Subaru Outback

Just purchased a new Subaru Outback and initial view is not great. The car appears to be good quality finish, but first drive on the highway, I found the front to be wandering requiring continuous corrections with the steering. Tyre pressures did need adjusting which gave a slight improvement. A bit disappointed with this. After a couple of attempts, the steering issue has been sorted. Seems the wheel alignment was the issue

It is not a bad car by any stretch of the imagination but I miss my Forester which I rated as Good! Sadly it was a necessary change model to accommodate car seats + buggies + luggage+ adults.
As mentioned above it is definitely roomier than the Forester, has more boot space and is probably a little more comfortable for long drives, but it doesn't feel like it has quite the as much oomph. (Probably due to smaller maximum engine size, heavier car, 91 fuel vs 97 for the forester)
Also, despite the sales dude assuring me that the electronic features such as the entertainment centre and Eyesight are newer versions than the Forester they seem older or at best cheaper.
Probably my biggest irritation is the screen on the entertainment centre (that also displays the reverse camera and satnav) unlike the Forester it is incompatible with wearing sunglasses (the display becomes near unreadable). The Eyesight cameras are also considerably more bulky.

Other than the above it is a good car and I stand by my choice over other similar cars from other manufacturers.

- This car is used daily for work commute and driven up and down the steep hills of Hobart with occasional long trips into the country.
- This car is serviced on time/millage at Performance Autos Subaru in Hobart.
- The fuel efficiency is a bit hard to gauge because of all the hills. But it is on par with other cars that I have owned while living in Hobart.

Message to Subaru: Please for the love of all things good spend the extra 30c and put a crystal based clock chip in the car - The dashboard clock is always losing time! My 1980s digital watch kept better time! Rant over!

This car is my principal transport within a rural environment.
-The vehicle is comfortable to drive
-The cruise control works well
-The vehicle handles well on the road
-There is lots of space inside
Unfortunately the electrics are not reliable and the service agents are unable to understand this.
My Autolock doesn’t always Auto Unlock when it should, the service agents first response to this was that I could just switch the Autolock off then there wouldn’t be a problem? Their next response was that I must be changing my settings and need to reset them.
The reality is this is an intermittent and inconvenient problem for me but not a problem anyone is interested in fixing.
There have also been random alarms and alerts that no one can explain the reason for and the infotainment system has it good days and it’s bad days.
The fuel tank is also miss calibrated and it’s best to treat half full as almost empty.
Maybe I should follow the service agents initial advice and just switch of all the electrics.

I use this car for family transport and use it 6-7 days a week.
Pros:
-Seats are fine
-Security system works and the key is great
-The cruise control is bliss when driving on the highway
-The bluetooth is brilliant
-Eyesight and lane control is fine
-I was rear-ended and the car held up perfectly (I had a tow bar on)

Cons:
-The automatic boot is temperamental (If you press the button twice it stuffs it up)
-The Subaru app is redundant (If you have any ideas tell me please)
-The GPS is 95% of the time right

We recently had a minor accident, denting in the driver's side of the rear bumper bar of our 2017 model Subaru Outback. We had the bumper bar replaced and repainted, however the sensor which detects a vehicle approaching and about to pass was not functioning. The local Subaru dealer has now had the car for three days and is unable, so far to resolve the problem.
What is even of more concern is the lack of communication from the dealer.
As stated before a wonderful and safe car being let down by amateurish and irresponsible service.

I've had the 2018 Subaru Outback for 7 months. I think they've jammed to many things into this car and parts are failing. Since owning mine the infotainment system failed. That unit controls radio, GPS, camera, phone, and needs to come from the Overseas. Google Head Unit fail. Furthermore the fuel level indicator is not calibrated properly in the 2018 model with the machine arriving in Australia mid 2019. This means if it's indicating you've got half a tank you actually have a quarter and if it's indicating a quarter you'll be walking. I also had problems with internal rattle noises. Subaru Australia and the dealer are not helpful.

We purchased a Subaru Outback MY18 10 months ago. Since then we travelled 17K with the car.
The Good:
Handle more like a car than an SUV
Spaces, practical and very nice inside
Active security systems are best in class

The bad:
This car has a lot of electronics in it. With so much tech come the issues. Our multimedia screen died and it will take nearly THREE MONTHS to replace
The battery died after the car has been parked for a week

I guess brands like Kia will be more reliable today than Subaru...

My MY16 Subaru Outback is the second Outback I have purchased. My original MY03 was traded in at 283,000 km for the new MY16 Premium in October 2016. I considered a few other cars at the time, but none compared with the Outback.

