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Subaru’s 2015 Outback: Solid as a rock. Easy like Sunday morning

By Warren Brown special To The Washington Post 4 min read
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WASHINGTON — Subaru calls its 2015 Outback 2.5i Limited “segment-defining,” and it might just be that. But before accepting that intended laurel, we need to better define the segment.

It is a place of ordinary people with ordinary cares. They are mostly hard-working and reasonably well educated. They are not trying to impress anyone — just trying to make it from one day to the next with as little trouble and as much love as possible.

Many of them have what we once considered middle-income jobs. They are schoolteachers and administrators, middle managers of one sort or another. They haven’t had a decent pay raise in years but generally are happy to be gainfully employed.

Love is important to them, enunciated or not. They love their church, family, country and community — but not necessarily in that order. They are modest, not the least bit likely to show off. In fact, they tend to look askance at people who do.

They love what works and tend to return to products that flawlessly meet that requirement time and again. Their loyal affection for Subaru has pushed U.S. sales of that brand above those of Chrysler. Judging from the quality and improvements of the 2015 Outback 2.5i Limited, Subaru’s sales are likely to stay there.

The company listens to its customers. That much is obvious. Subaru owners wanted more room inside the new Outback without taking up more space on the outside. Subaru somehow managed to comply with that seemingly contradictory wish, producing a cabin with three cubic feet more space while pretty much retaining the same exterior footprint — a wheelbase (centerline distance front to rear ) of 108.1 inches and an overall length of 189.6 inches.

I can park that — easily, which is extremely important to Subaruistas, of which I am one. We don’t like fuss, especially not the kind of nonsense involved in hunting for a parking spot 20 minutes before Sunday Mass. We want something that easily fits in an available on-street parking space, and that looks as if it actually belongs there. This one does.

Subaru, however, has figured out that practical does not have to mean boring or ugly. The proof is in the new Outback Limited’s interior. Quality resides there — perforated leather upholstery perfectly stitched and fitted, heated front and rear seats, rear-seat climate control vents and a Harman/Kardon 576-watt audio system with 12 speakers.

There are the very latest advanced electronic safety options — adaptive cruise control, pre-collision braking, color stereoscopic cameras to better keep a virtual eye on the motoring environment, lane-departure warning and steering-responsive fog lights to help you better see what’s happening on a fog-shrouded road.

At the center of the Outback 2.5i Limited’s cabin is a touch-sensitive, 7-inch diameter command/control screen. You can operate it by voice or touch to call up almost any information important to your trip or to the Limited’s function and operating condition.

The latter won’t have to involve much worry about fuel economy. The new Outback comes standard with a 2.5-liter, fuel-injected, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed gasoline engine that delivers a maximum 175 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque via a continuously variable automatic transmission. The Environmental Protection Agency says that arrangement delivers 25 miles per gallon in the city and 33 miles per gallon on the highway using regular grade gasoline.

But that mileage occurs only under ideal conditions. My experience: Urban traffic a la Washington and New York drops city mileage to about 19 miles per gallon. Running with a front-seat passenger, a big (about 85 pounds) chocolate Labrador, and 200 pounds of cargo at 70-75 mph dropped highway mileage to 30 mpg.

Still, I am quite happy with this all-wheel-drive wagon. It is easy to drive and easy to park. I did not have to spend my allotted Christmas money to put fuel in its tank. It handled exceptionally well in nasty weather and high altitudes. Yes, I am quite happy with this one.

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