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The Outback for the first six months was a great car, then we started to have transmission problems. The transmission started to go "psycho", at times; it would miss shifts, skip gears and even (at highway speeds) downshift from overdrive (at 65 mph) into second gear causing the vehicle to deaccelerate to 45 (almost causing my wife and myself to be rear-ended).
The vehicle has been in the shop four times so far for the same problem! Subaru of America has even sent out their own tech/rep to repair the vehicle (to no avail). Subaru of America is unresponsive and does not return calls and we are forced to pursue the "Lemon Law".
Subaru does offer "Roadside Assistance" and when contacted (vehicle was broken down on road, out of state on a holiday weekend; after just being in shop three day's prior for same repair)they would tow the vehicle, but leave us stranded to sleep on the street (all hotels/motels were full, Indy 500 race). They told us to contact the dealer when advised of our plight (holiday weekend, dealer was closed!)
As I'm writing these notes, the vehicle is still in the shop (fourth day, this time), no call from dealer or Subaru of America. I intend to update this review to advise other buyers of the outcome of our nightmare. My wife is now afraid to drive this vehicle, the last time the tranmission failed to work properly my wife was traveling on Route 45,(then the transmission acted up again) in the path of 18 wheelers unable to accelerate out of their way and almost got hit! We are hoping that Subaru of America will "Do the Right Thing" and exchange this vehicle under the "Lemon Law".

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All wheel drive, handling, ABS, roomy interior, fuel economy, low maintenance, stereo (w/upgraded speakers), automatic trans 2nd gear start and nice gate from 3 to D which is handy in the mountains, as you use 3 & 4 gear unless roads are very bad (then use 2). Side cladding helps protect against rock chips. Rear limited slip diff works well.

Tires are soft and wear quickly (Firestones), AC is taxed on hot days, underpowered on hills at high altitude. Brake rotors prone to warping with heavy use. I wish Subaru offered the H6 without the leather and all the bells and whistles. I would pay another $2.5k for the 6 cyl but don't need leather, wood, or a Macintosh stereo.

Great car for mountains or anywhere that weather and road conditions are hard to predict. Handles very well and confidently. Quiet inside and upgraded sound system components provide very good quality music. Very reliable and economical, averages 25-27 mpg in mixed driving with automatic and 4 cylinder. This is going up & down 4000 vertical feet daily. If I lived on the "flatlands" I would probably go for a Honda, but since we live in the mountains, AWD is a necessity. Also if you want to go skiing, nothing beats the security of AWD and ABS on snow and ice. Automatic trans has a 2nd gear start unless you punch it, which is good on slick roads. Dealer service has been good, but no problems with the car other than normal maintenance

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Land Rover Discovery II: Other end of the spectrum. The Subaru gets much better gas mileage, but I would not take an OB where I take the Discovery, which is anywhere off paved roads. The Subaru actually seems to handle normal dirt roads just as well or better with less tippy feel.

Nice motor at higher revs but overall a bit gutless. Funny as a boxer should be able to produce more bottom end torque.

Best 4x4 system on earth...I've tried them all. Too bad it's tied up in an expensive economy car and not a real SUV.

Convenient placement of oil filter and drain plug.

Strong practicle roof rack with the optional cross bars.

Great headroom with the raised roof design.

Creature comforts and thought are lacking. Cramped interior,dumb cup holders (is that important?), no wagon area power door locks, no simultaneous 4 door unlocking, non pivoting outside mirrors, no rear seat reading lights, no low range, no skid plates, titanic front and rear bumper overhangs, no towing capacity, no reserve power for window lift after ignition is off, no automatic shutoff of the rear window defroster, no intermittent rear wiper setting, tiny single fluid resevoir for both window washers, moderate to low dash dimmer setting makes the radio readout disappear, extraordinary disc wear, warping and grinding (replacement Canuck Tire ones work better), weak airconditioning...and this is Canada!,constant on/off cycle clicking of air conditioner condenser relay behind the speedo can drive you nuts (am I stressed?), weak alternator (try putting all your accesories and lights on at idle), unsteady idle when cold: constant cold idle fluctuations (1000-1900rpm) with accessory loads, second mortgage pricing for parts, slow delivery of repair parts (2 weeks in the Vancouver shop waiting for front bumper "rebar" after 15km/$3500 Can$ impact), glass not lexan fog lights that are constantly being broken @$Can130, thin sheetmetal that bends by breathing on it, cheesy non functional hood scoop (for turbo intercooler on offshore models)Canadian models NEED the turbo. Forget the H6 unless you have more $$s than brains and want to advertise it. Sloping rear/side glass, incline of rear seats makes the cargo area tiny. No extra powerpoint in the front. The plastic hinged cover on the cargo PP snapped off in the first few months.