So far I have driven the new car 40,000+ km.s without any issues at all. Having been a manual driver for 37 years, I thought I might get bored in the automative (CVT) car, but that has yet to occur, with all the new technology in the display to play with.

I love all the new safety features, and make use of the Adaptive Cruise Control in both city and country driving. I have added a nudge bar and LED Light bar, converted the high beam to LED, added a bash plate, added a Tyre Pressure Monitor system, and purchased an additional spare wheel and tyre for when I go off road.

On a recent holiday, from fill-up in Broken Hill to fill-up in Port Augusta, I achieved the best fuel economy so far of 6.43 l/100 km. over a 422 km. distance. The car cruises beautifully at 100 kph sitting on around 1800 RPM. (My old Outback sat on 2800 RPM in 5th gear at the same speed). I like to manually add the current distance driven since fill up to predicted time to refill, just to gauge how I'm going. On a couple of occasions of purely flat, open road driving, it has predicted just over 1,000 km.s on a tank. (Of course as soon as the city driving begins, this quickly reduces to a more realistic figure).

So, as you can tell, I love my new Outback, and do not regret my decision to buy another.

So we went for the 2015 Outback as it had the updated engine, it was a year old second hand car with about 19,000klm on the clock - the car has performed extremely well over the 2 years we have had it for, we picked it up on Australia Day January 2017, my only real concern was that I feel the steering seems a little vague, not direct enough for me, but whether thats the car or the tyres, I do not know.
With the tyres,I just changed them at 61,000klm, I went for a different brand over the OE Bridgestone Dueller Sport to Pirelli Scorpion Verde A/S, so we will see how they go. I would have got more klm out of the Bridgestone's, but I did not get an alignment at about 30,000klm when I should of, so they were wore faster.
I think the car is fantastic and my only issues are fairly minor, but for a 'premium' variant it does seem to be missing a few basics like, not auto locking doors at 15/20k/hr like a lot of cars do, the electric windows are good but, when you put the window lock on it also locks the front passenger and also the drivers control of the other 3 windows, that's just poor implementation, when you have the sun visor down, it does not cover the small gaps to the to rhs of the visor and doesn't extend either, and the sunroof control is also poorly implemented.
I Love the infotainment system and the sat nav although the voice control is fairly poor
The paddle shift is great and the electric drivers seat with memory for 2 users is very nice to have.
I have yet to work out the wipers as they do have a rain sensing - sometimes I seem to have zero control over the intermittent and sometimes I do.
The rattle noise at start up is very disturbing, but apparently 'normal' due to the way the oil filter sits (upside down) and the chain dragging over a slide until pressure is built up and it becomes quiet again.
It has a fantastic size wagon boot area, much better than a lot of others and their small boot space.
Having a full size spare is fantastic, though it is upside down in its well, I.e. you have to lift the tyre out to check the air pressure..
ps - experience - 9 years of being in New Car Sales, from 11 years ago,,

Really happy with the car even though I'm not a fan of 4WD vehicles and this was as close to a family station wagon that I could get. Doesn't sit that high off the ground as other 4WDs do.
If there was a Liberty wagon at the time of purchase I would have went for a Liberty wagon but they stopped making them. I also would have went a Camry wagon but they stopped making those as well.
Build quality is excellent. Feels like it will go on forever.

I bought a new Outback in January 2018 and have been happy with the general operation of the vehicle until recently. We do quite a bit of touring.

Seven weeks ago the Infotainment system and screen - which provides radio, navigation, cameras and phone (Apple Car Play) failed completely. As usual it took two weeks to get into the Subaru service centre, and they stated the obvious - that needed to be replaced. They need to order the part. After a week I called and they advised it would take 2 to 4 weeks to get the part. It is now 4 weeks and no advice about when. I contacted Subaru Australia (by social media) and told the same thing - it does not come from Subaru and they didn't know when they would get it.

Checking online there are lots of instances of this happening and in the USA a class action is being proposed over this matter.

Subaru seems to have a global issue and yet they can't organise themselves to have enough replacement parts available for quick repair.

So beware. No phone, no radio, no navigation, no reverse cameras for months at a time!

Good safety features. Maps vastly superior to the older version in our 2012 Outback - speed zone notifications in maps and on instrument screen are especially useful. Car has plenty of go and is very comfortable. Lot's of space in the back seats and boot. Happy now the Starlink system has been replaced.

I bought this car because I was impressed by my experience with my last car 2005 Subaru liberty 2.5i. That was my first Subaru. It had a mesmerising pull when it occasionally downshifted to 1st gear when flooring the pedal below 40-50km. It engages the rear differential and revved up all the way to redline bringing the car to 60-70km in such a short time. The first time I did this it almost choked me cause I couldn’t breathe as I wasn’t expecting the acceleration to suddenly press my body against the seat. It also sticked to the road when cornering, you could feel the outer wheels holding the car from going outside the turning trajectory. it was such a sure-footed, confidence inspiring car in 4EAT mission.

