I got the opportunity to review the highly capable Subaru Outback SE Premium and listed below are my applying for grants this Subaru estate car.
What’s the Subaru Outback SE Premium Lineartronic GT about?
The Outback fits right into a fairly unique place on the market, sitting between your estate car and the Crossover. It’s been with us for quite a while, and the existing 5th generation of the car is in very good shape.
The automobile we’re testing this is actually the SE Premium version with the Lineartronic gearbox. The Outback has been finished in an exceedingly nice dark grey and certainly looks very Subaru-like throughout.
Going for a closer consider the front of the automobile, you’ll spot the large silver grille with that famous blue badge at the heart. Below, in the corners, there are two bulging fog lights beneath the carefully crafted headlights to provide a comparatively aggressive and wide-looking front-end to the automobile. Coming around to the sides, you have a good couple of 18-inch alloy wheels dressed up in 225/60 tyres and the trunk of the automobile stands particularly tall; giving its crossover feel.
The engine possibilities in the united kingdom are relatively limited, with the 2.5-litre petrol or a 2.0-litre diesel engine. Here we are testing the 2-litre diesel Boxer engine. It can offer decent power, at 150 PS and 350 Nm of torque. The gearbox is Subaru’s Lineartronic – Continuously Variable Transmission. Subaru say it offers realistic acceleration response and may be the first CVT adopted for AWD. Of course, the Outback drives on all wheels, according to Subaru standard, with torque vectoring to control power distribution.
All that means the Outback will get from 0 to 60 mph within 9.9 seconds, reaching a high speed of 124 mph. It’ll achieve 46 combined mpg and released 159 g/km of CO2.
How Does it Drive?
Engaging in the Subaru Outback feels exactly like sitting in a big estate car without providing you that uplift you’d expect from Crossovers. The automobile includes a keyless ignition, meaning you can just press the beginning button and, because the car’s Lineartronic, just put it into drive and you’re off.
That is one capable package overall and the engine is notably really strong. It includes a lot to provide considering it’s only a 2.0-litre engine. The automobile will grab speed briskly in the event that you poke it, and the wide torque band makes overtaking relatively effortless.
The ride quality is superb. I completed a whole lot of our testing on country roads in Cornwall with a variety of both on- and off-road driving, and the automobile was a delight to utilize. On the highway the Subaru is quite smooth, handling simple potholes perfectly. The asymmetrical four-wheel-drive system offers you an excellent feeling of grip even though the rain starts to come. Off-road, whether it’s travelling across gravel, fields, or sand you don’t really get any bother – the Subaru just keeps going and sorts out traction itself.
Because of its size it really is an agile car, which is fairly deceiving considering what size it really is. Every Subaru I’ve driven includes a similar feeling of mechanical grip and incredible balance front to back. Engaging in among the bigger vehicles just like the Outback, I was pleased to remember that this characteristic continues. It offers you an excellent feeling of nimbleness and reassurance when things get tricky.
With the CVT you can create your own gear inputs via the paddles behind the tyre and, if so, it acts as a 6-speed auto. I believe here is the best CVT I’ve driven. Subaru has been pushing the complete notion of CVT nowadays and, to be fair, I believe it’ll work for them.
There is quite little noise in the inside, no doubt because of the CVT keeping everything quiet. Subaru has put some properly clever engineering into developing the Lineartronic CVT and the results definitely show.
What’s it Like Inside?
The interior in the modern Subaru is a genuinely nice spot to be. You can simply tell it is created to a budget but there’s an excellent balance of materials found in all of the right places, so that it feels much better than decent inside. Starting at the tyre, you’ll notice it’s wrapped in leather, with plenty of multifunctional buttons to help you to control whenever you can without the hands leaving the wheel.
The infotainment system is pretty decent by modern standards, letting you use touchscreen navigation, Bluetooth integration, MP3 streaming, and DAB radio. It has all you need.
The space in the car here is where in fact the Outback can be an absolute winner. I am a tall driver at 6’4 and felt no issue at all in the driving seat – the headroom was fantastic. In the rear of the car, despite having my seat position, there is still a lot of room behind me. The boot space is 559-litres of room before you even begin to put the chairs down, meaning there’s a lot of room through the entire car.
THE KNOWLEDGE
The knowledge the Subaru Outback SE Premium provides isn’t like the remaining crossovers out there. You still feel just like you’re in a sporty car, when the truth is you’re in a Crossover-sized practical vehicle. Somehow Subaru have already been in a position to create a practical car, but retaining their brands heritage characteristics. You truly feel just like you can travel anywhere, whatever the elements, in the Outback – as the name suggests.
Verdict
Personally i think that the Subaru Outback is a fairly underrated car in the grand scheme of things. The automobile here as tested costs £34,995 but it’s incredibly capable and highly equipped.
Merely to summarise: the inside space is fantastic, the engine performance and economy is a good balance point, the capabilities of the Subaru due to its symmetrical four-wheel-drive system and high ride height means it’s in a position to undertake most UK terrain. It even includes a towing capacity as high as 2,00