We went to a pretty cool off-road park near Detroit, Michigan, and I wasn't sure it would make it through some of the obstacles we traversed. While this does a fine job on-road, I have to admit I was SUPER impressed with its off-road chops.
DRIVING IMPRESSION OF SUBARU OUTBACK MANUAL
I'm a manual transmission driver, and that's always going to be my transmission of choice, but this high-torque Lineartronic CVT with an 8-speed manual transmission (aka paddle shifters) does a bang-up job. I fielded a lot of questions on social media about the CVT, and what I want to say is: It's fine. It delivers 260 horsepower and 277 pound feet of torque, which makes this vehicle pretty peppy in passing and merge situations.
I absolutely love the up-level 2.4-cylinder turbocharged Boxer engine. And if you turn on your music? Problem solved. But, Subaru does a fairly decent job with sound dampening, so there isn't too much tire noise that enters into the cabin. I have to admit I was a bit worried about those all-terrain 17-inch tires. Oh, and by the way, that's why the headliner is also black - it won't show scuffs or dirt.
So, muddy bike wheels and gear won't leave a mark. The best thing, however, is that the seat backs framing the cargo area are also washable. Plus, the test vehicle I was driving had really cool all-weather floor mats that can be removed, hosed off and replaced. So, they're easy to wipe clean, and won't soak up any liquids dripped from sodden clothes or beverage spills. The bigger bonus? You don't have to worry about animals or creepy crawlies.īecause Subaru recognizes that its owners are likely going out to do activities that will get them muddy and dirty, they've made a lot of their surfaces washable.įirst up, the seating surfaces are a water-repellant StarTex (aka leatherette) material. That's enough for a roof tent, two people and some of their gear. Clearly, sleeping on the ground was not my thing.īut I might be willing to give it a go again now that the Outback Wilderness model gets ladder style roof rails rated for 700 pounds in a static position. I went once (actual camping, not glamping) and nearly froze to death - even though I had body warmers attached to every surface and a sleeping bag rated for negative something. In terms of other off-roading features, the Wilderness model also has 17-inch all-terrain tires, a standard front skid plate and several available skid plates (costing about $129 each) to cover fuel takes, transmissions, etc.Īs you can see, Subaru really wants you to find the path less traveled and have some fun doing it - without damaging your vehicle. Something else to note is that both the front fog lamps and rear reflectors have been moved up on the cladding to help protect them from damage. It reaches up over the front and rear corners of the vehicle, and adds a couple inches over the wheel wells to increase protection on painted surfaces from rocks and loose gravel.
While the Outback always had its fair share of hard plastic cladding surrounding the wheel wells and front bumpers, it seems to have grown exponentially with the Wilderness trim. Here are some of the clearances for the base trucks:īut how does that compare to something like the Jeep Wrangler? Well, the Wrangler only bests it by 0.2 of an inch. Since this is a pickup truck crowd, let's compare that to some of the best-selling trucks currently on the market. Subaru increases the Outback's ground clearance to 9.5 inches.
DRIVING IMPRESSION OF SUBARU OUTBACK PLUS
With the new 2022 Outback Wilderness model, you get that awesome engine plus more off-road capability. And, after the addition of the new up-level engine for the 2020 model year, I didn't think it could get any better. I find the Subaru Outback to be one of the more comfortable crossover type vehicles currently on the market.
0 kommentar(er)
