Colin Wood said:David S. Wallens said:It tramlines a bit on the grooved, concrete section of I-4 just west of I-95. Is that tires, alignment or phase of the moon?
I'd just blame I-4.
I-4 is the worst. I (again) saw some dumb stuff while on it this weekend.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:I didn't know that you were a lesbian!
Well, the Outback might currently be parked beneath a Pride flag....
Pro tip on those filters, change them before you drain the oil pan, it does have a return so the old oil will seep back down while changing the filter. Some oil does accumulate there but never have I made a mess changing a filter on one of those. 1000000x easier than the filter location on my Raptor.
This looks like a great appliance; however, having the HVAC + heating/ventilated seating options buried in the infotainment is stoooopid. Just give me physical buttons for that and yes a third pedal.
David S. Wallens said:JG Pasterjak said:This really feels like the car that should occupy the "it's a car and it does car things effectively and everything makes sense and it was designed by people who actually use cars" segment of the market currently occupied by Nissan, who is kind of bad at all those things.
Like, this is a car i would be super happy to pick up from a rental counter. I know it's going to meet my needs and not be hateful while doing it or require me to learn a lot of arcane spells to change the fan speed or radio volume.
The Outback is really good at being a car.
This is what convinced SWMBO to buy her new Impreza earlier this month. It's a really simple car with great ergonomics and visibility despite being packed with 2020's tech.
The Mazda3 by comparison felt like it went straight from design studio to production. Though beautiful and luxurious, it was cramped, awkward, and hard to see out of.
DirtyBird222 said:having the HVAC + heating/ventilated seating options buried in the infotainment is stoooopid. Just give me physical buttons for that and yes a third pedal.
Actually, the HVAC has physical buttons next to the screen for temp up and down, and for defrost and rear window defroster. Right below the PHYSICAL volume and radio knobs! So in winter when you enter a cold car with gloves still on, you don't have to take them off to get the heat blasting where you need it. Our 2024 Impreza even has physical heated seat switches too. But the finer HVAC controls are screen-only unfortunately.
Why tho? Why not just make all the controls physical for HVAC? It's still a single point of failure for some many functions.
Given that the Outback has offroad pretensions, are you going to bounce it around on the rough stuff?
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
I agree, would greatly prefer buttons. The HVAC screen is always there too, so it's not like they're utilizing that space for other screen functions. But they probably saved like $0.35 per car so... :/
I want to like these, but my last two experiences with Subarus were not great. My last one (2009 WRX) was a disappointing turd of a car, and the last one I sampled (a 2018 WRX Premium a friend owned) was disappointing and had major issues with the infotainment system that couldn't be solved after multiple dealer visits.
Subaru's strong point over the years was certainly NOT their infotainment setups, and in the old days, it was easily fixable with an aftermarket HU. Hell, I had a new Alpine in-hand before I even took delivery of that 2009! It was a part of the Subaru ownership experience. But now, in this era of touchscreen-all-the-things, that's not possible. I shudder to think what it would be like to live with that monstrosity in the new Outback (and many other Subarus) knowing their track record. The rest of the car may be perfect, but that would keep me from considering one.
In reply to maschinenbau :
I wouldn’t mind a knob for fan speed. Otherwise, so far, I’m totally cool with the HVAC/audio interface.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I'd definitely miss the three-knob combo of temperature, fan speed and fan direction found in my Fit in an "old man yells at clouds" sort of way, though I'd adapt with enough use.
maschinenbau said:David S. Wallens said:JG Pasterjak said:This really feels like the car that should occupy the "it's a car and it does car things effectively and everything makes sense and it was designed by people who actually use cars" segment of the market currently occupied by Nissan, who is kind of bad at all those things.
Like, this is a car i would be super happy to pick up from a rental counter. I know it's going to meet my needs and not be hateful while doing it or require me to learn a lot of arcane spells to change the fan speed or radio volume.
The Outback is really good at being a car.
This is what convinced SWMBO to buy her new Impreza earlier this month. It's a really simple car with great ergonomics and visibility despite being packed with 2020's tech.
The Mazda3 by comparison felt like it went straight from design studio to production. Though beautiful and luxurious, it was cramped, awkward, and hard to see out of.
Agreed all around. I'm afraid that Toyota may have jumped the shark in similar fashion to Mazda with the latest Prius.
So is there anything fun about the Outback? My next door neighbors have one, and if they don't need the cargo capacity or range, they will always choose their Bolt over the Subaru, because...fun.
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
Depends on how we describe fun, I guess.
More fun than a WRX? No.
More fun than most modern SUVs/CUVs? Yes as it simply sits lower and doesn’t feel as bloated.
A pic of the right-rear corner because there’s a bit going on: power port, storage, hooks and the level to lower the seat backs. 
In reply to David S. Wallens :
In reply to Coniglio Rampante :
I know. I have friends at Subaru. They lamented that it wasn’t a sales success.
I wonder how much of that was low consumer demand vs. dealership purchasing or production. They only made around 1500, and announced no manual for 2006 halfway through 2005. I remember because I went out and bought mine when I heard they were dropping the manual. I had to do a pretty good search to find my car. It seems backwards that they would think the demand for the manual was lower on the sportier Legacy wagon Vs. the Outback at at the time, which kept the turbo/manual combo for a few years.
David S. Wallens said:
Using the empty spaces in cars for storage nooks is something I love. I usually keep insect repellent and sunscreen in mine.
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