Went looking for a new car with the mindset of it being a future family car, and a more practical and fuel efficient choice than the '02 WRX that it would be replacing. After much research, I had my heart set on an AWD CX-5 fully teched out and optioned. Unfortunately for the Mazda, the dealership also sells Subarus, and being that I really liked my WRX, felt that the Outback was worth a test drive. To quote the sales man "The worst part about test driving an Outback, is that you will forget about the other cars, and will be driving away with an Outback." He was right. Test drove, and quickly went to talking color, pricing, and options. My wife and I drove away with a lovely 2.5i (the non-turbo edition) red with cream interior Outback, and have enjoyed every minute owning it.

This car has is a lot of bang for your buck. My plan was to buy some kind of wagon or crossover or small SUV for my next car. When I finally was ready to purchase a vehicle, I settled on either a Volkswagen wagon or the Subaru Outback. Both vehicles were really impressive and honestly, in a similar price range but the Subaru Outback seemed to have more included features, and I was also attracted to the idea that it would likely have better long-term reliability. I tend to keep vehicles for a long time so that would be a major consideration for me. I found the Outback to be a nice driving car with surprisingly good handling and better gas mileage than I expected. In addition the amount of interior space is deceiving and impressive. My old car was a mid sized SUV that to all appearances was bigger than the Outback, but I can fit a lot more stuff inside and passenger room in the front and back seats is very generous. One thing I wouldn't mind would be a bit more power out of the engine but in reality I think it really just the gear ratios of the transmission that make it feel a little week from a stop. The truth is that it usually has plenty of power when it's needed.