► Testing the latest 2024 Subaru Outback
► One of the last ‘off-roadery’ estate cars
► Should you consider this leftfield choice?
Subaru remains an oddball brand on the periphery of the UK car market, selling fewer than 1500 cars in the first half of 2024 for a 0.1% market share. That’s around 30 times smaller than Skoda, another brand selling sensible, roomy estates and SUVs. Yet Subaru continues to defy the odds and survive in Europe, selling cars like this – the latest Subaru Outback – that sell like hot cakes in countries such as the US and Australia but in only modest numbers here.
It’s a curious proposition: an estate car that’s stolen the intro to the SUV rulebook, with body cladding, raised ride height and 4×4 powertrain tricks to lend a family wagon just enough off-roading cred without going for the full tippy-toes SUV look.
In an age where rivals like the Audi A6 Allroad, Skoda Octavia Scout, Mercedes E-Class All-Terrain and Volvo V90 Cross Country estates have been quietly euthanised, we celebrate the Outback’s distinctive niche. It’s a playbook many of us welcome, preferring low-slung, physics-friendly wagons to the excesses of crossoverkind.
Yet Subaru doesn’t make it an easy sell. The styling has arguably lost the design purity from a decade ago and the lack of any electrification options on this model mean you’re restricted to a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol boxer engine, which is known for its thirst.
Balanced against that, we reckon the prices from £36,995 represent fair value in this age where most direct rivals have dried up and disappeared. Read on for our full 2024 Subaru Outback review to see what we think of it.
At a glance
Pros: Original concept of an off-roadery estate car, the go-anywhere traction, large boot, practical touches galore
Cons: Thirsty petrol powertrain and CVT auto ‘box, loss of design elegance, some Japanese market quirks
What’s new?
The Subaru Outback was the original pioneer of the soft-roader breed back in 1994, don’t forget. Tough-as-old-boots Subaru was first to fit its estate car with wellies and it’s still here doing the same trick 30 years later.
The recipe is little changed: it’s a chunky 4.9m-long estate car, powered by a flat-four with horizontally opposed cylinder layout, driving all four wheels through Subaru’s proven Active Torque Split all-wheel drive. What is new for 2024 is a modestly reprofiled front facia for a tidier snout and a few electronic gizmos.
There’s the updated Subaru Eyesight Driver Assist Technology system, which monitors the road ahead and prepares the car for any possible collisions (contributing to a five-star Euro NCAP rating), while model-year updates to the 11.6in central touchscreen bring wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mobile connectivity (just as well, as the native system is quirky).
There is also a smattering of new USB-C charging docks, to better top up your devices on the move.
What are the specs?
Shopping for a Subaru Outback is pleasingly simple in the UK. There is just one powertrain option nowadays: the familiar 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol boxer engine, mated to an ‘eight-speed’ Lineartronic continuously variable transmission (CVT). There are no hybrids or electric versions – or diesels – in sight, meaning that CO2 emissions stand at a lofty 193g/km and combined fuel consumption is 32.8mpg. Tax bills and running costs may be surprisingly lofty.
The 2498cc four-pot develops a modest 167bhp and 186lb ft of torque, hardly towering outputs for a vehicle of this ilk, but sufficient for everyday duties. At least it’s a relatively lightweight at around 1.6 tonnes (one advantage of the lack of hybrid or EV powertrains).
What’s the interior like?
It’s like stepping back in time. Subaru has long shunned the soft-touch plastics and niceties pioneered by many (usually European) premium brands, preferring a more honest, back-to-basics approach. It’s what endears the brand to legions of country folk, who prefer no-nonsense hardware built to last.
There’s little evidence that the latest Outback has deserted these roots. In fact, our example was remarkably indestructible inside – it really does feel like it’s ready for a couple of decades’ service.
Not that it’s all cheap and nasty. Accommodation is pleasingly roomy in both rows and I enjoyed a beautifully padded armrest and knee support (perhaps a reflection of this car’s light off-roading pretensions). Cupholders are large, stout and simple.
Even better for family duties: the 561-litre boot is vast, a really good, flat, unobstructed shape with no annoying lip to impede carrying bags in or out. Field and Touring models come with a power tailgate. It’s a seriously practical car, just as I feel a Subaru should be.
