Back in January of this year, I relayed the trials and tribulations of car shopping. In that report, I disclosed how we had specific criteria mixed with a touch of uncertainty, which prompted an abundance of looking.
We landed in November 2024. Where we landed is given away in this headline, which annihilates any suspense. Now, nine months and 9,000 miles into Outback ownership, here’s what I can offer, broken down by category…
Why Subaru?
It best filled the needs list – just over 6′ of flat floor space (something that is surprisingly tough to find for less than $45k), very maneuverable, and having a relatively attractive price. Consumer Reports proclaiming Subaru as the most reliable car brand in the United States was gravy, although that news came out after our purchase.
Sure, there were other options, and if my distaste of spending money was not a concern, Mrs. Jason might be driving a Chevrolet Suburban, which will haul all kinds of things. Anything else large enough to easily haul a 72″ harp, while lying flat, started at about $10,000 more than what we paid.
Not happening.
Silver? How unique…
Despite telling Mrs. Jason she could pick the color, I had an idle suggestion in mid-2023 about how our next car ought be silver to acknowledge (to us) our 25th (silver) wedding anniversary that year.
We found a blue Outback that was exactly what we wanted equipment wise. Mrs. Jason was leaning toward darker colors (without a mind-numbing black interior) to camouflage the cladding Subaru has slathered all over the sides of the Outback. But before we could pounce, it was traded to another dealer. Upon learning this, I discovered an identically equipped Outback was in transit, but in silver.
Mrs. Jason then remembered my statement, and said that blue was not meant to be. She wanted the silver.
During our exploration and shopping phase, I discovered silver isn’t as common as it had been several years ago and this is a more brilliant silver than most, it having a nice blue undertone.
We still had concerns about the lighter color overly accentuating the profuse cladding around the wheels. Now, we don’t even notice the cladding.
At the time of our purchase we were rarely seeing silver Outbacks but they are now seemingly all over the place. Funny how that works.
Just the 2.5? No turbo? How does it move itself?
I did an uncharacteristically heavy amount of research leading up to this purchase. Why? All the reviews I read talked about how asthmatic and awful and pathetic and sorry that naturally aspirated 2.5 liter is in the Outback. Car & Driver called it “weak.” Motor Trend called it “underpowered.” Somebody else called it “coarse,” which is an interesting assertion given the intrinsic balance of a flat-four.
Motor Trend, in the same review, said a 3,700 pound 2023 Outback with the 182 horsepower 2.5 did 0-60 in 8.6 seconds. Good grief, how can the Outback even hope to achieve, let alone maintain, highway speeds with such meager output?
The writers at the various automotive publications must be contractually required to find fault with any aging model, even at the expense of making themselves sound like a bunch of Prima Donalds.
Interestingly, I randomly stumbled upon a Car & Driver review of a 2017 Accord. Zero to 60 was 7.6 seconds with the 2.4 liter and a CVT. No mention of its inline four being weak or underpowered and most people won’t notice one second in that benchmark sprint.
Sometimes I wonder if these Prima Donalds have actually experienced “weak” and “underpowered.”
But it leads to a question..if the Subaru 2.5 is truly such a lethargic slug, would the majority of Subaru buyers be purchasing vehicles so equipped? Every Crosstrek has a 2.5 as does every Forester and most Outbacks (with the “Premium” trim, such as ours, being the most popular of the nine trims and it has no turbo option).
We know the answer to that question.
That said, will the 2.5 in my Outback dazzle and awe one with gloriously insane acceleration? Can the Outback’s juggernaut of rapid velocity acquisition make one’s runny nose flow backward to whence it came?
No. But it wasn’t meant to. It is a workhorse of an engine that reliably does what it is called upon to do.
As an aside, let me point out that, at one time and not overwhelmingly long ago, I was vehemently anti-four cylinder anything. “Weak” and “underpowered” were justified and legitimate descriptors – once upon a time. The impression they made prompted me to actively avoid purchasing anything with four cylinders for nearly a quarter-century so any thought of my being a small engine apologist are inaccurate. In fact, I still own two vehicles with wonderful cast-iron V8 engines.
Would I have preferred the available 2.4 liter turbo? No. It requires stepping up in trim levels and doing so carries an $8,200 premium over the, uh, Premium.
Incidentally, and as another aside, fuel consumption is an interesting thing. The EPA ratings for the 2.4 liter Outback are only three miles per gallon more (combined and highway) than a diesel powered Suburban.
I have driven this Outback in elevations from 370 feet to 12,200 feet (which is likely a greater spread than most people have driven their cars). It did just fine regardless of environment although I could tell a slight difference above 8,000 feet elevation.
Blame that on thin air; this lowlander (I live at 630 feet elevation) was gasping for air at that elevation more than was the Outback.
The Dreaded CVT
In mathematics, there is a type of curve called an asymptote. This curve is approaching infinity on one axis while the other keeps reaching for a constant. Neither ever gets there, but they are actively striving for it.
