2023 Subaru Outback Preview - A Refresh And New Safety Tech Is Coming

Seriously? Rear seat reminder? We don't need that. Steering wheel vibration? Don't need that either. Two more fancy things to break.

Unfortunately I have had the same experience as Roger and some of the others. Yes I did read all the manuals and did the one hour class and did all the adjustments and preferences to my driving style. The driver monitoring and recognition system is unreliable. Often times doesn’t recognize me, no I wasn’t masked up. Lane centering is “trying to stay in the lane “ system. I have had my entire computer screen go black while I am driving,then re-boots. I did take it into the service department but of course in the day they kept it they could not reproduce the problem. However the last time it happened, while driving, I grabbed my iPhone and videoed the blank screen until it rebooted. I haven’t returned to the service department yet but will. I am not willing to say Subaru is garbage, but do believe MY computer system and electronics are defective. Before anyone says just turn off all the features I would say ‘then why buy a Subaru’?

I have a 2015 Outback and saving up for a 2023 Outback Wilderness. Reading what everyone is saying i may have to get something else. I love love love my Outback and i am a boomer so guess this will not be my next purchase. You all burst my bubble!!!!

The article states "The complete remodel from the ground up will come in 2024 for the Outback". While it will be released in 2024, it will be the 2025 model year. With the Outback still on the 5-year cycle, 2020 was the first model year of the current generation, 2023 model year will give us that mid-cycle refresh, and then the 2025 model year will be all-new. I bought a 2018 Outback, first time Subaru owner, did months of research and speaking to Subaru owners. While I got a steal of a deal on it since the 2019's were just hitting the showrooms and were unchanged, I had had more issues with my Outback than any other car I have owned, and the Outback has been the most expensive too. Someone mentioned CarPlay dropping out, that is a constant problem I have had as well, Subaru says its Apple, Apple says its Subaru, no fix for it either.

We're on our third Outback after a forester and two outbacks. In sum, all 4 were indestructable. The first outback suffered a alternator breakdown after 70k miles. Our current 2015 like all subarus before it, the engine seems to come to life after 70-75k miles. Fuel economy bumps up a mpg or 2 and the engine just feels different - free revving and peppy and fun to drive

. Our current car (2015) developed a noisy right front wheel bearing at 94k miles. I think thats a phenomenal reliability record over all of the cars and all but our current Outback have been driven over 100k miles. The CVT transmission in our 2015 Outback continues to perform well overall but we've noticed some vibration on the 2-3 upshifts and downshifts at low city speeds. and light throttle. Speaking for myself and spouse and based on our experience with Subarus, the Subaru outback is hard to walk away from when it comes time to purchase another car.

I have a 2020 Outback Premium. I have had some very pleasant snow driving experiences that left me wondering why I had not owned an Outback sooner. The assistant Nannies for everything are a little bit scary at first, the lane keeping and auto cruise control take some time to adapt too. I enjoy them most of the time, but other times it gets a little jittery and makes some sudden lane adjustments if you are fighting back too much. My wife hates driving it with the steering assist on. The lane keeping and collision tech is a little sensitive at times and can’t tell shadows and road tar from actual lanes, plus the forward collision sometimes slams the brakes on in my garage or when pulling up to a parking gate. I find myself arguing with the car when the little bells go off for drifting over a little or the lanes disappearing at intersections. The giant menu can be a bit infuriating having to punch multiple buttons to get to the radio or the heated seats and sometimes it’s slow to respond. But over all it’s a generally sublime driving experience and I have found the gas mileage to a be a pleasant surprise, I am hovering around 31.4 mpg. The stop start engine feature is hard to get used to but then I miss it when I drive my wife’s Jeep.

I'm getting the promos to 'upgrade' my 2020 Outback Ltd., offering me almost what I paid for it 29000 miles ago. Tempting as hell. My mileage is fantastic, over 30 mpg, it drives fine, good in snow, enough room. But that touch screen is a joke. Firstly, its an arms length away being flush with the dashboard and not protruded for easier tactile usage. The icons are tiny and bunched together, especially in Apple CarPlay, the screen is often unresponsive or too slow necessitating multiple 'touches'. The fan control is very poor in its response, count on tapping that icon at least three times to change the setting. In the mean time the 'distracted driver' nanny is beeping and squawking at you to keep your eyes on the road while you're poking with the touchscreen icons. I have put electrical tape over the nanny cam so it can't see me - there is no disable/off preference.
And many of the preferences you choose are erased every time the ignition is turned off, defaulting to what they want. (At least they did a software upgrade to put the insane engine off button on the front screen).
Upgrade? Yeah, if they improved the touchscreen.
Nope, if anything it's worse.
I'll keep the 2020 and wait for an AWD with an electronic screen package that performs to the owner's preferences, not the manufacturer.

Hopefully they drop the 90s black plastic bumpers in favor of body color. Like 17-19 style. Ruined current bumpers like the WRX. Reminds me of a base Saturn from 94.

May have to wait for the 2024 model for wireless CarPlay?