Used 2021 Subaru Outback Consumer Reviews
Used Outback for sale
Best Subaru yet
Al, 06/13/2021
updated 06/17/2024
2021 Subaru Outback Touring XT 4dr SUV AWD (2.4L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
Traded in a Cadillac for the Touring XT Outback. Drove it across country and back after 3,000 mile break-in. Overall, this is an outstanding vehicle! Powerful, comfortable, loaded with technology, and designed for moving things through challenging environments. The turbo engine can be a little wild in urban traffic, but on the interstates, it’s a beast. The electronics are quirky to get use to - no different than a new smart phone - but once they are familiar, they work well and are easy to dial-up. The level of driver assist and technological feature integration is unmatched at this price point. In my opinion, this is the safest, most comfortable, most spirited, and technologically sophisticated SUV in this price range. An absolutely outstanding value. Three years later: Still the best car I've ever owned. 44,000 miles not one problem. On top of that, there are no rattles and it is still as tight as the day I drove it off the show room floor. Car will go anywhere in any weather - and comfortable.
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Dash lights beserk on highway 2 days after buying
Peter Petrov, 03/25/2021
2021 Subaru Outback Premium 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
42 of 47 people found this review helpful
Buyer beware. Bought new 2021 Outback from local Subaru dealer. 2 days later all lights on dash suddenly flashing during highway driving. Very unsafe. Subaru could not diagnose problem, but will not return our money or give us new car. Now have case with Subaru of America. We had loaner courtesy car from dealer which S of A told us to keep until local dealer's service dept could diagnose problem with help of S of A. Local dealer came in middle of night to repossess their courtesy car while our new car was still in their shop. Cannot believe this thuggish behavior is associated with Subaru.
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2021 Subaru Outback for sale near you
Showing 3 of 92 listings
- Touring 4dr SUVMSRP: $21,549In-stock online
- Touring XT 4dr SUVMSRP: $21,480In-stock online
- Limited XT 4dr SUVMSRP: $20,418In-stock online
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Great all-around vehicle
Ol' Doc, 02/14/2021
2021 Subaru Outback Limited XT 4dr SUV AWD (2.4L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
15 of 16 people found this review helpful
Traded our 2013 3.6R for a new Limited XT. What a difference 8 years makes! The new Outback drives and rides so much better. It's a lot quieter and the seats are much more supportive and comfortable. The infotainment screen takes a little getting used to but it's okay and looks impressive. The turbo 4 is responsive, though I do miss the right now punch of the old flat 6. Have yet to really compare fuel economy but don't expect a huge improvement. The CVT is a bit of a let down. There's definitely a lag when starting off the line unless you really put your foot in it. And the auto start-stop is not smooth, but you can turn this feature off easily (even while driving) on the big infotainment screen, but it defaults to "on" every time you turn the car off. Backseat is roomier and seems to sit a little higher, which is nice. Plenty of cargo space and nice touches. The Yokohama tires are quiet and ride nice but aren't great in the snow. Overall the new Outback is a big improvement over the last generation, but wish it had a conventional transmission.
