Typical Subaru (and that’s good): The 2020 Outback, reviewed

2020 Outback gets and iPad-style touchscreen, new driver-safety features.

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[AdamM]

“Horizontally mounted” engine? How many vertically mounted engines are there? In lawnmowers, sure, but cars, not so much.

Is the author trying to say that the engine orientation is transverse? I’m no Subaru expert, but those I’ve seen use longitudinal engine installations.

Subaru is known for their flat engine designs, where the cylinders lie flat and oppose each other (like two boxers punching at each other) rather than all aiming in the same direction (straight) or at perpendicular-ish angles (V). I can’t really speak to how to affects handling (been a lot of years since my ‘03 Baja) but it does mean that their cars tend to have long, low hoods in comparison to their competitors.

Genuine Subie enthusiasts, jump in and expand on /correct me here.

The prominent benefit people will probably notice is that the flat-4 design is naturally in perfect balance. Overall it's just feels a bit more refined than your typical I4. Less N/V/H.

Edit: Forgot about the H6.

 

[AdamM]

We've been a Subaru family for years, but after they joined the administration in fighting CA emissions rules and then reading their statement on climate change, which would make an oil executive blush, it doesn't matter how nice their lineup is (and this looks nice), we're not buying.

At Subaru, we believe that introduction and strengthening of environmental regulations for products are the major risks in the business environment. For example, demands to improve fuel consumption ... are some examples.

On the other hand, AWD, which is a major strategic vehicle 90% of which Subaru is introducing to the market, has a great opportunity to cope with recent climate change, compared to FW and FR automobiles of 2WD. The main reason for this is that traveling stability unique to AWD is very good compared to 2WD on rough road after torrential rain and snowy road surface due to heavy snowfall. There is a possibility that the recognition that it is a automobile that can run safely and with peace of mind expands and leads to an increase in sales opportunities.

- https://www.subaru.co.jp/en/csr/environ ... ation.html

Yikes, talk about a gross statement to put out.

 

[AdamM]

Does this have the same "can't permanently disable engine-off"* configuration that was present in (at least certain Subarus) the past few years?

I like the 3 Subarus I've regularly driven in general, but this "feature" alone may make me look at a different purchase for my next car, it drives me nuts.

* Engine-off being how I'm describing the feature which detects that you're idling, so it shuts off your engine assuming you're at a light or similar, to save gas. It's unreliable, causes a delay when you need to go, and saves such a minuscule amount of gas according to its own counter. You can turn it off on a per-trip basis using a button down and left from the steering wheel, but it's an inconvenient button that you have to remember to hit each trip.

[edit] Looks like I can answer my own question - Unlike on the older models, you can permanently disable it on the 2020 line: https://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru- ... u-don-t-it

2018 Toyota Highlander owner here: I detest this "feature" as well. We have congress to thank for that. Likely buried somewhere in the CAFE specs is verbiage that allows the automaker a teeny bit of leeway on running MPG/horsepower/whatever if they implement Start/Stop.

I've rented many cars in Europe, many models have S/S, but they allow the feature to be permanently toggled off.

I bought an inexpensive after-market gizmo for a few bucks that turns off S/S for me each time I start the car. Upon engine start, the device waits about 7-8 seconds, the pulses the S/S switch. Problem solved.

ETA: I'm all for effective fuel saving techniques. S/S is not one of them. I estimate I save enough fuel each year, thanks to S/S, to fill a small mason jar.

Highlander owner worried about saving fuel OmegaLUL.

Even the Prius doesn't have S/S at traffic lights all the time. It does it sometimes, when the heater/ac isn't being used or the battery isn't being charged. I try to get to 10 mph before pressing the accelerator hard enough to have the gas engine come on.

Regarding the Outback, i live in New England and Subaru's are everywhere. I don't understand it, even with AWD. A Toyota Venza is a great alternative if you feel like AWD is a must have. It's bigger and gets nearly 40 mpg. My partner has a 2003 Forrester and had to get the engine rebuilt. Some searching found that engine rebuilds are common with boxers. Disappointing.

In regards to Subaru’s being everywhere. CR tends to slot them at the top of their lists which would partially explain why they tend to be everywhere. If you go into a Subaru dealership it’s a prominent part of their marketing strategy.

 

[AdamM]

Does this have the same "can't permanently disable engine-off"* configuration that was present in (at least certain Subarus) the past few years?

I like the 3 Subarus I've regularly driven in general, but this "feature" alone may make me look at a different purchase for my next car, it drives me nuts.

