2026 Subaru Outback

The Outback is Subaru's dead ringer. It's easily the brand's most important, beloved and recognizable car — which is why when a new one comes around, Subaru has to be pretty sure it's got it right. For 2026 the Outback is all-new for the first time in more than half a decade (plus there's a new Wilderness model), and it's potentially the brand's biggest departure from its tried-and-true formula to date.

Wagon or SUV?

Subaru's own literature on the new Outback doesn't mention the word "wagon" once. Americans are currently SUV crazed (and have been for a while), so morphing the Outback into something that's more crossover than wagon makes a lot of dollars and sense. Gone are the softer curves and swoopier profile in favor of a much boxier set of proportions. Trust us when we say it's smaller in person than it looks in these photos. Whether or not that will convince you this is still (at least in part) true to the Outback name, however, is entirely up to you.

The roofline is now 2 inches taller than before, which aids rear headroom, and the rest of the car is slightly wider and longer overall. The 108-inch wheelbase, however, remains the same as the last Outback. Every new Outback will also come with ladder-style roof rails that have an 800-pound static load capacity, so sleeping in those roof tents won't burden your Subie one bit. Cargo space is up to 34.6 cubic feet, and thanks to a slightly larger (and more squared-off) rear hatch opening, loading cargo should be a simpler affair.

Everything is new — well, almost

New looks aside, there are plenty of refinements to the Outback for this, its seventh generation. Subaru says "lateral sway" has been reduced by 42%, which hopefully means a car that feels less wallowy on the road.

But Subaru's pulled a 180, and we're darn glad — there are now physical buttons and knobs for the temp, the fan speed, the heated and cooled seats (if your car comes so equipped) and other key functions. As so many automakers look for ways to cram climate controls into a touchscreen, it's nice to see Subaru prioritizing ease of use for functions that are so core to a car's control structure. There is also still a physical volume knob and some shortcut buttons for the new infotainment system.

That new infotainment is already a revelation. Subaru's old Starlink setup was slow, laggy and, frankly, just a burden to use. It was like the brand wanted to stuff 20 pounds worth of features into a 10-pound bag — it just did not work. The new system runs Android Automotive (a Google-based software platform) and has a new processor backing all of that up. The result is a 12.1-inch landscape display with crispy graphics, immediate response times, and a system we don't wince at the thought of using every day.

The new infotainment is paired with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster that will have four different pages that show different information. A normal display features a digital speedometer and tach, a calm screen features very little info, and there are other screens that prioritize driver assistance systems or maps depending on what you want to see.

What hasn't changed

Under the hood, things are largely the same as they were before. The base powertrain is a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that makes 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque. If more power is what you're looking for you'll have to step up to an XT or Wilderness model to get the turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder that makes 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque. Just like before, all Outbacks are going to use a continuously variable automatic transmission and will come as standard with all-wheel drive.

Sadly, there's no word on a hybrid Outback, though much like the path Subaru followed with the new Forester, there's a chance a hybrid model makes its debut in a year. With hybrids being huge right now, it wouldn't surprise us if Subaru adapted the system from the new Forester Hybrid for the Outback, but time will tell.

Subaru's commitment to safety hasn't changed either. All 2026 Outbacks come with a huge suite of driver safety features. Features like front pre-collision braking, adaptive cruise control, lane centering, lane departure warning, lane-sway warning, emergency stop assistance, front cross-traffic braking, acceleration override assist, a vibrating haptic steering wheel, and lane departure warning are all standard. Subaru will also be rolling out Highway Hands Free Assist, which will allow you to do eyes-on, hands-off driving at speeds of up to 85 mph, but that feature is coming a bit later.

Outback Wilderness: Toughened up 

The Wilderness, as the name suggests, has to be a more rugged offering than the standard Outback, else there'd be no reason for it to exist. Separating the Wilderness from standard Outback models (visually, at least), there is quite a lot more black plastic on the outside than there was before. Almost the entire front lacks any paint whatsoever (so you can't scratch it), and the black body cladding along the sides extends much farther than it used to. 

Going Wild(erness) also brings a new wheel-and-tire package. The wheels measure 17 inches and are wrapped in Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tires. Ground clearance rises from 8.7 inches on the standard car to 9.5 inches in the Wilderness, while approach, breakover and departure angles are 20 degrees, 21.2 degrees and 22.5 degrees, respectively — all of those figures are improvements over the old car. 

To add a little context, Toyota's rough-and-tumble, body-on-frame Land Cruiser only has 8.7 inches of ground clearance. The Outback can't quite match the LC's approach and breakover angles (departure still goes to the Subaru), but this thing will be plenty capable off-road right out of the box.

While we aren't worried about how it'll handle that fire road to your favorite campground, the last Wilderness was a fine soft off-roader, it managed to feel sloppy and wallowy when you're on paved roads. The improvements Subaru made to the Outback's skeleton (namely a 42% increase in lateral stiffness) should help remedy that nicely, but we won't know for sure until we drive it later this year. 

When does it come out?

The new Outback will be on sale by the end of this year with six trim levels: Premium, Limited, Touring, Limited XT, Touring XT and Wilderness. Expect prices to start at around $32,000 and go all the way up to nearly $50,000 for loaded models with all options. We'll get official word on pricing and fuel economy closer to the end of the year.