Paul Hogan should be ashamed to promote this vehicle as anything other than a ski machine on tippy toes.

Despite the ads, the first thing one reads in the manual is that this is not an off-road vehicle. Not that anyone buys them for this but it would be nice to have some sort of capacity to get beyond the WalMart parking lot speed bumps. Why did they make this car with all this ground clearance and promotions when it is useless off-road? Snow is light and when was the last time you had to plow through more than 14-18 inches of snow? A Corolla with siped tires will do that just fine thanx.

Save the Outback cash differential and buy a Legacy if you really need 4x4 on pavement or snow. For snow traction, a good set of Alpins or Blizzaks on a 2 wheel drive will get you through 95% of where you want to go vs a 4x4 with all seasons as the Outback is equipped.

Car and Driver did a test of AWD cars a few years ago. AWD does ZERO for cornering, ZERO for stopping, ZERO for acceleration (without spinning the tires) on dry pavement. The only performance increase is wet weather acceleration from a stop (that's important if your 16 I gueass) and acceleration in snow. The human mind is a wonderfull thing in embellishing things they have been told are good when they have dropped thousands of $$ into their decision. Forget the hype of AWD and get the facts.

Subarus are "cult car" they have a loyal following and a reputation for durability and value. This reputation and sentiment often has Subaru owners overlooking the rust, falling non-essential parts, things that don't work, or squeek, rattle or groan and lack of convenience features found in other cars is ignored as the owner bask in the undeserved reputation Subaru has cultivated over the years. This is largely based on marketting and a couple of good products in their past.

This is my second and last Subaru. The first had a faulty transmission that would kick out of gear intermittently in any situation and then slide right back in after a ouple of 5 seconds. The techies could not find the problem and provided no solution. I sold it with 2000 kms left on the warranty (my sincere apologise to the nice guy who bought it).

This one has had a hot fluid smell, either oil or transmission, when the 4x4 system is being taxed on snowy twisting backroads. Two transmission seals have been replaced but were not the source of the strong smell. The Subaru techies can't find the problem and can't reproduce it as the past 2 years have been poor snow years around the dealers location. Now that the waranty has expired, I'm sure we'll discover the problem.

With maybe 1500 kms of gravel road on it's 60,000km clock, my Outback tailgate rattles like a tin box full of marbles. It turns out to be the ball and socket of the gas struts being worn. Especially at over $70 each for the full assembly, this shouldn't happen. And no I can't just by the mount.

The sheet metal on the top of the tailgate has 3 or 4 welts caused by my non-hulking forearms resting on the sheetmetal while unloading a 50-60 pound filing cabinet and a 30 pound roof carrier box. I've carried 300 pounds of drywall on my other cars roof racks and unloaded them in the same many without resulting in any damage.

I currently own and routinely abuse a 1996 Ford Explorer. I have had no problems with it other than a severly beat up undercarrage from offroad use. Any squeeks and rattles it does have, it has come by honestly. Parts are cheap and available anywhere. The Subaru needs babying by Subaru techies and a lot of stuff is only available from the Subaru parts bins.

This car lacks many of the creature comforts found on many common cars. Mechanically sound (untill the trans blows up), nice motor but everything else needs more thought. A cup holder that dumps coffee into your climate control and stereo while stopping? Please! Subaru needs to look at the competition and learn a thing or two.

As a career exploration geologist for an international mining company, I have driven every common 4x4 vehicle on the market in serious offroad applications. The Subaru 4x4 system is unchallenged in how seamless and effective it operates. But without a low range, tender underbody and fragile suspension components, monster bumber overhangs and limited suspension travel, it is dog useless on anything other than pavement and logging roads. With such success on the punishing rally ciruits, you'd think Subaru would carry more of their technology to the cars they sell. Or maybe they get their parts and techies cheaper and swap most of the bent bits out after each rally segment.

I am only 6 feet tall. The drivers seat is good for me but put 1 or 2 other 6 footers in the back and we all get grumpy. People are bigger today. Just visit a MacDonalds near a high school at noon. Three across seating in the back is ok only if one is a kid under 12. Nice town car but if you have a real life with kids, go bigger. The Scoobydoo get only 20% better mileage than my Explorer, but the Ford is more than 20% more vehicle.

The cargo area is puney with the sloping glass on three sides and the inclined seatbacks of the rear bench. Forget folding down the back seats as 9 time out of 10 you need them at the same time to transport the family at the same time.

Great roof rack though. Buy a box right away. You'll need it. Just don't lean on the sheet metal taking anything down ;-)

I'm being generous giving it the second of the two stars in the rating.

