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The 2023 Subaru Outback range of configurations is currently priced from $29,990.
Our most recent review of the 2023 Subaru Outback resulted in a score of 8 out of 10 for that particular example.
Carsguide Contributing Journalist Emily Agar had this to say at the time: The Subaru Outback AWD Sport XT has been a great car for my family this week. It was popular with everyone and for good reason. It has loads of space, it's easy to handle and now has the grunt under the bonnet to satisfy me as a driver. However, you are paying for that grunt with the thirsty engine and that could become tiresome with the rising costs of fuel. At this price point, I also didn't love the weird-feeling material on the seats but it still impressed with its practicality and the safety features.
You can read the full review here.
This is what Emily Agar liked most about this particular version of the Subaru Outback: Smooth and easy handling, Well-specified, Near-perfect dimensions for urban and off-road adventures
The 2023 Subaru Outback carries a braked towing capacity of up to 2400 Kg, but check to ensure this applies to the configuration you're considering.
The Subaru Outback 2023 prices range from $35,970 for the basic trim level SUV AWD to $54,890 for the top of the range SUV AWD Touring XT 50 YRS Edition.
All Outbacks come standard with LED headlights, LED fog lights and LED running lights, they also all have roof rails, privacy glass and 18-inch alloy wheels. Inside there’s an 11.6-inch central touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, they all have dual-zone climate control, power front seats, a proximity key, push button start, 'X-Mode' drive modes and paddle shifters.
Stepping up to the Sport grade adds sat nav, a power tailgate, heated front seats and sports pedals.
The Touring grades gets a nine-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. The rest feature six-speaker stereos.
It certainly sounds that way. The clutch’s job is to join the engine to the gearbox while still being able to disconnect them when you need to idle the car or change gears. If the clutch is worn out, you’ll find it slipping under load, allowing the revs to flare up and the vehicle not moving much. This sounds exactly like what you’re describing.
At the least, you’ll need a new clutch unit, but if it’s been slipping for some time, there’s a chance the flywheel has been damaged and will also need to be replaced or machined. I’m tipping that when you tried to reverse out of your parking spot most recently and revved the engine out with no motion from the rest of the car, there was a terrible smell a bit like the smell of brakes in a railway station when a rain pulls in. If so, that’s a clutch failure for sure.
You've tackled this in the appropriate manner, giving the dealership from which you bought the car every chance to make it right. But that hasn't happened, so now is the time to talk to Subaru's customer service division at head office.
The good news is that the problem has been logged as a pre-existing condition, so it will be covered by your new-car warranty even if the car is technically out of the warranty period. Also, Subaru has not ignored the problem nor refused to accept it exists, so that's a positive, too.
If for some reason, Subaru wants to abandon you and your problem (which won't happen given its approach thus far) then you could talk to the ACCC. Australian Consumer Law has some fairly rigid rules regarding products that aren't fit for purpose. This, however, would be your last resort.
It would bother me a little that the car was making a weird noise from the front suspension, and I think you've probably got a case for not wanting to drive the car until it's fixed. This could be where you tackle the customer service division for the loan of a different car until yours is fixed. I don't think that would be an unreasonable request and may hasten the problem's resolution.
Subaru has a long history with the CVT transmission, and it hasn’t always been clear sailing. The first Subaru to feature this transmission was the Justy in the late 1980s and while we saw the similar Sherpa model, Australia never got the CVT transmission. In fact, the Justy had so many transmission problems that it was dumped from world price-lists in about 1995.
Our first taste of the Subaru CVT was in 2009 with the launch of the fifth-generation Liberty and Outback models which featured a CVT on four-cylinder petrol versions of the car.
The CVT has since been extended to the brand’s Impreza, Forester, XV and even the sporty WRX line-up.
And, yes, there have been issues reported by owners. While catastrophic failures have not been widely documented, the Subaru CVT’s overall behaviour has been criticised on a number of levels. Those include a jerkiness to forward progress (particularly in low speed and light throttle conditions) harsh shifting, shuddering under acceleration and a delay when selecting gears from Park. In some instances, a reflash of the electronic control module has improved things, for other cases, Subaru has introduced a completely new, improved software package.
Part of the reason Subaru has copped so much flak over the CVT is that the symptoms it displays are often the death-knell for other types of transmissions and consumers- rightly – have been worried. To counter this in the USA, Subaru extended the drivetrain warranty of 1.5 million cars with CVTs from five years and 100,000km to 10 years and 160,000km.
But even if total transmission replacements don’t seem common, do you want to live with this gearbox? For many people the answer is no. But to be fair, most of the problems seem to have occurred on pre-2018 models and later CVTs appear to be better units.
In the case of the Outback you’re interested in, with the update of that model in 2018, the CVT was revised with a revised torque-reduction control to improve upshift clarity, a short-pitch chain was used for lower noise and a revision to the shifter was made to improve shift feel (although we suspect that’s feel through the shifter itself, not the way the transmission feels when it selects a gear).
There are nine colours on offer in the Outback range including 'Ice Silver Metallic', 'Crimson Red Pearl', 'Sapphire Blue Pearl,' 'Brilliant Bronze Metallic,' 'Crystal White Pearl', 'Storm Grey Metallic', 'Autumn Green Metallic', 'Magnetite Grey Metallic' and 'Crystal Black Silica.'
The Outback's boot capacity is 522 litres.
There are two engines on offer in the Outback range - a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four cylinder petrol engine making 138kW and a new turbo-petrol four cylinder making 183kW.
Subaru Outback Model | Body Type | Specs | Fuel Consumption |
---|---|---|---|
AWD
|
Body Type: SUV | Specs: 2.5L ULP CVT AUTO |
Fuel Consumption:
7.3L/100km
|
AWD Sport XT
|
Body Type: SUV | Specs: 2.4L PULP CVT AUTO |
Fuel Consumption:
9.0L/100km
|
All Outbacks have premium feeling interiors with plenty of soft-touch surfaces, The entry-grade Outback has cloth seats, the Sport grade has water repellent seat material and the top-of-the-range Touring has leather upholstery.
The Outback has five seats.
The 0-100km/h time for the turbo Outback is about seven seconds while for the non turbo the sprint time is about 10 seconds. Top speed for the non-turbo is around 205km/h, with the turbo hitting approximately 210km/h.
The range of the Outback is between 700-860km.