Video: 2015 Subaru Outback Review

But has Subaru done enough to appease the faithful while attracting new buyers? So first for 2015, and I think best, Subaru has toned down this body cladding on the Outback. Before it just look bigger and kind of a mismatch. This is more streamlined and more integrated. I think it's a good look. They've also moved the windshield pillar forward about two inches and moved the mirror from where it was mounted here down to the door. That helps with visibility. Then stepping around to the front, they restyled the headlights. And last but not least, it has the new, larger trapezoidal grill that you've seen on a lot of other Subaru products. The previous Outback had kind of a utilitarian feel, but Subaru's dressed it up for this generation. They've also added larger multimedia screens, two different sizes, depending on which trim you get. This center console has also been redesigned to accommodate larger computer tablets. In fact, that larger theme kind of carries on through the whole interior of the Outback. There's better leg room in back, more shoulder and hip room. And the cargo room is slightly enlarged. Also Subaru has increased the padding on the center console and on the driver's side arm rest here. It really helps out over long drives. For 2015, there's also new leather, which we have here. Thing is, the standard cloth seats are really good. They have nice texture to them and they're very comfortable. So I wouldn't necessarily pick the leather just on comfort or appearance's sake. Overall, when you look at the interior of the Subaru, it still tends to value function over form, but the improvements do make it a nicer, prettier, more comfortable place to be. It's one thing that carried over from the previous Outback are these roof rails. As you can see, they swing into place when you need them, and then they swing back and stow here when you don't. That's nice because it cuts down on wind noise as well as helps with the mileage. What's new is that they redesigned the foot well I'm standing on to be slightly larger. That's really nice if you have larger feet like I do. Continuing around to the back. Another thing that Subaru has put on is sort of a PIN access on the rear hatch. That's nice, because what you can do is lock your keys in the car. Don't have to carry them with you. Don't have to carry anything with you, and leave the car locked. The problem is, it's only available on the highest trim level. And I really wish they made that standard across more trims. As I mentioned, the Outback's cargo area got slightly larger for 2015. With the seats up like this, you've got about 35 and a half cubic feet of space. That's about a cubic foot improvement over what it was before. When you fold the rear seats by using these levers, which I think should be mandatory on every car that's out there, you get about 73.3 cubic feet of space. And that's up about two cubic feet over what it was before. For 2015, you have a choice of engines. There's a 2.5 liter four cylinder engine that makes 175 horsepower. That's available across all trims. There's also a 3.6 liter six cylinder engine that makes 256 horsepower. That's only on the limited trims. What's also new is before you had a choice of transmissions. There was a CVT, a conventional automatic, and a manual transmission. Those are all gone now. You only get the CVT. When it comes to driving the Outback, that CVT is a good transmission. It provides quick response, and overall I was a fan of it. The other thing you'll notice is that they've gone to lengths to cut down the road and the wind noise in the Outback. There is still a fair amount of engine groan with the smaller four cylinder engine, but the larger six cylinder engine goes a long way to cutting down on that. As I mentioned, the Outback gets better mileage for 2015. The four cylinder models get 28 miles per gallon combined. The six cylinder models get 22 miles per gallon combined. That's an improvement of about two miles per gallon over the previous versions of the Outback. So has Subaru done enough with this 2015 redesign? Yeah, they've improved the interior quality and the overall refinement. And I think it looks better. But I'm not sure they've taken that last step that separates the best from the very good. I think that this car can compete with the best from Volkswagen and Audi and Volvo, but I'm not sure it could actually draw them in and get somebody to leave one of those cars for this. Subaru owners though, they may not care. They may just be happy with the improvements to the comfort and the utility on what was already a very good car. But if Subaru as a company wants to grow, it's a focus on that last little bit of refinement that's going to make the difference. (upbeat music) (engine revving)