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2019 Subaru Forester Long-Term Update | Road trip to New Orleans

Our 2019 Subaru Forester long-term tester is rounding second base in its stay at Autoblog’s Michigan HQ, yet the blue-painted, gold-wheeled crossover hadnÂ’t left the Midwest throughout its first six months here, so I sought to change that by taking it down to New Orleans. The goal: Determine if the Forester is a good road trip car. Of course, my girlfriend and I also wanted to go to Mardi Gras, but either way, we were in for some long days of driving. There are a few umbrella categories a vehicle should excel in to make a vacation and road trip better for all involved. For me, those include comfort, utility and its driver assistance systems. Comfort I was fairly certain this category would be a boon for the Forester going in. It sops up Michigan potholes well, and it did an excellent job on the various road surfaces I encountered on the way to New Orleans, too. SubaruÂ’s passive dampers on the Forester are tuned to make rough roads more livable as opposed to whipping around a highway clover leaf. That makes for soft and rolling eight-plus-hour days behind the wheel. The cabin at highway speeds was loud, though. A lot of that has to do with the Michelin X-Ice winter tires current fixed, but there's also a noticeable amount of wind noise that follows that. Plus, if you ever need to get going in a hurry, the thrashy boxer-four makes its presence known above all other noises as the CVT pegs the needle near the 6,000 rpm redline. Our Forester has the high-end Harman Kardon audio system equipped, but we still had to jack the volume way up to hear podcasts and quieter music. The cabin noise was never overwhelming, but it did become tiresome after a few hours with this many sounds competing with each other. Since we were driving due south or due north, those crosswinds werenÂ’t just audibly annoying. Gusts were plenty capable of blowing the Forester around in its lane due to its tall, upright stance. ItÂ’s not like a big panel van, but it was still disconcerting at times. There were only two of us on this road trip, so the front seats were the only ones in use. I was plenty comfortable for the trip's entirety. The driver seat's electric lumbar adjustability left my back in good shape, and the upright seating position is a bit like sitting in a chair at a kitchen table. The seatÂ’s cushioning was supportive enough to keep me from complaining, but never too stiff so as to be uncomfortable.

New-gen 2020 Subaru Outback carries on its rugged legacy

The Outback is Subaru's best-selling vehicle, and for good reason. It's capable, it's versatile, it wears inoffensive looks, and it offers plenty of modern tech in a relatively affordable package. So when it came time to rework the model and introduce a new generation, Subaru took the less-is-more approach to the aesthetic redesign, which only has subtle tweaks. The major changes come inside the cabin and beneath the sheetmetal by introducing a more premium interior, and an all-new XT trim with a torquey new 2.4-liter turbocharged boxer engine. Similar to the approach used to update the 2020 Legacy, Subaru refined the Outback at every level. That started with the car's bones and the Subaru Global Platform. Subaru says the 2020 Outback is 70 percent stiffer in torsional and front-suspension rigidity and 100 percent stiffer in front lateral flex and rear subframe rigidity. The improved structure is also said to be 40 percent more absorbent in front and side crashes. More exciting is the introduction of multiple XT trims, which come standard with a 2.4-liter turbocharged boxer engine. Like the Legacy, the Outback is getting rid of the 3.6-liter six-cylinder engine in favor of the model's first turbocharged offering since 2009. It makes 260 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 277 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm, four more horsepower and 30 more lb-ft than the six-cylinder. Subaru notes the 2.4-liter engine offers a 3,500-pound towing capacity, which is an 800-pound improvement and the Outback's highest tow rating ever. It is estimated to get 23 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, compared to the 3.6's 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. All Outbacks come standard with permanent symmetrical all-wheel drive and a Lineartronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) that offer an "eight-speed" manual mode and paddle shifters. Base-model Outbacks continue to use a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine, which Subaru says has 90 percent new parts. Its specs increase to 182 horsepower at 5,800 rpm and 176 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm from 175 horsepower and 174 lb-ft in the previous model. With the slight increases in power comes a lighter and more agile suspension. Up front the Outback will have MacPherson struts with an internal rebound spring and a new 0.9-inch hollow stabilizer bar. In the back, a double wishbone setup with coil springs and a 0.75-inch hollow stabilizer bar. Overall, the Outback maintains its impressive 8.7 inches of ground clearance.

Subaru teases Viziv concept ahead of Geneva

Subaru will be stocking its display at the Geneva Motor Show next month: The European debut of the Subaru Forester joins the world premiere of a diesel Outback with Lineartronic CVT and a display called Subaru 360 that showcases the "brand's history and future vision."
The genuine future-speak, however, is intended to be conveyed by the Viziv concept (click the image above to enlarge). This name "Viziv" is culled from the phrase "Vision for Innovation," and the "future-generation crossover" that bears the 25th-century name has been designed to be an embodiment of "enjoyment and peace of mind."
That's quite a holistic burden for just one crossover. In the more mundane world, the Viziv will suggest Subaru's new design and technology directions. Subaru has created a mini-site for the concept that will be updated during the show, but for now, it just lets us know that March 5 will be "the start of something exciting."