2026 Subaru Outback Walkaround - It's All-New And Less Wagon Than Ever
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Date: 2025-04-20
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Comments and reviews: 20
georgegiorgio
It’s a sad day.
The last truly affordable AWD wagon has been erasedreshaped into yet another SUV.
As if Subaru of America, Inc. needed another one in its lineup
You already offer the Ascent, the Forester, and now, what used to be the Outback.
Wasn’t the Outbackessentially a lifted Legacy wagonmeant to stand apart
Where’s the product differentiation
Even Mercedes-Benz USA is doubling down on wagons and lifted variants.
Volvo Car USA revived theirs.
Audi USA continues to innovate with off-road-capable wagons.
But Subaru You’ve walked away from your nichecharging into the red ocean of SUVs where competition is fierce, identity is diluted, and profit margins keep shrinking.
What happened to the blue ocean you once owned
You were the champion of the unique. You had loyalists, not just buyers.
And now, EVs. Sure, Tesla proved they could go mainstream, but let’s be honestEVs still account for less than 25% of the global market. That leaves a massive space in between.
Instead of chasing the EV trend, why didn’t your engineers follow the smarter pathlike Porsche
They kept their performance DNA intact while evolving with technology.
Plug-in hybrids like the Panamera and Cayenne combine the thrill of combustion with electric efficiency.
You could have done the same.
Imagine a plug-in hybrid Outbackpowered by your proven H6 engine, delivering better fuel economy, more torque, and a true redefinition of the modern lifted wagon.
You had the formula. You had the fans. You had the lane wide open.
But now it seems the Outbackthe spiritual successor of the beloved Legacy Wagonis no more.
reply
It’s a sad day.
The last truly affordable AWD wagon has been erasedreshaped into yet another SUV.
As if Subaru of America, Inc. needed another one in its lineup
You already offer the Ascent, the Forester, and now, what used to be the Outback.
Wasn’t the Outbackessentially a lifted Legacy wagonmeant to stand apart
Where’s the product differentiation
Even Mercedes-Benz USA is doubling down on wagons and lifted variants.
Volvo Car USA revived theirs.
Audi USA continues to innovate with off-road-capable wagons.
But Subaru You’ve walked away from your nichecharging into the red ocean of SUVs where competition is fierce, identity is diluted, and profit margins keep shrinking.
What happened to the blue ocean you once owned
You were the champion of the unique. You had loyalists, not just buyers.
And now, EVs. Sure, Tesla proved they could go mainstream, but let’s be honestEVs still account for less than 25% of the global market. That leaves a massive space in between.
Instead of chasing the EV trend, why didn’t your engineers follow the smarter pathlike Porsche
They kept their performance DNA intact while evolving with technology.
Plug-in hybrids like the Panamera and Cayenne combine the thrill of combustion with electric efficiency.
You could have done the same.
Imagine a plug-in hybrid Outbackpowered by your proven H6 engine, delivering better fuel economy, more torque, and a true redefinition of the modern lifted wagon.
You had the formula. You had the fans. You had the lane wide open.
But now it seems the Outbackthe spiritual successor of the beloved Legacy Wagonis no more.
reply
benjaminsmith2287
I think the styling is terrible. The front is too chunky. It's not a truck so why make it look one. The overall shape isn't bad, but it is the forced, this is not a wagon treatment that makes it unappealing to at least some of us. That extra trim piece behind the C pillar is horrible. It's still a car Alex had to move down into even though it has a high riding height. It lacks that Subaru individual quality that the Outback once had. I really didn't like the Outback since the change from the Legacy style wagon but this is even more extreme.
The interior has the console screen with extra glossy black around it for some insane reason. Is there too much Toyota in this approach The overall design is OK and some buttons are welcome. The interior is better than the exterior but has some questionable aspects as well.
The problem is this everything has to be not a wagon and like a CUV/SUV BS that is being promoted in the industry. No it doesn't. The success of the previous design shows that.