Similar seems to be the case with automatic transmissions these days. After decades of three- and four-speed automatics, we are seeing transmissions with up to ten forward gears. They are reaching for infinity, but never quite get there (although their reliability seems to be striving for a constant of zero in some instances). In the process, these transmissions reveal themselves (particularly with ten speeds) to be jerky and indecisive, especially at low speeds.
Think about it…in a vehicle with a ten-speed automatic, it shifts nine times before reaching highway speed. The vehicle is in a perpetual shift cycle.
All that jerkiness and indecisiveness is gone with a CVT. At least with Subaru. They are exceptionally smooth and, frankly, those not aware of the difference between a CVT and a traditional automatic transmission will never notice it.
One pleasant difference is when it does need to “downshift”. We recently drove I-70 westbound from Kansas City to Denver, a distance of just over 600 miles. For those unfamiliar, driving this segment of I-70 westbound is a continuous, but not uniform, climb uphill. There were times when at 75 mph (amazingly, that “weak”, “underpowered” 2.5 liter maintained such a speed, and greater, without issue) when steeper uphill grades necessitated some additional oomph. There was no traditional downshift to accomplish this; the engine simply sped up a few hundred rpm and the change of gearing was imperceptible.
That is the seat-of-the-pants benefit of a CVT. The last time I drove this route was in our 5.4 liter powered Ford E-150. While torque delivery in that van is an entirely different ballgame (345 ft-lbs at 2,500 rpm versus 176 ft-lbs at 4,400 rpm), when it did have to downshift, it was an obvious thing. Not harsh, but inescapable.
Would I prefer regular gears? Probably. However, it seems many are quick to dismiss a CVT. It also makes me wonder how many of those who moan about them have actually experienced (a good) one. Is the experience different? Yes. Are the differences something the uninitiated will miss entirely? Also yes.
Mrs. Jason is aware of the Outback having a CVT. She is one who is remarkably aware of differences between vehicles and has not once mentioned anything about a different experience due to the CVT.
The Driving Experience
The Outback and our 2014 VW Passat (which we still have) occupy roughly the same footprint. When we were shopping, I discovered the overall lengths of the two are remarkably close.
With the greater ground clearance of the Outback, one does sit up higher but it isn’t a dramatic boost upwards (despite Subaru’s marketing propaganda, the Outback is neither an SUV nor a CUV; it’s a wagon based upon the Legacy sedan). This height does help somewhat with visibility.
The interior accommodations of the front seat are terrific. Mrs. Jason, Jr. has reported the backseat is a touch smaller than in the VW, although the added seat height does compensate for this.
While the Passat is more toss-able, the Outback always feels more planted to the road thanks to its full-time all-wheel drive. While we haven’t yet encountered a large variety of situations, there are two where I can pinpoint the Outback’s ability to seemingly meld with the ground (not all of our driving has been on pavement).
Here’s the first: Last winter, I had to go somewhere. There was snow on the ground and, well, I’m not hardcore about clearing my driveways (the sun will eventually come out and melt the stuff, so why bother?). Backing out of the garage in the Outback, the driveway felt like dry pavement. There was ice and a snow drift by my mailbox; feeling adventurous, I was able to effortlessly climb the snowdrift in the Outback to place my outgoing mail.
Here’s another: During our trip west, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park. The park has a one-way, nine-mile long gravel road notched out of the side of various mountains. It is highly scenic, takes one above the tree line and up into the tundra, and is well worth the time. The elevation increased from 8,200 feet to 12,000 feet in those nine miles. Several websites said all-wheel drive is recommended but perhaps more so later in the season after more traffic has caused road deterioration.
I’ve driven countless miles on gravel roads, and any incline can result in wheel spin with some vehicles. I saw it happen there with other drivers. But not in the Outback. The Outback is as sure-footed as the mountain goats who live there, even on the hair-pin curves as seen here.
It takes about five seconds of driving in unsavory conditions to see why Subarus are so popular. In fact, they are so popular in Colorado, when we crossed over from Kansas, a confetti cannon went off, congratulating us on further increasing the Subaru concentration within the state. Five miles down the road was the welcome center, sponsored by Subaru, where all Subaru owners got a complimentary carwash. That was awesome!
Utility
Before the Outback ever hauled a harp, our water heater sprung a leak. It was a cold, dreary day with most of the souvenirs of a 3″ sleet storm, capped with a 4″ snow, still being present on both driveways (because the sun always cleans it for you eventually). The old Ford Econoline was in the downstairs garage, and would have been helpless in the ice. My Dodge pickup was experiencing a no-charging issue, so I was hesitant to drive it – along with the bed being full of ice and snow.
It was Mrs. Jason who asked if the new water heater would be taller or shorter than the big harp.
That water heater slid into the outback of the Outback without fuss. And I got the taller 50 gallon unit.
