No other car company in the world is probably prouder of its motorsport heritage than Subaru.  In all, if not all, of their advertising material, images of their blue-and-gold Impreza power sliding its way to victory is common sight.  This should be entirely alright if the entire “Scooby” (as Subaru is affectionately called by its rabid fans) is made solely of Imprezas.  But, it’s not.  In fact, Subaru has a full roster of cars ranging from miniature city cars to full-blown sport utility vehicles.  Tapping a pristine sporting image in marketing a family SUV may seem tacky, but in Subaru’s case, things fit quite well.  And this is because of one simple fact: all Subarus—regardless of shape and size, are made to be enjoyed by the driver.  And in the case of the Outback, makes a pretty strong case to stay away from the twice-the-price European crossovers.

The term crossover means the Outback is a mix between a conventional sedan and a full-blown SUV.  It is based off the Legacy wagon, but rides with increased ground clearance, all-season rubber and much more aggressive body cladding.  These visual ‘enhancements’ may seem a bit Frankenstein on paper, but the execution is done quite well.  Despite the increased ground clearance and all, the look is still unmistakably urban.  It looks like a softer, more mature version of the Legacy: refined, understated and elegant.  The transformation of the Legacy to the Outback would be like Angelina Jolie: from wild rocker chick to socially conscious glam goddess.

While the exterior treatment is remarkably different, given the Outback and Legacy’s similar origins, Subaru made less of an effort to differentiate the two from the inside.  That said, the interior treatment’s quite good, especially given the P 2.240 million price tag.  Overall, the Outback’s interior is hard to fault with a pleasing design, nice ergonomics and high-quality execution on most switchgear.  As expected of Subaru, the best seat here is the driver’s, thanks to the supportive perforated leather seats and the grippy three-spoke MOMO leather steering wheel.  The rest of the controls fall comfortable to hand, with a special mention going to the paddle shifters which are a driver’s best friend during overtaking maneuvers.  The gauges are lit in red, connoting something extra special in the Outback.  A closer examination reveals a graphical display between the tacho and speedometer.  This is Subaru’s SI Drive.

Activated by a rotary switch on the center tunnel, the SI Drive system is a three-mode engine management system that lets the driver select between economical or performance-oriented driving dynamics.  The aforementioned graphical display then shows the throttle’s response curve—a representation of how much torque is being applied to the wheels.  ‘Intelligent’ is designed for commuting or other high-traffic, stop-and-go driving situations.  It also gives the best fuel economy of all three settings.  Intelligent relaxes the car’s throttle responses and reduces maximum power.  Meanwhile ‘Sport’ gives a more linear acceleration and quicker throttle response, while ‘Sport Sharp’ delivers the power even sooner.  All of this looked to be a true technophile’s dream, but this fancy system warranted a test in the real world to see how good this thing was.

Based off the Legacy wagon, the Outback features a butched-up suspension system plus a larger, 3.0-liter flat-6 motor.

Same interior as the Legacy also with some minor changes. Paddle shifters on the steering column being one of the more noticeable ones.