That made my decision to buy another Subie. And this time a wagon with even a bigger engine because I wanted that mesmerising experience. But Outback 3.6r in CVT trans was nothing but that. Granted the eyesight combined with this trans is very quiet and comfy. Ho-hum. But accelerating in CVT I noticed it just gives a split burst of torque. It doesn’t build rev and give a predictable amount of torque. Basically not linear. And also don’t have much of linear engine braking. So I feel less in control and hard to predict driving this car compared to my old Liberty sedan. Its body rolls in corners and sometimes the car doesn’t stay in the lane after changine lanes where it is going down and turning in a big diameter. I can feel the G force not just going in lateral direction but in vertical direction aka suspension sinking too much unlike my last 4 gen Liberty. The suspension is very soft aimed for comfort. After months of driving I just drive Outback very carefully like I’m driving a bus. The only time I can appreciate this engine is when speeding in a straight line with minimum cars around. I simply don’t feel safe to do spirited driving because the driving experience is numb. Numb handle, weak engine braking, non linear torque building or revving. S and S# is also not THAT different from I mode which is eco mode. When it is crusing, the mode just jumps additional 200 rpm from each other. So I can be doing 1500 rpm while cruising on 70km. If I switch to S mode then 1700rpm, S# to 1900rpm. The throttle response gets just tad sharper. That’s it.

Now I admit that the car is very quick off redlight if you’re in S# mode although it doesn’t feel like it. You’d notice it IS actually when you notice you’re easily half a car to a car space ahead some FF cars next to you. This Outback AWD offers a quiet and less obvious rear wheel traction feel (compared to my old Lib which pushed violently from behind like a rear wheel drive which was eye-opening fun) but it can still smoke most cars off redlight.

Driving in a very hilly suburbs, you still can lose momentum if you’re cruising uphill at 60km on S mode. Engine rev can be something like 1500-2000 but then the car can slow down to 50km on CVT. I was wondering why a crappy 20 year old daihatsu turbo mini car can stick so close to my tail on uphill. It’s just that the Daihatsu can control the high revs better than this OB CVT. I was mainly utilising paddle shifter for engine braking down hill and putting back to D mode on uphill assuming that the flat 6 engine would keep up the cruising speed uphill but on low revs, it can’t keep the heavy 1.7 tonne car with 3 passengers on speed on partial throttle! Torque is not strong enough in 1500 rpm. And because the car is so quiet it’s hard to notice you were losing momentum. At some point I was letting Eyesight Adaptive Cruise Control do the job since I must admit ACC can regulate the speed on downhill quite impressively. I don’t know how it manages to control the speed on a long down hill without creating almost any noticeable G force or without obvious engine rev up like manual engine braking. It doesn’t feel like it is applying brakes either.. It actually might but it doesn’t indicate in the driver’s console where there is a car figure that shows when brakes are applied. But because there was quite a few blind corners, I had to disengage ACC (otherwise it will keep going steadily on cruising speed without considering risky situation be it uphill/downhill) and drive normally with paddle shifters aid. Anyway manual shifting on CVT has no fun. The 4EAT on 4 gen Liberty had more accuracy and fun. I could even match rev the 4EAT by adding a slight throttle to down shift with almost minimum shift shock.

Summing up, if I knew that 3.6r would only be good for super quiet automatic cruising on Eyesight and very quick off redlight (although I rarely do this unless I have to overtake to cross a lane) or tow something heavy which I never do, or driving rough terrain which also I don’t as I drive exclusively on paved roads, I would just have chosen 2.5 4 cylinder version of OB. Or else get a Mazda wagon for it would be more fun. The flat 6 Outback although maybe quicker compared to my old car in straight line and definitely in the speed range above 60km, the 4 gen Liberty 2.5i felt much safer and composed and much more fun like an European Audi A4 I’d imagine.

The space is wide that is good. My kids like it. To me OB ho-humm boring. I wonder if Levorg 2.0 would’ve been fun. Something tells me with CVT with its charasteristic of giving an initial punch of torque and rev up then immediately rev down to crusing speed, it is still going to be boring. I only wished that someone had written a review like this on the web. All I saw was that Sub CVT is so good. Tell you, it is still boring. And I have never quite felt this so called emulated artificial shift points. The only time I felt that is when I’d floor it. It then holds the gear ratio and rev up to 5000rpm if you keep your foot down. It doesn’t go up to redline which is another 1500 rpm away. And it doesn’t have that climaxing scream like EJ25 engine where the tachometer would surge even quicker as it climbs to the redline (and so is the torque and the car).

