I own a 2022 Outback Wilderness. Subaru seems to have capitulated to lawyers and the regulatory environment to render life with the Outback Wilderness (and XT, as I’ve tested) quite unpleasant. A few cases in point: The vehicles won’t allow you to drive one MPH without ALL the seatbelts fastened. You cannot pull a Subaru out of a garage or parking space with the seatbelt unsecured without the car screaming at you. First there is the annoying beeping. After a few seconds Subaru ups its game and raises the volume ridiculously. To get it to shut up, I’ve even had to turn off the car and open a door. It is not enough to put it into park. The beeping continues. I am Not talking about driving without a seatbelt. I’m talking about 1 MPH maneuvers in one’s own driveway. Next, the car’s auto-breaking is tuned to slow you down or even slam on your brakes at every possible opportunity. The other day, my Wilderness decided to do just that almost resulting in my being rear ended. It nailed the brakes for NO reason. Next, the Outback Wilderness’ drivetrain/transmission seems tuned to prevent forward motion. It does its best to NOT GIVE POWER in nearly every situation unless you keep the accelerator depressed for more than 1-3 seconds. This is actually unsafe. In fact at highway speeds, when one presses the gas, the car momentarily reduces power and slows down. The paddle shifters help. But overall, Subaru has so neutered the Outback Wilderness to make a potentially great vehicle quite a drag to own and actually unsafe, in the service seemingly of preventing lawsuits and satisfying the EPA. I had a 2023 Outback XT loaner and it was even worse in terms of its auto-braking behavior. I’ve brought my Outback in for service and they confirmed, all of the above behavior is “normal.” For another comparison, my 2019 Subaru Forester Sport is exemplary in that it it exhibits none of these ridiculous behaviors (except the seatbelt sensitivity). This is all in addition to the Outback’s buggy electronics.
