Subaru Australia has announced the arrival of two potent turbocharged additions to the Outback range, bringing more power and torque, greater towing capacity and the arrival of significant infotainment updates.
Priced at $52,190 before on-road costs for the Outback AWD Sport XT and $55,990 for the Outback AWD Touring XT, the two direct-injected turbo variants sit above the existing 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol models and effectively take up the position vacated by the six-cylinder Outback 3.6R, which left the range in 2020 when the Outback underwent a full model change.
Despite displacing 1.2 litres less than the old flat-six, the XT produces the same amount of torque (350Nm) and just 8kW less power at 183kW, with its peak torque on tap between 2000-4800rpm. For customers who’ve been lamenting the comparatively meagre 138kW/245Nm outputs of the existing non-turbo 2.5 litre, the XT option should be just the ticket.
Besides supplying more mechanical mumbo, the turbo Outback XT can also tow 400kg more weight behind it, with a maximum rating of 2400kg on a braked trailer – a capability that’s also been augmented by a change in brake pad material for better stopping power, and turbo-specific suspension calibration that sees a new front springrate and retuned front and rear dampers.
Performance when unladen also improves significantly. Though Subaru doesn’t quote a specific time, the company claims the XT variants will run to 100km/h from standstill 22 per cent faster than their naturally aspirated brethren.
Besides the XT badge on the tailgate, you’ll be able to pick the turbo Outbacks from the rest of the range by their dual exhaust outlets and six-element LED foglights, while the Touring XT gets the additional benefit of three unique colours: bronze metallic, red pearl and grey metallic.
While the focus is on the arrival of the turbo range-toppers, the MY23 update for the Outback doesn’t entirely ignore the 2.5-litre non-turbo variants either.
All variants in the updated Outback family benefit from the arrival of a new USB-C port in the front of the cabin, which replaces the old style USB-A port and brings better compatibility with modern smartphones and tablets, as well as a higher current output for faster device charging.
The 11.6-inch touchscreen also gets some quality-of-life updates with new shortcut buttons, a revised climate control interface, the ability to run Android Auto in fullscreen mode and, perhaps most critically, the ability to run both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay wirelessly.
The integrated sat-nav also gets some minor changes to address lookups, while the steering wheel controls have been revised as well. New commands have also been added to the Outback’s voice control vocabulary, allowing hands-off control of the car’s auto start/stop function, lane departure warning, cruise control, fan settings, and seat heater/seat ventilation.
Subaru has increased the prices of the non-turbo variants by $1200 each as part of the model year update.
The 2023 Subaru Outback range is available for order now either online or at dealerships, with first local deliveries slated to begin before this Christmas.
When you exclude the dedicated off-roaders in its segment, the Outback only trails the Toyota Kluger for sales. So far this year Subaru has sold 5685 Outbacks, to lead the Mazda CX-9 (4087), Kia Sorento (35003) and Hyundai Santa Fe (2568).
2023 Subaru Outback pricing before on-road costs
| Variant | Transmission | Cost |
| Outback | Automatic | $42,690 (+$1200) |
| Sport | Automatic | $47,190 (+$1200) |
| Touring | Automatic | $50,990 (+$1200) |
| Sport XT | Automatic | $52,190 |
| Touring XT | Automatic | $55,990 |