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Needs refinement
Sid V, 05/28/2021
2021 Subaru Outback Touring XT 4dr SUV AWD (2.4L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
44 of 50 people found this review helpful
I’ve had this six months now and it’s OK, but way down the list in terms of the eight new cars I’ve owned overall. First, what’s right about it. It’s got decent interior room, a comfortable ride on most pavement, good cargo space, nice leather on the seats and dash for the price point and is a very practical vehicle. It’s a comfortable freeway cruiser. There’s good value in the Outback. The mediocre includes the styling inside and out, the drivetrain and the handling. They are all OK and mostly inoffensive, but fail to truly impress. Styling is attractive but a tad dull and basic. Interior trim quality is decent but not exceptional. While the engine has plenty of power and only needs regular gas, it lacks refinement and is somewhat rough. The CVT can get confused and sometimes the car feels slow when it shouldn’t, like if you let off the gas and quickly get back on it. Handling is competent but uninspired. The Harman Kardon stereo is serviceable but nothing more. The standard tires are very pedestrian-I got stuck in the snow week one in the Subaru, something I managed to avoid six straight years in my last car. Or perhaps symmetrical AWD is just inferior to Quattro. The bad is pretty bad, and it is the various electronic safety and convenience features that are the worst thing about the car. Collectively they are a pile of steaming dung: crude, unreliable, driver-unfriendly, distracting and poorly executed. These systems include the distracted driver monitoring system, which checks to see a driver’s eyes are on the road. In addition to being a feature nobody asked for, it went amok beeping every few seconds (despite full road attention in actuality) and had to be disabled. The hyper-annoying, obtuse and over-sensitive departure warning system also had to be deactivated. The auto-start stop should be able to be permanently disabled, but cannot. It is infuriating to have to turn it off over and over again, and the restart of the boxer motor is unflatteringly agrarian. The large touch screen lacks sharpness and is easily washed out. Its menus are poorly conceived and difficult to use for some functions. The climate controls really shouldn’t be onscreen either-it simply does not work well. One of the most frustrating things is that the driver recognition system tied to seat position, mirror settings and other settings simply does not work. I’ve added the profile and re-added it time and time again, but it will seldom recognize me and more recently clearly has given up altogether. Subaru’s arrogance shows through in that they could have easily allowed for manual profile selection as a backup to the automated system, but did not, so the driver profile function is effectively worthless. The Eyesight and backup warning systems started throwing dealer service check errors after only two months. If you have a dog in the back seat, prepare for all sorts of random beeps to annoy and distract. The adaptive cruise control is obtuse and, rather than coasting, will brake if you use the gas to exceed the cruise speed setting temporarily. Who thought this was a good idea?! There is absolutely nothing about this car’s electronics that was done elegantly or inspires confidence. If you like living in a nanny state, this car is for you. Personally I wish they would taken all the money put into the largely worthless safety features and invested that in the interior quality, a proper transmission, engine NVH refinements, better tires and a better stereo, and I can only begrudgingly give it even three stars.
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good not great
Milkman, 01/21/2021
2021 Subaru Outback Touring 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
32 of 36 people found this review helpful
I'm not a mechanical expert but I'm guessing my concerns are because of it's CVT transmission so if you haven't owned a CVT transmission vehicle make sure you can tolerate it before you buy. I took several test drives and was pleased with the comfortable ride and quiet cabin at highway speeds. During test drives I avoided stop and go driving because I thought it didn't matter. What I didn't notice was the whine and grind of the transmission or engine at low speeds. I don't have a db meter but I bet the Outback is quieter at 70 mph than it is under normal acceleration from a stop sign. My driving is almost all stop and go with speed limits under 55mph. Every time I accelerate from a traffic light or stop sign the engine revs to 4,000 RPM. My previous cars both quietly moved up to about 2500-3000 RPM when I got on it a little to merge into traffic. Either the motor or the transmission makes a noise that's similar to a bicycle with a baseball card stuck in the spokes. (OK I've shown my age) It's a grinding clucking noise that I've never heard before in a well maintained vehicle. The first time my wife was in the Outback for a period of time she thought there was a mechanical problem. You just can't accelerate in Drive with the traffic or into a turning lane in my town and not generate the whine and grind with the high RPM. I've tried using the paddles. They automatically reset to first gear at every stop then it will not respond if you try to quickly upshift to avoid the whine. My first time to use paddles but they are useless when making right or left turns at a stop sign. You can't keep your fingers on the shifters because (surprise) the steering wheel keeps turning. Guess they are nice for the straight of way but not so good in town where you turn the wheel a lot. My guess is the CVT transmission must save somebody some money somewhere and the base engine generates so little torque you can't drive in the low torque range and instead are forced to use horsepower that kicks in at 4-5 thousand rpm. A very poor tradeoff for drivability. It's a shame because it's an unpleasant feature to an otherwise nice vehicle. 20% more torque and a conventional transmission and it would be a great vehicle. Hope the CVT dies a quick death.
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