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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

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We drive the 2009 Subaru Outback XUV

Pics by Subaru@motorpics

Is bigger always better?

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday January 9. 2010

Longer, wider, taller, better equipped – these may or may not all be good, but lighter and less expensive as well? Surely a dream, but it isn’t.  Subaru’s newest Outback XUV (crossover SUV) is all of the above, with a recommended retail price R14 000 lower than the previous model was in May this year (I checked).

Dimensions are now: overall length 4 775 mm (4 680 previously), width 1 780 (1 730) and height 1 615 mm (1 545). Wheelbase increases by 75 mm to 2 745. Front and rear overhangs reduce by 10 and 20 mm respectively. It also stands higher, with 213 mm of ground clearance.

Despite the larger body, Outback has improved aerodynamics, reduced chassis weight, enhanced rigidity and improved fuel efficiency. Careful engineering has resulted in better weight distribution and a change from aluminium to steel for the bonnet (for enhanced pedestrian safety), has been offset by other weight savings and simplified construction in key areas.

The bigger body means more people-room inside, both front and rear, and bigger door apertures. In plain English, the car has plenty of head-, leg- and shoulder room and the load area (with slide-out cargo cover) is nice and big.

Other new features include a six-speed manual gearbox to replace the old five-speeder and a seventh airbag, for the driver’s knees. This prevents knees and lower legs from contacting the steering column and under-dash hardware. The driver’s footrest is made from impact absorbing material designed to reduce lower leg injury and clutch and brake pedals have been redesigned, changing how they deform in a collision.

Other safety equipment includes front seatbelts with pre-tensioners and load limiters, child seat anchor points, ABS/EBD/BAS, Vehicle Dynamics Control, front fog lights and Hill Start Assist.

These and other features enabled the Outback to achieve five-star rating for occupant safety from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), five-star overall rating in the European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) and ‘Top Safety Pick’ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the USA. It is claimed to be the safest car Subaru has ever built.

Making for a bit more space between the front seats is an electronic parking brake up on the dash, to the right of the steering column. I have only one beef with this. Ever oddball, Subaru has made this a “press to engage, pull to release” affair. The rest of the world does this the logical way around – you pull a hand brake on and let it down (push it) to release, so it took a few days to reorient the brain.

Still whining, the emergency flasher switch is placed directly in front of the gear lever, so big knuckles sometimes make contact, indicating danger when none exists.

Nice stuff, on the other hand, includes a gearshift indicator not often seen on manual shift cars and an analogue fuel consumption meter in addition to the digital version that you can dial in when wanted.

My overall impression was of a spacious and competent family car with good but not electrifying performance, real off-road capability and very acceptable fuel economy.

The numbers

Price: R345 000 (manual), R358 000 (CVT)

Engine: 2 457 cc, horizontally opposed, SOHC four cylinder, 16-valve

Power: 123 kW at 5 600 rpm

Torque: 229 Nm at 4 000 rpm

Zero to 100 km/h: about 10,6 seconds

Maximum speed: 201 km/h

Real life fuel economy over 328 km of testing: 10,8 l/100 km

Tank: 65 litres

Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km with Subaru Assist

Service plan: 3 years/63 000 km

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax. 

So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

 

Comments?

Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously. Contact me here

 

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