Used 2017 Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT) Consumer Reviews
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2017 Subaru Outback Touring 3.6R
Dave, West Richland, WA, 11/08/2016
updated 05/16/2022
Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT)
126 of 128 people found this review helpful
I bought this for my wife and wanted her to have all the best technology when it comes to safety. We identified the car we wanted and then did a factory order through a dealer for the exact color, trim level and accessories we wished for. The Eye Sight system is amazing and in my opinion worth every penny. We compared this car against the Audi Q5 and Acura RDX, based on everything that was important to us the Outback was just a much better value. One thing I learned early on in my research is that all AWD systems are not the same. Subaru really has a great story to tell regarding their symmetrical AWD system. Acura's new AWD system falls a little short and Audi's AWD is in my opinion the only one that can truly go toe to toe with Subaru on this point. I am very happy with selecting the 3.6R over the base engine as the one constant complaint I seen from hundreds of reviews was related to the base engine being underpowered. I can tell you the 3.6R offers plenty of acceleration, smoother and quieter engine operation and a more satisfying experience. Yes you take a little hit on gas mileage, but if that was my primary consideration I would have bought a small compact hybrid. The touring interior is on par with the Acura RDX and close but a little short of the Audi Q5. The safety technology on this car was much better then the the Audi Q5 and a little better then the RDX. Outward visibility is terrific in this car and ranks among the best of any car we have ever owned. The heated back seats with recline is a nice touch for passenger comfort, wish they would have included seat ventilation also for those days when our temps are in the triple digits. Like other reviewers stated the handling for a SUV/SUW is very good and you feel confidant and in control even when coming into a tighter then expected corner at a faster then desired speed. We have owned many luxury and non luxury cars over the years. While the Subaru brand does not communicate the prestige of some of the German or Luxury Japanese brands. The practicality, safety, resale, reliability and price of the Subaru far out ways any need for pretentiousness on our part. So in summary, if you are looking for a near luxury car for over ten thousand less then comparable vehicles and don't care about the badge on the front, or are looking for a very nice car with the latest and best safety features and technology the 2017 Subaru Outback Touring/Limited should be on your shortlist.
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A Subaru alternative for Allroad, X3, GLC shoppers
David Bartholomew, San Jose, CA, 10/09/2016
updated 04/11/2019
Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT)
39 of 40 people found this review helpful
My new 2017 Outback Touring has it all. This car feels like a luxury class vehicle but costs 10 grand less than other similarly equipped Audi, BMW or Mercedes. Loving the Java brown leather and wood grain interior. The 3.6 engine is quiet and powerful. The infotainment center and iPhone integration are a big disappointment. Come on Subaru, invest in CarPlay. Leave software development to the specialists at Apple and stick to what you do best, engineering cars. Update after winter driving experience: We've had a big winter in California this year and my new Subaru has proven to be a reliable, capable winter driving machine. On several occasions in heavy blizzard conditions the Suby proved a mastery of traction and control in difficult circumstances. The symetrical AWD system really is superior. I've owned other 4wd vehicles in the past, but the Subaru traction control system is "smart". In once incident I was in heavy ice and snow on uneven terrain. I slowly turned around and gave it the gas in an attempt to pop over some deep snow. But the Subaru AWD "brain" took control over the accelerator and instead of speeding up to pop over the snow as I intended, it slowed the wheels and gradually applied traction with deliberation to the wheels that had traction. This surprised me. The car simply rolled forward over the slippery bits in complete control, applying power to the wheels that had effect. I've also grown very fond of the Eyesight system. Long drives and heavy highway traffic are easier with adaptive cruise control. I use it all the time now. It makes the drive to Tahoe from the Bay area much easier, especially when the traffic slows. I like the way the car matches the speed of the car in front and keeps the