2010 Subaru Outback 美國媒體試駕報告

基本上2.5+CVT搭配被轟爆了



Inside, hoping—praying—for refuge from the calamity outside, you’re greeted by wide, comfy seats and increased legroom for all five passengers, thanks to a stretched wheelbase and the aforementioned middle aged spread. Despite the front captain’s chairs’ higher hip point, rear toe-room is just as miserable as the old model’s. The 60/40 split rear seatbacks now recline, but the pivot point is too high; occupants feel awkwardly contorted instead of comfortably relaxed.

車內空間很棒﹐非常寬敞舒適。 後座椅背可以往後但是椅背支點太高往後調整反而無法找到讓背部舒服的角度。
前坐下的腳趾空間跟4代一樣爛。

Oddly, the Outback’s two inches shorter than previously, sacrificed in the cargo bay. Fortunately, the height gain and the taller hatch opening collaborate with revised rear suspension packaging (now multi-link instead of a strut) to allow more junk in your trunk.

行李箱深度比4代淺﹐但是高度增加+新的後懸吊改善了整體容量。

The Outback helped start the trend toward big/multiple/panorama sunroofs, yet the 2010 model reverts to a classic-sized hole over the front seats only. Probably for the better, as you don’t need more light cast upon the smorgasboard of plastics that muddle the instrument panel.

4代的全景天窗正式宣佈絕種﹐新天窗跟4門版本一樣。

Gone is the understated and subtle classiness of the previous Outbagacy’s upscale interior bits. Cheezy glitz defines the rock-hard polymers that mimic textured stainless steel on the gaudy and protruding tall center stack (an annoyingly awful new Subaru family trait) and [faux] aluminum on the trim wings spraying out to the doors. Subaru grained and sheened the top shelf of the instrument panel convincingly enough to make you think it’s from Ingolstadt. Nein.

4代那個低調精緻的內裝已經不復存在。
5代裝充滿了跟石頭一樣硬的廉價塑料。
塑膠模擬的不鏽鋼中控台很“聳”但是看起來是有點德國風味。

The Outback’s ergonomics couldn’t be further from Audi’s if they were designed by Daewoo. Every button on the Outback’s dash now requires reading glasses, a precise finger, and a map. Twin Big Gulps and a swollen armrest bin take precedence over the handbrake, which has been demoted to a tiny button buried left of the steering column amidst a myriad of other tiny, illegible, and obstructed switches for stability control, external mirrors, trunk release, and a bunch of curious blanks. To compensate, the twin steering column stalks are chunkier. Thanks. So much.

5代的人體工學設計就完全無法跟 Audi相比﹐感覺應該是韓國大宇汽車的傑作。 車儀表版上每個按鈕現在都需要用一個放大鏡﹐一根靈活的手指跟一張地圖來操作。

手煞車的位子被兩個巨大的杯架取代﹐新的手煞車現在已經移動到方向盤左邊跟一堆看不清楚功能的按鈕混在一起 (包含ESP﹐後視鏡﹐行李箱門控制等等)

不過謝謝老天5代方向盤兩邊的方向燈還有雨刷控制桿現在變得比較結實強壯了。

My tester was a 2.5i Premium CVT, equipped with Subaru’s standard and most popular engine. Subie’s [allegedly] massaged the 2.5-liter Boxer-4 for improved economy and driveability, but with no marked increase in dyno performance (170 hp/170 ft-lbs). It doesn’t matter. Subaru’s latest gee-wizardry is my good grief: the “Lineartronic” chain-driven CVT.
Rather than expound on what it’s supposed to do, let me tell you what the powertrain really does. It tips in painfully slow off idle, winds in a thrashy tizz up to max horsepower at 5600 rpm and festers there. If there were anything resembling an exhaust note, it might remind you there’s a Boxer under the hood; gone is the traditional Subie burble. Instead, from the minute you start rolling, you’re annoyed by a constant cosmic din of CVT chain noise that the Ford Freestyle’s CVT never had on its worst day, even as an early prototype.

