The Outback is designed with features important to you, from comfort to cargo space to the latest technology and leading-edge safety features. Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive Designed for optimal balance and an even distribution of power for maximum traction, Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive makes for better stability, efficiency, and a quicker response to conditions. The durable SUBARU BOXER® engine combined with Lineartronic® CVT allows the Outback to get up to a fuel-efficient 32 MPG** highway. Standard on: All models The Outback features aluminum-alloy wheels, 8.7 inches of ground clearance, and standard X-Mode™ to help you safely cover almost any road your heart sets out on. Standard roof rails with integrated crossbars provide additional cargo-carrying capability. They're compatible with just about everything you need for a day trip or weekend getaway, including accessory attachments for kayaks, bikes, skis and cargo carriers. In addition to an efficient 175-hp 4-cylinder engine, the Outback also features an available 256-hp 6-cylinder engine for added performance and hauling capability.
EyeSight® Driver Assist Technology EyeSight monitors traffic movement, optimizes cruise control, and warns you when you're swaying outside your lane. The Pre-Collision Braking feature can even apply full braking force in emergency situations. Another way Subaru designs vehicles with your safety in mind. Standard on: 2.5i Touring, 3.6R Touring Available on: 2.5i Premium, 2.5i Limited, 3.6R Limited SUBARU STARLINK™ Safety and Security STARLINK Safety and Security includes Automatic Collision Notification, Enhanced Roadside Assistance, Stolen Vehicle Recovery, and added convenience with Remote Services. Whether you're in your vehicle, at your computer, or on your mobile device, STARLINK Safety and Security Services help keep you and your vehicle safe. Learn more about SUBARU STARLINK™ Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) with Active Torque Vectoring helps provide sharper, more stable handling. It automatically senses steering and braking inputs to help keep the vehicle on the driver's intended path.
Blind-Spot Detection and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert Using radar sensors, the Blind-Spot Detection system warns you with a visual indicator in each side mirror if it senses a vehicle in your blind spots. Rear Cross-Traffic Alert can help warn you of traffic approaching from the side as you are backing up, utilizing an audible warning and flashing visual indicator in your side mirrors and rear-vision camera display. Rear-Vision Camera and Reverse Automatic Braking A standard rear-vision camera enhances rear visibility when backing up. And with Reverse Automatic Braking, the Outback can detect objects behind you and automatically stop the vehicle, helping to keep you and your family safe when backing up. The Outback features a spacious 143.6 cubic feet of interior room with soft-touch surfaces and upgraded materials. It also includes an available 10-way adjustable power driver's seat with memory function, and a 60/40-split fold-down rear seat with available cargo-area release levers makes sure there's enough room for whatever the trip requires, pets included.
Power Seats with Memory A 10-way adjustable power driver's seat with 2-position memory function and 4-way power front passenger seat help make every ride comfortable for drivers and passengers alike. Open and close the power rear gate with the push of a button on your key fob, by controls on the dashboard, or by using the hatch. The opening height can also be adjusted when clearance is limited. Leather-appointed seats along with a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift handle add a little luxury to go with that adventurous spirit. The all-new 2.5i Touring and 3.6R Touring models feature Java Brown perforated leather-trimmed upholstery with ivory contrast stitching, bringing style and comfort wherever the Outback takes you. No matter what the journey holds, the Outback is equipped to help you pack accordingly. STARLINK Multimedia brings app connectivity into your Subaru and at your fingertips. Access news, navigation, food, weather, music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other multimedia content through Pandora, Aha, STARLINK apps and available SiriusXM® Satellite Radio.
Whether you use an iOS or Android device, you can keep your hands on the wheel and attention on the road. The Outback features an available premium audio system with 12 speakers and a 576-watt-equivalent amplifier from Harman Kardon, a 7-inch high-resolution touch screen, and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Siri™ Eyes Free enables voice control of your Apple device when it’s linked with SUBARU STARLINK™. You can make or receive calls, choose music, and even send text messages without ever taking your hand off the wheel. Schedule a Test DrivePurchased a used car Uses car for Just getting around Does not recommend this car Purchased a used car Uses car for Commuting Does recommend this car Uses car for Transporting familyOverview: The Outback wagon sits atop Subaru’s U.S. lineup and shares underpinnings with the Legacy mid-size sedan. It’s offered in four versions—2.5i, 2.5i Premium, 2.5i Limited, and 3.6R Limited. The first three, powered by a 175-hp 2.5-liter flat-four engine, are by far the most popular.
