You don't like how the new seventh-generation Subaru Outback looks. I'm sure you find its face ungainly, its proportions odd, and its overall demeanor unsettling. But do you know who doesn't care? Outback buyers. They love the fact that this thing looks a little messed up because it sets them apart from the CR-Vs and RAV4s of the world. They'll love it because it's now a bit bigger than before — without getting too big — so it can fit more of their weird outdoorsy crap inside. I'm sure they'll love that it rides and drives a bit better, and that you can now tie a hammock to the roof rails, too.
Sure, the 2026 Outback looks a lot different than the car it replaces, and while it's a ground-up redesign of the old model, Subaru engineers took the time to make incremental improvements to a car that they already knew was a winner. When you've been producing a success like the Outback for as long as Subaru has, you don't mess with that. You make things better, but you don't reinvent the wheel, and that's exactly what designers and engineers in Japan did.
What we've got here is a Subaru Outback that is undoubtedly better than the one that came before it. This is a car that fixes some of the issues we've had with Subies of the past, but it's not some giant leap forward — it doesn't need to be.
Full Disclosure: Subaru flew me out to beautiful Sedona, Arizona, put me up in a lovely hotel and fed me all so I could drive the 2026 Outback.
Do not believe what the pictures are telling you, the 2026 Outback is very much still a wagon. Yes, it has gotten a tiny bit taller, but an extra 1.4 inches of height (bringing it to 67.4 inches) does not magically transform a lifted wagon into a crossover, and just about every other exterior dimension is within a few tenths of an inch compared to the previous Outback. The reason this one looks so much chunkier than the old car is down to a few simple tricks of the eye. Subaru went with a lot more horizontal design cues in this car, making it appear wider and more upright than before, and it dropped some of the body cladding. It also gave the new Outback ladder-style roof rails, which are certainly more functional than the old units, but they make the Outback seem taller than it already is.
There's a simple reason Subaru did this: customer feedback. From where I'm sitting, there isn't another mainstream automaker out there that listens to what its current customers say more than Subaru. They said they wanted more trunk space and more headroom, and the least drastic way to do that, according to Subaru designers and engineers, was to bump up the roof by 1.4 inches. The nose and C- and D-pillars are also far more upright than they were before, aiding the "not a wagon" camp in their claims, but I promise they're wrong.
Beyond just the proportions, the rest of the exterior has been redesigned and is as ugly as ever for 2026. There are new split headlights up front and an LED lightbar out back to help keep up with the times; the fog lights have shrunk a bit, and of course, there's a slew of new wheel designs. Those ladder-style roof rails can now hold up to 800 pounds (a 100-pound improvement over the old car) if you're feeling adventurous. Subaru even touts that a hammock can be tied to the roof rails, and they'll support up to 220 pounds of "static horizontal tugging" (not what your mom and I called it last night).
Subaru has never really been known for its interior quality, refinement or technology implementation, but I've gotta say, the seventh-generation Outback provides a massive step up in all three areas. The centerpiece(s) of this totally redesigned interior are a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 12.1-inch touchscreen display in the center of the cabin that serves as the car's infotainment center.
We first saw this gauge cluster on the WRX tS last year. Like in that car, it's a huge upgrade from the analog displays we're used to. It's fairly customizable, and it can display full-screen Apple CarPlay Maps or Waze. It's not at the same level as Audi's Virtual Cockpit, but it's still damn good, especially from a volume automaker like Subaru.
The big news here is the new infotainment system. Once again, Subaru listened to its customers — and everyone else on the planet — and ripped out the 11.6-inch vertical display of the previous Outback. Between its laggy controls and dated graphics, it was one of the worst systems in the industry. This new system, though. Man, Subaru figured it out. It's incredibly easy to navigate and easy to customize. The learning curve is a short one, and it comes with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto if you're not interested in learning more about it.
Along with the new, bigger display, Subaru also brought back a ton of physical controls. All of your climate functions — and I mean all of them — are once again controlled with real buttons. The screen isn't involved at all, and I'm sure that'll make a great deal of people happy. Subaru also took the time to include hard buttons for auto stop/start, camera activation, auto brake hold and traction control right below the traditional PRND shifter. It's a lovely balance of old and new for people who were tired of hunting through the old system's menus.
It's not just a new technology suite, though. Subaru says the new Outback is both quieter and comfier than the old car, and after spending an entire day in this thing in both loaded Touring XT trim and base Premier trim, I've gotta say, its engineers weren't lying. Usually, after spending that much time in a Subaru, your back hurts and your ears are bleeding, because Subaru's mantra has always been to find the least amount of materials necessary to make something legally a car and then add 1%. However, I felt totally fine after hundreds of miles. A big help was, of course, the redesigned front seats and improvements Subaru made to the car's noise, vibration and harshness. Obviously, some of that boxer engine grumble gets in, but it's far more isolated than it's ever been before.
Subaru's designers also worked to give the new Outback more room on the inside without making the car drastically bigger. Like I said, it's only 1.4 inches taller, but that comes out to 2 extra cubic feet of cargo space out back, now up to 34.6 cubic feet. That makes a big difference if you need to get your combination paddle-boat-hang-glider-dog-kayak back there. If that isn't quite enough room, you can still drop the second row of seats, and that'll give you 80.5 cubic feet of space, nearly 5 cubic feet more than before.
Oh, and don't worry. There's still plenty of room in the rear seats for your 2.2 kids. 39.5 inches of rear legroom means that at 6-foot-1, I can fit behind my driving position with ease, and Subaru made sure to cover the car's interior in surfaces that are easy to clean up in case you or the wild beast you're taming makes a mess. There's no cloth seat option, but oddly, on lower trims, there is a cloth dash option.