我試駕的是一輛頂級的 2.5i + CVT。 號稱可以改善油耗跟駕駛便利性。 但是這臺車起步是讓人痛苦的慢﹐隨著轉速爬上 5600 rpm 然後停留在那裡﹐引擎的難聽噪音也揮之不去。 假如這部車還有任何聽的到的排氣聲浪也許你還可以聽出這部車是使用水平對臥引擎﹐但是目前的引擎聲音已經完全不會發出之前那獨有的水平對臥聲浪﹐取而代之的是只要車子開始移動就不會間斷的 CVT 鏈條聲音。 即使福特的 CVT 在開發階段都沒有這個問題。

Meanwhile, you’re waiting for acceleration to happen. Wait long enough and you’ll get to sixty miles per hour—even if you can’t quite remember quite how it happened until the morning after. You can slap the squat shift lever into manu-matic mode and flop through simulated gearshifts as if were a really crappy traditional automatic transmission. Appeasing to the lab coats at the EPA, this powertrain combo somehow manages to muster 29 mpg under optimal highway conditions. Color me indifferent; claimed driveability is an epic fail.

不論如何﹐如果你還在等待所謂的加速﹐等的夠久的話你還是可以達到時速60英里只是你完全感覺不出這個過程。 你可以試試手自排模式來看看是否可以給你多點FU啦。 不過對我而言 SUBARU 所謂的“提供更好的駕駛便利性”根本是個唬斕。

Wagonistas of Subaru faith seeking dynamic chassis goodness were exiled when the Legacy Wagon died in ’08. The previous Outback was not exactly light on its feet. While the ground clearance is a boon to adventurers, it’s a bane to roadgoers as exaggerated primary dance moves (roll, dive, and squat) make hustling corners ill-advised. The 2010 is no different.

5代的操控跟4代目沒有太大的差異。

(PS﹕ 美規 OUTBACK 的懸吊設定比較美國化﹐跟歐/日規不同)

The Outback’s steering gets a welcomed hydraulic boost at parking lot speeds. But as soon as the sunburst-backlit speedometer needle goes north of ten, the helm goes novicane numb and becomes lethargically slow. Wafting down the boulevard, the ride—especially from the rear axle—has gone all jiggly (in addition to the preexisting harshness). “Plush” does not seem to be a word in the Subaru vernacular. That’s a shame, as they’ve deprived this car of anything resembling fun.

油壓動力方向盤在時速 10 英里內手感不錯﹐超過這個速度就是 Toyota Camry 的境界。
而且後輪懸吊傳來的路面震動以及彈跳明顯。
很可惜在失去了駕駛樂趣後現在連最起碼的行路舒適性也被回收了。

Let’s do the math.

Subaru’s once trademark all-wheel-drive is a “so what” in the market segment the Outback now occupies. The virtues of the Boxer engine are all but diminished to irrelevance by the entire vehicle’s lousy dynamic performance. All of which leaves the 2010 Outback nothing more than an awkwardly bloated carcass of a what used to be an interesting car. But then there’s the other calculation . . .

Pandering to the least common consumer denominator by creating yet another lifeless, overgrown, misguided fashion-trend of a rolling appliance (read: CUV) will guarantee Subaru’s continued sales trajectory. It’s a winning model perfected by its new step-parent Toyota, which makes this revelation of suck all-the-less surprising.


Subaru 引以為榮的 AWD 跟水平對臥引擎的優勢在這部車的糟糕的動態表現下上被抹殺的一乾二淨。
雖然生產出一部過於龐大﹐毫無生氣且缺乏設計感的4輪家具用品是 TOYOTA 多年來的成功之道也是未來 Subaru 中長期經營計劃中用來擴大銷售版圖的保證﹐在新母廠 TOYOTA 的熏陶下這部平凡無奇5代目的出現也完全不讓人意外。

PS﹕ 我已經修飾過了用詞了﹐作者可是用 suck 這個字來形容這部車.......

At the end of the stereotypical teen movie, the geek-turned-stud usually recognizes the collateral damages of his foolish ways, and returns with renewed self-confidence, truer to himself, ultimately a better person for it. However, punch-drunk on the elixir of newfound sales popularity, it’s unlikely Subaru will look back—save to fly the bird to its wide-eyed, once-loyal nerds.

一個年輕的叛逆小子在成長過程中總是會從過去的我行我素的行事風格以及所犯的錯誤中學習成長並且發展成出一個充滿了自信且獨立的的成熟人格﹐但是現在看來沉溺於市場銷售的成功的同時也代表了 Subaru 再也不會走回頭路了。