The short version:
The XT is much nicer than the 2.5, no surprise to anyone. If you can spare the extra $$, you won’t be disappointed. I would suggest that the $$ are very good value for the upgrade.
Long version:
The 2.5 is good for normal city and suburban use. You don’t feel it underpowered until highway speeds and you have to accelerate up a hill. This has already been reviewed to death by initial reviews online.
My personal bias is “how does the XT compare to the 3.6”? Our 2020 3.6 was the last and best of the breed. The H6 and CVT were tweaked with each new version, and this one had an almost perfect harmony between engine and transmission. In normal city and freeway driving, the engine spent much of its time at 2000 rpm or less, settled into the rpm to deliver enough torque for the demand on it, and then the CVT did its best to deliver speed or acceleration as needed. Very comfortable and relaxed cruise to drive. The hidden “oomph” was enough for smooth overtaking, load carrying and fast hill climbing.
When ordering the XTs, there was no question that a supercharged WRX engine would be fun to drive and have plenty of mid-range acceleration. The numbers running through the published gear ratios and rear gear ratio (+ weight/torque) for the XT vs WRX gave a solid clue as to how it will handle. Mid-range acceleration is much better than the 3.6 and only slightly slower than the WRX. Low speed / standing start not so special, a very conservative starting ratio that gives “normal” ie no WRX acceleration.
Driving our XT (gently as still at work) and driving the demo more “safely”, that’s exactly how it behaves.
The 0-100 standing start seems better than the 3.6, but starts softly. In the real world, do we really have to try to burn them all at the lights, right?, so 0-100 is a marginal concern.
Mid-range acceleration is a different story. Better than expected and a subjective opinion is that it is closer to wrx than 3.6. This fits with early professional reviews suggesting 7 seconds or more for the XT compared to 6 for the WRX. I’d be willing to bet that most of the difference is in the 0-30km/h section. Once moving or if required to make an attempt to overtake etc, the acceleration is very, very, impressive compared to the 3.6. We need professional reviewers to make a real comparison. (As a cynical engineer, I visualize a Subaru product planning meeting where the engineering team was told that the XT had to have slower published performance than the WRX in order to protect the WRX “brand”. The engineers agreed by slightly damaging the 0- 100, but leaving “Good Stuff” where it matters in the real direction)
The XT is generally a much quieter and smoother car than the 3.6. A really nice ride or cruise. The wind noise from the driver’s door/mirror that would have been a pain in the 3.6 at 110-115 is dramatically reduced, a huge improvement. Without having any formal sound measurements, the overall indoor noise level is much better.
Fuel consumption is still difficult to give exact figures.
The 2.5 trip meter shows 11.7 l/100 and is close to 100% urban use and short trips. There is no pump to pump data for cross checking as I have not been a driver.
The XT has been close to 100% cruising the highway at 100-115 km/h. The trip meter reads 8/100 and the first fill gives a manual calculation of 9/100. This is within 10% of 3.6 with the same usage pattern. As the engine loosens up and the driving style becomes more aggressive, it can go up or down. Overall, for our usage pattern there is no significant difference from 3.6. NB anyone who drove a 3.6 or now XT doesn’t care too much about economy as long as it’s not terrible!
A critical comparison for us is the “modest” driving behavior which is when the 3.6 was in its nice and smooth low rpm personality. My fear was that the XT would have the CVT/Engine tuned to work together keeping the rpm above 2000rpm so the “on push” and smooth cruise would be lost.
The good news is that it’s not bad, but a little different and that’s logical based on the design compromises forced by a turbo 4. There are times when you’re accelerating modestly or climbing a gentle hill when the XT RPMs are 300-500 higher than 3.6. Excellent sound correction makes this well hidden unless an obsessive driver (me) is watching the rpm and listening.
On a flat road at 110, the rpm is similar or lower than that of the 3.6, the XT seems to be set up to cruise in normal non-turbo 4-cylinder mode, which makes sense for economy.
Things change when you’re on a slight uphill or picking up speed after a slow car pull. The system setup seems to be that if some extra effort “might” be needed, move to 2000rpm plus, so the boost is ready to do some work. This is compounded by the “false” fixed ratios in the CVT. The behavior is a bit like a conventional automatic hunting between gears. RPM can be seen climbing between 1700, 2000, 2300 or more with fixed gaps. I point out that I am obsessively comparing to the 3.6 which with the same demand would pick a low rpm and stick to it. Shifting to manual and holding a ratio, the engine doesn’t really need these extra rpms and can still sit at 2000 or lower. It seems like a deliberate engineering decision to stay near the lowest part of the torque plateau so it’s ready for “action”. The benefit is that turbo lag is not noticeable in normal driving. That’s not a criticism, just different behavior when you’ve lived with the 3.6 for so long, (and every version up to the H6 3.0 VDC over 20 years ago).
After the introduction and a few 1000 km the behavior can also change if the software has a smart conservative operation in the mode.
Overall, I’d say the XT is better than the 3.6 in every way, most by a wide margin. Only the low rev behavior is more of a sideways move, not worse and not better.
After having to justify the price/value of buying the XT and 2.5 and now using them, I think all 2023 outbacks are incredible value.
The base 2.5 is a great car. It lacks nothing that matters, it has good value and a good movement.
Intermediate models add features that justify the increased price.
The upgrade to the XT is also a very good value. For $6k, not only a lot more performance, but also upgraded suspension and CVT. Looking under the hood, there is a lot of extra “stuff” not just a turbocharger. (A lot of time can be spent trying to figure out what the components and tubes are!)
Ultimately:
If you want an XT and can afford it, don’t hesitate, you won’t be disappointed either way. Especially if you are moving from any previous H4 or H6 outboard. If fuel consumption is a major issue for you, then the XT and/or 3.6 aren’t really your target choices (perhaps any Subaru AWD isn’t for you).
If you have an XT on order, wait, you’ll be very happy soon enough.
I predict that in a few years second hand XTs will be in high demand and many will find new life with easy “fixes” from the tuning community with readily available WRX “bits”. They will become the new “stealth” cars to give the GTI etc at least a slight scare on occasion.
