2026 Subaru Outback: New look, but the best remains
The popular SUV continues providing a feeling of competence and comfort, and the upgraded engine is powerful. But it’s still thirsty.
2026 Subaru Outback Touring XT vs. Toyota Crown Signia Limited: New ways to get around.
This week: Subaru Outback
Price: $49,445 as tested
What others are saying: “Highs: Spacious rear seat and cargo area, decent off-road capability, friendly dashboard controls. Lows: Base engine provides unhurried acceleration, handling is not engaging, no longer looks like a wagon,” says Car and Driver.
What Subaru is saying: “Love never looked so good.”
Reality: Most of the best features are kept, but then so are most of the not-so-best.
What’s new: It’s a whole new redesign for the Outback. Beyond the new face up front, it gets a boxier profile and flatter roof for more passenger and cargo space.
The Outback and brother Forester tend to bring a feeling of trustworthiness to every drive, somewhere in the putt-putt engine, just-right handling, and interior design. Will the redesign upset that balance?
Competition: In addition to the Crown Signia, competitors include an eclectic mix of crossovers: Chevrolet Blazer, Honda Passport, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Murano, Mazda CX-70, and Volkswagen Atlas.
Up to speed: The Outback as tested features a turbocharged version of the 2.4-liter Boxer four-cylinder engine, making 260 horses. It gets the vehicle to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, according to Car and Driver. The standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder creates 180 horsepower and gets there in 8.8 seconds, Car and Driver estimates.
A morning in the 20s was accompanied by some occasional hesitation — from the Subaru, not just Mr. Driver’s Seat — when pulling out and while in motion.
Shiftless: The Outback continues to transfer the power to the road with a continuously variable transmission. There’s no real excitement, but it just adds to the feeling of trustworthy canine companion somehow.
The shifter is the old-fashioned handle style. Paddle controls on the steering wheel and a manual mode offer the illusion of control.
On the road: The Outback visited the Sturgis household during frigid temperatures and an unusual midwinter snowpack. I wasn’t driving through the snow, which would have been a very Subaru-worthy test indeed. Unfortunately, I faced icy roads only when it got dark, so I never had the chance to put it to a real test. Still, the SUV did just fine, hugging the curves and making me confident that it would follow my steering inputs quickly.
I never found any drive modes and didn’t really miss them, but there is a snow mode.
Driver’s Seat: The interior is all new as well, although it’s not radically different from Outbacks of yore.
The seats in the Outback were quite comfortable and roomy — and luxurious. The adjustments are handled on the door, not my favorite setup.
The Outback handles the cold with some real bun burners for seat heaters. I could hardly keep it set to 2, while the Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat relished 3.
Friends and stuff: Rear seat passengers should be pleased with their accommodations. There’s tons of legroom, foot room, and headroom. The seat is almost as supple and inviting as the front.
Cargo space is 34.6 or 80.5 cubic feet, depending on the seat origami.
Play some tunes: Subaru literature advertises a 12.1-inch infotainment screen, but it sure looks larger than that. It’s also attractive and easy to operate, with a dial for volume and button icons that are easily visible and get you around the functions. And it’s also not the vertical screen of yore.
Sound from the Subaru Multimedia system is OK, about a B+, maaaaybe an A-. It seemed to miss a lot of the parts of songs I know to look for.
Keeping warm and cool: Dials control the temperature and buttons handle everything else. There’s a display that tells you what’s going on without taking over the main screen.
Again, those seat heaters. Wow.
Fuel economy: I averaged about 19 mpg on side roads until I took it out on the highways and got close to 21. Subarus can be thirsty, and this Outback is less station wagon and more SUV than ever.
I didn’t have it out too much, though, so there may be some more room for improvement.
Where it’s built: Gunma, Japan
How it’s built: The Outback gets a 3 out of 5 for reliability from Consumer Reports.
In the end: My love for the Outback has grown over the years, especially the Wilderness model. This one offers much the same experience. The turbo adds a lot of fun, but also drinks a lot of fuel.
Next week: See how the Crown Signia Hybrid compares.