On the previously mentioned trip to Colorado, we did our usual amount of overpacking. Well, not me, but we still had a tremendous amount of stuff, including the daughter’s harpsicle, a dainty not-so-little thing which can be held with a guitar strap. Leading up to the trip, I knew how we had fit roughly the same amount of paraphernalia into the Passat for a trip to Orlando last November and was curious to see how it would compare with the Outback.
The Outback felt somewhat less stuffed than did the Passat. Plus, I still had rearward visibility as we had had to use the rear package tray for the trip with the Passat.
Both the Passat and Outback can both accommodate a tremendous amount. But only the Outback can haul the big harp or a water heater or several bales of hay when the need arises.
As to harp hauling…it’s nearly ideal for Mrs. Jason Jr.’s largest harp. As was reported to me, if there was 2″ more floor space and 2″ more height, it would be perfect. Since nothing in this world is perfect, I think we did reasonably well in finding what we were after.
Dislikes
We have a few.
First is the insanely large touch screen. Why does the auto industry have such an affinity for these and such a phobia about knobs and buttons? It gets ridiculously hot and insanely cold where I live. I don’t appreciate having to dive through a touchscreen simply to adjust airflow. Yes, there are a few buttons to address temperature and activate the defrost. But to recirculate or mix the airflow, you have to muddle through a touchscreen. Not appreciated.
Another is the power tailgate. It is either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. If ever there would be reason to dispose of this car prematurely, this would be it. It’s been a problem and I regret having purchased this option.
Despite the gray interior, the flooring is black, including the cargo area. There is absolutely no reason for this. When I am parked in a well lit garage, with the dome light on, I should not have to fetch a flashlight to be able to find an errant tin can lurking in the cargo area (yes, for what it’s worth, I am vaguely over 50, but my night vision is still quite sharp). Black absorbs light (and heat and always looks dirty) so all auto manufacturers (not just Subaru) need to consider the end user and jettison the black. Black interiors are to this era what vinyl roofs are to the 1970s – inexplicably prevalent and having no merits for their use.
While this last point isn’t necessarily a dislike, it is a perpetual observation.
This Outback gets the most widespread fuel economy I’ve ever experienced. The EPA rates it at 26 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. In the first 1,000 miles never at any point did the display show over 24 mpg. Once the weather turned better and we began driving it more, fuel economy on the highway easily hit the mid-30s. We’ve ranged from 23 to 34 mpg in our ownership, exceeding EPA estimates on both ends. Never have I had a vehicle with that large of a variance.
One other observation…the display showing average fuel economy is generally 1 to 2 mpg below the calculated actual.
The End of an Era
If you want an Outback like this one, you better hurry up. There is a new one coming for 2026. Having seen preview photos of the 2026 Outback, I’m glad we bought when we did.
Maybe I will be wrong, but I think Subaru has, as the old saying goes, really screwed the pooch. It appears that Subaru has cowered to the pressures of conformity, with this new Outback appearing to be the not so genetically blessed result of a drunken rendezvous between a Forester and a Chevrolet Traverse. The special qualities that made the Outback so appealing seem to have been chucked into the trash bin of history. Time will tell.
Final Thoughts
Subaru historically has not needed to worry about being burdened with a bunch of “beauty in design” awards cluttering up their headquarters. To be fair, this also currently applies to other manufacturers.
Overall the Outback is remarkably versatile, can easily swallow up miles of interstate despite having the “underpowered” 2.5, and is capable of more than what I will likely ever throw at it. Maybe.
For years I have maintained cars are like people. With people, beauty can exist on the surface but the true beauty lies underneath. This certainly applies to our 2025 Outback.
When I was shopping for a CUV last year, I also wanted (but didn’t *need*) a flat floor with the 2nd row stowed. It seems like so many manufacturers prioritize rear seat comfort over a fully flat floor. Subaru is one of the few – maybe it’s their station wagon heritage? – that has a fully flat floor.
In the end, I decided to de-prioritize the flat floor because for me the Mazda CX-5 ticked all the right boxes *except* the flat floor.
Congratulations on your new ride!
Thank you!
The new Outback is definitely a case of “can” winning out over “should”. The thought process had to be “The Legacy sedan’s going away, now we can go full SUV with the Outback!” forgetting that;
1. The Outback’s following is largely from its’ “wagon” attributes.
2. The largest 2-row unibody CUVs from other manufacturers are nearly all the slowest-selling models in the lineup unless there’s also a moribund, wait-we’re-still-building-those midsize sedan. See: Nissan Murano, Chevy Blazer (gas), Ford Edge (I think that’s actually discontinued which proves my point), Toyota Venza (ditto, twice) and so on.
I agree and also believe the 2026 Outback will quickly be seriously face lifted, not unlike the 2000 Ford Taurus eradicated the miss with Ford’s ovaloid theme.
Great to read this, from a few perspectives.