That is about the only time it holds a gear. On normal driving or moderate acceleration, it would go without any shift shock, or like I said, a split second of bump in acceleration. It doesn’t feel at all like it’s emulating a slush box AT shifter with 4 or 6 shift points. Usually there is no shift or shift shock, when it does it only have one shift point. Funny thing is if you get use to this CVT you’d feel how slow a manual car infront of you is off the redline. Their car rock back and forth at each shift points and I am forced to ease up my throttle each time the car infront shifts up other wise I’d rear end them! Also once had the latest model WRX STI with giant wing and loud turbo on manual next to me. Again, on a 60km road, off the redlight the 3.6r was faster to reach cruising speed in a graceous manner... here’s something good about CVT but’s boring. Maybe the high amount of sound insulation of the cabin/bonnet combined with the soft suspension, numb steering is also insulating the fun factor too.

Fuel consumption:
Ranges between 12.9L-14.9 per 100km in mostly city driving averaging 35km/hour for daily commute. [EDIT] the figure above was from the trip meter which isn’t accurate. Calculating via range and gasoline consumed, the figure is more likely 14-17km...[edit end] If I use RON95 it goes to the lower range, RON91 mid range, E10 with RON94 seems the worst going to the higher range. The tank only holds 60L which is 5L less than my old Lib (why Subaru why?) The fuel range is sad... which is around 420km when I drive very tamedly (aka mostly using ACC). The low fuel warning pops up when there’s less than 30km left so I end up going to a petrol station when clockinrg less than 400km. [edit] there’s a recall about the remaining km range left displayed in the center console not being accurate and overestimating remaining distance FYI.

Quirks:
I noticed the center armrest storage box vibrates while I was waiting on redlight inadvertently when I rest my arms there. The vibration seems to be that of the engine. Really weird cos anything else in the interior is perfectly static. It might be due to the drive shaft beneath it as well? [EDIT] It seems it only rarely happens when the weather was cold and at the beggining of the trip. Only felt the vibration a few times after a year of driving. [edit end].

6 months since buying this car, something in the interior (1 or 2 sources) is rattling making noise while driving. It’s a bit annoying. Before that it was impeccably quiet and smooth. I read some forum that it might be due to the seatbelt tongue touching perhaps the seat or something. I can hear from around the rear passenger side or from the cargo area.

Turning diameter:
It’s huge. I never bothered parking from the front with this car. Since boxer engine is flat and wide, it leaves less room for the tyre house and for the tyres to wiggle around.

Automatic Cruise Control:
Mostly good. Since I got used to it, it’s a drag to drive my other car which doesn’t have it despite the driving experience is closer to my old Liberty sedan.

Pros:
1) Good in congestion

The one equipped on mine is Eyesight version 3.
The range of ACC speed is 30km to (probably) 120km. I don’t use up to this speed so I don’t quite remember. I can use it immediately after the car infront of me starts moving which can be below 30 km but the car starts trailing the car ahead even in lower speed. It really helps me in a annoyingly slow traffic. I don’t have to focus that much in such a low speed. The car will do the stop and go as long as the car doesn’t park itself which it does if it stops more than 3 seconds ish.

Cons:
According to the manual you’re not supposed to use ACC unless you’re highway driving. Despite I’ve been using it and requires some skills to apply it to normal city driving.

1) It pulls slowly off stop. It’s good for fuel consumption but you’d be lagging from the car infront of you. I usually override ACC when pulling off by adding some gas to the pedal and then let ACC takeover again once my car is up to speed.

2) It brakes quite sharply if you let ACC to stop by itself to the end of parked traffic. Say if I’m crusing on 60km, it is quite scary cos it seems EYESIGHT only recognises the tail ender car probably around 30 meters or only 5 cars worth of space. I once had this crappy construction ute which was sort of tailgating in a 40-50km traffic while I was on ACC. Outback broke quite sharply like normally no sane driver would do, and this tailgater almost rear ended me (he almost locked his brake cos his tyre was screeching). Anyway since then I’m in a habit of disengaging ACC when I’m going into a parked traffic if it’s going above 60km or there’s a car trailing me too close. But ACC is good if there is a car infront of you which is pulling to the end of the parked traffic. The ACC will stop as the car infront of you stops gently like a sane man. I noticed Eyesight recognises a car better if it is moving. When it engages it makes a beep. When crusing in 70km I feel that it beeps even if the car is 70-100 meters away. Whereas for a stopped traffic it recognises at the last moment like 20 meter away. Up to that point it will keep cruising at say 60-70km speed! Quite scary.