* Engine-off being how I'm describing the feature which detects that you're idling, so it shuts off your engine assuming you're at a light or similar, to save gas. It's unreliable, causes a delay when you need to go, and saves such a minuscule amount of gas according to its own counter. You can turn it off on a per-trip basis using a button down and left from the steering wheel, but it's an inconvenient button that you have to remember to hit each trip.

[edit] Looks like I can answer my own question - Unlike on the older models, you can permanently disable it on the 2020 line: https://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru- ... u-don-t-it

2018 Toyota Highlander owner here: I detest this "feature" as well. We have congress to thank for that. Likely buried somewhere in the CAFE specs is verbiage that allows the automaker a teeny bit of leeway on running MPG/horsepower/whatever if they implement Start/Stop.

I've rented many cars in Europe, many models have S/S, but they allow the feature to be permanently toggled off.

I bought an inexpensive after-market gizmo for a few bucks that turns off S/S for me each time I start the car. Upon engine start, the device waits about 7-8 seconds, the pulses the S/S switch. Problem solved.

ETA: I'm all for effective fuel saving techniques. S/S is not one of them. I estimate I save enough fuel each year, thanks to S/S, to fill a small mason jar.

I don't know what the complaining is about. My GMC Sierra had that feature and it worked like a champ. I never noticed any delay in getting off the light (and quite honestly the V8 was so smooth at idle that unless I looked at the tach, I couldn't tell if the engine was idling or completely off).. maybe this is an issue with smaller engines?

In the Forrester the engine is back on before your foot is fully off the brake. I tend to wonder how many people have actually given S/S systems a chance or experienced them once and got freaked out never to use it again.

 

[AdamM]

Could we get some more information on how CarPlay and Android Auto work with so many normally physical controls being relocated to the touch screen? Do the climate controls just pop-up as an overlay while using CarPlay/Android, or do you have to exit out entirely?

It seems like it would be a real pain to have to exit CarPlay/Android every time you wanted to adjust the climate controls and then relaunch it.

If its anything like any other vehicle I've seen with this style of touchscreen CarPlay/Android Auto just takes up a small portion of the screen and Subaru's own controls will slide under it.

 

[AdamM]

ETA: I'm all for effective fuel saving techniques. S/S is not one of them. I estimate I save enough fuel each year, thanks to S/S, to fill a small mason jar.

Serious people don't estimate, but measure actual savings. Pretty trivial to do if one has such a car.

Looking at comments regarding S/S here, turning it off is less about technical or economic reasons. It's more about kind of an unwillingness to shift habits a tiny bit and simply get used to it. For my part I always found it annoying to have the engine running while it isn't needed and installed a stop switch in 1989 already.

Probably depends on the type of driving?

I live in a more rural area, typically you only stop for long enough to see its clear (a couple seconds?) pulling out of a driveway/neighborhood onto the 50-55mph 2-lane highways then you cruse until you are pulling into a parkinglot where you want to be.

In my experience riding with a coworker who had S/S the only thing it did was make us miserable because the air conditioning would cut out as we stopped briefly on the way out of the parkinglot, and it made it lag a bit extra when he had to step on it to pull out onto the 55mph highway.

The OBD says I burn around 0.08 gal/hr idling my 3.6L H-6. According tot Google conversion calculator that is 1.024 teaspoons per minute. In the ~10 miles to the nearest grocery store, I pass thru 2 traffic lights which are worst-case 120 second per (yes, I've timed them) if I get there as each is turning red and can't make a right-on-red in either case. That means I would potentially save up-to 4 teaspoons of gas per trip best-case for start-stop......realistically most times at least 1 is green or I can do right-on-red and usually I am mid-cycle in the other if I don't catch it following people at the tail of the green so it's more like 0.5-1 minute stopped average.

Now if you were in the city creep-n-beep gridlock, I could see some good savings...assuming you can put up with no air-conditioning since you lose the compressor when the engine isn't turning. I'd gladly pay a couple teaspoons of gas to not be miserable myself.

It really depends on the vehicle. I’m an owner of a 2020 Subaru Forrester. Subaru’s tend to be mindful of when the S/S feature is activated. If the interior temperature isn’t close to the desired temp on the HVAC it won’t activate. So you’re not freezing in the winter and roasting in the summer.

Implementations of features between vehicles can suck and turn people off on the whole idea. As an example I also own a 2020 Mazda CX-5. Doesn’t have S/S, but unlike the Subaru the automatic climate control has no problem blasting my ass with cold air in the winter before the engine heats up.