Subaru a historic two-timer as Outback wins Motor Trend SUV of the Year award
2010 Subaru Outback – Click above for high-res image gallery
Subaru is a historic two-timer. For the second year in a row, the Japanese company has claimed Motor Trend magazine's coveted Golden Calipers for its SUV of the Year award – the first time any automaker has managed to do so. The company's new-for-2010 Outback has evidently picked up where last year's Forester left off, and we understand why – it's a dynamite all-around package.
The lifted Legacy did face some stiff competition, including vehicles we've enjoyed driving recently – players like the Audi Q5, Volvo XC60, Lincoln MKT, and Mercedes-Benz GLK. But from where we sit, the Subie's most formidable opposition for the award were all premium priced offerings, and the Outback is a more affordable jack-of-all-trades with few compromises – especially now that Subaru's engineers have seen fit to let out the back seat a bit. In any case, you can check out the official press release after the jump or read our review of the Outback by clicking here.
Gallery: First Drive: 2010 Subaru Outback
[Source: Motor Trend]
Subaru Outback Named MOTOR TREND's 2010 Sport/Utility of the Year(R)
- Subaru First Automaker with two consecutive MOTOR TREND Sport/Utility of the Year Titles -
CHERRY HILL, N.J., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. today announced that the Subaru Outback has been named MOTOR TREND's 2010 Sport/Utility of the Year.
The Subaru Outback's victory follows the Subaru Forester's win for the 2009 award, making Subaru the first automaker to win two consecutive MOTOR TREND Sport/Utility of the Year awards.
MOTOR TREND editor-in-chief, Angus MacKenzie, said, "The 2010 Subaru Outback offers a unique combination of comfort, efficiency, versatility and value. It boasts car-like refinement, drivability and gas mileage on the road, yet is as capable in the rough stuff as all but the most off-road focused sport utilities. Thoughtfully engineered, cleverly detailed and competitively priced, the Subaru Outback is a terrific all-rounder with broad appeal."
"We are doubly proud and honored to receive the MOTOR TREND 2010 Sport/Utility of the Year award for the second consecutive year," said Thomas J. Doll, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Subaru of America Inc. "To win the 2009 award for the Forester was wonderful enough, but to have won for the 2010 Outback this year is truly an outstanding achievement. The Subaru Outback is an icon of performance and capability and was the original SUV alternative. Now with its improved power, economy and increased dimensions it is the complete package."
Speaking to Subaru of America's sales success as the top performing automaker of 2009, Doll noted, "The success of our business is founded not only on our outstanding products, but also on the commitment and dedication of our retail sales network and great sales and marketing programs. We are absolutely thrilled that MOTOR TREND has added their validation to the Subaru brand."
Priced from $22,995, and produced at Subaru's zero-landfill plant in Lafayette, Indiana, the all-new Subaru Outback is available with either a 170-hp 2.5-liter four cylinder boxer engine or a 256-hp 3.6-liter six-cylinder boxer engine. The 2010 Outback is built on an all-new platform featuring a 2.8-inch longer wheelbase (now 107.9 inches) that improves ride and interior space, especially rear seat legroom. The 2010 Outback also features increased hip and shoulder room.
Living up to Subaru's legendary safety record, the Outback offers cutting-edge safety technology, including Subaru's ring reinforcement safety system, front, seat-mounted side, and side-curtain airbags and ABS. Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) system, which incorporates stability and traction control systems with a roll-over sensor, is also standard equipment.
The Subaru Outback was recently named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS).
To judge contenders for the award, MOTOR TREND's editorial staff conducted an exhaustive three-phase testing process. Phase one of the process includes a full tech check and weigh-in, then full track testing to establish baseline data for acceleration, braking, and handling. Phase two involves three days of road loops offering a range of road surfaces and traffic conditions to evaluate ride and handling, engine and transmission smoothness and responsiveness, wind and road noise, and ergonomics. A dirt-track section tests traction, stability, and braking control systems. In phase three the judges debate and deliberate. This year, the editors updated and expanded the judging criteria to six new categories:
-- Design Advancement - well-executed exterior and interior styling;
innovative vehicle packaging; good selection and use of materials.
-- Engineering Excellence - total vehicle concept and execution; clever
solutions to packaging, manufacturing and dynamics issues;
cost-effective tech that benefits the consumer.
-- Intended Function - how well the vehicle does the job its planners,
designers, and engineers intended it to do.
-- Efficiency - low fuel consumption and carbon footprint, relative to
the vehicle's competitive set.
-- Safety - a vehicle's ability to help the driver avoid a crash, as well
as the secondary safety measures that protect its occupants from harm
during a crash.
-- Value - competitive price and equipment levels, measured against those
of vehicles in the same market segment.
MOTOR TREND's Sport/Utility of the Year is not a comparison test and is only open to all-new or substantially upgraded vehicles that have gone on sale in the 12 months from November 1 of the previous year. MOTOR TREND looks for the pick of each year's crop of new SUV's, and does not revisit vehicles that have been on sale for the past few years.
About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of approximately 600 dealers across the United States. Subaru boasts the most fuel efficient line-up of all-wheel drive products sold in the market today based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy standards. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit www.subaru.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Kris 10:08AM (10/15/2009)
I'm so torn on this car. Likely we'll end up buying one next year to replace our Forester, but I'm having a really hard time getting past the exterior looks. The interior is nice, the mileage is great, the back seat room is a HUGE improvement... I guess it doesn't matter though. It'll be my wife's car, and she likes the way it looks. And it'll make my 2010 Golf TDI look even better when parked next to it :)
I was sort of amused that it won SUV of the year, since Subaru has always said it was a SUV alternative. Given the increased dimensions, its a fitting classification though.
