Good evening, SF.

Thirty-odd years ago, I was a complete dork over the Subaru 4WD wagons. I never had one, but they were always attractive in some goofy way. By the mid 90s, that car was widely regarded in my area as a giant pile of crap. Zoom on up to today: my VW is in the shop and I'm being provided a loaner -- it's a 2021 Subaru Outback.


Then:


In my driveway tonight:


Nine years newer than the youngest vehicle in my garage, this car is really loaded up. Techno-gadgetry out the wazoo! I'm that guy who loves new technology but is slow to adopt it, for fear of "what could go wrong."

There's so much "stuff" to explore on this car, and a TON of gee-whiz tech. This morning I watched the beams from the headlights "go crosseyed" and back... some sort of self-test routine for the see-through-the-curve setup? Wow. The thing tells me it's doing a scan when I get in, and I figure that's linked to the offered "driver profiles." The engine start-stop feature is maddening, but it's easily defeated at each startup. I'm loving the extendable thigh support on the driver's seat!

I'm sure there's a ton of cool stuff I haven't even found yet, only having had it for two days. I'm not super excited about the CVT (continuously variable transmission), and before finding the "M" setting on the shifter I thought paddle shifters were the wierdest thing in the world to couple to a CVT.

This "roo" is an okay compromise between my diesel-sipping sedan and my weekend-workhorse SUV. Could it possibly take the place of both? I'm not sure. Given the CVT, I wonder about towing capability. I don't tow often, and heavy stuff even less frequently, but I wouldn't want to lose that capability.

From the design side, the giant touchscreen is nicely integrated into (rather than stuck onto) the dash. I like that. This car is white liek the image above (pearl something or other). I don't normally care for white, but this is pretty. But the black plastic trim clashes somewhat. I think. Each time I look at it I think, "well, it's not horrible. If it were mine, I'd tint the windows as dark as legally allowed. Maybe a charcoal gray paint would be better? I'm way impressed with the driver's seat. It's just plain comfortable. And the seat heater is mighty nice, too.

The more I drive this thing, the more I like it. And that stinks, because I'm not in a position to go buy a newer car.

Current owners of fairly recent Outbacks, what do you think of yours?

IF, I switched from my current Tundra to a 'car', I would choose the Suburu Crosstrek.

One of my best friends is on his second Crosstrek (along with a series-70 Land Cruiser ), its got enough juice to satisfy the speed-need and has enough off-road/bad-road capability to handle the vast majority of what I'll throw at it. Suburu's are just as modern as any of the other Japanese competitors, which I also find to be generally more practical and well thought-out. Main difference is size, as the Outback is bigger, its more 'wagon' and it has the 'butch' reputation .

Call me a fan. I’ve had 3 Subarus. My last one is a 2021 Crosstrek. The edition above the Sport so it has the 2.5 engine which is 20% more HP.

Subaru has great tech. The Eyesight stuff is fantastic. Considering it isn’t a high end car, the adaptive cruise control is nearly seamless. The warnings are reasonable and timely. The start stop stuff sucks but I think you can thank the EPA for that and like you said it is easily turned off.

I prefer the Crosstrek to the Outback but if you need the space I prefer the Forester. The Crosstrek could used better seats. I am ok with them but on long drives my wife prefers to sit in her Toyota Highlander. (She isn’t wrong either, it is more comfortable but approaching twice the price)

My son has my 2017 Crosstrek. I used to have a Forester.

Great cars.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

Outback . . . has the 'butch' reputation .

I thought that was the Forester. Is it the Outback, also?

They seem solid. My mom had a few leased Imprezas and I spent a week in a Legacy rental (same basic chassis as the Outback). Only real strike is that big screen is laggy as hell. Stop start thing at stoplights is pretty clunky compared to other brands too but you can turn it off (though you have to do that every startup).

My buddy had one of the new Brat vehicles.

We were at deer camp and one of two gay ladies referred to it as a "lesbian's pick-up." He got rid of it be Christmas

I bought a new Legacy 3.6R in '14 (a '15 model) which is the car version of the Outback. Other than the tiny battery, I had no issues up to almost 80k miles when I traded it in. I did have the '17 outback for a week when my Legacy was getting fixed after my daughter shot the steering wheel killing something. It wasn't bad.
The current ones have more of the fancy gadgets in it. I thought about it when I was getting rid of my BMW but ended up getting another BMW.
I did buy my daughter a 2020 Impreza last year for her birthday. The eyesight is annoying, we turn it off whenever we get in the car.

