2018 Subaru Outback | CarGurus Test Drive Review

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Subaru’s Outback arrived in 1996 as one of the original “crossover” vehicles that threatens to displace sedans from American roads. Reviewer Chris Wardlaw has liked the Outback since that debut year, and while he wouldn’t call the 2018 version perfect, he applauds its capability, its comfort, its safety, and its cost effectiveness. Wardlaw appreciates the 2018’s quieter cabin, new steering wheel, and the improved start-up speed of Subaru’s Starlink infotainment system.
Wardlaw tested an Outback 2.5i Limited, which uses a 2.5-liter boxer 4-cylinder that produces 175 hp and 174 lb-ft of torque and delivers it to all four wheels through a continuously variable transmission. The Outback also offers a 3.6-liter boxer 6-cylinder that makes 256 hp and 247 lb-ft, but Wardlaw says Subaru should ditch the six in favor of a turbocharged four, because Subaru fans enjoy high-altitude driving, and turbo engines can deal with thin air better than naturally aspirated ones.
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Providing everything you need in a new vehicle, and nothing you don’t, the safe, affordable, and capable 2018 Subaru Outback is an excellent answer to the question of what to drive just about anywhere at just about any time.
One of the original “crossover” SUVs, the first Outback was a trim level for the 1995 Legacy station wagon. In 1996, in a stroke of sheer brilliance, Subaru jacked up the suspension, put some oversize fog lights up front, added white-letter tires, and called the Outback an SUV.
Remember, back then, the Ford Explorer was just igniting an American fervor for SUVs. But the Explorer was a truck, and it drove like one. By contrast, the Outback was a car, offering decent driving dynamics and good fuel economy in a package that also supplied all-wheel drive and lots of ground clearance.
Today, the Outback faces far more competitors than it did in the mid-1990s, yet it remains one of the best-selling SUVs in America. There is good reason for that, too.
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