3) ACC keeps braking and won’t proceed unless the car infront you is completed out of your lane. Even if the car is infront of you by 20 meters and has 95% finished turning right, Eyesight will brake to almost a halt or significantly slow down until the preceding car is completey out of the way. The timing is quite tad longer than what normal drivers would do. The safety margin is taken too much in my opinion. Cars behind would have been wondering what the hell was I doing. So I learnt to disable ACC with a flick of button once I notice this is going to happen. Another scenario would be I was driving normally in relatively slow and congested traffic at 40-50km. I know that on this road some cars turn left with last minute indication so I decided not to use ACC. The car infront of me did turn left so I decided to switch ACC on as it virtually was out of my way. But NO. The moment I switched ACC on Eyesight decides to full brake on me! The preceding car was about a car and a half away from me and I was already slowed down to 30km ish and yet I get brake checked by Eyesight. So in split second decision, I immediately disengaged ACC from the button on the handle. The invoice

What a great car, excellent overall in regards to space height, room and more so the roof racks. Great family car and price is spot on. The only thing i could find is why are they using full synthetic oil on a daily driver? Really happy with this car i will buy another soon.

Super reliable, good on fuel, nice size without being huge and also quite pleasant to drive. Sadly it doesn't have turbo which I'd have loved, but that's what I get for buying used I guess. The car is really comfy and does everything you need a car to do while looking great and feeling great at the same time.

I purchased my Outback 2.5 Premium in 2018 as new in Brisbane for $42,000 with all weather mats and a boot liner.

I have owned German luxury cars and this is by far the most comfortable car I've bought. The reviews are right. It is extremely comfortable. The engine is not underpowered as some reviews say. Change the mapping to sports and it gets off the line fine.

The sun roof and heat seaters are great. The car is quiet. The audio quality is great. The fuel economy is solid...about 6.9L I'm averaging in the first 5000kms so it will only get better.

The radar cruise control is great in the city and country. The lane departure system grows on you and all aggravating alarms can be turned off at the press of a button. There's enough storage and the roof racks are a great addition as is the automatic tailgate. The back seat is very roomy and wide for three kids.

Speaking with others, this car will easily go to 600,000km when looked after. It feels like it too. Even the car tint man said that when putting tint on, Subaru fittings are so much better quality than anything else out of Japan.

If Australia didnt have an obsession with overpriced Corolla sized SUVs or bone-rattling SUVs like my previous 2016 SR5, this would be the country's best seller.

Simply an excellent car.

Very comfortable driving. Heated front (leather) seats and sunroof are a joy. High front seats (for those of us a little older) make getting in and out so much easier. Easy visibility, incl larger side mirrors, makes driving (incl changing lanes) easy. And have the comfort of it being all wheel drive. Highly recommended.

Ok so let's start with the bad points, I'm not overly keen on the digital heater control as I prefer to be able to just twist a dial and be done with it, but in the grand scheme of things it's not too bad, it does look good though.
The good points, where do I begin!!! I have the diesel engine which is super economical, easily gets 650-700km a tank on short trips and 800km plus on longer journeys.
The seats/interior is comfortable, durable and looks good. The boot is huge!
On the road it is quite and comfortable.
Off road it is surprisingly good too, has tackled some hills and terrain that I was surprised we made it out of but it did it with ease and a lot more comfort than my previous car, a Navara.
In short I highly recommend you buy one!

Awd handles very well, the 2018 model is really eye catching. Sexy looking car. Not to high the vehicle level.

I got the base model and although the premium would have been nice I’ve got 2 young kid that will mess it up.

Fuel costs are very good. Great features. Siri and iPhone play.

Great car at a great cost.

The vehicle has plenty of room.esp goo for growing gfamily.

Safety features are a blessing. T

Can’t go wrong with The Outback.

We purchased the 2.0L Turbo Diesel 3 weeks ago, and while this hasn't given us an awful lot of time to experience the vehicle personally, I can vouch for its mechanical ardour. We got a pre-purchase mechanical check and after 148k kilometres the only thing of concern was the battery, which was the original, lasting 8 years.

For a two litre diesel this thing is effortlessly swift for a large car. Great acceleration and cruising up steep hills for this size car.

It has great stock accessories inside. AWD is brilliant.

The only thing of concern would be if you wanted to take it regularly off-road and would be giving it big hits. The suspension type has no aftermarket alternatives and parts can only be replaced by original Subaru type suspension. This is, of course, unless you'd like to replace the whole suspension system.