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I think the styling is terrible. The front is too chunky. It's not a truck so why make it look one. The overall shape isn't bad, but it is the forced, this is not a wagon treatment that makes it unappealing to at least some of us. That extra trim piece behind the C pillar is horrible. It's still a car Alex had to move down into even though it has a high riding height. It lacks that Subaru individual quality that the Outback once had. I really didn't like the Outback since the change from the Legacy style wagon but this is even more extreme.
The interior has the console screen with extra glossy black around it for some insane reason. Is there too much Toyota in this approach The overall design is OK and some buttons are welcome. The interior is better than the exterior but has some questionable aspects as well.
The problem is this everything has to be not a wagon and like a CUV/SUV BS that is being promoted in the industry. No it doesn't. The success of the previous design shows that.
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anthonyng3014
Do any mid-large size SUVs sell well compared to their smaller mid-compact SUVs CX-70 Passport Crown Signia Why would Subaru join the underselling mid-large SUV segment when they already have the underperforming Ascent The reason why the 2011-2025 Outback has sold so well and outperformed Subaru's own mid-compact SUVs is because the Outback was unique. It was a lifted wagon. It was the cheapest and one of the most capable wagons available. It was basically a car lifted to SUV ground clearing heights but retained a lower roof for ease of access and aerodynamics. What will this 2026 Outback pander towards which Subaru has not offered before If anyone wanted a Subaru SUV, they already had choice between the Forester and Ascent. I feel Subaru has made a mistake in giving up the wagon market to join the underperforming mid-large SUV camp.
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Do any mid-large size SUVs sell well compared to their smaller mid-compact SUVs CX-70 Passport Crown Signia Why would Subaru join the underselling mid-large SUV segment when they already have the underperforming Ascent The reason why the 2011-2025 Outback has sold so well and outperformed Subaru's own mid-compact SUVs is because the Outback was unique. It was a lifted wagon. It was the cheapest and one of the most capable wagons available. It was basically a car lifted to SUV ground clearing heights but retained a lower roof for ease of access and aerodynamics. What will this 2026 Outback pander towards which Subaru has not offered before If anyone wanted a Subaru SUV, they already had choice between the Forester and Ascent. I feel Subaru has made a mistake in giving up the wagon market to join the underperforming mid-large SUV camp.
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AnalogKensho
Ugh. I was initially excited but have cooled to eh, I guess it’s OK. I’m pretty turned off by the Wilderness version: Tiny skid plate and ugly front end, very mild looking tires, expensive electronic dampers Coming out right after the new Passport it just seems a little half-baked and unambitious.
The interior looks good and I really appreciate the return of buttons and scaling down of piano black. Still more wagon-y than any of the alternatives, but I’m not excited about the extra load height for my kayak and the grill/front end is way too square/tall - looks like it’s trying to be a truck and failing. I assume the sight lines are decently worse than the gen 6 but maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.
Much will depend on price and driving impressions, but for me this is definitely a downgrade in design and form factor.
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Ugh. I was initially excited but have cooled to eh, I guess it’s OK. I’m pretty turned off by the Wilderness version: Tiny skid plate and ugly front end, very mild looking tires, expensive electronic dampers Coming out right after the new Passport it just seems a little half-baked and unambitious.
The interior looks good and I really appreciate the return of buttons and scaling down of piano black. Still more wagon-y than any of the alternatives, but I’m not excited about the extra load height for my kayak and the grill/front end is way too square/tall - looks like it’s trying to be a truck and failing. I assume the sight lines are decently worse than the gen 6 but maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.
Much will depend on price and driving impressions, but for me this is definitely a downgrade in design and form factor.
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Sentry1835
This has to be the ugliest Subaru ever made and top 5 ugliest vehicles in the last 20 years
Whoever thought stacking 3 lights vertical on the front fascia was cosmetically appealing should be fired. they can waste money on 3 different light housing on the front. But can't give you hood struts. To save money & weight.
