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Subaru Outback Review

Subaru Outback – You’ve got it all…  luxury, comfort, performance and smart technology

Surprisingly, I found I needed a larger car, as my retirement is now spent travelling for holidays with a need for luggage space, transporting grandchildren and dogs.

Sadly, long gone are my two-seater convertible days. A two-seater would not have accommodated any of these, as the dog cage alone took up all the boot space in my Mini Countryman. What to buy was the question?

I have to admit I’m a Petrolhead, to such a serious degree that I had a string of Alfa’s where every journey was an exciting adventure. Also, I’ve driven most of the Mitsubishi range, always slightly quirky but much more reliable than the Alfa’s!

So, I embarked on test driving the German Estates, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes; all were interesting but had flaws, more worryingly they had a hint of the poser about them. I know that many very sensible people own them but a few of the owners are the ones who tailgate you on the motorway and were the type of people who had ‘brick’ sized phones in the 1980’s.

Then I went off-piste!  I borrowed a Subaru Outback Estate from Livery Dole in Exeter for a weekend. The first strange thing that happened was that my Partner, who believes that anything without a Golf badge on it is the work of the Devil, actually enjoyed driving the Outback. She enthusiastically drove it all the way to Bristol and was won over.

Subarus have had several incarnations, all with 4WD and all with unique Boxer engines. The earliest was as the type of cars that farmers drove or rural hunting, shooting, fishing types. These early Subaru’s were ultra reliable but suffered from a certain agricultural feel, especially in their interiors which appeared to be hewn from blocks of very shiny black plastic. Incarnation number two was the high performance WRX route, all very impressive with gold wheels and in some cases very lairy accessories.

The latest incarnation of Subaru still centres around 4WD and Boxer engines, only now their range covers SUV’s and Estates. The biggest change across the range is the quality of their interiors, smart technology to aid driving and safety and the overall quietness and smoothness of these cars.

Having done my shopping around, I was amazed when I first sat in the Outback to be surrounded with an interior which is actually of a higher quality than it’s more expensive German rivals. The dashboard materials are soft to touch, the seating is supremely comfortable, and the steering wheel has a delightful tactile quality.

The exterior has a lovely, understated degree of style. It’s not flashy and the doors close with a soft clunk, just the kind of security you expect from the door of a bank vault.

So, I bought myself an Outback and joined a small but select band of enthusiasts sharing the secret of their classy cars.  At first the numerous safety systems were a bit of an annoyance. There seemed to be lights and warnings everywhere! As I drive the car more, I am used to them and they are proving invaluable. For example, on long journeys the camera system picks up my eyes wandering and warns me. The seating arrangement automatically adjusts for each driver as the car identifies you.  The small warning lights and slight difference in the weight of the steering tells me when I am crossing the white line, but this is deactivated if I am indicating. The most useful one of all is the small flasher on the door mirror alerting an overtaking vehicle which is particularly helpful for the small blind spot on all cars.

Driving my Subaru Outback is a real pleasure; the Boxer engine gave more than adequate performance and its design means the weight of the engine is lower down in the car which improves the handling as well as allowing a deeper windscreen giving amazing visibility. All of this combined with the symmetrical 4WD makes me even more convinced I’ve bought the right car.

Finally, Subaru have won many awards recently plus much to my delight the Subaru brand appeared in a recent National paper as being a tasteful requirement for ‘Posh’; that’s understated Posh of course!

Nigel Clegg

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Motachase Limited trading as Livery Dole is an appointed Representative of Automotive Compliance Ltd who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA No. 497010). Automotive Compliance Ltd’s permissions as a Principal Firm allows Motachase Limited trading as Livery Dole to act as a credit broker, not a lender, for the introduction to a limited number of lenders, and to act as an agent on behalf of the insurer for insurance distribution activities only. We are a credit broker and not a lender. We can introduce you to a carefully selected panel of lenders, which includes manufacturer lenders linked directly to the franchises that we represent. We act on behalf of the lender for this introduction and not as your agent. We are not impartial, and we are not an independent financial advisor. Our approach is to introduce you first to the manufacturer lender linked directly to the particular franchise you are purchasing your vehicle from, who are usually able to offer the best available package for you, taking into account both interest rates and other contributions. If they are unable to make you an offer of finance, we then seek to introduce you to whichever of the other lenders on our panel is able to make the next most suitable offer of finance for you. Our aim is to secure a suitable finance agreement for you that enables you to achieve your financial objectives. If you purchase a vehicle, in the majority of cases, we will receive a commission from your lender for introducing you to them which is either a fixed fee, or a fixed percentage of the amount that you borrow. This may be linked to the vehicle model you purchase. Different lenders pay different commissions for such introductions, and manufacturer lenders linked directly to the franchises that we represent may also provide preferential rates to us for the funding of our vehicle stock and also provide financial support for our training and marketing. But any such amounts they and other lenders pay us will not affect the amounts you pay under your finance agreement; however, you will be contributing towards the commission paid to us with the interest collected on your repayments. Before we propose you to a potential lender, we will inform you of the likely amount of commission we will receive and seek your consent to receive this commission. The exact amount of commission that we will receive will be confirmed prior to you signing your finance agreement.  All finance applications are subject to status, terms and conditions apply, UK residents only, 18s or over. Guarantees may be required.