I like Subarus in theory – the idea of a mid-size utilitarian wagon is very appealing, and in many ways, that’s exactly the kind of vehicle I could use. But I just can’t bring myself to buy a Subaru. Of all the Subaru owners I’ve known recently, about 50% have had absolutely positive ownership experiences… the other 50% seem to have been disastrous. Seems like there’s no in-between. I hope your experience is in the former category – for that matter, I hope that Subaru has improved in that regard. I hadn’t heard that Consumer Reports proclaimed Subaru the most reliable car brand; definitely interesting news.
Some random comments:
Underpowered Cars: People who say that 180+ hp cars that can reach 60 in 8 seconds are underpowered… such people need to be time-traveled back to the 1980s. I agree with you in ordering the non-turbo version of this car. More and more, I find myself favoring simplicity.
CVTs: Just last month I drove my first CVT-equipped car. Not the kind of car that would make anyone excited (a rental Malibu), and I was expecting find the transmission annoying… but I actually liked it. It drove smoothly, reacted pretty quickly (I’m sure Motor Trend would call the car underpowered, but really it was fine), and I appreciated the “Downshifting” feature, which I used a lot. The main thing I’d be hesitant about with buying a CVT is durability, and that’s something I can’t quite figure out.
Touchscreen: At the risk of sounding too curmudgeonly, I loathe that giant screen, and that would actually stand in the way of me getting one of these cars.
Anyway, it’s great to read the review of this car – you picked out a nice one!
Thank you. Fully agree about some needing to time travel to the 1980s. Even the 1990s had some stinkers.
I wondered when we would get a report on this car, and I’m glad you took your time.
There is no substitute for a nice, big interior cargo floor, which is why the Outback has always appealed to me, and is the one thing I really miss after graduating from a long series of vans, both mini and not.
It is a good feeling when you choose a new car and find yourself happy about it months and years later. And congratulations on that anniversary that inspired your paint color.
The experience needed to play out some in order to have an accurate report. No point in being hasty.
Plus, speaking of hasty…we took our sweet time in buying. We were at 26 years, 3 months when we bought it! It doesn’t seem like that long, but well, it was. Scary part is my parents had been married less than this amount of time when Mrs. Jason and I met.
Jason – What a fantastic review! Many of your observations match mine in regards to my much-loved 2013 Outback. The 2.5? Never had an issue with keeping up in Houston and Texas’s 15-miles-over-speed-limit highways. CVT? After my first day with it I forgot about it. Never strained, always seemed to be in the right mode, seamless operation (although the paddle shifters were amusing. I think I used them 6 times in 240k miles…). It’s one of the most comfortable cars I’ve owned (6’3″, 200#). While it only saw snow twice here in Houston, it handled our torrential downpours with ease. Its AWD surefootedness was the match of the Volvo XC70 and Audi Quattro I test drove before I bought the Subaru in ’13 (the $15k difference in msrp was all in their much nicer interiors).
I have a few grips with mine, several of which were addressed with later generations. To change the headlight bulbs you had to take the front cap off the car. The low tire pressure light didn’t indicate which tire. The navigation map support stopped in 2016. My CVT ‘popped’ at 75k miles, although Subaru replaced it free of charge and strengthened the warranty for all. And at least for my year or perhaps just my car, a number of sensors and other components seem to wear out prematurely (my CC O2 sensors were replaced several times).
No one buys an Outback for its beautiful design (’06-’09 generation excepted). I understand about the cladding; I think Subaru misjudged their Outback audience when they refreshed your model in ’23 and went from subtle to semi-cringe with the cladding. With the bizarre 2026 model, it will certainly sell to diehard Outback customers, but I think the new model will only push people towards the Forrester and CrossTrek if they have to have a Subaru. I think they will push other potential Outback shoppers elsewhere. The charm of the Outback for me has always been that it’s just a lifted wagon and drives like a tall car. That will be gone with the 2026.
All said, I would have seriously considered another Outback 2 years ago when I was shopping for “what’s next”, but I really wanted a hybrid and Subaru didn’t have an Outback hybrid then. Apparently they will with the ’26, but again, the new model is more Ascent Junior as opposed to an Outback. My Outback has been semi-retired to New England where it serves as our vacation car.
Again, great review and here’s to many miles of safe driving!
Thank you. I had never even contemplated Subaru until one a year or so before we bought I popped into the Subaru dealer when Mrs. Jason was doing whatever. Sitting in the driver’s seat was a revelation in how everything felt so natural. I’ve only experienced that in a limited number of cars.
I don’t mind huge screens in cars, but they should NEVER be touch screens. Give me a tactile rotary controller like a Mazda or BMW.
Had a Mazda 3 recently as a rental. The screen was way up high on the dash and was not a touch screen. The controller was very well placed just in front of the center armrest and had excellent feedback with the clicks it made as I rotated it or pushed it like a joystick. Was so much safer than my car with its touch screen. It was much easier to hit the control I wanted in the Mazda without missing, like I so often do with touch screens in cars.
I currently own one and that was one reason. At the very least the climate controls should be knobs and buttons, like in my car.
Was the dealership experience any better than what you described in your last post? Or did you bite the bullet on something subpar?
