2026 Subaru Outback First Drive Review: Gorpcore for the Road

• The 2026 Outback is the first major change to Subaru's wagon since 2020.
• As time wore on, the last Outback started to feel dated and out of place.
• After spending a day driving the new Outback, it rights a lot of the old car's wrongs.

The 2026 Outback has changed for the better

The Outback is no longer or wider than before, just a bit taller. A more upright, boxy facade takes the Outback from swoopy wagon to tough guy SUV-lite. Since this is Subaru's rain-maker, you can expect styling cues from this to make its way to the rest of the company's lineup. Say what you will about its styling; the Outback's design changes are also functional.

The nearly arrow-straight roofline adds 2 inches of headroom and 2 more cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row (up to 38 cubic feet from 36). The more upright rear pillar also means more glass at the back and makes for better rear visibility, and the cargo opening is more square, so loading wide items will be easier. The roof rails are now a ladder type with an 800-pound static load capacity, and they have little notches in them to make lining accessories up from one side to the other less of a guessing game. 

Subaru has also changed how it builds the car with the addition of more structural adhesives and sound-deadening materials. When we got our first look at the new Outback, Subaru said these changes made the new car 10% quieter and more refined. After a few hours behind the wheel, I wouldn't be surprised if that number was much higher in reality. 

Comfort with a newfound helping of composure

The new Outback's better body control and sure-footedness impart a confidence that was always missing in the last model. It actually handles and doesn't feel like it's going to just flop over onto its side midcorner. That might not sound super important in a wagon, but a terribly floaty ride might make more sensitive passengers car sick. Thankfully, the comfort's still there — you can thump this thing over potholes and speed bumps without so much as a second thought. 

Just as Subaru promised, the new Outback is also quieter at highway speeds. I had the chance to drive the last Outback just a few weeks before I got behind the wheel of the new car, and one thing that stood out was just how much wind noise made its way through the windshield and from the driver's side mirror. But despite listening long and hard for the same errant wind noises, the new Outback remained hushed. 

Another standout compared to the old car is the steering. Subaru didn't note changes to the physical rack, the tuning of the electric motor or the front suspension, and yet the new Outback steers with far more accuracy than before. It makes placing the car in a lane a much simpler affair, and will prove a boon on longer road trips because you won't constantly be overcorrecting from side to side.

In fact, all the changes make the new Outback far, far easier to live with on the long haul. Even the seats, which have a new design, feel more adjustable and are lined in softer faux leather (unless you go for the top-spec Touring model, which gets the real stuff). Outback owners love piling on the miles — more than a few wrote to Subaru to say a life goal of theirs is to visit every national park in the Lower 48 — and there is plenty of space in the second row for passengers, too. 

Two of hearts

Just like in the last car, there are two engines to pick from. The base Outback will use a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder with 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque. But you can also step up to an XT or Wilderness model to get the turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder that makes 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque. The base will return 25 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, while the turbocharged model sees a dip to 21 city/25 highway. 

There's no super smooth hybrid option either, but I'm happy to report both engines are smoother than they were before. They also don't drone on with unpleasant engine harshness nearly as much as before. I recommend going for the XT if you have the extra cash — the added power from the turbocharger makes getting up to highway speed and passing a nonissue. The base engine is still a bit sluggish. 

Both engines are paired with a continuously variable transmission, and the Outback's has some of the best programming in the industry. The fake shifts are smooth and precise, and it quickly changes ratios to give you more grunt when you need it. It even held up well during a long off-road stint where I needed to climb up steep hills and ease my way over sandy berms. I'll be sure to put the Outback through its paces off-road once Edmunds gets one in for testing in Southern California, but on first blush, this Subie hasn't lost any of the capability that made it so dependable when it came to getting you to the trailhead and out the other side. 

New tech, old feel

Outback buyers asked for more cargo space and easier-to-reach cupholders — two things Subaru addressed with this redesign. But, apparently, none of them wrote in to decry Starlink, Subaru's old infotainment system, which is generally regarded as the worst in the industry. The user interface was laggy and irritating to get around, too many commands were buried in the screen (including the climate controls), and it was just ugly, with a screen that easily washed out in sunlight. Thankfully, Starlink is dead. 

Its replacement doesn't have some silly branded name and lives in a smaller screen that's powered by a Snapdragon processor. The screen is clear and easy to read from afar, the UI responds immediately to inputs and the many camera views are now rendered in a much higher resolution. 

The goodness doesn't end there. Joy of joys, Subaru has also brought back physical controls for the climate settings. There's a real button for everything, and it makes learning and using the system without taking your eyes off the road a million times easier.

It's more expensive for a reason

For 2026, the Outback no longer has a base trim; everything starts with the Premium model, which is priced from $36,445. Yes, that's around $4,000 more than before, but the Premium trim gets stuff like blind-spot monitoring, keyless access, the much-improved center display, and the digital gauge cluster as standard. Limited and Touring models start at $43,165 and $47,240 — going for the turbocharged engine on either adds another $3,600 to the price.

Because the Outback has to do pretty much everything, Subaru had to make the new one better everywhere. Thankfully, that's exactly what's happened. It's the right size, easier to live with than ever before, and all of the last car's issues (namely the tech, the lack of refinement, and ponderous handling) have been consigned to the history books.