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| 2005 Subaru Outback Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Road Test | |||
This new fourth-generation model is a reflection of Subaru's knowing what it is and what the Legacy should be. Apparently, part of that includes being what it used to be. Say hello to a feature not seen in the lineup for 11 years: the blower is back! Turbocharged performance is now a Subaru staple and deserves all the credit for pumping up the dual-cam 2.5-liter 4-cylinder to 250 horsepower and just as much torque. Just watch that tachometer - once the needle swings past "3," the engine has a V6 moment and you're off! Subaru avoided Audi's mistake of making the engine too small and avoided Volvo's mistake of having the wrong cylinder count. Top it off with with decent low-end torque and plenty of aural personality, and finding fault with this motor takes deep digging. Nissan's Altima has it tied for total output, but V6s are for a different crowd, and anyway, the Legacy 2.5GT stands as the acceleration champion at 5.7 seconds to 60 MPH with a stickshift. What a way to make a first impression.Another early impression came early into my drive when I pressed the "-" button on the steering wheel expecting a volume change. A volume change I got: the engine started screaming and promptly catapulted me forward. Oops. Apparently those +/- buttons are transmission shifters, unique in that they let you spontaneously pick a new gear for exactly five seconds without having to shift out of D. What a clever idea. (Only turbo models have them.) Also, when in full manual mode, the dashboard displays little up and down arrows indicating which direction of shifting is possible. Clever x 2! The transmission almost always finds the right gear (there are now five in turbo and 6-cylinder models), even if it takes a few milliseconds too many to downshift at certain times. Along the way, the engine's always making a slightly raw, guttural sound that's entirely due to Subaru's chosen engine layout: cylinders laying on their backsides, boxing away at each other. Some things never change. Advantages of going horizontal include better vibration resistance (though turning the key shakes the Outback to life like a cheap 80s car), better front-to-rear weight distribution (just like V-shaped engines), and most of all, a lower center of gravity. The regular Legacy enjoys all those advantages. The SUV-wannabe Outback we tested works against that last one by jacking up its stance to 8.7 inches above the Earth. Advantages of riding high include the freedom to javelin the car at full speed into any driveway; the bumper never scrapes. After that, the result of such posing comes down to added tippiness and bounciness (and an extra $1,000-$2,000) to hamper down an otherwise competent performer. Don't think it adds anything meaningful to off-road ability, either. The Outback is one car you'll want to keep on the road, despite any of its "four" (really, it's more like two) standard all-wheel-drive systems. As our Outback is an automatic-transmissioned turbo model, it has the "Variable Torque Distribution" system, which splits the power 45 front / 55 rear using an electronically controlled hydraulic clutch. (Other automatic Subarus use variations on this system; stickshift Subarus use "Continuous All-Wheel-Drive" that splits power down the middle via a less complex viscous coupling and locking center differential.) Any of these systems is good for heavy-duty weather but only light-duty off-roading. Sometimes, the Outback makes for a pretty light-duty on-roader as well. All-wheel-drive was of no aid in this California August, nor did it prevent the Outback from sliding all over the place. Each tire was a moaner and a screamer, protesting at every moderately motivated corner entry. Since Subaru chose a fairly aggressive size - P225/55R17 - the lesson is to stay away from these all-season Bridgestone Potenza RE92s. What's odd is how the Outback slides. The tires are an easy scapegoat for the understeer, but if you stab the brakes or even lift off the gas in the middle of a turn, the tail breaks loose and heads for the nearest ditch. The theoretical AWD strategy of keeping your foot on the gas doesn't seem to correct this habit, and when you're off the gas, the Outback's standard limited-slip diff doesn't do diddly. Strange: despite the AWD hardware, boxer engine, and wagon body balancing out the weight distribution, this is still a 56% front-biased car with a sophisticated multilink suspension. Since oversteer is a trait shared by all past Legacys, maybe it's intentional. Tail sliding, race car shifting, and insta-rocket big turbo power? It's as if the Legacy and Outback had the talent to be whatever they wanted yet chose a life of comedy. Silly Subaru. Driven slowly, the Outback will give off the pleasant Mr. Congenial Japanese Car demeanor that so many probably seek. Noise levels and ride harshness are about average, maybe a little better. Yanking off the roof rack (you'll need an Allen wrench) would help with the wind noise problem (so would window frames, but never mind), and going for the Legacy instead of the Outback would help with the ride bounciness. The steering is light and easy, yet enough road feel somehow gets through to make it ultimately satisfying - almost as good as the Mazda 6. And Subaru seems to have exorcised the previous mushiness from the brakes, which still have a long travel but now react decisively. Legacy 2.5GTs (but not equivalent Outback 2.5XTs) get the exclusive performance tweaks of bigger brakes, ventilated rear brakes, and a quicker 15:1 steering ratio instead of 16.5:1, which itself is already quicker than last year. Through it all, I only found one thing glaringly wrong with the Outback's drive: financing it. That 4-cylinder engine must've taken a few V8 moments while I wasn't looking, because the first fill-up netted an Earth-destroying 18 MPG average. On premium fuel. Subaru, don't forget your liberal customer base. |
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