![]() Small and medium inputs often deliver nothing, or a delayed response that may or may not resemble what you asked for.Īnd full-on wide-open-throttle results in absolutely nothing for a full second and a half, followed by the noise of four angry cylinders delivering pretty-good acceleration. Small and medium throttle inputs were rewarded with small and medium grunt, right now. The new engine delivers a grumbly four-cylinder sound. In reality the XT turbo-four feels and sounds totally different than the retired 3.6R. But four isn’t the same as six, is it? IS IT BETTER?įour cylinders may be fewer than six, but realizing that this new four cylinder makes essentially the same horsepower as my trusty old six, it was reasonable for me to assume this new engine would feel familiar to me. Oh, if only Subaru’s new boss was the same as the old boss. Way back around the time Subaru was introducing its first all-wheel-drive vehicle to the market, Pete Townshend wrote one of rock’s all-time great songs, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” ending it with the line, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. The Touring trim with its java brown leather is a thing of beauty, but what really made this the boss was it’s silky smooth 3.6 liter, 256 horsepower, naturally aspirated flat-six engine.įor 2020, the 3.6 liter flat-six was put out to pasture, replaced by the new boss… the aforementioned 2.4-liter turbo flat-four. Among 2019 Outbacks, this one was the boss. In all cases, the only transmission offered is a CVT (continuously variable transmission). Where the base Outback engine is a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter making 182 horsepower and 176 lb-ft of torque, the XT’s up the ante to 260 hp and 277 lb-ft from their turbocharged 2.4-liter. One of seven Outback trim levels available, the Onyx Edition is the least expensive of the three XT offerings.Īll Outbacks are powered by an H4, or horizontally opposed flat four-cylinder engine. The 2020 model we’re reviewing today is called the Outback XT Onyx Edition. Please, Subaru and all other manufacturers, do not roll out technology before it is ready. But I need to mention the system response feels generally sluggish, a problem I have not experienced with the system in my 2019 Outback. Overall, the system menus are intuitive and graphics are fine. The same multiple menu drudgery occurs when trying to turn off the Outback’s auto stop/start feature.ĭear automotive manufacturers, please jot this down…more complicated and better are not synonymous. Touching that icon finally turns on the seat heater, after removing the driver’s eyes from the road for quite some time. Touch the seat heater icon on the 2020 touchscreen and a “Climate” window appears, including an HVAC temperature selector, a lovely image of a seat, and another seat heater icon. Pushing the seat heater button in the 2019 turns on the seat heater. That change could have been an acceptable techie update, if it hadn’t included some brand-new inefficiencies.įor example…the space occupied by a seat heater pushbutton in the 2019 has now become a seat heater icon on the lowest portion of the 2020’s touchscreen. Impressive, I thought, until I realized the fattened touchscreen had annexed real estate formerly occupied by simple buttons and knobs. My first clue was the touchscreen of near-Teslan proportions. While the sheet metal initially fooled me into believing this 2020 edition was the same as the 2019 Outback I’d been driving for the past 2 years, I knew better long before I pulled it into my driveway. If sales are falling away, give it a completely new look.īut if it’s a booming success-can you say Outback-then keep it familiar and just touch up the grey. ![]() Why invest millions in new tooling to crank out a new car that looks just like the old one?Īpart from the Etch-A-Sketch, every product needs to be updated from time to time or consumers will feel it’s gone stale. Some differences are noted.Īrriving at home, I park Outback aside Outback and hop out to compare.Ĭloser inspection reveals perhaps not a single bit of sheet metal carried over from old to new. The shape of the taillights, the vertical slit running lights where I expect round driving lights. The color is distinctly different from my own Wilderness Green 2019 Outback, but the shape strikes me as identical.ĭoing a quick walk-around, my eyes narrow a bit at the details. ![]() As I approach the Abyss Blue Pearl 2020 Subaru Outback that I am about to spend the weekend with, my first thought is how familiar it looks. ![]()
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