Initially I was caught by great surprise, but owning the last example of a station wagon fits your contrarian streak.
Going to a car dealer is like a trip to the dentist. You know it will be unpleasant; it’s just a matter of how much.
The dealer we used was the one closest to our home (30-odd miles away). In that dental spectrum of unpleasant, this experience was more on the benign end, closer to a tooth cleaning than root canal. But it still isn’t an experience I care to have with any frequency.
Ahh Subaru. Here in New England, they are everywhere. I have lots of relatives with legacies, foresters, and outbacks (oddly no crosstreks currently). I had a 2001 Outback LL-bean edtion myself. Talking with long term owners of Subarus in the family buying before the 2012-2015 time period involved a lot more risk. My 2001 was done around 150k miles and the last 20k were kind of expensive and annoying repair wise. This seemed true right up to my brothers 2011 legacy which had head gaskets and lots of suspension work done right around 120k miles. Now family with cars newer than that seem to have a much more Camry or Accord-like experience even with the CVT’s. I had one family memeber that after having many VW issues started buying Subarus around 2005. The early ones he bought all also started having issues a little over 100k miles but his current pair of post 2015 foresters (2017 and 2022 maybe?) have been rock solid other then a weird clearcoat problem on the older one that I haven’t seen on any other one driving around.
Power wise I don’t really trust modern reviewers, If you find a review written by someone with more experience driving cars pre 2000 they seem more reasonable about it. My 1988 Ramcharger has a 0 to 60 in the double digits, and that’s not even close to the slowest car Ive owned.
I have often wondered If Nissan gave CVT’s a bad rap rather than CVT’s being bad. In theory they are fairly simple and making them robust should not be that hard. Subaru had some early issues but no where near as bad as Nissan. I will say the the modern CVT is much better then the 4EAT 4 speed I had in my outback. that transmission was really annoying and never seemed to be in the right gear at the right time.
The CVT in my ’15 Forester is LIGHTyears ahead of the 4EAT in the 2008 Outback I had before. Going up hills here in the Rockies the OB could never decide which gear it wanted to be in, in the end I’d lock it in 3rd and have it screaming at 4500rpm, otherwise it would bog down in 4th and just keep going back and forth. The CVT is SO much better and manages to multiply the power seamlessly, accelearating uphill without any drama and usually without much noticeable change in anything.
Much of the bad rap CVT gets is from old implementations, as well as people that test drive a (one) cold car and never let it warm up as the programming is often to keep the engine at whatever rpm is deemed to warm things up most quickly, which is then not necessarily how the unit works once warm and on the go. Or just “what they heard”. It’s not like there aren’t and haven’t been plenty of normal automatics that fail to shower themselves in longlived glory.
A quite thorough review and one that considers the all important harp hauling aspect. You don’t get that just anywhere.
Looks like a good choice for the Shafer family, particularly in light of the 2026 which looks to be made out of Lego bricks.
I do have suspicion of the CVT, but then again I have not fully accepted conventional automatics. Only 1 of our family’s 8 vehicles are auto (counting motorcycles too). Imagine your Outback equipped with a 6 speed manual.
An Outback with a six-speed would be a revelation. Before we bought our Passat, I test drove a Passat with the five (or six, I forget which) speed hooked to the 1.8T. That was a blast and I still think of that car when driving our Passat. However, that test driven Passat was black inside and out, a real non-starter.
The Outback swallows the big harp quite well – plus the harp dolly and a music stand.
Outback (and in fact Subaru styling in general) has always been a mystery to me, with the exception of the clean 3rd gen Legacy and its derivative as Dave M. mentioned in his comment. Not so much the overall shapes, but the trim. The first Outback seemed targeted at outdoor enthusiasts and rural people looking for a practical car, with its increased ground clearance and larger tires. So what did Subaru do? They pimped it out with gold trim, two-tone paint, and raised white letter tires. Subsequent Outbacks backed off on the gold trim but took two-tone in an even more exaggerated direction with all that cladding. And the recent Wilderness Editions, which provide even more ground clearance for the hardcore (or just wannabe) off-roader, feature particularly unattractive dose of gold trim. Perhaps that’s an homage to the original but it looks more Gucci than Patagonia.
I have gotten used to the 2.5 CVT in the Crosstrek. It’s the noise when you accelerate from a stop, I think that makes it seem more gutless than it is. The speedometer moves up fast enough.
I almost like the giant touchscreen as a rolling air photo when navigating in the woods.
I have put 2 and a half years of off road and snow driving and I like the Subaru AWD and ground clearance enough that I put up with the rest of the Subaru experience.
I do manage to hold up traffic but maybe that’s not the car’s fault.
Zero problems.
Zero problems is good to hear. There are no doubt some, uh, quirks with Subaru, but it hasn’t been anything repulsive thus far.
We’re hopefully a ways off from our next vehicle replacement cycle; currently driving an ’18 Buick Regal TourX (a station wagon!) with 111K miles and a ’21 RAM Classic Quad Cab with the 6′-4″ bed and towing package (nearing 60K miles).
