront in blocks of three or five years and include it in your finance payments. It simply means one less thing to budget for annually. Service intervals are 12 months or 12,500 kilometres, although it is a little more expensive to maintain than some of its rivals if you want all those details at the top. from your screen and you'll be taken to our written review of the entire

2021

Outback range, which has all the essentials, including all service prices.

Next, I'm going to show you what it's like to drive if you've driven the previous generation Subaru Outback, this won't be unfamiliar to you even if you've driven a Forester because it's also very similar to that and I mean, it's a very nice and easy car to drive. . I really like it. It feels very competent, very comfortable and very familiar and if that's what you're looking for then this could be the right car for you; You may not even need to see this more detailed breakdown of the driving experience, but for those who do want The nitty-gritty here it comes, let's talk about the engine first.

It's a 2.5 liter boxer, as I mentioned before, it's a powerful engine, it's not necessarily the most powerful or the nicest engine, but it has a little more power and torque than the previous version. it still has a lineatronic cvt automatic transmission which does a good job of harnessing that power and torque although some people still won't love the way that cvt automatic behaves for me it's fine for this application i think it fits quite well well and If you need to put your foot down, it pushes you back into your seat, it's powerful enough, although it's not exciting.

I would say that under hard acceleration there may be some engine noise to deal with due to that CVT automatic, but that's not too big. Good thatWhat about other parts of this driving experience? Well the steering is direct and has a good amount of weight to it, it's not the best feel through the wheel but I think it's okay for this type of vehicle, it's not necessarily the most pleasant car to drive. like I said, but it's perfectly suited to a family buyer who just wants to get around without much fuss and there's also lane keep assist which keeps you in your lane and does so without being too intrusive, other safety systems include the driver. monitoring system there's a little camera here on the dash that watches your face and just makes sure that your eyes don't stray too far from the road and if they do, a warning pops up that says, keep your eyes on the road, that it's nice.

Okay, you can monitor fatigue as well, obviously, plus the visibility because it's a Subaru is excellent. I don't think I've ever driven a Subaru that doesn't have good visibility from the driver's seat, there's a lot of glass and when you look over it. on your shoulder you can easily see what is behind you when you are parking for me the suspension tuning is almost perfect for this type of application it is not too soft nor too firm and that means it handles well while still being sufficiently Comfortable It's not about being a performance car and we appreciate that in terms of noise, vibration and harshness, there's not much to complain about, it's a pretty quiet cabin, a lot of sound insulation has been added over the previous version of the Outback and I'm sure you can still hear some wind noise. around the mirrors and the tops of the doors at higher speeds, but overall it's a pretty quiet place to be.

Could be perfect for families with small children. The new Subaru Outback is more SUV than ever. You could say yes, but what I love. Most importantly, it's still a high-performance truck and compared to some of those other mid-size SUVs in a similar price range, it still offers a practical advantage, so let us know what you think in the comments section below and also make sure to Read the full and detailed written review before judging us on the score of this new Outback range and speaking of the score, here you are.