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1996 Ford Explorer, 1993 Ford Taurus wagon, 1995 Mercury Sable Wagon, 1993 Subaru Legacy, 1990 Toyota Corolla, 1990 Volvo 760 Turbo, various 1980 - 1996 Ford, Chev 1/2, 3/4 ton PUs, 1993 Toyota 4runner, Nissan Pathfinder, 1991-94 Nissan 4x4 PUs, 1989 Isuzu Trooper, etc as lease/rented vehicles used in mineral exploration. The Scoobydoo was priced higher than it is worth. It's a lousy sport utility "wagon" but is an over hyped, expensive average car.

Fit and finish
AWD system
Lots of equipement..heated seats/mirrors etc...
Great radio.

Lack of power.
No variable intermittent wipers
No auto shut-off for the heated mirrors.
Hard to see light on the heated mirror switch.
Badly positionned heated seat buttons.
Water collects around the release for the fuel door and freezes solid.
No remote hatch release.
Badly placed cup holders.
Expensive parts...Spark plugs=$18.
Brake pads(set of 4= $120)
Switch for defroster = $45

After doing approx 100,000kms the car still feels solid and looks good inside and out. Fairly quite ride...changed the Michelin xw4's for Bridestones...also quite. The motor has sounded like a sewing machine from day one..especially when cold. Serious lack of power at low speeds probably due to the weight of the car...it's heavier than a Cherokee.
The AWD system is the best i've ever tried..(it's my 4th FWD).
The brakes lasted until about 90K kms.
A big tuneup was done at 90,000kms for $650 Canadian...the sparkplugs were $18 a piece !!!!!!! The brake pads,(set of 4), were $120.

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96 Cherokee Classic..The Cherokee has gobs of power but less space and can come anywhere near the Outbacks MPG...Jeep= 22MPG Outback=27MPG.

AWD is great in snow and rain. The low center of gravity makes this car handle like a sports model.Hard tell its a wagon! Engine is very smooth and quiet except on the highway.

Where should I begin? Let's start with the minor things first. The placement and angle of the cup holder, is that a thoughtless design or what? It blocks the heat/AC controls completely.The seat heater switches are also thoughtlessly placed where they can be turned on by accident.The climate control system makes it necessary to run the A/C year-round when ever people are in the back seats or the windows fog up so much no one can see out. This is especially handy in the winter. I have a 5SP trans model and I have never seen a shift lever that was so difficult to find the next gear. It seems to be a hit or miss affair when shifting up or down. I had a Honda before this car - Subaru would do well to copy their design its far better! The overall fit and finish of the car is not what I expected of such a pricy car. Adjustable intermittent wipers are also sorely needed. The sound system has 6 speakers and it still sounds lousy. It's funny,as bad as American cars are, the most basic Stereo with 2 speakers sounds better then the those from Japan! The brake pads wear the rotors down below allowable tolerances before the pads wear out which is why so many rotors warp as mine did.Lastly the clutch was shot at 70,000 miles, first time I ever had to replace a clutch in 35 years of driving standard shift vehicles. This car in my opinion needs 5th gear ratio changed. The car in 5th on the highway seems to need another gear to drop the engine speed down so it's not so noisy.

Overall this car is not as refined as it should be for its cost.It does the one thing it was designed to do ( go in the snow ) very well. The AWD is much better than 4WD in any weather conditions. This fact has been proved to me many times. If your looking for a vehicle to go in the snow, this is your baby. If you also want reliability buy a Honda!

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Previous vehicle S-10 Blazer "UGH" the memorys of it are still to painful to recall. For all its faults its "light years" ahead of the S-10

Price, AWD, Gas milage, Cargo/passanger space, new and improved cup holders for those of you that are to closed in to see them, better ride, better insulation for road noise, better engine/transmission mounts, more tourque, nicer interior,....should I go on....?

I must admit that it's still a bit underpowered, however, that's what the new H6 3.0L is for. It's quite sufficent for my needs and I'm not running a SCCA circut race, I'm driving my family around in it and my wife doesn't seem to have any complaints. Are wee all to hung up on the knuckle draggers of the industry? Subaru has the WRX for that. Get over it.

I leased my 2000 Outback just a touch over a year ago and have been driving Subaru's for about 3 years and have put aside any and all desires for any other vehicle in it's class. I leased a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee and didn't have any real problems with it however for the price, convenience, practicality, efficiency, and economic aspects, the Outback cannot be beat. It has one of two ONLY available true AWD systems in the industry and handles better than any other vehicle I've ever driven of it's kind. I considered Dodge/Chrysler products (being a previouse Chrysler owner), Chevy, Volvo, Volkswagen, Audi, and Mazda and I must say that overall the Subaru was the obvious choice for many reasons. I won't trade Makes for several years to come and as far as Models...ya never know what Subaru will be coming out with. I have had Hondas, VeeDubs, Toyotas, BMWs, Chrysler "Stuff", Ford, and even a few GM products...nothing compared to my Subaru!

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