New Subaru Outback - on-sale (finally) this March, after delays of what seems like geologic time. But Subaru has a major problem, and we really need to talk about this, in the interest of integrity.
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Subaru Australia is stuck in a rut of extreme boredom. Product planning mediocrity. And they need to snap right out of it. Because cars are allowed to be exciting - in fact, it’s better if they are. Better from some of us. Certainly better for Subaru, overall.
Don’t get me wrong - huge Subaru fan. I’ve owned four new Subarus: two WRXs, an Outback and a Forester XT. And that XT was my favourite - WRX in sheep’s clothing. Could’ve used more grip, but hey - it was fun.
Subaru gets full marks from me for looking after its customers. If you’ve got a problem, you get the benefit of the doubt from Subaru. (Unlike Volkswagen, Mercedes, Nissan, Jeep, etc., the default setting of which is to throw you under the bus in the same situation.)
So I’m coming at this like something of a disappointed fan. Last week, Subaru Shitsville issued a press release concerning the new Outback. Finally here in three months, they claim.
The bombshell for us here in Shitsville is: 2.5i boxer four atmo petrol engine only. Right across the range. No 3.6R, no diesel, and even more disappointingly, no new 2.4-litre turbo boxer four. You know, the one developed specifically for this vehicle, which suits it so perfectly, and tops the range in Retardistan. Developed as the logical successor to the 3.6R.
"On the outside, the rugged exterior styling reinforces the Outback’s SUV capabilities, and every variant will be powered by a refined 2.5-litre horizontally opposed Boxer engine." - Subaru Shitsville
Not good enough, dudes - just … not good enough. Try harder. Make stronger representations to the factory. It’s disgraceful - a company like Subaru should not aspire to mediocrity, in my view, and that’s exactly where this train wreck is heading.
It’s almost as if Toyota’s stake in Subaru is metastasising through the business, at the highest level, philosophically.
“Outback continues to set the standard for safety and driveability with an advanced suite of safety and driver assist technologies. Outback will have an incredible specification list cementing it as the flagship of the Subaru range.” - Blair Read there - Subaru’s dude at the top of the local import operation.
Dude, if the first words which fall out of your pie-hole on new Outback, which one can only presume are the features you are the most tumescent about … if this rhetoric orbits ‘driver assist technologies’ - narcolepsy is imminent.
Get a halo model at the top of the range - just get one, so that people who actually like cars and driving have something to aspire to, and/or gush over. Spend more cash on. Whatever.
