Subaru Outback
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What if you love off-roading, but you hate trucks? What if you enjoy the 4×4 romp but dislike all those “sports sedans” that just don’t quite offer the capability you need. Maybe you want to cross some fire trails to the campsite, but you also want a family vehicle that’s respectable and, well, not some freakish 4×4 mini-van. That’s what the Subaru Outback is for. A good middle-of-the-trail vehicle, the Outback is sandwiched right between the dreadlocks-and-fart-cannon, yellow-rimmed Impreza, and the grocery-getting Legacy. It’s a Subaru that’s both capable and yet carries no stigma, unlike its brethren and competing crossovers.
Aptly named after the outback regions of Australia, this Subaru was introduced in 1994 and quickly earned a reputation as a capable off-road vehicle. Plenty of trunk space was afforded for long stints in the countryside, though it wasn’t until 1996 that the Outback would receive an SUV-challenging 7.8” of ground clearance. The Outback was all-wheel-drive, though for a true 50/50 power split one had to go for the five-speed manual gearbox; the automatic car was front-wheel biased.
While the Outback may not appear to be the most exciting sports utility vehicle ever produced, it can be considered the grandfather of the modern sports utility cross-over. Designer Ernie Boch even labeled the original concept a “Sports Utility Sedan”, and this was back in the 1970’s when 4×4 lovers were stuck to their Dana axles and lifted CJ’s.
Today, few vehicles get to enjoy the performance reputation the Outback has developed. In this hyper-competitive crossover market, the lines are blurring between sedans and SUVs day by day – yet so many are false prophets of the off-road world. The Subaru is ranked #3 in the world as the most favored wagon ever, and it’s one of few vehicles that isn’t an SUV and yet still offers hill descent mode, true all-wheel-drive with an appropriate front-to-rear power split, and ample storage for folks who actually enjoy spending time outside for longer than a day hike.
And lastly, the Outback is perhaps the only wagon or crossover-ish vehicle that actually pull off a 3” lift and 35” tires with a light bar tacked above the windshield. Many reputable companies even specialize in lift kits and 4×4 accouterments for the Outback, including Bilstein shocks, skid plates, and proper roof cages for things like fuel cans, bikes, and hiking equipment.
But perhaps the Outback’s greatest secret to off-road success lies within its powertrain: A CVT transmission. Sometimes touted as finicky in other makes, the Outback’s CVT has garnered a reputation for serious reliability, and its technically infinite number of gear ratios allows the Outback to provide off-roaders with some of the most well-mannered and consistent performance on unpredictable terrain.