The TourX has been a delightful road trip car, and also sports full-time AWD with torque vectoring. It’s a bit on the small side as far as cargo capacity, however. The second row of seats do fold down flat (with a split rear seat), but I doubt we could haul a 50-gal water heater in it (or a harp). It’s powered by the 2.0l Ecotec (turbo), which has plenty of power, and the 8-sp. auto shift points are fairly decent. EPA says 24MPG, which is about right on average, although we can easily hit low 30s on a road trip.
You’ll remember that, prior to the ground-pounding ’17 Chev SS, I had a 2.5-year fling with a 3rd-gen Honda Fit outfitted with a CVT. The CVT wasn’t “horrible,” and did fine on long interstate trips, but I honestly would prefer a traditional geared automatic over a CVT in any future vehicle we purchase. The CVT driving experience is just too much like having the engine and transmission connected by a rubber band (so to speak). That little Fit did, on the other hand, swallow a new dishwasher (in the box) with no issues.
And we have the truck because I still haul building supplies, tractors, etc. on a regular basis.
Your Subie looks intriguing and perhaps worth a look. But I think realistically we will eventually want to downsize to one vehicle with large cargo capacity that can also tow, which leaves out pretty much all of the mid-size SUV/CUVs (that I’m aware of). And that next-gen Outback is a total dog’s breakfast from a styling standpoint – I refuse to have something that looks that ugly in my driveway.
Fwiw, I think the flat-4 does have a secondary imbalance; whether that’s noticeable enough to be called out by journos🤷
When we started looking I was really eager to find a TourX for a drive. No dice; nothing within 150 miles.
I hope you have many more years with your Buick. It is the last Buick that has appealed to me.
You’ve succinctly described why the Outback is so popular, especially in places like Oregon where outdoor activities of all kinds are extremely popular. It is truly a crossover, in that realm between what a passenger car/wagon once occupied and a genuine SUV. There’s just nothing quite like it in its space.
Happy travels!
Thank you. It very much occupies a very distinct place in the market which might be why we found it appealing.
As my wife said when we first looked at one: “I didn’t want to like it so much.”
About the time Jason bought his Outback, I bought a used 2024 Crosstrek. I was thinking CX-5 (based on all the positive reviews on CC), but a visit to the local Mazda dealer where the sales staff acted like I woke them from a nap completely turned me off. I had decided on used because I really don’t do that many miles since I retired, I’m an admitted cheapskate, and I wanted to easily pay cash and come out under $30k for tax, tag and title. The white Crosstrek had 24k with a clean one private owner Carfax, when I bought it from the sketchiest Chevy dealer in town (which turned out, so far, to have been a very good experience).
This vehicle replaced a 2015 Honda Fit (3rd gen). Compared to the Fit, the 2.5 is perfectly fine, with plenty of power. Seats, ride comfort, road noise and headlights are way better. At first I was enamored with the in-dash i-Pad. After a while I missed the 3-knobs and a button climate control on the fit. I never had to look down to find the fan-speed switch. My calculated gas mileage vs. the dashboard are pretty close. I’ve gotten as low as 23 and as high as 36. The Fit, of course, was way better, up into the low 40’s. The Fit supposedly has one more cubic foot of cargo area with the seat down. No doubt, the fastback hatchback design is a compromise.
The CVT does what it’s supposed to. I’m amazed at times to see RPMs hovering between 1.5 and 2k at freeway speeds when the (6-speed manual) Fit would have been well over 3k. The only times I’ve used the flappy paddles is downshifting to engine brake on steep downhills. (If anyone has been to Mt. Nebo or Petit Jean state parks in Arkansas, they’ll know why.
My concern about the CVT is the alleged life-of-the-car transmission fluid. Considering that a blown transmission would probably total the car after four of five years, I’m not buying it, and will likely have it changed around 3 years/36k.
This is Arkansas, with about one snow a year and me with no job, so other than the occasional Forest Service road to a trailhead, the AWD won’t get much of a workout. I do like that it never spins the wheels taking off on a rainy, wet uphill slope, even with OEM tires approaching their end of life. I also like the ground clearance. The bumper will miss almost any parking curb.
The bottom line is that, aside from a very few annoyances, I’m happy with my Subaru.
“The CVT does what it’s supposed to. I’m amazed at times to see RPMs hovering between 1.5 and 2k at freeway speeds when the (6-speed manual) Fit would have been well over 3k.”
This was the main reason I opted for the CVT instead of the 6MT in my Fit. There was a 1,000 RPM difference between the two at interstate speeds. On my test drive of a 6MT, driving around town required rapid rowing up to 5th gear, even in 40 MPH speed zones.
Jason, congratulations on your new ride. It is a real looker and the colour suits the car well.
When it comes to power, how much do you really need? My car makes 242 hp but I rarely get any opportunity to use it. The power your Subaru makes is more than adequate to keep up with traffic. I drove Rabbit diesels with a whopping 48 hp and still got where I was going.