There are two engines available for the 2026 Outback. One of them is very good, and one of them is... well... a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter boxer-four tasked with moving around a 3,800-pound family wagon/crossover thing. The fact that it's only working with 180 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque certainly doesn't help matters, and I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that with this engine, the Outback is dog slow. Subaru hasn't released any sort of official 0-60 times, but my ass tells me it's somewhere around 9 seconds unladen with two occupants. Once you fill this thing with your weekend adventurer junk, it might drop into the 10s. At the very least, you still get Subaru's tried-and-true all-wheel-drive system that is mated up to a CVT with eight fake gears. They're pretty much useless unless engine braking is necessary. In any case, Subaru says this ruddy little motor will get 25 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 27 mpg combined. That's not great, but it's not terrible for something this size with full-time AWD.
The engine you really want is unfortunately geofenced behind the Limited XT and Touring XT trim levels, but it's worth it. This turbocharged 2.4-liter flat-four pumps out a far more respectable 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque, dropping my butt-o-meter 0-60 time to around 6 seconds, which makes a massive difference. Overall, the turbo engine makes the Outback a far more pleasant vehicle to spend time with. It's still saddled with the same CVT, but the brilliant AWD system makes up for a lot.
When it comes to on-road driving, where most Outbacks will spend the vast majority of their time, both drive pretty much the same. For 2026, Subaru added dual pinion electric power steering to make the car "snappier," according to engineers, but I can't tell the difference. The Outback is as rolly and wallowy as ever, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's a Subaru Outback. It's not supposed to be sporty at all. Don't even think about sporty driving. It's a waste of time. The steering is numb, the body is constantly in motion, and the CVT makes sure there's a business day between pressing the gas and actually going anywhere. None of this matters. I don't care, and neither should you.
Luckily for budget-conscious off-roaders, both engines also perform admirably off-road. I won't try and justify the off-roading Subaru put us through, but let's just say it was rocky, steep and unpleasant. The Outback, with its 8.7 inches of ground clearance, did a great job of tackling whatever was thrown at it, thanks in part to Subaru's X-Mode off-road system and all-season tires (which can be anywhere between 17 and 19 inches depending on trim level). I didn't get to drive the hard-ish core off-road Outback Wilderness yet; that'll come in the next few months.
Something I did get to check out was Subaru's newest addition to its EyeSight suite of safety technology. Really, the new Outback's centerpiece is Subaru's first hands-free Level 2 highway driving system. My time using it was limited to a few minutes, but I'll say this: for a first effort from a relatively small brand, it was impressive as hell.
Much like General Motors' Super Cruise and Ford's BlueCruise, the system never times out. As long as you're looking ahead, it'll just continue down specifically mapped roads until something out of the ordinary comes up. It'll even do neat tricks like automatic lane changes if you flick the turn signal. While I won't say it's the best system in the industry, it's damn good.
That being said, Subaru admits that it's still in the testing phase with its hands-free Level 2, and it expects it to actually reach customer vehicles in 60 to 90 days. When it's ready, Touring XT owners (the only trim level you can get it on) will have to stop by the dealer to get the software installed.
We've reported that the 2026 Outback is about $6,000 more expensive than the car it replaces, but that makes sense. Subaru dropped the base version of the car for this seventh generation, and by one engineer's math, the company was able to add about $4,000 in value for a $2,200 price increase to the new base model, which is now the Premium trim. From there, we've got the Limited, Touring, Limited XT and Touring XT. Of course, the Wilderness will also show up sooner rather than later.
Right off the bat, the Premium gets you all sorts of goodies like a power driver's seat, 18-inch wheels, EyeSight, that excellent 12.1-inch infotainment screen and 12.3-inch gauge cluster, heated front seats, a billion cargo hooks, LED lights, dual-zone climate control and a bunch of other little things. It starts at $36,445, including destination.
From there, we've got quite a big delta. The $43,165 Limited adds 18-inch black wheels, a power passenger seat, navigation, heated rear seats, perforated leather upholstery, a power sunroof, a heated steering wheel, a Harman/Kardon stereo and a wireless phone charger. Next up is the Touring, which comes with all of the fun stuff from above, plus power-folding mirrors, a better EyeSight system, simulated Nappa leather all over, ventilated front seats, and a surround-view monitor. Prices start at $46,845, and this is where we say goodbye to the 2.5-liter engine.
The Limited XT is very similar to the Limited, but adds 19-inch alloy wheels, the lovely turbocharged engine and dual exhausts. At $45,815, it actually costs a bit less than the Touring, because you're giving up some of the luxury features of that car for the better engine. Finally, there's the big daddy Touring XT. It gets everything and more, including different 19-inch wheels, the hands-free Level 2 system, Nappa leather, the turbocharged motor and all sorts of other luxury goodies. It'll set buyers back $49,445.
The crossover market, which Subaru helped create when it first launched the Outback in the mid-1990s, is about as competitive as a segment can be, and Subaru knows it cannot mess around with subpar infotainment, a noisy ride and not enough headroom anymore.
I know, many of you wish the Outback of today could look like the Outback of yesterday. Maybe it was the car you had when you were a kid. Maybe it was your buddy's, or your first girlfriend's, or whatever, but the world has changed a lot since then, and the Outback has been forced to change with it.
However, there are few automakers with as strong a DNA as Subaru, so while it might not look exactly like the Outback of days gone by, from certain angles, you can still sense its Subaruness, just like how, from certain angles, you can absolutely still tell this thing is a wagon. And it's a damn good one, at that.