Reply
montoym 12:12PM (10/15/2009)
quote:
- "I was sort of amused that it won SUV of the year, since Subaru has always said it was a SUV alternative." -
Agreed. Makes me wonder what the Forester is for if this is their compact SUV.
I'm starting to think that the SUVOTY competition is starting to become a catch-all category for anything that's not a car or a truck. That leaves a lot in the middle and it's really starting to dilute the award IMO.
Aprime 2:21PM (10/15/2009)
It looks much better in person.
John H. 2:33PM (10/15/2009)
"I was sort of amused that it won SUV of the year"
If you look at the criteria:
- Design Advancement - not much here, as usual
- Engineering Excellence - Subaru is *very* strong on Engineering
- Intended Function - very capable at doing what it's supposed to
- Efficiency - fuel economy and zero carbon factory are strong
- Safety - great active safety due to low CG and Suby tuning
- Value - good basic content and low MSRP
As for it being a wagon, that's what a Suburban is too - it just never advanced the technology.
Kris 2:53PM (10/15/2009)
Yeah, I will admit it does look better in person. I walked around one a month or so ago when they first showed up on dealer lots. It really does feel huge though. I have a problem with the headlights, and the wheel wells feel too deep for the height the body has been raised. I think both features look better balanced on the legacy sedan, but it feels like they wanted to try more Infiniti features and lost something from the previous design, which was quite strong.
As I said before though, I'll probably be getting one next year in a CVT configuration for my wife, though we'll probably wait for a 2011 model. 29 MPG highway is impressive for AWD, let alone a vehicle of that size. Our 2008 Forester gets around 27 highway, and its a lot smaller.
akboss302 10:08AM (10/15/2009)
No doubt an excellent all-weather family vehicle/SUV, as long as you don't intend on towing anything. I'd much rather drive this than a lot of the cute 'utes out there.
Reply
Mitch 10:10AM (10/15/2009)
This isn't even an SUV, it is a station wagon based on a car. How can it win SUV of the year? So now is the definition of an SUV anything with a hatch? Will the Ford Fiesta 5 door be a SUV of the year contender next year?
Reply
arinze 10:22AM (10/15/2009)
Stop being so dramatic. An SUV is based off of the height of the roofline. Few vehicles are traditional "body on frame" SUVs now. "Raised wagons" as you put it, include the Mercedes GL, Range Rover and the Porsche Cayenne, so I don't know what makes the Outback any different.
Mitch 10:27AM (10/15/2009)
So does this now make the Subaru Legacy a crew cab pickup truck? Even Subaru doesn't call the Outback an SUV. They have the Forester to fill that SUV/Crossover niche. Maybe the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V wagon will win SUV of the year next year. Why can't it?
homunculus 10:49AM (10/15/2009)
most people don't "need" a truck suv. most people do need station wagons but they're too caught up in the suv idiocy. there's nothing wrong with a little perspective rehabilitation by choosing the outback.
300istheno. 10:50AM (10/15/2009)
Mitch.....SUV....sport utility vehicle.....it doesn't say truck, so you should just shut up man...
Apart from the towing, which alot of people don't use the maximum capacities anyway, this qualifies as it does well offroad and on road, cargo capacity and so forth
nbarry 10:51AM (10/15/2009)
Exactly what I was going to say.
I've always heard Subaru referred to a "Lesbian Whisk-About."
So, it could get LWA of the year, but SUV? C'mon.
My subscription to MT ran out shortly after C.Van Tune left and I haven't missed it.
Mitch 10:51AM (10/15/2009)
So now all station wagons and hatch backs are SUVs???
Jeff Madson 11:14AM (10/15/2009)
Mitch,
It became an SUV this year when they raised the roofline four inches from last years model. The fact that it became an SUV in my mind was actually the reason I did not buy one.
nrb 11:35AM (10/15/2009)
I gotta side with Mitch. SUVs had an accepted definition. CUVs came out as a different class of vehicle. Now when it comes time to give out an SUV award, we include CUVs (or station wagons)?
Hell, it won the award for being NON-SUV like!
It's all stupid.
Eh 11:54AM (10/15/2009)
Honestly if I were subaru I wouldnt want to be known for having the best SUV. SUV has so much stigma these days I can see this award turning a lot of people off to the car and getting a normal wagon because they dont want anything to do with gas guzzling SUVs.
DJ 12:01PM (10/15/2009)
I'm just happy it got the SUV award so we can stop calling these things CUV's. Now, can we start taking the "S" out too, there's nothing "Sport" about these things.
Mitch 12:02PM (10/15/2009)
Eh, my neighbor just bought a 2009 outback because his wife didn't want an SUV but they needed the wagon because they just had a baby.
montoym 12:30PM (10/15/2009)
quote from arinze:
- ""Raised wagons" as you put it, include the Mercedes GL, Range Rover and the Porsche Cayenne" -
Umm, no they don't. Please tell me which cars those vehicles are based on, I'll be patiently waiting.
A wagon is a version of an existing car, like the CTS Wagon, the Legacy Wagon, the E-Class Wagon, the Jetta Wagon..............I could go on and on. There is no GL car that the wagon is based on, there is no Range Rover car the wagon is based on and there is no Porsche car the wagon is based on. Not to mention that none of those are wagons anyhow in anyone's mind but yours.
I can't believe you actually typed that statement thinking you were honestly speaking the truth. Are you really that daft as to not see a huge difference there?
arinze 1:12PM (10/15/2009)
montoym, since you have a such a strong opinion on the subject, please tell me what is your exact definition of an SUV?