The side view looks like a Nissan Pathfinder with ugly black horizontal wheel molding. The backend is a amalgamation of all SUVs styling cues
The wilderness front fascia with what looks like 5 mph vertical bull bumpers and a lot of black plastic. Then stealing design ideas spelling out Subaru on their wilderness trim, kinda like what Toyota does
The designer's over at Subaru, have really shit the bed on this redesign
Interior looks great, happy to see the tablet gone and back to physical buttons
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This has to be the ugliest Subaru ever made and top 5 ugliest vehicles in the last 20 years
Whoever thought stacking 3 lights vertical on the front fascia was cosmetically appealing should be fired. they can waste money on 3 different light housing on the front. But can't give you hood struts. To save money & weight.
The side view looks like a Nissan Pathfinder with ugly black horizontal wheel molding. The backend is a amalgamation of all SUVs styling cues
The wilderness front fascia with what looks like 5 mph vertical bull bumpers and a lot of black plastic. Then stealing design ideas spelling out Subaru on their wilderness trim, kinda like what Toyota does
The designer's over at Subaru, have really shit the bed on this redesign
Interior looks great, happy to see the tablet gone and back to physical buttons
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Calamiti999Fine
Too much big ugly black plastic & ugly snowflake wheels. looks like it can’t hold a candle to the Legacy. this build & cheap looks are a hard Pass. Thank goodness the ground clearance will be enough to dodge all of the body parts falling off on it’s first 30 minute picnic drive down a tame park corrugated road. Nothing wilderness about this treatment, except for maybe a quick trip to a big city zoo. OMG this whimsy POS sux, sorry but it does. Y’all lost a long-time fan of the Subaru Legacy of oldthe never die kind we used to run around those hard core narrow mountain roads fighting Colorado Wildfires in. no way would I ever trust my lift to this thing.
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Too much big ugly black plastic & ugly snowflake wheels. looks like it can’t hold a candle to the Legacy. this build & cheap looks are a hard Pass. Thank goodness the ground clearance will be enough to dodge all of the body parts falling off on it’s first 30 minute picnic drive down a tame park corrugated road. Nothing wilderness about this treatment, except for maybe a quick trip to a big city zoo. OMG this whimsy POS sux, sorry but it does. Y’all lost a long-time fan of the Subaru Legacy of oldthe never die kind we used to run around those hard core narrow mountain roads fighting Colorado Wildfires in. no way would I ever trust my lift to this thing.
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Ed-pr7jv
In recent years, I thought the Outback was a handsome, well proportioned vehicle. This thing is neither of those! That front grill, along with the wheel well cladding is cartoonishly ugly! Remember the Simpson episode where Homer found out he had a long lost brother, who happened to be a successful CEO of a car company. Anyway, this brother gave Homer the opportunity to design a new car, and Homer designed and had built a hideous monstrosity that looked a lot like this new Subaru. It ruined his brother’s business, and he lost everything, and he had to shutdown. That probably won’t happen to Subarumaybe.
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In recent years, I thought the Outback was a handsome, well proportioned vehicle. This thing is neither of those! That front grill, along with the wheel well cladding is cartoonishly ugly! Remember the Simpson episode where Homer found out he had a long lost brother, who happened to be a successful CEO of a car company. Anyway, this brother gave Homer the opportunity to design a new car, and Homer designed and had built a hideous monstrosity that looked a lot like this new Subaru. It ruined his brother’s business, and he lost everything, and he had to shutdown. That probably won’t happen to Subarumaybe.
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AAutoBuyersGuide
Hey all, we fixed the error message issue. He's the detail on that: When you're editing in Adobe Premiere and you're using the stabilization plug-in to reduce the hand-held motion, Premiere has to calculate the stabilization frame-by-frame. Unfortunately if even one frame in the clip changes because a transition was modified, or a clip was moved, tweaked, or looked at wrong, it'll give you the frames need analyzing banner and worse yet, the software doesn't say hey, there's an issue when you export the video for upload. It's as bummer, but there you go.
reply
Hey all, we fixed the error message issue. He's the detail on that: When you're editing in Adobe Premiere and you're using the stabilization plug-in to reduce the hand-held motion, Premiere has to calculate the stabilization frame-by-frame. Unfortunately if even one frame in the clip changes because a transition was modified, or a clip was moved, tweaked, or looked at wrong, it'll give you the frames need analyzing banner and worse yet, the software doesn't say hey, there's an issue when you export the video for upload. It's as bummer, but there you go.
