Australians love the great outdoors, and if you're not a fan of high riding
SUVs or dual-cab utes, there are other ways to explore our gorgeous landscape.
Take the all new Subaru Outback for example. For 2021,
the Japanese crossover wagon is more refined, filled with tech, and safer than ever. Oh,
and it'll be just as happy taking you down the road less travelled as it'll be on the school run.
That's because the sixth-generation Outback is smarter than ever and rides on an all-new
platform, even if it lands in Australia with the highest starting price and only one
petrol boxer engine option. That's right, the previous turbo-diesel and America's more powerful
2.4-litre turbo-petrol flat four won't be offered down under. Instead, all locally delivered
Outbacks will be powered by a single 2.5-litre boxer four made into an upgraded CVT automatic.
That engine is 90% new and comes with more power and torque compared to the outgoing four-cylinder.
However, thanks to Subaru's symmetrical all-wheel-drive system and ex-mode off-road
settings, it's still just as capable of taking you well off the beaten track
and just as comfortable for everyday driving too.
Here we're testing the range-topping Outback all-wheel-drive Touring, priced from just under
$50,000 before on-road costs. And like every Outback variant in 2021 it comes
with Subaru's full suite of driver-assist safety features, including semi-autonomous acceleration,
braking and steering, as well as lane centring, intelligence speed limiter,
lane departure warning, and lots more. Other gear reserved for the top-spec Outback includes
a driver's seat with memory, electric sunroof, power-folding mirrors, a nine speak Harman Kardon
sound system, heated steering wheel, nappa leather trim, and roof rails with stow-able cross-bars.
From behind the wheel, the new generation Outback looks vastly more up-market with a
huge 11.6 inch vertically oriented infotainment touchscreen. In a bid to de-clutter the dash,
Subaru has plonked most of its controls inside that display, including the auto-hold handbrake
and engine stop-start functions among many other features, but they can be easily accessed through
a sub-menu below. The dual zone climate control functions are also fiddly, especially when
you're driving, and it's easy to hit the wrong button as most of the buttons are quite small.
Also, unless you've got tiny baby hands, it's pretty hard to reach the two USB ports and
auxiliary down here. To be honest, I prefer the old cabin for its busy but user-friendly layout.
Those things aside, there's good storage upfront, a little pocket in front of the gear stick for
your phone, and a little shelf in the dash for the passenger's phone or other knick-knacks.
Space in the rear seat is adequate, but headroom does suffer a little bit due to the sunroof that
is fitted standard to our top-spec Touring. Heated outboard seats are a plus, as are three
child seat anchor points, an armrest, and good door pocket storage. Being a larger vehicle,
there's also a ton of boot space and a full-size spare wheel hidden under the floor.
Subaru covers the new Outback with a five-year unlimited kilometer warranty
with capped price servicing costing just under $1,300 over the first three years.
Tasked with filling the role of both its predecessor and the discontinued Liberty,
the new Outback still has plenty of ground clearance and trail riding ability,
with both snow and mud driving modes. Subaru also says its updated CVT is
better off the mark, with improved acceleration and better fuel economy.
It is one of the better CVTs we've tested, but as for the fuel consumption, we're sitting at
around 10.3 litres per 100 Ks, and that's a mix of highway and suburban sort of driving.
Steering is a little heavy at low speeds as with most SUVs, and the driver-assist features are
quite good. The adaptive cruise control is really handy, but with the lane centering function,
it can be a little bit intrusive steering you back into the lane, and it feels like
it skews a little bit to the inner edge of the road so you're closer to oncoming cars.
That single boxer engine option is slow off the mark thanks to the weight of the Outback
and it is quite noisy at high revs, but that's a typical boxer engine trait.
Aside from that, the 2.5-litre engine feels really well-matched to this car and has
more than enough grunt to get you out of tricky situations off-road, or just cruise around town.
The Outback has always been popular down under and despite the price hikes and lack of diesel power,
we reckon Subaru's latest flagship will be a smash hit with adventurous Aussie families.