Car and Driver - USA (2019-10)

54. CARS, CARS, CARS. CAR AND DRIVER. OCT/2019

Gradual Evolution

FIRST DRIVE This Subaru Outback has more powerful engines, new tech, and,

of course, all-wheel drive. But it’s still an Outback. _by Annie White

e do a lot of research at Sub-

aru,” says Outback car-line

manager Peter Tenn. It

almost sounds like an apolog y as he shows

his 20th slide of customer-research charts

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writers. But given the brand’s continued

sales success—Subaru celebrated its 91st

consecutive month of yearly month-over-

month growth this July—we doubt that

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soon. Subaru isn’t interested solely in who

its customers are (in the case of the Out-

back, it’s a 45-year-old married man with a

college degree making slightly less than

$100,000 a year); it also obsessively

researches what those customers want.

And what they want is for every thing to

stay mostly the same.

In the design process for this sixth-

generation Outback, Subaru workshopped

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buyers. And wouldn’t you know it, those

consumers liked the one that looks almost

exactly like the outgoing model. Even

details that Subaru points out as having

originated during the redesign process,

such as the scalloped black rocker panels

meant to evoke the sole of a hiking boot,

have roots in the previous gen’s design.

Inside, more has changed. An available

vertically oriented 11.6-inch infotainment

display is the centerpiece of the interior—

well, except in the base model, which

makes do with a two-screen setup. Subaru

uses two separate processors to keep

Competent off-road,

spacious interior, leading-

edge tech features.

Ho-hum powertrains,

slow design evolution,

occasionally sluggish CVT.

DRIVELINES

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