2 years of above-average service

Author's Rating:

Pros: Utility, reliability, ergonomics, appearance.

Cons: Some interior materials, finest details.

The Bottom Line: 
This is an excellent AWD car for active people, people who do a lot of outdoors work, or carry medium-sized loads.

Author's Review
I am overall very pleased with my choice of a 2003 Subaru Outback and would recommend it to almost anyone.

My wife and I shopped around for over a year looking for a replacement for my inadequate Suzuki Sidekick. We only had a few basic criteria - four- or all-wheel drive, plenty of storage and cargo space, air conditioning, and cupholders. Yes, cupholders. The Suzuki had none.

We ended up with a 2003 Outback in Timberline Green with tan cloth interior. The car came with the 4-cylinder boxer engine, 6-cd changer with the 10-speaker audio package, auto-dim/compass rearview mirror, cargo space mat, flashlight and cargo area power jack, front airguard, air-conditioning, and a 3-year, 36,000-mile warranty. The total price we paid was just over $25,000.

We have owned the car since July of 2003 and had no major maintenance incidents with it of any kind. The minor ones, I'll discuss later in my review.

AESTHETICS:
The car looks great. The deep, shiny, slightly sparkly green tone is eyecatching, and looks sharp, especially with the contrast of the titanium cladding, which some people have a love/hate relationship with. At least it's not the cheap-looking grey plastic that covers so many cars and trucks nowadays. The interior is comfortable to the eye, and easy to navigate while driving. On the minus side, the car color makes road grime and streaking stand out, so washing it often is required to keep catching those eyes; the titanium cladding is easily marred by road flyup, shopping carts, or shoes; and the light-colored interior likewise can scuff up easily (especially the interior door handles and door panels, which my feet seem to unerringly find when entering and exiting.)

HANDLING/DRIVE:
Other reviewers have criticised the pickup of the 4-cylinder, preferring the meatier six. I personally find the 165-hp four agreeable for most types of driving that I have done, from cross-country touring to city driving. Rarely do I experience hesitation with this car, and when I ask for a little passing power it's easily given. The feel is responsive and intuitive, and it turns much more tightly than an SUV of similar size. Braking is superb - I've never worried about my stopping range with this car.

ERGONOMICS/COMFORT
I took the Outback on a 3000-mile trip from Seattle to Almagordo, New Mexico last year and a thousand-mile trip moving from Seattle to Monterey. In both cases, the car was comfortable but short of where I'd call it luxurious. After several hours on the seat, you get quite a lot of fatigue - they aren't as soft as I'd really like. The steering wheel would require a grip pad or cover to prevent hand fatigue. On the other hand, the visors block the sun very well, the auto-dim mirror is excellent for night driving, and the radio/cd controls are very simple to use. Storage areas and controls are all very easy to use and reachable. The only real complaint I have with the controls, in fact, is that if you turn on your headlights during the day (something I do out of habit), the radio display actually dims to where you can't read it; no amount of twiddling with the light knob seems to solve this problem.

PROBLEM AREAS:
It hasn't been all sweetness and light with this car, of course. As I mentioned, the light-colored interior is particularly vulnerable to shoe scuffs, and the driver-side door speaker is in a spot your foot is liable to hit at least once as you're leaving the car. The driver-side interior door handle gets dirty easily and mine has actually bubbled up with use. I also mentioned that the cladding scuffs easily.
Another problem area is that the dash power receptacle plug is not tethered, meaning it is usually rattling around in the cup holder or the dash compartment somewhere if I'm using the plug. Speaking of which, a phone charger blew the lighter hole fuse (as well as the rearview mirror and side mirror controls). Beware if you're using the power plug.
One of the more peculiar design features of the '03 Outback is the way the back seats fold up for extra cargo room. If you simply fold them forward, they don't fold flat. The bench seat lifts up and forward for the seat backs to lay flat. This requires all the rear headrests to be removed, and for some reason the seat back is split. It doesn't make a lot of sense, because the bench doesn't split. If you've laid the 60% seat back flat, the other 40% has a seat back with no seat.
Finally, for whatever reason, my car did not come with the all-weather package (heated mirrors and seats), despite it being touted as 'standard equipment' on the model I received. While it doesn't detract that much from the experience, I surely miss it on those cold, cold mornings.

STRONG POINTS:
Gas mileage has been consistently above average for anything more than short distances in the city. I manage between 25 and 28 miles per gallon typically and between 350-400 miles a tank. The gas filler is on the right side, which is not common, and often is an advantage at the gas pump.
The full-time AWD is great, and works well. When you tap the gas during normal driving, instead of the yank of front-wheel or the shove of rear-wheel there is an integrated total car response that is very smooth and pleasant. And when the road gets slippery you can actually feel the power shift off a wheel that's beginning to lose traction, a very welcome feature on the wet roads of Seattle.
The A/C is very good - a definite plus for this car. I drove through Palm Springs in the middle of July and the dash thermometer read an outside temperature of 117 degrees. I never knew how hot that was until I stopped for the night and got out of my car.
The optional front airguard is strongly recommended. In western Washington, cracked windshields come with the territory. The combination of the windshield angle and the airguard have left my windshield unblemished over the last two years.

UTILITY:
The Outback comes with several features that us urbanites can appreciate, as well as those that outdoorsmen require. The cargo net for the tail opening does very well to carry groceries (the hooks in the cargo area don't work as well, or as well as advertised). The rear area is roomy enough to carry almost any reasonable load (I've carried dinette sets, sideboards, and more camping gear than I could use in a weekend in this car). I would, however, recommend purchasing some hefty rubber floor mats to go over the cloth/carpet stock Outback mats.

OVERALL: I ended up buying this car after considering SUVs that on average cost over ten thousand more, with really no advantages or extra features over this car. That ten thousand might have bought some bigger tires or softer seats, but I ended up saving at the gas pump, and I scarcely think any mass-market SUV could have ended up giving me the uninterrupted service, dependability, and utility of the Outback. Highly recommended.