Used 2017 Subaru Outback Consumer Reviews
Repeat Outback Owner
No mechanical issues, just regular maintenance. The entire vehicle runs as it did new. Still love this car. This version of the Outback is a significant upgrade from my 2012. The biggest change I notice is a vastly improved transmission. Modern tech, information, entertainment make rides more enjoyable. UPDATE: No mechanical issues- just scheduled service and wear & tear items to replace. Versatile family vehicle that great in the rain and snow. Comfortable on road trips. Update: Now over 160,000 miles. Only scheduled maintenance and minor suspension repairs. Some upholstery issues with front seats. Runs strong, no hesitation jumping in the car for road trips.
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We bought two.
My wife and I car shopped for two months and nothing compares to the '17 Outback Touring. She decided on the Touring, not me. Since it was "her" car, I didn't drive it a lot (my daily driver was an '05 Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 that has 14k on it. I am the original owner.) We live very close to Sequoia National Park. What I fell in love with about her car is that you can throw any road condition at it with no complaint or hesitation. Through all of this, you can balance a dime on the dashboard. It's basically a Legacy 3.6r chassis with a wagon-ish body. The Forester is a bit too tall for us. Rather a bit ungainly (just my humble opinion). Soon after we bought the Touring, we took it on a weekend to Monterey/Carmel. Old money is there. They can buy anything. Guess what? we saw a lot of new Outback Tourings with the 3.6r. Wow! Ferraris, Maserati's, and 3.6r Tourings. Crazy. So I told my wife that I was totally sold on the 3.6r Touring. We proceeded to buy another. Now that one is my daily driver and I placed the SRT-6 in mothballs. I've owned over 50 cars in my life and this one is my favorite. Having 2, obviously I have no complaints. Extremely well designed and engineered. A bargain compared to the competition. From a die-hard Toyota customer, Subaru now has my business. Lastly, the only vehicle that Toyota makes that is truly comparable is the Land Cruiser and that is waaaay more expensive. Just my 2 experienced cents.
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- 3.6R Limited 4dr SUVMSRP: $17,3192 mi away
- 2.5i Limited 4dr SUVMSRP: $12,890In-stock online
- 2.5i Premium 4dr SUVMSRP: $8,597In-stock online
Subaru Wins The Pennant!
This is my Third Subaru. My first was a base model 2011 2.5 Pzev Outback, my second was a 2014 fully loaded 2.5 Limited Outback. This one is by far my favorite! I have done quite a bit of test driving before I bought my first Outback, but given we wanted the 3.6 this time I did some more. It came down to the 3.6 or the Highlander and the Subaru won out. I LOVED my previous two Outbacks but to be honest I wanted the technology and the comfort so we moved up. Moving to the 3.6 was also for the towing capability (small utility trailer type) but it was mountain driving so the 4 cylinders gave it a champion effort but just didn't do very well. My 3.6 makes it in STYLE AND SPEED. Handles very well with or without the trailer. The safety features are super, the eye sight I can't live without now and I love the lane change feature. I'm still learning all the other technology on the car but I can live with that. The stereo is awesome, especially with my Ipod and Sirus XM. It is comfortable and beautiful. I'll be honest the 4 cylinder Outbacks I had were a bit noisy due to the CVT but the 3.6 purrs like a kitten. It is a VERY solid car. My gas mileage did suffer a bit but the extras on the car and the fact that we can make it up the canyon in under an hour with the fully loaded utility trailer makes it worth it. My Basset Hound can easily get up and down from my Subaru, and loves the cargo area in the back when we travel. We do have a hard time with the Navigation. It isn't all that intuitive or easy to put in addresses and when I try to use my phone the Bluetooth feature in the car won't let it come through. (The tech guy at Subaru says he can help me with that so I'm going to go back there and have him walk me through it. Subaru backs their products. You can't do any better than a Subaru and this one hits it out of the park every turn at bat. Still feel exactly the same way after driving it for 2.5 years. I will never drive anything but a Subaru.