I don’t get the hullabaloo about CVTs. Gearheads go ballistic at the mention of a CVT, even though few of them have ever driven one. I have experience CVTs a few times as rentals. After a few minutes, it seems quite normal and I doubt the average driver would even know what kind of transmission they have.
I am not much of a fan of huge touch screens. My car is a 2018, so just before screen control started. I had a Ford SUV as a rental and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the defroster. I had to stop and decipher it because trying to fiddle with the touch screen while driving is dangerous.
I hope your new car gives plenty of service over the upcoming years.
Thank you. The silver has definitely grown on me and, like you, I don’t understand the hullabaloo with CVTs. They are a darn sight smoother than most contemporary geared automatics.
I have slowed (somewhat, but maybe not much) in my driving speeds as I’ve gotten older, but this Outback has zero problems running 80+ mph without fuss and it still has lots of throttle left. It has not been an issue.
Made the same decision, earlier in the year, to replace our 2013 TSX wagon. Got the XT though, and gray to mask the cladding. Despite the necessary SUV marketing, it’s clearly a wagon and all the better for it.
I looked at a number of other vehicles first:
-Crown Signia (dated powertrain, oppressive interior; screams single-generation, parts bin pretty loudly)
– ’26 Honda Passport (21″ step-in height was the dealbreaker)
– A6 Allroad (ticked all the boxes for size, capability, etc., but the $30k price delta didn’t cover the few advantages it has over the Subie)
You definitely went with a good color on the Outback to mask its mask!
We looked at a Crown Signia recently. I fully agree with what you say.
Mrs. Jason initially wanted gray like yours; we even test drove one. But that obviously evolved.
At one point we were looking at the A6 Allroad but it just wasn’t us. For the money, I’d get a base Suburban and then worry about the 5.3 going south.
I’ve had experience of CVTs all the way back to my Volvo 343 with the OG DAF CVT. I think you’re quite right to point out that a “good” CVT is actually a pretty decent option. We’ve had my current Mitsubishi Outlander for 12 years, and I like the CVT in it. It is quite aggressive about “upshifting” when you’re using light throttle, so it keeps the engine in the torque zone, and somehow it doesn’t have that weird sensation when the engine revs are constant but the speed is going up. We’ve got 220000km on it, and it has needed one intervention – a bearing went bad. A specialist gearbox place swapped it out for a very affordable amount. It has had some hard yards while we have owned it, full of passengers and towing a camping trailer over hilly terrain, but it has always performed just fine.
My Volvo was awful. An early iteration of the technology, so I guess that’s what you get.
My current Toyota Ractis has a perfectly acceptable CVT, except that it upshifts too aggressively under load (hills) and bogs the engine. The engine is not in great condition, so that’s probably part of the problem.
I’ve also experienced CVTs in various hire cars, and they’ve tended to be acceptable.
On the whole the driving characteristics can be perfectly fine and I appreciate that you get better economy with a CVT. I wouldn’t buy a Nissan with a CVT – too many horror stories – and I would do my research on reliability if buying any car with a CVT, but it isn’t necessarily a sticking point. It also isn’t a selling point – they work fine, but not so great that I would seek out a CVT above any other type of transmission.
“they work fine, but not so great that I would seek out a CVT above any other type of transmission.”
Very well said.
A great review, Jason. Quite interesting as the Outback has been a frequently-mentioned contestant in the “someday we will need a new car” contest.
I’m glad you overall like yours. It does sound as if it checked all the right boxes.
Man though, that cladding is awful. It just seems random and pointless. The piece flowing from the headlight looks like someone with their mascara running after a good cry. The parts around the wheel arches look like that disguising tape they put on cars that are undergoing pre-production on public roads. I just don’t get why designers do that with the cladding.
Thanks Jeff for the mascara comment. Saved me from writing it. Great minds think alike!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who found the looks, ah, questionable! The 2026 edition looks as though it took a big lick from the UGLY stick!! 🙂
I agree about the cladding but it has saved us a few door dings thus far, plus it just fades into the background at a certain point and you don’t notice it.
In a sense, buying a car is like picking a spouse…they are expensive, some things are easy to overlook, other things are intolerable, and both can wear on you if not chosen well yet both can offer all sorts of rewards (of different types, of course).
Congratulations on the new ride and on joining the cult, er, I meant club. Yeah, club, that’s it! May it fjord every stream, cross every mountain, and conquer every grassy field you unleash it on for many happy years.
It doesn’t seem a particularly difficult formula to master, but then again multiple other far bigger competitors have tried and failed to follow the same recipe, as evidenced by their half-baked results and subsequent market failures.
And, of course, thanks for visiting, I now have a far different appreciation (and knowledge) of harps than I did before.
Jim, you’ve made me realize something…I own a Subaru, a Volkswagen, a conversion van, and an ancient Dodge pickup. Does that give me membership in four cults? Each has their distinct following…
Knowledge of harps doesn’t qualify for cult status, but it does put one in very rarified territory. It’s even better when the knowledge shows up eight blocks from home!
