The super Outback is basically a wagon version of Subarus midsize sedan the legacy but with a higher ride height and off-road styling cues like all Subarus the Outback has standard all-wheel drive the Subaru Outback has been a popular issue of the alternative for years. But that doesn't mean the cars haven't had some flaws for one rear seat. Rooms been tight. Fuel economy. Hasn't been terrific and the cars have been a handful in emergency situations as the tail slides out. Subarus attempted to address these flaws in this 2010 Outback redesigned. Stability control is now standard. There's a lot more room in the rear seat. Plus super went to a CVT or continuously variable transmission in an attempt to improve fuel economy. So did the changes super make to the Outback improve emergency handling or fuel. Economy will tell you how the Outback compares to other cars as we put it - more than 50 tests here at our track the Outback has a comfortable and compliant ride. It's really impressive. When the roads get very bad like in the spring when all the potholes come out the Outback. Just soaks that stuff up. As far as handling goes it's pleasant to drive but there's a bit of a disappointment here steering feel it doesn't really convey as much feedback as you'd like from the road not that it's hard to drive but it certainly isn't sporting ask for acceleration zero to 60 miles per hour takes a leisurely 10.7 seconds. That's slow if you want more power you can get a six cylinder. It's much faster but you're going to pay for that at the pump generally the Outback is pretty quiet. Inside road noises well subdued but say you want to keep up with traffic or maintain speed on a hill the CVT holds the revs high. And you hear the unique flat poor guttural sound come out. It's not all that pleasing the Outback has all the modern safety technologies. You'd expect traction control anti-lock brakes stability control. They're all standard. Suber also claims that it's standard all-wheel drive is a safety feature now.

All-wheel-drive is great. If you live where it snows a lot and you need to get to the top of a big hill or even for off-roading but there's a lot more to safety and we found a problem. In our avoidance maneuver test the car can only achieve a speed of forty eight and a half miles an hour and that speeds over that the car had trouble. Also if you're going too fast on a curve and try to slow down the tail can slide out and the stability control is late to intervene. That can all be a bit scary in our braking test the Outback took 136 feet to stopping the DRI 156 to stop in the wet. These are decent numbers not the shortest but not that bad either. The outback goes very well. Crash test dummies are well protected and the Outback is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety. Pick it's pretty easy to see out of the outback. There's big glass all around the pillars. They're moderate and with there's large side mirrors really the only obstruction of note is the big rear head restraints. Let's sense the back window so big. That's easy to see out of - as for the headlights. Our test found that low beam distance is short. And there's a distinct cutoff that makes the distance even shorter on rolling hills a big. Outback improvement is fuel economy. We got 24 miles per gallon over on 16 in the city 32 on the highway. That's really impressive. For a car this size with all-wheel drive things are pretty nice inside of the Outback interior plastics. They're nicely grained although the dashboard. It's hard to the touch. It isn't padded controls are basically straightforward. The radio is up high in the - everything's simple. There's a couple little gripes. Though some of the radio knobs they're a bit small and some are far reach reading some of these controls. They're black labels on silver background. Contrast could be better. The front seats are soft and generally comfortable the leather ones. They're more supportive than the cloth seats.

One common complaint though the bottom cushion it's somewhat on the short side that limits thigh support the Outback has an accommodating driving position. There's plenty of room. There's also a tail and telescope steering wheel. It's pretty easy to get in and out of the Outback. There's a high roofline in big doors once you're in the back seat you'll see literally one of the largest improvements in this car. There's plenty of room back here. Three adults can fit. The seat is comfortable it even reclined. The Subaru has a roomy cargo area. There's a flat floor and you can make an even larger space by folding down the back seats one other nice touch. Subaru throws in they give you a place underneath the floor to stash the cargo. Cover that way. It's out of the way when you carry big loads. You don't lose it someplace in your garage. You'll see a lot of outback with bikes or kayaks on the roof and the Outback comes with a clever roof rack system. We need all stuff. You're going to have these cross rails across the roof like this but when you're not hauling things you want them out of the way so you're reducing wind noise the Outback. Lets you do that. Really easily you just pivot them around. And they store along the sides but you're limited to where you can tie things to this rack because you have a solid piece here and there's nothing here in the middle to lash to if you're considering a Subaru Outback. It's a pretty nice car. And it's scored well in our ratings. In fact it's basically the only game in town for a mid-sized all-wheel-drive family wagon but there's a few other things to consider perhaps the strongest competition to the Outback comes from Subarus own. Forester a small SUV. It has plenty of room and it cost a lot less money you might also be looking at a Toyota Venza. It has plenty of room inside but it doesn't ride as well as the Outback. You might also be considering a Volvo xc70. This luxury wagon cost quite a bit more money than an outback and it's not a better car so the Subaru Outback has a whole lot going for it.

It combines a roomy well finished interior with the traction of all-wheel-drive all with impressive fuel economy.