Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

• 

  Very Subaru - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Bon Voyage - August 5 - 10:37 pm

  Ive owned my 16 Outback limited with eyesight for about three months/ 3000 miles. It is my second Outback (non consecutive). Overall, this is a great utilitarian family car, and if you have owned an Outback before, youll recognize its strengths and weaknesses. The car offers great utility, use of space, and overall function. Its not sporty by any means, but it is great at getting me and all my stuff (including a one year old and all his stuff) where I want to go comfortably and safely. Its a fantastic road trip car, with incredible back seat comfort. The adaptive cruise control included in the Eyesight package was worth every penny. I never used to use cruise control, but I use the adaptive cruise control on almost every trip. The gas mileage is also very good for the weight of the car. I have generally experienced 30 mpg average when driving 75 on the highway. There are downsides. First, dont buy this car if youre looking for sporty handling. This should immediately be clear from a test drive, but acceleration, road holding, and "feel" are not sporty. However, they are in line with reasonable expectations. The only surprise I have had from a handling perspective is how much the car jumps/skips when it hits a bump, especially when going around a curve. My 01 Outback did this a bit, but I was surprised to experience it in my 2016. The outback holds the road over imperfections far worse than other cars Ive driven in this price range. Secondly, the entertainment/nav is a massive point of frustration. It has a lot of functionality, but it is hard to navigate and overly complex. While the navigation is nicely integrated into the sound system and dashboard. However, Waze and Google Maps outperform the navigation so profoundly that I dont even use the integrated navigation. After running Waze in parallel with the Nav for a few months, the Subaru navigation has so consistently provided sub-optimal or confusing directions that I prefer to just use my phone. This leads me to my other complaint about the the system. It works pretty well over Bluetooth, but as soon as you plug the phone into the USB, the system wants to treat your phone as an iPod and the whole experience gets disrupted. Overall, the entertainment system is super clunky and hard to use. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to save preset stations (have not yet opened the giant manual) and the system is heavily integrated with Sirius, which really undermines the system if you dont buy a subscription. With all this said, Im very happy with the car.

• 

  Great car...but the seats... - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Tim - January 15 - 1:07 pm

  I looked at cars for months. Took a hard look at the Murano, Edge, CX5, and Grand Cherokee before finally getting down to two: Acura RDX and Outback 3.6. After multiple dealer visits to both and a lot of research, I found the lack of trunk space and higher price tag of the Acura (along with outdated infotainment on Base model) pushed me to the Outback. Outback has been everything I hoped (with one exception Ill get to below). The 3.6 with the CVT delivers the best driving experience Ive ever had. Its not a BMW to be sure, but the acceleration and shifting is so smooth, Im blown away. So happy i got the 3.6. And I love the fit and finish inside, high quality, and definitely a luxury look. While i found the infotainment screen a little cumbersome at first, once I spent 20 minutes or so with it in the driveway, i love it. Nice big touch screen and great phone interface too. I also like how the arm rests hit me while I hold the wheel, and the headroom is fantastic (I opted NOT to get the sunroof). This care feels more like a luxury car inside than the RDX did. The only thing I dont like are the seats. Im 61", and the drivers seat is way too short. I realize 90% of Outback drivers are 54" women, but these seats are awful. I havent done a roadtrip yet (only had it two weeks), so Im interested to see how I hold up. For anyone over 510", be very sure you are ok with the seats on this car before you buy. Do a nice long test drive or keep it for a day if you can. Im looking into some after market bolstering options, but I dont think theres much that can be done. Its a shame too, as I couldnt be happier with everything else about this car.

• 

  Best deal for a practical off road car - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Julius - December 25 - 3:29 pm

  I bought this car for better access to climbing areas. For the price, I could not find a better car with high clearance that can handle off road driving along with reasonable safety features (Eyesight package) for long drives. This is a great, fuel efficient car for comfortable road trips to adventure destinations. The one thing it is not is a fun drive. It is a relatively low power SUV crossover, so it lacks acceleration and sportiness, but that isnt why you buy an Outback...

• 

  Ski car - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Peter Phares - August 7 - 2:35 am

  The Outback was purchased as a ski-commuting vehicle (for usually no more than 2-3 passengers, including driver). Ive had it 2 months and driven 4,500 miles- 90% highway (200 miles each way to skiing). Overall, good cargo capacity, loading/unloading of cargo, and equipment (fold down half of the rear seat and putting skis inside in ski bags). The ride is comfortable, and I use the dynamic cruise control a lot- which works well, even in heavy traffic or slow traffic. Its a quiet vehicle with muted road and wind noise. GREAT snow traction! The 6 cylinder motor has good power, and the CVT works well generally- but reverse responsiveness is a bit uneven, and strange compared with a standard automatic (but hasnt been a big deal). The paddle shifters are very helpful on downhill grades. Fuel economy is ok, not great. Highway fuel economy is much better if you keep it 2-3 mph under 70 mph on the freeway (which can be slow on some CA freeways)--- keep it 2-3 MPH under 70 and I get 26-28 MPG. Avg 70 MPH, and I get no more than 26 MPG. If you average 75 on the freeway, youll get 24 mpg max. I dont jackrabbit start or use heavy throttle, mostly drive with eye-sight cruise control on. Currently, Im not using the roof rack and dont have a cargo box- so loading the roof would reduce mpg further. My biggest complaint about the car is driver seat comfort. I am 61", and 210 lbs. The seats are not large enough for someone over 6 tall, and its difficult to find a comfortable driving position for longer trips. If I had the ability to change the car, I would create a longer seat cushion for more thigh support, add more bolstering on the sides of the seats (almost none there now, not good in corners), improve adjustment range of seat tilt, and increase the steering wheel telescoping length. I have a 2009 Honda Accord coupe and a 1999 VW Passat, and in both cars I find several comfortable seating positions for long trips--- not so in the Outback.... Im constantly adjusting the seating position, but nothing feels quite right. The center console intrudes too much into the leg space. Im not uncomfortable in the car- but never very comfortable either. It also could use a center armrest which adjusts up/down. Wind noise with side mirrors is low, except in high cross winds, when you can get some significant rumble coming off the mirrors (guessing 15-20 mph+ cross winds it gets rumbly). The door storage pockets dont work well for water bottles, and Ive not yet been able to get the MirrorLink to work- from what Ive read, I need an older version of the app on my phone (which is not compatible with my newer Samsung phone)... so waiting on a software update from Subaru (annoying). One other complaint is the quality of the lower body cladding--- it pits very easily. My VW Passat with 180K miles on it has much less pitting on the lower cladding from snow and sand coming off the tires than the Outback with 4500 miles. The front splash guards need to be bigger and the cladding plastic a higher quality. Overall, Id give the car a "B" grade so far. The jury is out on whether I keep it long term or sell in a few years (I normally like to keep a car for 8-15 years) Too early to tell on reliability- although lots of friends with Subarus have had good luck.