All Outbacks come with sturdy roof rails, complete with crossbars ready to carry paddleboards or roofboxes. Just watch out for the Japanese obsession with small print – there are even warnings displayed up on the roofbars (below), just in case you were considering strapping your childseat up there.
What’s it like to drive?
The driving experience of the 2024 Subaru Forester is as old-school as its interior. No fancy-pants start-up routines or complexity here: just tug the door handle (keyless unlocking and start are standard across the board), press the start button, slot the auto gearlever into D and off you drive.
Irrespective of the surface it rolls over, the Outback rides well. Primarily because Subaru hasn’t stuck massive wheels and low-profile tyres on it. It’s 18-inchers only with this car, paired with 225/60 R18 tyres to cope with mud, snow, wet grass and road pimples.
The 167bhp output is somewhat anaemic but the lack of torque is what dents performance. What little there is (185lb ft) doesn’t peak until 3800rpm, so that’s where the CVT gearbox puts the revs every time you want to make any meaningful acceleration or maintain speed going uphill. Subaru quotes 0-62mph in 10.2sec and 120mph top whack. You can practically hear the 63-litre fuel tank gurgling empty if you’re pressing on…
Regarding fuel consumption, our mixture of mostly rural roads and motorways returned a 35mpg average. More urban driving sits at around 30mpg, if I was careful with the right pedal.
A CVT is Subaru’s transmission of choice these days and is meant to make the most of an engine’s power and increase fuel efficiency. The gearbox on the Outback is better than most, cleverly masking the elasticity inherent in the CVT genre with eight pre-determined ‘ratios’, but it’s still sluggish setting off from a standstill and when trying to overtake.
With its Symmetrical 4WD, the Outback can really cut it off road and traction is peerless. Unlike most estate cars, or most SUVs for that matter, the Outback comes with more than just a generic off-road mode. Subaru’s X-Mode offers modes for a range of slippery surfaces, with automatic hill descent control to assist with perilous downhill stretches.
Add 213mm of ground clearance and 19.7deg approach and 22.6deg departure angles, and the Outback can accompany you to places that most other estate cars can’t reach. Stick a set of all-seasons or winter tyres on this and you’ll be unstoppable.
If you regularly haul a horsebox, boat or caravan, note the 2000kg (braked) towing capacity of the Subaru Outback. It’s a sturdy workhorse, alright.
Before you buy
Choose from three different spec levels, if buying the Subaru Outback in the UK: Limited, Field and Touring. Every model comes with adaptive LED headlights, privacy glass, eight-way adjustable electric driver’s seat, heated front and rear seats, keyless entry and ignition, rear parking camera, dual-zone climate control and the 11.6in infotainment system that’s compatible with CarPlay and Android Auto.
Step up to the Outback Field to add sat-nav, powered tailgate, water-repellent leather seats and smoked black alloy wheels and roofbars.
The top-spec Touring model brings niceties such as Nappa leather upholstery, 11-speaker Harman Kardon stereo, leather steering wheel and sunroof.
Subaru Outback: verdict
Our overall impression of the Subaru Outback is that it all feels a bit 1998. In many ways, that’s a compliment: it harks back to a pre-digital age, a time when big estate cars rode well, were simple to operate and sturdy of quality. There’s something quite joyful about the Scooby and if you need something tough that’ll keep going, no matter what the weather, very little will touch it at the price.
If you can live with the old-school petrol thirst and idiosyncratic CVT tranmission – oh, and the oddball looks – then this could be the estate car for you. But there are enough quirks that grate to make us think twice before wholeheartedly recommending: the outdated instrument panel graphics and infotainment, the lack of any fuel-saving tech or electrification, the nannying warning signs slapped liberally around the cabin and exterior.
It’s a shame because as an estate car, the Outback is rather good. It’s spacious without being massive; relaxing to drive without losing engagement; tough without being agricultural; feature-packed without being complicated; stylish without being pompous.
Given a few choice tweaks, we’d even say that the Outback proves that Subaru deserves a second chance in Europe.
More Subaru reviews by CAR magazine