If there's one car that's found its way into our own garages — if not our hearts — as an editorial team, it's the Subaru Outback. At one point five editors have owned the all-wheel-drive wagon, including my family. We're on our second Outback, a 2010.
Related: 2015 Subaru Outback Expert Review
The 2010 is my wife's daily driver and shuttles her to work and our kids to school, soccer practice, gymnastics, doctor's appointments, you name it. We've also done many a road trip in the four-cylinder continuously variable automatic transmission combo. That's why I went through a somewhat unusual step of making sure that my wife could get behind the wheel of a 2015 Outback when one arrived at our Chicago headquarters for our editors to test..
Our test car was the top-of-the-line 3.6R Limited trim with a 3.6-liter six-cylinder engine, which wouldn't be what we'd select if trading in our 2010 Outback. The suspension is what really won over my wife, and that would likely be quite similar in one of the 2.5i trims we'd likely pick.
When running errands around town, there are stretches between our home and Home Depot, the library and the grocery store — basically everywhere — with undulating road surfaces, whether because construction hasn't been completed or just generally mediocre roads. The 2015 Outback tackled them all with little jarring inside and felt like it could handle the punishment for a long time.
I thought my wife also would appreciate the tether anchors being moved to the rear seatbacks from the ceiling in earlier Outbacks, which opens up visibility out the rear, or the new cubby placements, which she uses to their full extent in our 2010. But in the end her biggest rave was for the multimedia system. She didn't really marvel at the clarity of the color touch-screen or the features, but she was excited that she could finally get her iPhone to play music properly.
Otherwise, her overall take was similar to the Cars.com's expert review: The 2015 Outback is a little roomier, a little more refined with a lot of extras, but it doesn't wow.
Our children didn't really notice a huge difference outside of the doors being heavier, which I didn't take note of until they mentioned it. I walked over to our 2010 and opened and closed the rear doors and then the 2015's; yep ,they're heavier and close with a more solid thud than our Outback.
What about me? What did I like most? Well, the front passenger seat seems roomier, which is good since the Outback is pretty much the only car I ride shotgun in these days.
Cars.com photos by David Thomas
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