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Starlink needs improving
This is our first Outback (Limited 2.5i). We really do like the car but Subaru needs to work out a few bugs first. We would buy again if we could have the black interior and Starlink is improved. We wanted the Lapis Blue Pearl color with the Slate Black Leather Interior. Not an option. The Lapis Blue Pearl is only available with the Warm Ivory Leather interior which shows dirt and scuffs. At about 4900 miles the interior started showing wear. I did purchase the protection package but still not happy. The interior of the car is very roomy and the backseat legroom is comfortable. There is a fold down armrest in the back with two cup holders. Each door has a water bottle holder compartment. The glove compartment is small and barely holds all of the manuals for the car. The manuals are informative and important to read for several of the features. The storage compartment between the driver and front passenger is okay in size but was larger in my Vibe. There is also a compartment in the overhead for sunglasses but it is much too small for mine. Almost kid sized. The display panel is well designed and you can change viewing options with a tap on a steering wheel lever. Seats have great adjustment and you can easily store settings for 2 drivers. The steering wheel is also adjustable. A great feature for our northern climate is heated front AND rear seats. Very nice and warm. Dual Zone temperature control allows the driver and passenger to obtain their comfort level. The rear seats split 60/40 and fold flat easily (no removing a headrest). You can even pull levers in the trunk to fold them flat while loading cargo. One of the features I wanted, the 120 Volt Power Outlet (standard plug in) is not available with Eyesight. It has 2 USB ports but charging a cell phone takes forever (8% an hour). I purchased a power adapter and that speeds up the charging process but it is bulky to store in the vehicle. Transmission Paddle Shifters on the steering column allow you to manually shift the car. I really miss a manual transmission but all this does is allows you to manually control the process if you need it, i.e. in the mountains. Wish it would allow you to shift from the console. Gas mileage has been less than listed. We are averaging 23.5 for a 50/50 mix of city and highway. We live in a rural area so even our city driving should boost the mileage but it hasn’t done so. Our best mileage has been 25.5 but that was only once. Acceleration is sluggish and for this price range it should be faster and smoother. My Vibe GT was much better at acceleration and was only 180hp compared to the Outback 175hp. The upgraded stereo system is great and I like the option to store channels seamlessly in one list from FM/AM radio, Pandora, Sirius XM, etc…. My biggest complaint is the mapping system is very obsolete. Restaurants appear that have been closed for over 2 years, streets that were built over 5 years ago don’t show up, etc… Subaru has an update available now BUT you need to have a code if you want the free update. Then you have to take out the micro SD card and place it into a computer to update the data and then replace it in the car. There are no instructions for this and it took a lot of research to get that far. I had to purchase a SD card sleeve to accommodate the micro SD so that it would fit in my computer. *** UPDATE *** I ended up purchasing the 3 year updates and Subaru reimbursed me. It didn't make any difference. The MSP area is not being updated. In the Starlink system you also have access to vehicle settings and you can change some vehicle responses, i.e. when you push the trunk button in the rear it can unlock all of the doors for you or just the driver’s door. Most vehicles lock the car doors when you either start the engine or shift the car into drive, but the Outback doesn’t have this option. Starlink also will read text messages from Android and Apple phones. If someone sends a series of text messages it may only read the last text. And there is no way to voice reply. You can use a pre-canned text message but I haven’t figured out if you can change them. You can make a call by pushing a button on the steering column and then requesting to “call Sue Peterson.” But you cannot ask to call the nearest Home Depot. If a number is not stored in your cell phone contacts, you cannot voice dial it. It really needs to be able to look up numbers for nearby businesses and dial them. Our vehicle insurance cost was less than insuring the old Vibe. The safety features (see below) are wonderful. 175 HP 18.5 gallon fuel tank capacity (87 octane) Keyless Entry System High Beam Assist Blind Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Alert: Using radar sensors, the Blind-Spot Detection system warns you with a visual indicator in each side mirror if it senses a vehicle in your blind spots. Rear Cross-Traffic Alert can help warn you of traffic approaching from the side
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Excellent acceleration!
This is a great car with super acceleration and tons of safety features. I love the lane assist, adaptive cruise control and all of the safety features. It does not sit as high up as my previous Toyota Highlander but I have a clear good view of the road. The backup camera and light is very good however note that the Reverse Braking Assist does not recognize everything . I am happy but it is hard to see some things on my screen and controls. I really have a hard time reading the temperature outside.
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