• 

  Check of the Roof Rails on Outback Subarus!!! - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Molly - February 10 - 10:31 am

  I purchased my 2016 Outback in March. I notice the roof rails on the car when I purchased. They didnt sit flush to the car. Showed the service department. Subaru technical support was called in to check roof rails. New set was ordered, put on car, worse than one that came on car, took back to dealership and said I wasnt satisfied. They called Subaru again, they said send to body shop, that was done, still not fixed. Was given 800 number for Subaru and told to get work order number. My car has been in shop 3 times and not fixed. The dealership has offered to give me a trade in value, less that purchase price. I do like my Outback, but Im wondering if they know what to do to get this problem fixed. If you have a 2016 or 2017 Outback, or looking to purchase, please check out the roof rack. Was told Subaru is aware of this problem, please notify your deal ship and Subaru. This is a Subaru problem, not deal ship, let Subaru know you know this

• 

  First one, not the last one - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Wendell eisels - December 28 - 12:19 am

• 

  Tahoe travels - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Debbie Marquez - October 15 - 3:32 am

  Just got back from Tahoe and the safety features are great . The lane assit helps on the curvy mountain roads. If you want more power up mountain roads get the 3.6 engine . Rides smoothly 👍🏽

• 

  Great Car But Beware of Starlink - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By Chas Topkis - August 24 - 3:13 am

  First, the overall performance of the 2016 Outback. The car is great except for two items. Acceleration is not smooth. It seems to jump off the line. Not as smooth as I would expected. Next, the braking is not as good as expected. The car seems to not stop as I would like. Consider I am 67 years old and do not drag race! Otherwise this car, its design, most features, gas mileage, and comfort are everything I had hoped it would be. Truly great. Now the downside. One minor point -- The climate control does not appear to be very responsive. It does not quickly respond whenever we adjust the temperature. Its ok but other cars I have owned have been better. Now most importantly -- Be sure you know whether your cell phone is compatible with the Outback Starlink Infotainment System. No Subaru sales associate ever mentioned this. We were led to believe our phones would be fully functional with the car. Subaru happens to have a place on their website to check your phones compatibility with your carrier, make, and model of phone. For those listed the site shows whether it has been tested or not. If tested, the site shows exactly which features work with Starlink. If not tested or not listed, beware. When we encountered our first problem, the service department pointed out this site where it shows our phones were Not Tested. According to the service department, anything can happen and as we found, it does. For example, we could receive incoming calls and sometime make outgoing calls. When wanting to make an outgoing call, Starlink would dial a random number from our contact list when pressing the phone icon. We would not have the opportunity to choose the contact. Also, for some reason I can not explain, the Starlink Infotainment system will lock up totally. None of the controls of the Infotainment system would work. Could not change the radio station. No icons would work. Could not even turn Starlink off. There was only on way to fix this; pull off the road, turn off the car, and restart;very annoying especially if on an interstate highway. This has happened many times since we purchased the car in February. Unfortunately the service department said because the phone was listed as not tested, there is nothing they could (would). So, please check the compatibility of your phone with the Subaru website before you are disappointed. Our solution; we bought new cell phones that were on the approved phone list.

• 

  Great Safety Features - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By David - August 4 - 2:01 pm

  Purchased the 2016 Outback Premium 4-cyl in Jan. Very impressed with the safety features (have Eyesight). Talked with about 5 Subaru owners before purchase...all were very pleased. The vehicle is great in almost every way . Had difficulty with drivers seat for a while.... Found the drivers seat more comfortable when moved my shoulders as far back as possible. Had a 1550 mile round trip and did ok. Believe the Outback is a very good value for the $$$.

• 

  recalled after one week of ownership - 2016 Subaru Outback
  By rufus - June 12 - 4:07 am

  We owned this car for a week and it has been recalled for a steering column defect. Subaru did the right thing with the recall and they gave us a rental car, but it has been four weeks and they keep saying we are waiting for the part. I hope this review draws attention to the problem. Follow up--It has been 25 days since our defective car was taken to the dealer. They told me it would take a week to 10 days to fix this. The car is now repaired. After 4 weeks I called the dealer and mentioned I posted on Edmunds. That seemed to get their attention and the car is fixed. THANK YOU