You can do things the way everyone does, or you can go your own way. SUBARU goes its own way in many things and is one of two automobile manufacturers who use boxer engines. And all-wheel drive. And if you combine a raised combi body with all-wheel drive, automatic and boxer engine, then in the case of the Subaru Outback a crossover comes out that is celebrated elsewhere as a “new idea”, but is already available in the fourth generation at SUBARU.

Crossover from a time when the name did not exist

In the driving report:

Subaru Outback 2.0 D Lineartronic

Quite the old man

Inconspicuous except for the air scoop on the hood. While other automakers adorn their crossover models with lots of adornment, the outback looks as you'd expect from a Subaru. Objective, inconspicuous and focused on the inner values. And the pithy air scoop does not follow the dictates of an automobile make-up case, but a technical benefit and serves, among other things, the unique boxer diesel engine as an external identifier.

With its ground clearance of 20 centimeters, it stands a bit high-legged in the landscape, the pithy bumpers carry on the front of a larger unpainted area on display and thus emphasize the seriousness for off-road tours.

The Outback runs in its fourth generation in Germany and is one of the favorite vehicles of hunters, foresters and people with a sense of a special technical layout.

The SUBARU Outback 2.0D

The fourth generation

He remains a pragmatist. Even in the interior. Subaru may have made an effort to equip and design the fourth generation of the Outback appropriately in its price range, but there are at least twenty felt years between the interior of a Passat Alltrack, Audi Allroad and an Outback. He brings this charm of a practical toolbox with him. The outback doesn't want to pose, he wants to work.

Workplace

With its length of 4.79 meters and a wheelbase of 2.74 meters, the Outback offers good prerequisites for having a decent amount of space ready and indeed - it is not only passable in the first row. The unfashionable design with the high roof and steep windows also creates an almost forgotten feeling of space. That was the way it used to be in many cars. Until the wind tunnel told the designers how to downsize the structure. In the outback you feel like you have been transported back to the time when the designers were primarily concerned with building a practical car. Before marketing was added and the designers raved about “sportiness” and “lifestyle”. The outback may be visually boring - but it is in a damn practical way.

Boxer Diesel

I personally love extraordinary technical solutions. Of course, the history of automobile development has proven to this day: If you need a four-cylinder engine with two liters of displacement, then the “most sensible” one, because it is efficiently placed in the delta between costs, benefits and performance; the four-cylinder in-line engine. And yet - a boxer engine has advantages that no other engine offers, you just have to be crazy enough and above all convinced of your own ingenuity to consistently continue on this path. And so the first four-cylinder boxer engine as a compression-ignition engine was created at SUBARU. Rudolf Diesel would have been enthusiastic about this technical solution, about the victory of the designer over the cost controller, and so am I. I love this nonsense, presented with a lot of sympathy, to rave about the lower center of gravity of a boxer engine compared to a standing four-cylinder, while the car is equipped with 20 (twenty!) Centimeters of ground clearance.

Then there is the smooth running of the boxer engine - in the case of diesel, this is counteracted by violent nailing and systemic vibrations. Nevertheless, the Subaru's two-liter boxer engine offers a fascination that other engines simply do not offer. But to be honest, it's a theoretical allure. The Subaru Diesel Boxer is neither the quietest, the most spontaneous, nor the most economical engine in its performance class. But it's the only boxer diesel engine.

SUBARU explains the advantages of the boxer engine:

Performance:

PS

150

at 3600 rpm

torque

350

from 1.600 rpm

Capacity

1.998

ccm³

hazards

Regardless of the low center of gravity, all-wheel drive - the Outback rolls over the country roads on its Yokohama Geolander crossover tires. The tires give far too little feedback for the steering and the rough tread happily rolls along. So you can only guess at the advantages of a low center of gravity and permanent and symmetrical all-wheel drive. You don't feel anything about the complex technical solution. The outback forces a calm, relaxed driving style. Usually also a consequence of the continuously variable transmission - but in connection with the powerful Subaru diesel, the CVT is for the first time not the stupidest transmission variant I know.

While with continuously variable automatic transmissions you usually rave about the rubber band effect of the drive and complain about the nerve-wracking howling of the engine during acceleration. The CVT in the outback shows a whole new side with the 2.0D. The CVT automatic is really trying to keep the diesel below 2.000 revs and on the other hand it simulates a classic switch box with six levels as soon as you ask for more vigor and power with the accelerator.

While the steering suffers from the imprecise crossover tires, the rest of the Outback enjoys unrestricted endurance capability. The straight-line is impeccable and on the highway, in speed ranges between 120 and 160 runs the great outback sovereign on the track. The diesel grumbles to himself and the continuously variable automatic adjusts the transmission imperceptibly, depending on how much power (uphill or downhill) is required by the boxer. Perfect. The suspension tries the compromise between stability for the construction and sensitive response on bad roads. And no matter how harsh the interior may seem, in everyday life, the Outback gives an almost forgotten sense of solidity. He does not want to pull off the big show and others like to whistle through the turns faster on high-performance SUV tires, he's always turning off the tarred road and is prepared.

Yes - with every kilometer in the outback you become more confident if civilization suddenly stops after the next bend - then I am prepared.

I don't like soft touch surfaces, no 10 inch display with high-resolution display and on country roads I prefer to stay in the background - but I'm prepared for everything that may come.

Quote: Subaru Outback - Sometime during the test drive.

This is how Subaru explains the advantages of the Subaru “symmatrical all wheel drive”:

Realistic consumption values ​​according to the "Three types of method"

Everyday driver, without savings

7.9

Eco expert with a green toe

6.3

Field service with full throttle desire

9.8

All figures in liters on 100 kilometers | diesel

Advantages - Disadvantages - Conclusion ... it continues on the next page.

... read on ... >>

Driving Report Page 1  |  Advantages disadvantages | Technical data | Gallery

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