distance. I feel safer. I'm happy with my decision to get this car. 2019 update: The CVT transmission seems to be the Subaru Achilles heel. My car developed an intermittent squeal that I’ve dertermined to be coming from the transmission. On cold starts, after about 10 miles of highway driving, the squeal occurs a few times for just a second or so. When the squeal occurs, the tachometer surges about 200 tp 500 rpm and the car shudders slightly. After a trip home to the Bay Area from Tahoe the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The check engine light and the transmission warning light remained on after a restart. Did you know cruise control is disabled if the CEL is on? The dealership read the codes and said the trans. oil pressure was having a problem. After more than a week without my car, the dealer in consultation with Subaru of America, replaced the valve control body of the CVT. But afterward the squeal remained. I suspect the squeal is a slipping CVT chain/belt. But the dealership refuses to replace the entire transmission until they can hear the squeal for themselves. Since it only happens after a cold start and 10 or more miles, this means leaving my car overnight. I commute 36 miles each way to work; so it’s inconvenient. I’m waiting for the symptoms to get worse so I can reliably expect the dealer to be able to witness the behavior. All of this led me to question Subaru reliability so just before I reached the end of the factory warrantee at 36000 miles, I decided to purchase the Subaru Gold Extended warrantee (8 years 120K miles). Even though the drive train is already covered to 100K, I bought peace of mind, just in case. I wish the Subaru had come with a Diesel engine and a DSG dual clutch transmission like we had on our 2013 VW TDI. Beware of the CVT, it may not be as reliable as I had hoped. Subaru extended the warrantee on it to 100k after we bought the car. I think I know why.
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2017 Subaru Outback for sale near you
3 of 110 listings
- 2.5i Limited 4dr SUVMSRP: $14,365In-stock online
- 2.5i Touring 4dr SUVMSRP: $13,500In-stock online
- 2.5i Touring 4dr SUVMSRP: $16,990In-stock online
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Love my Outback Touring!
Rick, Rockford, IL, 08/19/2016
Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT)
32 of 33 people found this review helpful
Subaru hit a home run with the Touring edition! Quiet, responsive and comfortable to drive. I previously drove a Lexus RX330 and put the Touring edition in the same category as Lexus. Great value! The quality and fit of this vehicle is excellent. Love the EyeSight system. Next week I am looking forward to driving to Indianapolis. Can't wait!
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Our First Subaru!
GT, Deerfield, IL, 03/24/2017
updated 09/27/2017
Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT)
15 of 15 people found this review helpful
Well, after one month and 1,100 miles on our 2017 Outback 3.6R Touring, I can't say enough great things about this wagon (I know some think it's an SUV, but it's not). No regrets moving from the American Blue Oval (Ford) to the Japanese Blue Oval (our car was made in Lafayette, IN, incidentally - I think all U.S. market Subarus are; I could be wrong). Ford just didn't have what I liked or needed this time around (a Fusion (my previous car) wagon would have gotten my attention if they made one - I liked my '07 Fusion a lot), so for the last year, we've been doing the on-line research and always came back to the Outback 3.6R as the prime choice. At the Chicago Auto Show, we got to test drive one for the first time. We also test drove something we hadn't considered previously and that was the Kia Sorento which is more crossover than wagon, but it had us thinking. In the end, it was the Outback itself as well as Subaru dealers (and the one we bought from in particular) over the Kia dealers that sold us (we didn't get much meaningful response from the Kia dealers (on the phone or internet) - maybe they didn't take us seriously; at least not until after we'd had our Outback for a few weeks!). So anyway, the Outback has been a dream to drive! After less than a week of ownership, we needed to make a 250 mile round trip trek through northern Illinois with a good mix of country road and interstate driving. On the interstate, I got to experience the adaptive cruise control - a gem of a feature in that the car adapts to the distance of the car in front of you; very handy when you get cut off by a slow-poke - no need to hit the brake, the car slows down for you. And when slow-poke moves over out of your way, the Outback smoothly moves back up to your preset speed (or to a safe distance from the next car in