CIVILISED OUTBACK

QUIETLY ACCOMPLISHED WAGON; NO BULL DUST

- ANDY ENRIGHT

I HAVE AN admission to make. I've been driving a Subaru for the last month and I don't actually know which one it is. I know it's an Outback and that it's the turbocharged one, but beyond that, I've trailed off a bit.

Subsequent research has informed me that there's a Sport and a Touring variant, but it took me a couple of weeks to figure out which was which. That, my friends, is a Very Good Thing because, as it turns out, I'm in the cheap one.

Subaru suppled a Sport version for me to try and my lack of interest in the trim level speaks volumes. It's not because I can't be bothered, but more down to the fact that this car wants for virtually nothing by way of equipment. Within reason, of course.

Back in 2018, the Subaru Forester came agonisingly close to winning Wheels Car of the Year, coming within an ace of dethroning the eventual winner, the Volvo XC40. The thing I loved about the Forester? You could choose a base model and feel that you weren't missing out. Same goes for the Outback XT.