2013 Subaru Outback Road Test Review

2013 Subaru Outback Road Test Review

By Bob Plunkett

We're buckled to the bucket of a juiced 2013 Outback 3.6R, Subaru's 5-door crossover wagon built in Indiana, with hands working a sporty steering wheel on a hair-raising drive test through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

The automatic transmission's manual shift mode runs through paddle shifters planted on the steering wheel, so we play the finger-flicker game to manage all of the torque from a gutsy boxer-6 engine and send it to all of the wheels through a 4-wheel-drive mechanism which operates automatically with Variable Torque Distribution (VTD).

Outback was designed to live up to its rugged name.

It has the rigid unibody structure of a car but a hiked suspension which compares in height to a sport utility vehicle. And it carries the all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction system that's always engaged. With all tires clawing for grip and the chassis elevated, an Outback can bump across a rocky field, scamper through a creek bed and zip down a rugged 2-rut trail to reach a backwoods campground. [Full review]