front of you). The other feature I experienced with great joy was the blind spot indicators - wow, this is great! On the interstate, it always seems like there's a car driving in my blind spot! Now I don't have to take my eyes off the road ahead to know there's a car invisible to me on my left or right. Out in the country, the Outback is in it's element; not that we've tested it much yet, but we did have some soft, mushy areas to drive through that would have been a challenge to a vehicle without AWD and the ground clearance of the Outback. Other things I've come to appreciate over the last month with the Outback is the CVT - Continuously Variable Transmission. I know it's been around on several cars for years, but it's new to me - and I actually prefer it to the step shifting of the traditional 6 speed I had in my Fusion. I've read lots of car enthusiasts' opinions who won't go near a CVT (favoring a manual transmission), but I think for me (and a lot of people like me) it's a welcome change - though I do have to watch our for speeding since I don't have that step sensation through the gears on a rather powerful 3.6 liter six! Which brings me to another primary reason for going with the six; towing capacity through, potentially, mountains. Haven't tried it yet, but I just couldn't see winding up the 2.5 liter four with 1 1/2 tons of stuff through the Rockies. I know I'm not alone on that assessment either, having read concurring remarks in professional reviews. I have no fears whatsoever with the six. It's a powerful and peppy power plant! The ride of the Outback is smooth and comfortable. The suspension smooths out some of the worst washboards I drive on better than any car I've had before. And because we opted for the Touring sub-model, comfort is better than anything I've owned before (this is the first car I've had with heated leather seats (though my wife had them in a Buick LeSabre Limited more than a dozen years ago) AND a heated steering wheel!). I'm still learning all the electronics - right now I'm happy with just figuring out the radio and how to play my iPod Nano (3rd gen). I was a tiny bit disappointed that my Nano doesn't play well through the iPod function (which displays the information from your iPod on the infotainment screen); it will play a couple songs and then blank out; I've read where this has been happening to many people with even newer iPod equipment than my 10 year-old Nano. So all I do is run it through the Aux function and things are as good as in my previous cars - except for the sound system which is a spectacular Harmon-Kardon layout! I LOVE the sound! The navigation system is super spectacular for me, having come from a 4" screen on a Garmin pasted to the windshield. It's a nice big, 7" display that is very intuitive. Well, I was going to write more, but I guess there's a character limit. Suffice it to say, I love our New Subaru Outback! Today marks seven months since receiving our Outback 3.6R Touring, and with 8,000 miles, two vacations and lots of commuter miles since, I love it even more as I learn what it can do and how comfortable it is!
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Great Value for the Money
OhioGuy, Dayton, OH, 08/04/2017
updated 03/05/2020
Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl CVT)
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
My first Outback with the 3.6 liter engine. Drove it back to back with an Acura RDX. Why I chose the Outback: 1. super smooth engine, 2. superior AWD system, 3. surprisingly good CVT transmission to the degree that it drives like a normal automatic transmission, 4. better cargo capacity, 5. superior outward visibility from the driver's seat, 6. less expensive to insure, and 7. at 5'10' and 180lbs, it just fits me well. Unless you are predisposed to measure your self worth by a hood badge or brand of vehicle, you will not regret buying this car. I would recommend however that you ditch the standard Bridgestone tires as they are mediocre. I replaced the Bridgestone tires with a set of Michelin Premier LTX tires, and the difference in grip, handling and road noise was significant. Update 3/5/18 - great ability to handle a highway merge into heavy traffic and pass without drama when needed. Very capable on long grades in the mountains. Update 9/5/18 - my Outback has been problem free. It is a pleasure to not have to endure the constant road noise which I experienced with multiple Hondas. I will however call out the poor wear on my Michelin Premier LTX tires despite routine rotations and inflation checks. Update 3/5/20 - I am greatly disappointed that Subaru has discontinued the 3.6 liter engine. The turbo 4 which is now available is a poor substitute.
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