No other car company in the world is probably prouder of its motorsport heritage than Subaru. In all, if not all, of their advertising material, images of their blue-and-gold Impreza power sliding its way to victory is common sight. This should be entirely alright if the entire “Scooby” (as Subaru is affectionately called by its rabid fans) is made solely of Imprezas. But, it’s not. In fact, Subaru has a full roster of cars ranging from miniature city cars to full-blown sport utility vehicles. Tapping a pristine sporting image in marketing a family SUV may seem tacky, but in Subaru’s case, things fit quite well. And this is because of one simple fact: all Subarus—regardless of shape and size, are made to be enjoyed by the driver. And in the case of the Outback, makes a pretty strong case to stay away from the twice-the-price European crossovers.
The term crossover means the Outback is a mix between a conventional sedan and a full-blown SUV. It is based off the Legacy wagon, but rides with increased ground clearance, all-season rubber and much more aggressive body cladding. These visual ‘enhancements’ may seem a bit Frankenstein on paper, but the execution is done quite well. Despite the increased ground clearance and all, the look is still unmistakably urban. It looks like a softer, more mature version of the Legacy: refined, understated and elegant. The transformation of the Legacy to the Outback would be like Angelina Jolie: from wild rocker chick to socially conscious glam goddess.
While the exterior treatment is remarkably different, given the Outback and Legacy’s similar origins, Subaru made less of an effort to differentiate the two from the inside. That said, the interior treatment’s quite good, especially given the P 2.240 million price tag. Overall, the Outback’s interior is hard to fault with a pleasing design, nice ergonomics and high-quality execution on most switchgear. As expected of Subaru, the best seat here is the driver’s, thanks to the supportive perforated leather seats and the grippy three-spoke MOMO leather steering wheel. The rest of the controls fall comfortable to hand, with a special mention going to the paddle shifters which are a driver’s best friend during overtaking maneuvers. The gauges are lit in red, connoting something extra special in the Outback. A closer examination reveals a graphical display between the tacho and speedometer. This is Subaru’s SI Drive.
Activated by a rotary switch on the center tunnel, the SI Drive system is a three-mode engine management system that lets the driver select between economical or performance-oriented driving dynamics. The aforementioned graphical display then shows the throttle’s response curve—a representation of how much torque is being applied to the wheels. ‘Intelligent’ is designed for commuting or other high-traffic, stop-and-go driving situations. It also gives the best fuel economy of all three settings. Intelligent relaxes the car’s throttle responses and reduces maximum power. Meanwhile ‘Sport’ gives a more linear acceleration and quicker throttle response, while ‘Sport Sharp’ delivers the power even sooner. All of this looked to be a true technophile’s dream, but this fancy system warranted a test in the real world to see how good this thing was.
With an empty piece of road, we proceeded to test how much difference the SI Drive really makes. In Intelligent mode, we quickly found out how watered down and dulled the responses were. With a programming perhaps more concerned with fuel economy than performance, the Outback was sluggish—perhaps too sluggish to say the entire experience was a let down. During an uphill climb through the mountainous roads around Antipolo revealed a car that was slow from the get go and hunted gears too much, and this was despite jabbing the throttle as hard as we could. Slotting the SI Drive into Sport redeemed the Outback—a simple bleep of the gas pedal will send the car lunging forward—not exactly predator pounding its prey kind of acceleration, but enough to satisfy the average horsepower junkie. The power delivery was smooth and linear, with enough punch at any area of the rev range. The response of the 5-speed automatic is equally suited to the engine, but the paddle shift manual override feels delayed, somewhat diluting the overall experience. Sport Sharp made almost no discernable difference, except perhaps for the car’s tendency to stay in a gear longer and its willingness bounce around the rev limiter. Nice, but it gets old quite easily, so it’s best to keep the Outback in Sport mode then.
Though some credit is due, the SI Drive isn’t what makes the Outback an enthusiast-oriented family car. That is down to the engine underneath the Outback’s aluminum hood. Like all other Subarus, the power comes from a horizontally-opposed ‘Boxer’ engine. Unlike the more famous ones found under the Forester and Impreza , the Outback makes do without a turbocharger. Instead, it uses a larger, 3.0-liter displacement and two additional cylinders (for a total of six). The net effect is a much more relaxed, more refined character, perfect for the Outback’s family comfort oriented buyer.
When push comes to shove though, the Outback can still deliver handling performance that can shame most other cars. Despite being somewhat of a porker (curb weight is 1,575 kilograms), the Outback has the ability to hold its own on unmade roads and light off-road trails. On the road or the highway, the Outback feels equally at home with the longer travel suspension tuned for comfort.
Despite an emphasis geared towards comfort than sportiness, does the Outback still deserve to be marketed as a WRC-bred car for the family? In a word, yes. Though softer and less hardcore than the rest of Subaru’s car line-up, the Outback still shines through with a driver-centered cockpit and some innovative (but unwarranted) performance enhancements. The Subaru Outback is definitely not for the 20-somethings out there, but it is a respectable choice for those who are on the verge of growing out of their Imprezas.
By Ulysses Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang
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