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2020 Subaru Outback Review & Buying Guide | All hail the mighty wagon!

It may not look it, but the 2020 Subaru Outback is a completely redesigned model. Eager to keep its snowball of success rolling, Subaru chose to evolve and refine its popular, genre-bending utility vehicle rather than re-inventing the wheel. The key improvements can be found inside, where swaths of padded simulated leather are pretty much everything, creating an overall environment that's more pleasant for your eyes and fingers. Even the armrests are pleasantly squishier than before. Ultimately, though, the cabin's show-stopper is the massive vertically oriented touchscreen found on most trim levels. Mechanically, the 2020 Outback sees the welcome return of a turbocharged engine upgrade – good news for those living at higher elevations – but the overall driving experience remains familiarly comfortable yet drably uninvolving. The near-constant beeping and flashing of the car's over-eager standard safety nannies will at least keep you awake. The Outback's overall packaging also remains on par, boasting a more spacious and comfortable back seat than compact SUVs can manage along with a cargo area that's basically an unending void for your stuff. And if that's not enough, it has the most useful roof rails in the industry. Basically, if you need your utility vehicle for actual utility, the Outback remains a superior choice. The changes for 2020 just make it a more pleasant place for repeat customers and a more appealing alternative for those otherwise considering SUVs. What's new for 2020? The Outback was completely redesigned for 2020. What's the Outback's interior and in-car technology like? It's all about the screen. Nearly every 2020 Outback comes with a vertically oriented 11.6-inch touchscreen (and even that lone exception comes with a pair of 7-inch units, pictured above right). Its functionality isn't flawless, as the audio controls when using Apple CarPlay are compromised, and the colorful cartoonish graphics have an aftermarket look to them. Still, it's generally easy to use, read and reach. Feature content is excellent as well (see pricing and features section below). Unfortunately, typical for Subaru, stereo sound quality is poor in the standard four- and six-speaker systems. In terms of design, we can't say the new Outback is especially attractive, but at least an influx of better materials elevates the overall ambiance.

Subaru gunning for 500,000 US sales by 2015

For the last four years in a row, Subaru has experienced incredible sales growth including record sales of 336,441 units in 2012. This trend is all but guaranteed to continue this year with 281,652 on the books so far, but Automotive News is reporting the automaker has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
The report says that Subaru is gunning for around 500,000 sales in the US by 2015, which doesn't seem like too far of a stretch considering 2013 sales totals are expected to top 400,000 units. Through August, Subaru's sales are up 29.3 percent compared to 2012, thanks to popular models like the Forester, Outback and, surprisingly, the WRX.
A new WRX is headed for an LA Auto Show reveal while an all-new Legacy is due out next year, and AN adds that Subaru is planning to significantly increase its media spending next year and start production of the Impreza sedan in the US in 2016.

2018 Hyundai Kona vs other small crossovers: How they compare on paper

The 2018 Hyundai Kona is the hottest new thing in the hottest new segment: subcompact crossovers. Or B-segment SUVs. Or whatever you might want to call this hodge-podge collection of vehicles of vaguely similar specs. Each is pretty much just a raised hatchback in some form (or literally in the case of one entry), skewing the increasingly vague line between car and SUV. If there was ever a segment that deserved the term "crossover" for more reasons than just its car-based unibody architecture, this would be it. Now, for this specs and photos comparison, we lined up the new 2018 Kona with an appropriate variety from that hodge-podge. Most are those that people are actually cross-shopping the Kona against — the Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR and Subaru Crosstrek — while the Kia Soul and Jeep Renegade line up well in other regards. There are certainly others we could've included, but we're frankly a little pressed for spreadsheet space, and if you really want to know how a Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X or Ford EcoSport would've stacked up, you can always use our Compare Cars feature. (You can also check out our Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross comparison that includes a few larger choices) Performance, fuel economy and drivetrains Immediately you can see how all over the map this segment is. True, all but the Jeep come with a standard naturally aspirated four-cylinder and fairly comparable horsepower. Torque differs, but not wildly so. Then things get nuts. Some are automatic only, the Toyota is CVT only, the Honda and Subaru come with a manual standard and offer a CVT as an option. The Renegade's base engine is manual-only ... in 2018. Of course, then things flip-flop with the Renegade's upgrade being naturally aspirated and the Hyundai and Kia offering turbocharged mills. The Korean corporate cousins also come with automated manuals, whereas the Renegade has a box with nine gears selected by a lethargic monkey. Then there's the drivetrain. The C-HR is front-drive only, which pretty much cements the Soul's place in a segment it arguably created despite not offering all-wheel drive. That's the only way to get the Crosstrek, while the Honda and Hyundai offer a typical option of a part-time system. In Jeep fashion, the Renegade's "four-wheel drive" systems differ by trim level.