Dottir in law has a new Outback. Great car but it has a bad tranny thump when starting from a stop. I have a basic 17 Forester. Love it.

Interesting. What annoys you about Eyesight? Unless I cross the lane marker it is pretty invisible to me driving. I’ve never had a random brake event or anything wacky so I don’t understand the angst.

I am certain all these active systems have a finite (albeit small) failure rate. And its judged they save more than the cost, but I helped a close friend of mine recently deal with Subaru and her dealer on an eyesight failure. Driving down the interstate highway, daylight, in light snow. The car emergency braked, swapped ends and hit a guard rail. Subaru sent factory people to read the data to analyze it, but ultimately refused to disclose anything they learned, probably as a risk reduction strategy. The dealer replaced the car. To the extent one considers themselves a good driver I would turn off any of these systems that have that option. Despite the above I have an older outback at the end of its useful life (200K+) and I am going to buy a new subaru (not an outback as I want a manual). These are pretty tough and long lasting cars at least in the older versions.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Interesting. What annoys you about Eyesight? Unless I cross the lane marker it is pretty invisible to me driving.

I find the Eyesight on my 2016 Forester to be quite annoying.

Newer generations might have had some of the kinks ironed out, but mine gives a decent amount of false readings. Like lane drift warnings when driving down streets with multiple asphalt repairs. Or obstacle warnings when navigating tree-lined curvy roads (of which we have a bunch around here).

It's a shame that it's standard equipment on all newer Subarus, as I'd rather not have it. (Yeah, I know I can just turn it off every time I start the car, but still... When buying another one, it'd be nice to have the option to not get Eyesight and save a couple grand.)

I'm guessing if subaru had a couple of grand into the system it would be way,way better than it is. Subaru picked its technology to save money versus the other tech options there is no question about that.

‘21 Outback here. Average 29-30mpg, enough features to make it comfortable. The Eyesight works great in mine and I think Subarus is the highest rated system. It does throw false some times with road repairs.

I added some Diode Dynamics reverse lights and a cargo lights, Rok Bloks mudflaps and that’s about it.

2017 Outback and it has been fantastic. 30 mpg and does 90% of the dirt roading my Xterra does. Really couldn't be more pleased.

I too have the 2017 Outback Limited 4 cylinder. It was the closest thing I could find to my 2006 4-Runner, that had 240K on the odometer. Would have bought a new 4-Runner had they not upsized it. I love my Outback (88K miles) almost as much as I loved the Toyota. I would buy a new one right now if I could buy another 2017. The new ones give me pause. Too many gadgets masquerading as safety features. I purposely deleted the Eyesight on my 2017. Now it is standard. I figure I've been driving over 50 years without any help and without hitting anyone. I can take it from here on my own. I can't stand all the nanny crap, not to mention the stop-start business. I'd trade the stop-start for the no longer available CD player any day. One feature that I think makes the newer ones less safe is the increased emphasis on moving as much as they can onto the touchscreen, including all radio and heater/AC controls. On my 2017, the only thing on my touchscreen are radio controls and even that I find distracting. I find myself at times having to touch the panel two or three times to get the desired result. This translates to having having to spend more time with my eyes on the screen rather than on the road. So for now, I'm in a holding pattern. Maybe this Outback may have to make 240K like the 4-Runner. By that time, perhaps the same experts pushing all these new "improvements" will give no choice but to buy an electric vehicle. So much for freedom of choice.

I'm a fan.

I just sold my 2012 Outback, and I was sad to see it go.

If Subaru ever launched a luxury brand, or if I had need again of a versatile low key car, I'd go back to Subaru.

2016 as the wife's car. Bought it new and it has been trouble free. Would buy another.

I'd order a Crosstrek this morning if they offered a heated steering wheel in a non-hybrid. And if my 98 Merc shits the bed in a big way (my only car now), I'll probably buy some sort of Sub with the limited package to get that feature. I suppose an Outback. I had a 2014 Crosstrek and loved it.

I have a '13 limited with a tad over 105K on the clock. Thinking about new again. Which level did you get? Not sure I need the Touring level

We turned in a 3yr lease on an Outback about 2 yrs ago. My wife loved the car, me not so much.