First Drive: Subaru Outback’s likeability poses a riddle

As the late, great Frank Gorshin would have said, "Riddle me this, riddle me that". Riddle me how a car company, which utterly trounces Volkswagen for sales in the mighty US market can perform at such a low level here. Are tastes that wildly differentiated between us and our American friends?

No, probably not, but there are some critical considerations. For a start Subaru (which, yes, really has been out-selling VW stateside for the past year) has been unsurprisingly focused on that American market. That's a focus which has been to the detriment of Europe, a fact easily seen in the fact that this much-revised Outback is still soldiering on with the same 2.0-litre flat-four 150hp diesel which Subaru has been using, virtually unchanged, for a decade now.

Added to which are lingering price and exchange rate difficulties. With the euro sinking and the yen remaining stubbornly high, it's hard for Subaru in Ireland to tweak its prices downwards to chase sales. Blame the EU's quantitate easing programme. . .

All of which rather helps to explain why the new Outback, tested here in SE form with the Lineartronic CVT automatic gearbox, costs about €4,000 more than an equivalent Audi A4 Allroad. €4,000 more than an Audi is treacherous territory for a Japanese brand rather more famous for fairy rally cars than for silky smooth premium experiences.

Prices in the US are, of course, significantly lower. The equivalent Outback in the US market costs $29,995, or a shade over €26,000. A combination of the strength of the dollar versus yen, not to mention that Subaru builds many of its cars for the US market locally, getting around tariffs and shipping costs.

Which is not the full explanation as to why the brand outsells Volkswagen. Much of it is simply down to local tastes, and VW’s lack of 4WD crossover models at the moment.

Not so ‘outdoorsy’

As Paul Tunnicliffe, operations director of IM Group, which is responsible for importing Subaru into the UK and Ireland told me: "If you go to Florida, for instance, you probably won't see a single Subaru. But go to Colorado, Utah, Montana, Maine – places where you get lots of snow and lots of rain. That's where our sales are.

“Plus, in the US, there are proportionally more customers who buy a car in which they can throw a bike, or a tent or put a kayak on the roof. In Europe, customers are not so ‘outdoorsy’.”

True enough, and I would probably rank among the least outdoorsy people who have ever lived. I don’t even like gardening. Yet I find the Outback rather curiously appealing. Subaru has dropped the old Legacy saloon and estate, making the Outback its largest and most prestigious model.

It’s a big, imposing, jacked-up estate with four- wheel drive and a modicum of the sort of dark grey plastic bash-panels which signify it as being rugged enough for the school run. Except it’s more than that. We’ve become used, blasé even, about 4x4s that aren’t – SUV-style vehicles that are actually front-wheel drive, and which would be befuddled by so much as a damp field.

Maybe it's growing up in west Cork that triggers certain receptors in my brain, but I really like the idea of a car that's designed, actually properly from the tyres up, to tackle seriously rough ground. The Outback is not a pretender, not a "soft-roader", it's got some serious off-road guts, backed up by an electronic X-Mode button which alters the throttle maps and traction control to help you get further off the tarmac, and back again.

For most customers, that will be meaningless, but the Outback has made some effort in other, more day-to-day important areas too. Cabin design, never a Subaru strong point, has come on a little.

The dash is a little more soft-touch, the big central screen is bright and clear and the only real let-down now is the little digital display between the main dials which looks as if it came off a Sega Dreamcast console, circa 1988. Other basics are done well – the driver’s seat is comfy and supportive (if a touch high-set), there’s lots of legroom in the back and the boot is a usefully big 599 litres.

It’s really very good to drive too. Subaru has always made much play of the fact that its “Boxer” engines help to keep weight and centres of gravity down low, but you really can feel it in the Outback.

The steering is a little more sharp and fulsome than is the norm these days, while the Active Torque Vectoring – which shuffles power from side to side and brakes an inside wheel if needs be – really pulls the Outback tightly into corners. The only black dynamic mark is a ride quality that’s just a bit too firm.

It’s better than on the outgoing Outback but it’s still a touch too stiff to be ideal.

Subaru has made great strides on the safety front too, fitting its new EyeSight system to the top-spec Outback. It uses a colour stereo camera mounted in the windscreen to detect any potential dangers ahead and either warn the driver or take control and slam on the brakes.

Strains and bellows

That’s admirable but Subaru needs to make greater strides in the engine department. The flat-four diesel still sounds rather sweeter than most rivals, but with the CVT gearbox it strains and bellows under full acceleration (albeit it’s nicely refined when cruising) and 150hp just isn’t playing with the big boys any more. Neither is 159g/km CO2 emissions, for that matter.

So I should just wrap that up here. It’s too expensive, has too high emissions and needs a big engine upgrade to be competitive. And yet I can’t, quite, just stop here. That old west Cork part of my brain just won’t let go of the Outback. Won’t let go of its honesty, its practicality or Subaru’s insistence on equipping it with standard all-wheel drive, no matter the CO2 penalty.

It’s a long way from perfect, but it is hugely likeable and I can’t keep myself from reserving a space for it in my perfect garage. It’s a riddle, right enough . . .

Lowdown: Subaru Outback 2.0D SE Premium EyeSight
Price: €48,995, range starts at €40,995
Power: 150hp
Torque: 350Nm
0-100km/h: 9.9sec
Top speed: 210km/h
Claimed economy: 6.1l/100km. (46.3mpg)
CO2 emissions: 159g/km
Motor tax: €570