2006 Subaru Outback 2.5i XT Limited Wagon

Turbo Lover

The Good

Black interior looks sharp!
Turbo is tons of fun to drive

The Bad

Back seat too small for adults
Sport seats bad on short legs
Price is much higher than non-turbo Outbacks and 6 cylinder versions

Woowee - this is a peppy turbo! With 250 horsepower and 250 lb-ft of torque, this is one fun ride. I enjoyed slinging it through u-turns and zipping down the feeder. In fact I was having so much fun I took one u-turn a bit too fast and was glad that it was a super wide lane so I had room to swing wide.

I love the black interior – instead of the cheesy wood-colored plastic accents that cheapen the tan interior, it has silver accents that blend well with the black and don't look nearly as plasticky.

The radio and a/c controls are laid out in an organized, clean manner and this model features navigation. The navigation displayed a distracting warning message about how dangerous it is to use while driving, but I didn't try to use it otherwise. Personally, I prefer to use a map I keep in my glovebox that's a steal since the Texas travel bureau mailed it to me for free.

Feel like a bit of sun? Just pop open the gigantic sunroof. With the push of a button, the sunroof opens and then stops partway open. Push again and it opens further. One more push opens it the full way, which reaches almost to the back seat. It was about 3:30pm and the sun was at such an angle that when the sunroof opened all the way, Chris got a face full of sunlight in the backseat. He doesn't actually like the happy warmth of the sun, so I promptly closed it again. It is easy to control while driving.

The steering wheel is very odd. The automatic XT comes with a sport shifter and steering wheel controls, which are buttons on the steering wheel where your thumbs would hit if you gripped the wheel at nine and three. I didn't play with the controls, but that seemed a strange way to present them – I just assumed they were radio controls before the salesman corrected me. And they're not labeled, so be careful letting your friends drive! Another odd feature is the deep steering wheel seam down the face of wheel. It seemed to me like two pieces were glued together and I fidgeted with it the whole time, poking my fingers into the gap. Knowing me, I would eventually pry those pieces apart.

The automatic shiftgate sort of meanders around the console – sort of a kinked up j-shape. I put the shifter in what I thought was drive, but the salesman pointed out it was the manu-matic mode, so it's not very intuitive. I'm a fan of straight line shiftgates in automatics – if I want to push the shifter around in weird shapes, I'll get a stickshift.

The XT has sport seats up front, and they are a deal breaker for me. I drove this on a very short route, just down the feeder to the next turn-around and back, and in that short amount of time my legs hurt. The seat pushes up into my hamstrings just a few inches above my knees. I tried lowering the seat all the way, raising it, raising just the butt, but no relief. The salesman even tried adjusting it for me, which was just weird. I like to sit as far back as I can from the steering wheel, which means my legs are extended out in front of me with the backs of my knees resting on the seat cushion. If I sit closer and bend my knees more like I'm sitting in a short chair instead of lounging, it would probably fix the problem – but that's not how I drive. The salesman suggested I would get used to it, but if a car isn't comfortable on the lot, I'm not sure it ever will be.

The rear seats are comfortable and I felt there was plenty of room, although Chris disagrees (see his notes at the bottom). The XT has a center armrest that pulls out of the seat back and cupholders that fold out of the console. The middle seat belt was a bit weird though – it hung from the ceiling and when laying the seats down for cargo, you need to watch where the seat belt ends up. I'd prefer if it was built into the seat back instead of the ceiling.

The back seats fold almost flat in a 60/40 split. They are light enough that I could lower and raise the 60 side with just one hand – in my Audi it takes me two hands and I have to put my back into it to raise the 60 split. The cargo space behind the seats has a cover that pulls from a bar that rests just behind the seats. The bar is removable so you can put taller items in the back. The cover that pulls out of it is pretty flimsy and cheap-feeling, but it gets the job done.

The doors are very light and don't need much of a push to close all the way, but still feel solid.

The engine compartment isn't as plastic-clad as many other modern engines I've seen, perhaps because the boxer engine is so wide that other important bits would be covered. We only saw the engine compartment because the car had been sitting on the lot so long the battery was dead – a jump start was needed before we could take it and then it was out of gas so we drove a different XT instead.

Notes from the back seat

The back seat is too small. When a normal sized person sits back there, his legs and knees rub and his feet don't fit well under the seat. However, I am very impressed with the seat material – smooth and supple. If this is vinyl like Casey suspects,* it's extremely nice.

I really liked the Momo steering wheel – size, thickness, and the handgrip bumps (at 10 and 2). The seam that Casey picked on didn't bother me at all.

In the tan interiors, that striped wood-colored plastic is the cheesiest looking fake wood I've ever seen in a car. The silver trim in the black interior was much nicer and I recommend that, even though you can't pair the black with as many exterior paint colors.

The Outback felt peppy, but I would have preferred riding in the backseat of the WRX!

Casey's driver-seat issue looked like it would provide added comfort for my normal length legs on trips – it wasn't uncomfortable for me at all – maybe because I bend my legs to drive.

*The brochure calls the seats "leather trimmed," and when driving I felt very hot in them - so hot that I looked to see if the seat heaters were on. They weren't, so I'm assuming they're vinyl middles with leather bolsters. I could be completely wrong.

Overall Impression

The seats made me miserable, so I can't buy this model. And Chris has crossed the Outback entirely off my possible next ride list because the back seat is too small - he wants a backseat where he can cross his legs if he wants. But it was fun to drive, and pretty good bang for the buck.