On its face, redesigning the Subaru Outback would seem like an easy task, since the existing model was very good at what it did. The last-generation Outback was already comfortable, all-weather and off-road capable, and able to haul pretty much whatever you threw at it, whether that meant a kayak, ten days’ worth of camping gear, or a 150-pound Great Dane. If you dug deeper, though, there were a few things that needed work.
Like rear-seat room, for starters. The last car’s tiny doors and pinched legroom put a serious cramp on the comfort of any back-seat occupants; the area was for children and pets only. But the 2010 has seen a wheelbase increase of 2.8 inches, which allows for longer rear doors and an extra 3.9 inches of leg-stretching room. Although the new Outback is 0.8 inch shorter in overall length, a height gain of 4.1 inches contributes to an increase in interior space of several cubic feet. Most of that is in the rear seat; cargo space with the rear seats in place is up just 0.8 cubic foot, but when you fold the 60/40-split rear seatbacks, nearly 6 cubes were gained. The move from a multilink rear suspension to a control-arm setup allows for a more usefully shaped cargo hold. Front legroom decreased by just over an inch, but we didn’t notice it a bit. The new car’s extra 2.0 inches of width mean that front occupants no longer will spend trips bumping elbows.
Tags: 2010 Subaru Outback, 2010SubaruOutback, Featured, First Drive, FirstDrive, Outback, Subaru, Subaru Outback, SubaruOutback