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davidmccarthy6061
I like it but this update to the Outback confuses me, and we're on our fourth Subaru over the decades. Could just be a version of the Forester or Ascent. But the turbo version and towing is pretty appealing. They do need to start moving all models to hybrid if not full electric, it's just the future, but it has to be executed correctly. We have the Forester because of the many places we travel with zero charging within any reasonable distance. Nobody wants to use vacation time to drive 150 miles round trip to charge the battery.
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I like it but this update to the Outback confuses me, and we're on our fourth Subaru over the decades. Could just be a version of the Forester or Ascent. But the turbo version and towing is pretty appealing. They do need to start moving all models to hybrid if not full electric, it's just the future, but it has to be executed correctly. We have the Forester because of the many places we travel with zero charging within any reasonable distance. Nobody wants to use vacation time to drive 150 miles round trip to charge the battery.
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minnybiker4505
While i do like the slightly taller roof for ease of entry, and i do like the rear taillights. I really don't like the separate headlight trend, and hate the TV on a table infotainment screen. I like it built into the dash, not on top of it. I guess my 2023 is a winner. And yes, the screen is a little slow at start up, but it works just fine 99% of the time. I was worried i would have buyer's remorse, jumping too soon for the new car. but looks like i made a good choice. I'll see what the next generation looks like.
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While i do like the slightly taller roof for ease of entry, and i do like the rear taillights. I really don't like the separate headlight trend, and hate the TV on a table infotainment screen. I like it built into the dash, not on top of it. I guess my 2023 is a winner. And yes, the screen is a little slow at start up, but it works just fine 99% of the time. I was worried i would have buyer's remorse, jumping too soon for the new car. but looks like i made a good choice. I'll see what the next generation looks like.
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pmstirling
I really don't' like this trend towards pickup style front grills. Terrible for aerodynamics and for pedestrian safety. I doubt they'd pass the EU safety requirements.
It's also cheesy that one of the USB ports is charge only! means you can't have Android Auto and a media USB drive plugged in at the same time - really annoying and unnecessary. My '24 Forester has 2 USB-A ports which both do charge, media and android auto (or carplay if you're an Apple.
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I really don't' like this trend towards pickup style front grills. Terrible for aerodynamics and for pedestrian safety. I doubt they'd pass the EU safety requirements.
It's also cheesy that one of the USB ports is charge only! means you can't have Android Auto and a media USB drive plugged in at the same time - really annoying and unnecessary. My '24 Forester has 2 USB-A ports which both do charge, media and android auto (or carplay if you're an Apple.
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27Zangle
I bet Subaru got wind that people were worried about the new Outback not being a wagon and decided to do this press event and let people see it early to guage their disapointment.
Edit to add that the interior is nice, except for that funky little hat over the center screen.
Another edit to state that the grill and the plastic over the wheels needs some major work.
I would take the Toyota Crown Signia over this.
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I bet Subaru got wind that people were worried about the new Outback not being a wagon and decided to do this press event and let people see it early to guage their disapointment.
Edit to add that the interior is nice, except for that funky little hat over the center screen.
Another edit to state that the grill and the plastic over the wheels needs some major work.
I would take the Toyota Crown Signia over this.
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Jason-Hicks
I am so glad to see physical climate control buttons return. I currently have a 2022 Outback with the large vertical screen that is home to all the functions, and still cannot use the climate controls without taking my eyes off the road. Also the voice controls only work about 1 out of 10 times. I’ll definitely be giving this new Outback a serious consideration for an upgrade to my current Outback.
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I am so glad to see physical climate control buttons return. I currently have a 2022 Outback with the large vertical screen that is home to all the functions, and still cannot use the climate controls without taking my eyes off the road. Also the voice controls only work about 1 out of 10 times. I’ll definitely be giving this new Outback a serious consideration for an upgrade to my current Outback.
