Subaru Legacy Outback Wagon

A good compromise between price and package

By Steven D. Gatt, Automotive Editor

I'm sure you've seen the commercials by now. You know, the ones with Paul Hogan out-maneuvering a Chevy Blazer and going further on a tank of gas than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. As the commercials say, this is the world's first sport utility wagon. So far, Subaru sales numbers for 1996 are up, way up, due in part to this new product. Why is the Legacy Outback Wagon selling so well? The simple answer is overall value in its market. Read on for the rest of the details.

Traditional sport utility buyers are looking at only domestic nameplate products such as the Explorer, Blazer, and Cherokee. These buyers are looking for rugged and think you can only get that in a domestic truck-based vehicle. Subaru has long been known for their superb all-wheel drive systems and the Outback is based on the popular Legacy wagon with upgrades in suspension and ride height. While the price of a traditional sport utility with all the goodies is $30,000 or more, my test Outback was $23,870 as tested (well optioned I might add).

Further, in comparing the two categories you find that the Outback excels in fuel mileage over all the traditional competition. Where most SUV's get mileage in the teen's on the highway, the Outback gets 26 mpg highway and 20 around town. I achieved 22 mpg during my week long test drive.

Riding in the Outback, you sit up high with good visibility just like any other SUV. Unlike the traditional SUV's, though, the Outback handles well and doesn't feel like it's going to tip over when you go around a corner.

Storage space is comparable to a Blazer or Cherokee. And the feature list is similar to that of a much more expensive sport-ute. The Outback offers lots of features for the price. One surprising feature was the heated cloth seats. Safety features include dual airbags, anti-lock brakes, side impact protection and rear child safety door locks. Comfort features include air conditioning, power windows, power locks, power mirrors and automatic-off headlight switch. The Cold Weather Package included on our test Outback provided us with the heated seats and an engine block heater.

In a traditional SUV you would find a V6 or V8. The Subaru has a 4-cylinder engine and while the 2.5L 155 horsepower is enough, it is not sophisticated. In fact, most the of the time the 4-cylinder goes about its business in a very loud and raspy way. Noise reduction from the engine is the Outback's biggest failing.

While it doesn't have the leather interior with pine trees, the Subaru Legacy Outback Wagon is a very capable SUV. One which intelligent buyers will take a serious look at because of price, features, and Subaru's reputation for its all wheel drive systems.