2020 Subaru Outback First Drive : Polishing the Diamond

Whitehorse, YT - Like most sports teams, every automaker has on its roster one, maybe two franchise players. Try to imagine where Ford would be without its F-150, or Toyota, bereft of its Corolla. For Subaru, that role is played by the Outback. For sure, the Crosstrek and the Forester are important players in the company’s lineup as well, but the Outback is the heart of the team, the one with the C on the jersey.

If there’s one model Subaru can’t afford to mess up, in other words, this is it.

Since it debuted in 1995, the Outback has been revised every five years or so, in the spirit of the brand’s innate conservatism. That careful approach does have its upside, and the new 2020 Subaru Outback we were introduced to during a first-drive event in the Yukon is eloquent proof of that.

Like with its fraternal twin within the Subaru family, the new 2020 Legacy – which we test drove just a few weeks ago –, the overhaul given the Outback is lucid and relevant. The big difference here, though, is that Subaru is well aware of the strong demand and high expectations for its Outback, which is more than can be said about the Legacy sedan.

Its continued popularity means that Subaru thought best not to mess too much with the recipe of the Outback.

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