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alex_on_autos
Plus the grille is way too small. Plus it's not boxy enough. Plus the hood isn't high enough; you could clearly see too much over it and in front of the car. The whole thing looks like an Ascent without the third row of seats. And no hybrid. Always thought when our old Outback died we'd buy another one, time to rip off that band-aid.
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Plus the grille is way too small. Plus it's not boxy enough. Plus the hood isn't high enough; you could clearly see too much over it and in front of the car. The whole thing looks like an Ascent without the third row of seats. And no hybrid. Always thought when our old Outback died we'd buy another one, time to rip off that band-aid.
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michaelfriday1243
Interior, dash, instrument cluster - all marvelous; but the exterior sucks; I dislike the shape, the log nose, the plasticky grille. And then. the same old yawny, WEAK base engine Nah. I had hoped to get into my 3rd Outback; now, I'm merely Out. Sometimes things you dislike at first grow on you, so I'll leave the door open. out back.
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Interior, dash, instrument cluster - all marvelous; but the exterior sucks; I dislike the shape, the log nose, the plasticky grille. And then. the same old yawny, WEAK base engine Nah. I had hoped to get into my 3rd Outback; now, I'm merely Out. Sometimes things you dislike at first grow on you, so I'll leave the door open. out back.
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karacha
The previous gen was legendary. This is just ugly; it's boxy, but not in a good way. I like the physical controls - great stuff - and the upgraded materials. Like the digital dash too. Don't like the top plastic bump on the infotainment (who knows why it's there) or the gear lever. why do you have to mechanically put this in park in 2026
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The previous gen was legendary. This is just ugly; it's boxy, but not in a good way. I like the physical controls - great stuff - and the upgraded materials. Like the digital dash too. Don't like the top plastic bump on the infotainment (who knows why it's there) or the gear lever. why do you have to mechanically put this in park in 2026
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alex_on_autos
I'm on my 4th Subaru, I truly like the brand. But dang, I wish I could like this new Outback design. The wagon looked so awesome before. I'm just not feeling this at all yet, it's so squarish.
I truly hope it grows on me later on. I know mechanically it's such a great car and the new interior design changes are actually great.
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I'm on my 4th Subaru, I truly like the brand. But dang, I wish I could like this new Outback design. The wagon looked so awesome before. I'm just not feeling this at all yet, it's so squarish.
I truly hope it grows on me later on. I know mechanically it's such a great car and the new interior design changes are actually great.
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infernovideo
So much bulbous plastic sticking out all over the place. I've owned 3 Outbacks and 5 Subarus. This doesn't encourage me to upgrade my 2020 Outback. I'll look at other options or maybe wait for a mid cycle refresh.
I like the overall steel and glass shape but find the ridiculous amount of plastic makes it look cheap.
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So much bulbous plastic sticking out all over the place. I've owned 3 Outbacks and 5 Subarus. This doesn't encourage me to upgrade my 2020 Outback. I'll look at other options or maybe wait for a mid cycle refresh.
I like the overall steel and glass shape but find the ridiculous amount of plastic makes it look cheap.
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N-1951
I’ve been hoping for a hybrid outback. Now I’ll save money because I already have a 2020 Xt. I won’t trade it for an uglier version. The interior improvements are good but the exterior is butt ugly. Cladding could have been designed to blend in and look good. Instead they made it very clunky looking. It’s terrible.
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I’ve been hoping for a hybrid outback. Now I’ll save money because I already have a 2020 Xt. I won’t trade it for an uglier version. The interior improvements are good but the exterior is butt ugly. Cladding could have been designed to blend in and look good. Instead they made it very clunky looking. It’s terrible.
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brucec954
I still have my 2005 Outback which is perfect for Kayaks - low height, roof rack with cutouts at front and back for attaching crossbars / saddles, front and rear under bumper hooks for bow and stern lines. Every model since they have made worse for Kayaks. Now they just do cool orange accents to show you are outdoorsee.
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I still have my 2005 Outback which is perfect for Kayaks - low height, roof rack with cutouts at front and back for attaching crossbars / saddles, front and rear under bumper hooks for bow and stern lines. Every model since they have made worse for Kayaks. Now they just do cool orange accents to show you are outdoorsee.
reply
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