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I'm as surprised as you to like Subaru Outback crossover
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, October 31, 2009
Somewhere along the line, I think I took a job teaching English in Vermont.
Don't ask me how or why. I'm wholly unqualified to teach anything to anyone – especially to strange, surly kids permanently connected to tiny cellphones.
And I'm certainly not built to live in some snowy northern extreme that seems to produce mostly syrup and rocks.
But that's the only explanation I have for my affinity for the 2010 Subaru Outback, another 21st century station wagon calling itself a crossover/SUV.
As you probably know, the Outback is a new version of those all-wheel-drive Subie station wagons that have been slithering along icy back roads up north for decades, driven by odd teachers and doctors with leather patches on their sweaters and books scattered across their back seats.
It gets weirder. I'm a hard-core car guy who always prefers sedans to crossovers, and coupes over everything. Or almost always.
Just before the Outback rolled into the parking lot here at the Daily Planet, I spent a week with a 2010 Subaru Legacy – a four-door sedan sharing the same basic platform as the Outback, only 200 pounds lighter.
And yet the truth is I vastly preferred the competent Outback to the awkward Legacy. What's next? Birkenstocks and wooly socks?
These are pretty good times for Subaru, Japan's resident eccentric automaker. Last year, in one of the worst new-car markets ever, Subaru's sales were down just 1.8 percent. Most other manufacturers dropped about 40 percent, including giants Toyota and Honda.
Through the first nine months of this year, total Subaru sales increased an astounding 10.2 percent.
I like Subarus a lot, but it may take me many years to warm to the Legacy – a solid, safe, perfectly reasonable sedan that looks to me like a Toyota Camry on a two-day binge.
Let's focus instead on the Outback, which at $34,685 for my loaded model was $7,000 or so more expensive than the Legacy but worth every dollar, I thought.
The new Outback rides on a wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels) that is 2.8 inches longer than its predecessor. It is also 2 inches wider.
Although the Outback suffers from some of the same exaggerated styling as the Legacy, its more graceful roofline and extra length soften those elements considerably.
The car's gently curving roofline contained at least one really nifty touch: The crossbars on the roof rack fold back into the side rails when not in use to eliminate wind whistle – so Subie drivers, I presume, can crank up the Kronos Quartet or maybe Captain Beefheart.
My dark blue Outback was equipped with the optional 3.6-liter flat six (its cylinders are horizontally opposed like a Porsche's) producing 256 horsepower. It was connected to a decent five-speed automatic and, of course, Subaru's signature all-wheel drive.
With a fuel-economy rating of 18 miles per gallon city, 25 highway, the 3.6 is about average for its class. And if that's a concern, you can opt for a base Outback with a 2.5-liter four that is rated at 22 mpg city and 29 highway.
But I prefer the smooth power of the 3.6. Despite lugging around nearly 3,700 pounds of weight, the torque-rich 3.6 can push the Outback to 60 in a highly respectable 7.1 seconds, according to Motor Trend.
And get this: The Outback has 8.7 inches of ground clearance, so it should do just fine climbing those snow-covered hills in Vermont so I can check syrup buckets or beehives or something vaguely agrarian.
However, the wheels and tires seemed kind of minimalist – which was exaggerated by the Subie's stance. Mine was equipped with 225/60 tires on six-spoke alloy 17-inch wheels that didn't exactly stuff the wheel wells.
But, then, they seemed to work well. On the road, the Outback stepped athletically over small bumps and relished big ones. Firm and composed, the Outback would occasionally wallow a little from side to side in a yaw that is not uncommon to all-wheel-drive crossovers.
But that's no big deal.
Moreover, the Outback doesn't suffer from the heavy, numb steering you find in some all-wheel and front-wheel-drive cars.
The steering could use more sensitivity – couldn't we all? – but at least it was quick and reasonably light.
Likewise, the brakes were strong enough to make the Outback feel lighter than it is.
Inside, my favorite feature was a ribbed black rubber floor in the cargo area that looked tough enough to support your favorite billionaire's private jet. If I had overseen the new Outback, I would have used that material on all the floors.
Most of you, though, will be far more impressed with the Subaru's more upscale features. Mine was mostly gray, with decent black plastic on the upper dashboard and door panels.
The door panels and lower dash were gray, matching perforated gray leather seats. The tach and speedometer were hooded and had lean silver rings around them.
A thin strip of dark-brown wood separated the black and gray on the dash, adding another little bit of class to a trucklet that you could use as a mudder if needed.
In back, the head and leg room were expansive – especially for small future English teachers. I was also impressed with the look and feel of Subaru's Audi-esque three-spoke steering wheel.
If Subaru is relying heavily on the Outback to help maintain sales momentum, that's a safer bet, I think, than putting a lot of chips on the homely Legacy.
But does anyone know the way to Vermont?
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