This comes to mind when I think of CVTs:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-rental-service-2014-nissan-sentra-positive-over-the-sentra-or-pos-for-short/
Driven cars with a few of them – is the transmission in the Outback truly that different? (I’m sure everything else, except gas mileage, would be vastly superior to that rental staple).
The difference in CVTs between the Outback and Sentra are like the differences between noon and midnight. It’s vast despite both being at 12:00.
Jason, you are selling me on the Subaru Outback, and the lead photo was a stroke of brilliance. As was the use of “asymptote”, which I’m pretty sure I hadn’t read or heard since college. I would have died for an 8.6 second 0-60 time from a four-cylinder engine back in the day. Great piece and congratulations!
Thank you about the picture. Mrs. Jason Jr. groaned when I took it. Would you believe we just happened to park there and I saw what is the picture on the way back to the car?
The only way my ’89 Mustang would have gone from 0-60 so quickly was to drop it from an airplane. Perhaps some automotive writers need to experience a four-pot Pony from that era.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who found the looks, ah, questionable! The 2026 edition looks as though it took a big lick from the UGLY stick!! 🙂
An interesting read. As some have said Outbacks are everywhere in certain locations. When it comes to me the image in my mind for a Subaru was my dorm mate, in 1972, who drove a Subaru. It was like WTH is this car. Clearly they have come some way in the interim.
I agree that touch screen is way to big. Personally I can do without one as it would serve no purpose for me. I can remind myself when the car needs service for one. Two, how long will it last. The one in my wife’s 2018 Mazda 3 has some issues and there was a Class Action suit concerning it. Result is the warranty has been extended for 2 years based on this August. It will no doubt get replaced. Fortunately Mazda used the standard three dials for AC/Heat/Fan control. As for the cladding maybe if a different color I might find it acceptable and the way it is distributed is strange to me.
That 2025 Outback front looks hideous to me but I guess they are not trying to appeal to my generation so I wish them luck. I’m not in the market, in fact, I’ll never again be in the market for a new car. I get the feeling they are more and more built to a certain point in the planned obsolescence scheme. That doesn’t work for me since I keep for a long time and like to service my own cars. So right now I am rebuilding two engines and then another two next year giving me eight cars with new engines. However, my wife is a different viewpoint when it comes to a car.
I had an ‘05 OB in the top of line 3.0R VDC trim (above the LL Bean at the time). Bought it two years old with 28K and put a little over 100K additional miles on it in the next five years. It was gorgeous inside and out, and the flat 6 was smooth as silk. I was sure to flush the coolant system every 2 years with only Subaru coolant per the direction of the message boards, to preserve the dead gaskets. Despite mostly highway driving, I had to replace most of the front end at around 100K.
Well, it all seems a bit inadequate to me. I mean, can you PLAY the harp in the car, on a snowy road? That, surely, is the real test, of a real car.
You’re dead right about the cladding thing – which, around the arches, looks like mascara applied whilst on an actual outback road here – in saying one just doesn’t see this stuff after a while. If the product otherwise pleases, it pleases. Let’s be honest, it’s rather unlikely that any of us look back at out parked car at the supermarket or kid’s theatre play or sports game (or harp-fest) or petrol station and think to ourselves “Man, so glad that’s mine”. This thing just sounds like a very decent car, and you give a good account of it. Btw, the journalist’s class complaint of not enough power has long since passed all credibility.
My sister bought a Crosstrek about a year back, and the knackered-engine racket that that thing makes a cold startup is something to behold. It actually sounds (from inside) like the exhausts face upwards from the flat four, though the cacophony goes away. Does yours do something like this?
Interesting choice, and not one I was predicting when you were going MOPAR hunting.
OOI, is this American built or Japanese built?
Assembled in Lafayette, Indiana, with 50% American parts content and 30% from Japan. That said, the Foresters we get are built in Japan. It gets confusing!
I had only driven a few CVT equipped cars in the past and was not too enthusiastic about them. I was in Charlotte, NC earlier this year and the only decent midsized car in the Enterprise lot was a current model Malibu with the Aisin-supplied CVT. It turned out to be a very nice driver, which was not what I expected.
We bought a 2024 Chevy Trax with almost all of the electronic stuff on it. But, even in the higher trim level like ours, the seats are still manual (but heated!) as is the tail gate. It’s kind of an odd mix of modern and old fashioned, where you get a 1,2L turbocharged 3 cylinder and a GM Hydromatic 6 speed transmission. I’m STILL getting used to the push button start and the touchscreen, but all of the heater/defrost/ac/heated seats/heated steering wheel functions are physical buttons, which I really like.
Also, having driven everything from 55 HP Yugos to 500 HP Porsches, a 8 second 0-60 isn’t that bad. The people writing these things should try pushing a loaded 100 HP Ford Econoline into Cleveland, OH rush hour traffic sometime… It’s a hoot.