Subaru Outback 3.6R Premium 2012 Review

Is a crossover too big a compromise? I was a bit perplexed by the Subaru Outback 3.6R Premium – was it a station wagon, an SUV, a performance car, family oriented or adventure oriented?  Does the crossover try to offer something across all aspects -- and fail to excel in any one of them? It takes a few days to find out.

DESIGN

Face facts: this is not an attractive vehicle. The styling is subtle but grey – our test car was charcoal, but it was also grey in every other sense of the word. It could easily be lost in a supermarket car park, forever. I found myself hoping the looks would grow on me, but they didn’t.

The interior is like a small lounge with big leather furniture.  The seats are flat, wide and hard – and won’t serve well for long trips where you need a hugging contour and medium firmness for support.  I was already in need of a good stretch and massage after a short one hour commute.

The highlight is the stitched leather, which looks classy and tough. Perfect for letting kids or a  slobbering dog loose without having to worry about damaging the upholstery.  Opinion was divided on the plastic brushed aluminium look dashboard and surrounds.  I thought they looked and felt cheap, my wife thought they looked classy.  But otherwise, the dashboard is very clear, well laid out and a pleasure to use at night.

Visibility all round is great -- with a relatively high position, and no major blind spots, even for a wagon – and the large mirrors meant all but the smallest of cars or motorbikes were in your peripheral vision. 

EQUIPMENT

As usual with Subaru, everything you expect is on hand: full climate control and electric everything.  Initially, the media-navigation system was a little painful to operate, but does have touchscreen which is a small bonus. 

Although the head unit does have Bluetooth connectivity, this is acceptable for telephone conversations (and worked really well) but the quality is not high enough for music. It would be better to see an iPad/iOS type head unit installed in a car of this type – which is likely to be doing some long recreational trips. 

The only other real omissions at this level are heated seats – which risks leaving wives very unimpressed (trust me on this) – and tyre pressure sensors, which are not expensive and should be considered a must have safety feature.

SAFETY

The Outback meets the ANCAP five-star rating, with an arsenal of airbags, anti-lock brakes and all the expected safety kit. But it also has a special system called EyeSight -- in short, an extra pair of eyes permanently glued to the road in front of you, alerting and taking appropriate action probably before you even think of it. This is a level of technology that comes not just with an instruction manual but a DVD to guide you through the introduction.

At first, I was dismissive, believing in better driver education and not building a reliance – let alone dependence  -- on technology.  But after two days of using it, I was impressed with a couple of key features.  The adaptive cruise control allowed me to set the cruise at 60km/h in morning traffic, and -- unless I stopped completely -- Eyesight kept me a safe distance from the vehicle in front, adjusting my speed up or down, even automatically braking to a halt if required. 

It was surprisingly smooth and accurate.  It does get a little confused if another car enters the lane and into it’s field of view, and takes more abrupt action, but it works amazingly well. The feature I wanted to kill was the lane sensor alert.  Initially, I couldn’t help myself, playing with the system on the way home.

Other drivers must have thought I was drunk or had lost my marbles.  In clear space, I drifted side to side across lanes, not once or twice, but at least 8 to 10 times, testing when and how EyeSight would alert me.  I’m surprised nobody called the police, but then again if they had, in the Outback I’d have just blended into the traffic and they’d never spot me. 

But in daily driving, after a while the lane sensor is annoying, beeping every few minutes, general moving in and out of traffic, entering and exiting freeways, and normal city driving.  I can imagine on a lengthy motorway cruise, it would be a useful safety feature, but in everyday traffic it drove me to the point of distraction and annoyance.

Although it took a while to get used to getting the best out of EyeSight, after a couple of days, I’d built a beautiful symbiotic relationship, driver and technology in perfect harmony.  I’m a passionate believer in full driver training and education -- and driver control -- however (and I can’t believe I’m writing this) I now think  the adaptive cruise and pre-collision braking should be mandatory on all new vehicles.  It would prevent 90 per cent of those pointless rear-enders, and force drivers to leave the appropriate space between vehicles.

Interestingly, EyeSight had a maximum setting of 2 seconds gap, and I would rather have had this as the minimum, with the ability for the driver to increase the gap if it was still a little too close to the car in front.  Imagine the reduction in insurance premiums and time saved in morning traffic without those dumb accidents.

DRIVING AND PERFORMANCE

The first drive in the Outback was particularly eventless -- even boring.  I left the CBD office in peak hour traffic and arrived home 45 minutes later.  Interestingly, I did notice I had arrived stress–free – which probably says something.

The engine and gearbox were quiet and smooth, the ride was firm and understated, quietly satisfying. But after driving the Outback for a couple of days, I was wondering if this “premium” version actually had any guts and was generally feeling quite let down.  I read the specifications again, 3.6 Litres, 191kW, 1600kg. Where? Was I missing something?  Where was all this performance hiding?

I dedicated some quality experimental time to locate that all important “GO” button. Found it. Right there on the centre console dial.  Switch over to [S#] mode and leave it there. Wow, what a massive difference.  I pulled out into some fast moving traffic and let it rip.  Everything stiffened up, and with an elegant poise and quiet, rapid acceleration, I was well over the speed limit before I had realised. Again… wow.

To put it into numbers, this car actually has more horsepower per tonne than a Mini Cooper S (146hp/t vs 159hp/t), which translates into considerable performance for what does not appear to be a quick car.  The Outback 3.6R Premium is a classic case of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

In terms of economy, even though on paper it says it’s quite economical at 14.7L/100km for the urban cycle, a sixth gear wouldn’t go amiss.  I was struggling to get the computer to show less than 16L/100km -- even before I discovered the Outback’s inner wolf.

VERDICT

So back to the original question, who would buy the Outback? During the test drive, I have switched my image of the target buyer from WRX upgraders, to older retiring country gentlefolk, and back to mid-40s family man, looking for a quiet life, but with a growler under the bonnet when he wants it. 

Then I thought of the adventurer who wants to carry an ocean kayak and/or hang glider on the roof, and still use it to commute. I even thought it would be the perfect getaway car for bank robbers: rapid, plenty of room to carry four henchmen and all your loot --  and it’s cloak of blandness means it would simply disappear in the traffic.

Finally, I settled almost back where I started: the  Subaru Outback 3.6R Premium is ideal for the grown up ex-WRX owner who now wants practicality and comfort, hidden performance and some extra safety measures built in.  It is perfect for taking the whole family, mum, dad, two leggy teenagers and a couple of dogs to the country camping for the weekend.

At more than $63,000 on the road, this is not a cheap prospect. However, considering the number of categories it covers very well, it does present solid value for money. The Subaru Outback 3.6R Premium is a car that can fulfil many roles at a reasonable price.

Subaru Outback 3.6R Premium

Price: From $57,490
Engine: 3.6 Litre, 6 Cylinder
Outputs: 191kW/350Nm
Transmission: Five-speed Sports automatic.
Economy: 10.3/100km combined. CO2 Emissions: 242g/km
Crash rating: 5 stars ANCAP