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2008 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited – Comfort

Front Comfort
The front seat of the Outback is very comfortable, although it took at least one of us a while to find a sweet spot. The cushions are well designed, and there’s ample support in most directions. However, the Outback’s cabin is narrow compared to some of its crossover competition, and can feel cramped. There’s good head room though, the tilt/telescope wheel helps drivers find a good position, and the soft-touch door tops are a treat. Note that some shorter drivers may find that the center arm rest is too far back to be used comfortably, and closing the sunshade can also be a stretch.

Rear Comfort
We think of wagons as roomy and comfortable family cars, but the Subaru Outback’s rear seat is surprisingly tight. There’s decent head room in spite of the large sunroof, but leg room was downright cramped, with at least one passenger’s knees jammed against the driver’s seatback. It’s also narrow, so although three people could conceivably be put in the back seat, you’d better run away from them fast once you come to a stop. On a clever note, Subaru has put the rear tether anchor for child seats on the roof, so adding Junior’s booster chair in the rear won’t ruin your cargo capacity.

Interior Noise
Aside from a little wind noise around the outside mirrors and the occasional whisper from the roof rack, the Outback proved itself to be a quiet cruiser, one of the quietest in this class. Although the engine’s noise gets intrusive at full throttle, when you’re just wafting along it’s virtually silent. The tire selection is clearly intended to maximize this silence, since they weren’t generating the best traction in our off-road route.

Visibility
The Subaru Outback benefits from thin pillars all around and low head restraints on the rear seats. The upshot is very good visibility. The hood slopes away quickly giving you good sightlines, but also leaving just enough in view so that you can judge where the corners of the car are. About our only complaint is that we’d like larger outside mirrors, but it’s a minor quibble.