2017 Subaru Outback: More than what You See

For years the Subaru Outback has been mired and admired by the thought that it wasn’t a real SUV. Much like Pinocchio, the Outback has many features of an SUV, but it also has the size and shape of a wagon. While this vehicle screams out “I’m a real SUV” it seems to still be a vehicle that we’ve admired for many years as it has built a nearly cult following of shoppers who love to drive the Outback and won’t choose anything else. This could be because of exactly what you get when you drive this beautifully confused vehicle.

The Outback offers more than any wagon on the market, and with the negative feeling associated with being a wagon it certainly needs to. The Outback uses the X-Mode off road assist system and has a ground clearance of 8.7 inches to give you plenty of space to clear most obstacles. The beauty of this vehicle is the fact that it rides and looks like a car on the road, but it has the off road manners of a beastly SUV that’s much larger. This gives the Outback an advantage on the trails where things can get tight in a hurry.

Why should you buy an Outback? If you want a vehicle that’s capable of clearing the way, making its way to the ski slopes, into the backwoods or out on the trails while maintaining a family friendly feeling, this is the one for you. For 2017 Subaru has added a new model to the Outback called the Touring model which is their way of giving you a luxury Outback model to drive. They’ve also added Reverse Auto Braking and high beam assistance to the Outback to give you a vehicle that’s more aware of its surroundings.

This is a vehicle that hasn’t been popular just for the AWD system included, but that certainly helps, it’s also one that offers you an easy to live with price. The 2.5i model will ask you to pay around $26,500 while the Premium model moves that up to $28,500. The Limited starts at $33,200 and used to be the top of the lineup, but now the Touring model tops the chart at $37,000. If you want to add the larger engine to the Limited or Touring models you will have to add about $3,000 to the price, but this increase of power may be just what you need.

With room for five to ride comfortably and plenty of cargo space behind the rear seats the Outback is a great place to enjoy a drive. Standard features you’ll enjoy on this vehicle include hill descent control, grill shutters, power windows, locks and mirrors, cruise control, air conditioning, a 6.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system, USB ports, Bluetooth connectivity, a rearview camera, several airbags, and under the seat inflations to keep the car from submarining. This list of great standard items makes it easy to love the Outback even at the base offering.

Moving up the trim line the Outback brings you the EyeSight system which is a camera based system that adds adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, lane keeping assistance, pre-collision braking and steering responsive fog lights. Now you will get to enjoy the benefit of reverse automatic braking, automatic high beam headlights, a power liftgate, a voice activated navigation system, leather upholstery, and an upgraded Harman/Kardon audio system.

The two engines you get to choose from are perfectly made for the Outback. Both use a CVT automatic transmission to give you good fuel mileage and make use of the standard X-Mode AWD system that offers low speed traction while also equipped with Active Torque Vectoring for high speed corner stability. The base engine is a 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder model that gives you 175 horsepower and 174 lb.-ft. of torque and returns fuel numbers of 25 city/32 hwy mpg. Moving up to the larger engine you’ll find a 3.6-liter flat six-cylinder model that gives you 256 horsepower and 247 lb.-ft. of torque. This engine allows you to still enjoy 20 city/27 hwy mpg.

Isn’t it time you knew what all the fuss was about over the Subaru Outback? Stop by your local Subaru dealer today and learn all about the new 2017 model; I guarantee you’ll love the ride.