I bought this car last August (2006) from Subaru. It had a few thousand miles on it and was traded in for one with leather seats. It looked and ran like a new car.
I wanted 4WD (four wheel drive) for my snowy and mountainous northern climate. I don’t like SUVs because of the poor handling and low mileage. I also don’t feel hybrid SUVs, with the added cost and complexity justify the marginal mileage benefit.

The Subaru caught me by surprise when I looked at it, I’ve always owned European cars or Toyotas. The Subaru is made in Indiana and made very well, I might add. This is a stable, well mannered, comfortable and safe car, five star safe. Subaru has done their homework and it shows in the thoughtful location of controls, the things that make a car satisfy the driver on a day in day out basis.

I am older now and speed is not a priority. Quite frankly, I’ve done that and done it in spades! Now I want a car that passes slow vehicles safely and gets on the highway safely. I have a normally aspired Subaru and the 175 hp engine performs well and linked to the sport transmission makes this car a pleasure come rain or shine. I use the down shifter to slow the car on the steep declines that abound here. This flat four boxer engine is not just a flashy add campaign. I’ve raced and rebuilt Porsche boxer engines and the Porsche’s knew their engineering. The flat four Subaru with its balanced, opposed cylinders and low center of gravity make a worthy and capable power plant.
The car handles well with a connected feel for the road. The ride is smooth but one does feel the bumps on poor roads. It is part of the Outback and I personally like the stiffer ride as it improves overall handling. The highway divisions that the Forrester felt were greatly diminished in the Outback and its longer wheel base paid dividends here.

When someone asks me what kind of winter I think we are going to have I usually reply, “Ask me next spring.” Asking someone the day they bring home their new car how they like it is just about the same as the winter weather. Ask me when it has 100,000 miles on it because that’s when I really know what kind of a car it is. This is why I have driven this car almost a year before writing a report on it. I want to know the car well, winter white outs, summer heat, rain, traffic jambs, high speed roadways and how the dealer treats me and my car.

The interior gauges are easy to read and well laid out. Cruising at highway speeds I can easily adjust the cruise control, turn the rear wiper on and off, see the road before and behind me and change the radio station. I don’t need or want, digital gauges, bells and whistles or gimmicky doodads. This is a car to get you from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ safely and comfortably regardless of the outside conditions. On long trips the seats aren’t tiring and the wagon’s versatility allows us to carry our needs in a multitude of configurations. It goes through snow effortlessly and the ABS breaking works as it should without any quirky actions. The doors shut with authority and the weather sealing keeps out water and road noise as it should.

The fuel mileage runs about 26 to 28 mixed driving and over 30 on the highway, very good for a four wheel drive vehicle. One note, I run synthetic oil in this car for two reasons. One is the cold starting in our, often, below zero climate and the other is better mileage. Synthetic oil gives us about 2 to 4 more mpg. It does make the engine noisier on cold weather warm ups because the oil is not thick like standard oil. I spoke to Subaru about this and my belief is that the engine is designed to run optimally when it is hot and during warm up stock oil buffers the CSK (cold start knock) better.

I do have some caveats. I would like to see climate control at the price of this car and the tires will need replacing at 20K miles.

This is not an inexpensive car and there are cars that go faster, get better mileage, store more and even look better, although I find the lines pleasing and not overly ostentatious. What this car does is all of those things very well. I can’t say there is one area that is truly disappointing, the Subaru simply doesn’t have one.



Amount Paid (US$): 21,500
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2006
Model and Options: Outback 2.5i