The top engine option, a 256-hp 3.6-liter flat-six, comes only on the 3.6R model. Both engines work through a continuously variable automatic transmission, and, significantly, all-wheel drive is standard across the line. No matter how it is configured, the Outback is an outlier in the marketplace, where traditional station wagons remain rare, with only automakers such as Volvo, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz continuing to offer such vehicles. Still, the Outback is a strong seller for Subaru, with 152,294 of them finding new homes last year, which translates to more than 25 percent of the brand’s sales. What’s New: In our most recent tests of the Outback, it had just been redesigned for the 2015 model year. For 2016, Subaru implemented a rash of minor yet useful updates. The 2.5i Limited and 3.6R Limited models have retuned suspension dampers for a smoother ride. The EyeSight package of driver-assist features, which last year included blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control, now includes a lane-keeping function, meaning that if it senses the driver inadvertently wandering it will do more than sound an alarm: The steering will nudge the car toward the center of its lane.
EyeSight is offered as a stand-alone, $1695 option on the Outback 2.5i Premium and in an option package that also includes a sunroof, navigation, and proximity key on Outback 2.5i and 3.6R Limited models. It is a notably comprehensive advanced safety bundle at the Outback’s price point. Also new for 2016 is a connected-services feature Subaru calls Starlink Safety Plus, which includes SOS emergency assistance via a button above the driver’s head, automatic collision notification for emergency services, and remote vehicle-diagnostic reports. It’s free for the first year of ownership; a subscription is required after that. An enhanced version, dubbed Starlink Safety Plus and Security Plus, adds the ability to remotely lock or unlock the doors, honk the horn and flash the headlights, and locate the car via a phone app (and enables a stolen-vehicle recovery feature). It is also available for a fee. What We Like: The Outback is a supremely likable vehicle, thanks to its roomy and comfortable interior, huge and usefully shaped 36-cubic-foot cargo hold, and standard all-wheel drive.
For more space, the 60/40-split rear seats fold completely flat at the behest of trunk-mounted levers or buttons atop each backrest. Despite its SUV-like plastic exterior trim and enhanced ride height, the Outback drives like the Legacy sedan, with commendably well-controlled body roll, a compliant yet planted ride, and accurate steering. We did sense that Subaru’s tuning work on the electrically assisted steering paid off, with the 2016 model exhibiting more positive-feeling reactions to steering inputs. Even before the update, the Outback’s steering weighted up in a linear fashion and exhibited none of the ill behaviors—stickiness or limp zones, for example—of some other electrically assisted steering systems on the marketplace. We evaluated a 2.5i Premium model for this review, so we can’t speak to the efficacy of Subaru’s work on the suspension of the Limited models; we can say our Outback rode well, its tall-sidewall tires absorbing Michigan’s post-winter potholes like they were cracks in a sidewalk.
Our test model had the EyeSight safety package, which offers nuanced responses to impending calamities. (This is unlike, say, General Motors’ forward-collision warning system, which goes off with a frequency that suggests GM wants to keep reminding owners that they purchased the feature.) We found that the Subaru system intervened appropriately, warning of impending collisions only when we purposefully sped toward stationary or slower-moving vehicles or changed lanes without signaling. (Both the lane-departure and forward-collision warning systems, as well as blind-spot monitoring, can be shut off.) An alternative to this technology, of course, is a driver who’s aware of the surroundings, a task made easier by the Outback’s thin roof pillars and excellent visibility in all directions. What We Don’t Like: As agreeable as the 2.5i models’ four-cylinder engine and CVT can be in normal driving, the combination leaves drivers wanting in the speed department. Simply put, it’s slow, even though the CVT avoids many of the ills that typically plague transmissions of this type.
(There isn’t as much lag or “rubber-band” acceleration effect in the Outback, although we noted the transmission could take longer than expected to fully engage when quickly shifting between drive and reverse.) Driven in a typical fashion, the powertrain is smooth and willing, a demure partner that returns decent fuel economy. (We recorded 25 mpg in our 2015 Outback 2.5i test.) Even the flat-four engine is subdued, with only a muffled thrum penetrating the cabin; it’s enough to let you know the engine is running, nothing more. The six-cylinder 3.6R Limited, which got 22 mpg in our test, is quicker and sounds better. Otherwise, our other key complaints pertain to the front seats’ aggressive lumbar support and to the navigation system, which disallows anyone from inputting new addresses when the Outback is on the move—you’re only allowed to seek out basic points of interest (gas stations, restaurants, the like) or to choose among previously entered destinations. Overall, though, the Outback is more than qualified for family duty, off-road adventuring, or supporting an active lifestyle with its cargo room and standard roof rails to which any number of attachments can be fitted.