It’s funny how a test drive can leave you impressed. But this damn thing is slow as hell. On top of that it’s pretty loud too. I’m not sure I can continue to drive this. There is just nothing that is enjoyable about it yet.

With my 9th generation Accords, I actually looked forward to driving it every time I got in. I can’t ever remember owning a vehicle that left me so flat. Granted there is no snow to put the Outback through its paces but damn. This kinda sucks.

Buy a pair of Birkenstocks, skinny jeans and a Hemp shirt, you'll start to feel the part

It's not winning any races, but I find the midrange power to be decent in my Legacy.
Biggest adjustment was getting used to how to drive the CVT to get the most out of it.

And a bumper sticker:

2 things. You should have bought the turbo Outback. And you get excited driving an Accord? Really? Ok, 3 things. People, when you do a test drive leave the salesman at the dealership and take it out for awhile. Long enough to get on an interstate, a windy road, in town. You are spending hard earned money. My FIL would take them overnight if he was serious. I didn’t even know that was an option. Seriously though, you need to drive it enough to know its basic limitations. Go get a new Accord. Lol

What generation did you end up with?
I have a 2.5 2017 5th gen with 95k and I'm still pretty happy with it. I run WildPeaks during the summer and have dedicated winter tire/wheels.

I would say it has higher then average road noise and especially when there is a strong cross wind.

I did change out the rear sway bar for a stiffer one.

Outbacks are good, but pretty utilitarian vehicles and CV transmissions seem to have somewhat limited ratio spread compared to 5+ speed automatic and manual transmissions. Meaning the lowest ratio is somewhat tall making for sluggish take off and the highest ratio a bit low meaning the engine is spinning faster (and noisier) at highway speed.

My wife bought a low-mile 2018 Outback a couple of years ago. It's been OK and pretty much does what we bought it to do, but frankly is about as uninspiring as a car can be. It has a bunch of small annoying ergonomic features, like it seems all the stalk controls work backwards to the way we would expect them to work intuitively and compared to other cars we've owned. It also has too many alert sounds that are hard to turn off. So just little things, but it still surprises me how popular they are considering it's not really a great car IMO.

It also seems to use more oil between oil changes than an engine with less than 75K miles should, which is somewhat concerning as far as long-term reliability goes. We may end up dumping it before it hits 100K and still has good resale value.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Buy a pair of Birkenstocks, skinny jeans and a Hemp shirt, you'll start to feel the part

Dye your hair blue while you're at it, get with the vibe man

Tried to tell ya.

You thought it would morph into a Porsche?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
And a bumper sticker:

Honestly, I was thinking this one...

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

Honestly, I was thinking this one...

He said Subaru, not F350 LOL

The Outback is strange to me. The base trims have an low output 4-cylinder, but at least it's naturally aspirated. To have the power you expect you have to pay like $5k more to get like 80 more HP, but it's a turbo. It's still not lightning fast or anything, but I feel for that size/weight of vehicle, the outback should start a bit north of 200HP, not in the 180s. Maybe it's only a problem on paper and the real world driving experience is a non-issue. I really want to like the Outback for the size and versatility, but the base engine numbers on paper and CVT kinda turn me off.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
You thought it would morph into a Porsche?

Subaru doesn't do fun anymore in the way they used to. In the early 2000s they had Blitzen models in Japan. "Blitzen" as in "lightning" auf Deutsch, so named because Subaru brought in Porsche Design to do some (non-performance) work. They used to have turbo, hood scoop, and three pedals in pretty much everything. They even put a WRX engine in a production Forester. Somewhere along the line gas mileage became more important.

Better bring a lunch.

quote:

Originally posted by shikemd:
Somewhere along the line gas mileage became more important.

I blame Toyota. With the exception of the BRZ, Subaru's entire range went from fun to boring when they bought into Subaru.

quote:

Originally posted by Vgex:
The Outback is strange to me. The base trims have an low output 4-cylinder, but at least it's naturally aspirated. To have the power you expect you have to pay like $5k more to get like 80 more HP, but it's a turbo. It's still not lightning fast or anything, but I feel for that size/weight of vehicle, the outback should start a bit north of 200HP, not in the 180s. Maybe it's only a problem on paper and the real world driving experience is a non-issue. I really want to like the Outback for the size and versatility, but the base engine numbers on paper and CVT kinda turn me off.

That would be 2020+
The 2019 & earlier Legacy/Outback had the boxer 4 or 6 cyl models. 170 & 255 hp
The 2020+ looks like 180 & 260 with the NA & turbo 4s.

I have a 2018 Outback. I like it. I like driving it. But for me, it's simply transportation. It gets me from point A to point B. Plus, I don't "fall" into the driver's seat like some cars. Case in point - my wife's Honda Accord.

There is no place around here where I live that I can drive to get any significant "enjoyment" out of a higher performance car without getting a ticket (or worse).

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
I like it. I like driving it. But for me, it's simply transportation. It gets me from point A to point B.

This sums it up well.
I came from a Fiesta ST, and the Legacy is a dramatically different car.
I miss the zippy go-kart nature of the FiST and the manual transmission, but the Legacy is smooth and comfortable, and does what I need it to do. Will likely go to my daughter next year when she gets her license.