I’m at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, stepping off what was supposed to be an early Christmas Eve flight that is now arriving well into Christmas morning. I’m more than six hours delayed because of the blizzard that has blanketed much of North America in massive amounts of snow and cold. But there is still room for improvement in this popular tall wagon. The Onyx XT starts on the higher end of the Outback lineup at about $36,000 the Premium model for $30,000 still gets the nod for the best value, but for a stronger engine, more off-road capability, and a full-size spare tire that lets you keep on trucking, the Onyx is a winner.īase price : $35,905, including $1,010 destinationĭrivetrain : 260-hp 2.The 2023 Subaru Outback Touring XT gets some tech updates that improve the package. The old flat-6 sucked up more gas than Subaru’s eco-friendly image could swallow, so the new turbo-4 is an efficient but potent addition. Also used on the Ascent three-row SUV, the turbo-4 provides a punchy alternative to get around and out of town and get to the trail quicker. If you’re familiar with Waze and are indifferent to sunroofs, I’d skip it.Īll XT models come with a 260-horsepower 2.4-liter turbocharged flat-4 instead of the 182-hp 2.5-liter flat-4 best described as sleepy in other Outbacks. The tester came with the $1,845 Option Package 22 with navigation, sunroof, and reverse automatic braking. The upside is you can still use the main menu bar at the top and the climate controls at the bottom. It looks tiny, and the buttons on the left bar barely fit a pinky fingertip. The busyness of the levels makes it distracting for the driver, however, so it’s best left for the passenger.īased on the stacked vertical layout, the display for Apple CarPlay is limited to the middle part of the screen, at maybe seven inches wide. There are some cool features hidden deep in the main screen, such as driver profiles, a display showing the activated safety features, and apps like Waze integrated from a smartphone. Pressing on the lower quadrant expands the climate controls, and the top quadrant is a status bar. The best feature is a huge map display that can occupy most of the space. There are essentially three stacked quadrants with little deviation to set them apart. Volume and tuning knobs, as well as climate control buttons flank the screen, and it’s a relief because the screen is too busy. The vertical orientation of the touchscreen mimics a tablet, and it’s more streamlined than Subaru’s old two-screen setup with one screen embedded deep in the dash. Other amenities include power-adjustable heated front and rear outboard seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel, the EyeSight suite of driver-assist features including blind-spot monitors, and the centerpiece of the interior, an 11.6-inch touchscreen. The gray on black contrast with lime green stitching looks and feels good, too. Dirt doesn’t cling to it, and coming in from the rain or the beach doesn’t make you regret it. The interior is the only Outback with water-repellent fabric Subaru calls StarTex it’s a cross between synthetic leather and vinyl. In addition to bigger black wheels, the Onyx lives up to its name with black mirrors, black badging, and all the black cladding that helps define the Outback. Hit: Aggressive in the streets, refined in the seats A donut spare or inflator kit would’ve sidelined the Outback to a service center or tire shop. After a half-hour inconvenience changing the spare, and dislodging a metal shard the size of a thumbnail, I was going down the road not feeling bad. It’s the kind of thing you don’t appreciate until you need it, and even though I didn’t go deep into the woods, I picked up enough flack in my suburban streets to need it. That’s why it’s the only Outback with a full-size spare tire. With 18-inch black alloy wheels, a 180-degree front camera, and a dual X-Mode function with snow, dirt and mud settings, the Onyx XT is meant for longer, deeper jaunts off-road.
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