Family Car Review: Subaru Outback Sport XT

How big is the boot of the Subaru Outback Sport XT?

The Subaru Outback Sport XT's boot is enormous! You can't tell from the outside, but it can hold 17 shopping bags when empty!

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Bub’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…

…will fit in the boot of the Subaru XT with eleven shopping bags.

The Thule Urban Glide 2 is the ultimate all-terrain stroller…

… with the back wheels removed, it will fit in the boot of the Outback Sport XT with 10 shopping bags.

The Thule Spring, lightweight and one-handed folding stroller…

… fits in the boot of the Subaru Outback Sport XT with 13 shopping bags.

Or you can fit two 90L, one 70L and one 40L Thule Chasm duffle bag in the boot of the Subaru Outback Sport XT.

Or a medium/large size dog.

The boot floor is nice and flat for an emergency nappy change, with good storage areas in the sides behind the wheel arches and a 12V charging socket.

As well as bag hooks.

There is a spare wheel under the boot floor too.

How good is storage in the Subaru Outback Sport XT?

Storage inside the cabin is really good, too. In the front are two cup holders in the central console that can hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup, and a large refillable water bottle fits in them too.

The central console box is a good size, and it has a shelf in the top, too.

In front of the gear lever, there is a rubber-lined well for your phone and there are USB-C, USB and an AUX socket in there too.

On the side of the central console is a shelf handy for the passenger to store their phone and there is a long shelf in the dashboard above the glovebox. The glovebox is a good size and holds a wallet and iPad with the manual.

There is a lined sunglasses case in the ceiling and lit vanity mirrors in both front visors.

The front door bins are a practical size and will hold a refillable water bottle, iPad, or wallet. There is handy little storage in the door handles too.

In the back of the new 2021 Subaru Outback, there are two cupholders in a fold-down central seat backrest. They are a good size to hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup, and a refillable water bottle fits in them too.

The rear door bins are smaller; they will now hold a refillable water bottle, which is fantastic, and there are storage wells in the handles, too.

There are multiple map pockets on the back of both front seats. They are great for families and will hold an iPad, wallet, books, phone, etc.

A fold-down armrest in the central seatback has two cup holders that will hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup, and a kid's drink cup fits too.

So… How noisy is the Subaru Outback Sport XT, and how is the media screen?

The Subaru Outback Sport XT has a large, flat, integrated media screen which makes the dashboard clutter-free.

Most controls you would normally find on the dashboard, like the air conditioning, are now within the screen. The climate controls remain at the bottom of the screen all the time, making them easy to locate and use while driving.

Within the media system, you can customise the settings of the car easily in the drop down lists.

The Subaru Outback Sport XT has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can easily access your phone, apps, podcasts, etc, while driving.

When you put the car in reverse, the rearview camera image only fills the top half of the screen, so you only get quite a small image but it is very clear.

You can change your viewing angles and turn the parking sensors off easily on the screen too.

The Outback has a lane departure warning, which beeps to alert you when you drift out of a lane and flashes a warning on your display. You can turn the warning off with a button on the steering wheel on the right.

The indicator sound is not loud in the Outback and does not disturb my little sleepy passengers.

The windows and doors in the Subaru Outback Sport XT are not too bad for noise. Closing both the windows and doors is not baby-waking!

The Outback's tailgate is silent to open and close, which is a great BabyDrive feature. You can access the boot while your baby is asleep without waking them up!

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The Subaru Outback Sport XT is quiet and smooth to drive, and the road and engine noise is not baby-waking!

How many child seats can you fit in the Subaru Outback Sport XT?

When it comes to installing child seats in the back of the Subaru Outback Sport XT, there are ISOFix in both outer rear seats. They are behind a flap of the seat fabric. They're not within plastic guides but are nice and easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages in the backs of all three seat backs. They are easy to connect to through the boot.

Three Infasecure child seats fit easily across the Subaru Outback Sport XT's rear seats. I installed the Infasecure Quattro Onyx and Infasecure Achieve More forward-facing seats.

… and the Infasecure Adapt More Infant Capsule rear-facing behind the driver. The Subaru Outback Sport XT is a great car for tall families. With the rear-facing Infasecure Adapt More infant capsule installed, we could fit a 186cm driver in front of it or taller front passengers in front of forward-facing child seats.

With only one child seat installed, there is plenty of room in the back of the Outback to feed Bub. Posting Bub into their child seat from inside and outside the car was fine in the Outback, too.

Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

So… How comfy is the Subaru Outback Sport XT?

The Subaru Outback Sport XT keeps rear passengers really comfortable with air vents in the back of the central console box. These vents are great for keeping little passengers at the right temperature while driving along. There are also USB sockets for charging rear passenger devices and heated seat controls for older passengers.

For rear passengers not in child seats, the rear seats are very comfortable, upholstered simply with little fuss, just contrast panels and stitch details. They are easy to maintain and keep clean with children.

The front seats in the Outback have the same upholstery as the rear.

They are very comfortable. Both front seats have electric side adjustments and are heated! You can adjust the seat temperatures through the media screen.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable up/down and in/out, and the cruise control buttons on the right of it are simple and easy to use. I found the cruise control was better on motorways, on straight roads, and at faster speeds than on undulating roads at slower speeds.

There are four air-conditioning vents across the front of the dashboard, one on either side of the media screen and one at each end of the dashboard.

The air-con controls are at the bottom of the media screen. They remain in that position, so they are easy to locate and use while driving.

The back of the central console box also has two vents for the rear passengers and two charging sockets. The buttons are there for your big kids to have heated seats.

There are no built-in window shades in the Subaru Outback, so you do have to add your own rear window shades. All the windows are nice and big and deep giving great visibility for all passengers forward and rear-facing.

The large windows make visibility very good out of all the windows when driving, even with three child seats in the back. The great thing about the Outback is it has great interior space for child seats, legroom and prams in the boot without it feeling too big to drive. So it's comfortable and easy to drive for school drop-offs, around town and when maneuvering and parking.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually, I dread parking long cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Subaru Outback wagon was fine to reverse park!

The rear interior lights are central in the ceiling, and I found them easily reachable when driving, which is great!

I have found Bub does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.

Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a five minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

There are handles above both back doors, which I found are well-located for hanging baby toys.

The interior of the Subaru Outback is clean and clutter-free, with a lot of good storage.

So… How safe is the Subaru Outback Sport XT?

The Subaru Outback has been given a five-star ANCAP safety rating. Scoring 91% for child occupancy protection and 88% for adult occupancy protection.

Of the child occupancy testing, ANCAP wrote:

In the frontal offset test, protection of the 6 year and 10 year dummies was GOOD for all critical body areas.
In the side impact test, protection of the chest of the 10 year dummy was POOR while that of other body areas of both the 6 year and 10 year dummies was GOOD.
The Subaru Outback is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions.
Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, however the Type E and Type F booster seats could not be safely installed in the centre rear seating position.

Seven airbags come as standard: dual frontal, side chest, and side head-protecting airbags and a driver knee airbag.

The Subaru Outback comes with adaptive cruise control (ACC), anti-lock braking system (ABS), autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – Car-to-Car, VRU & Backover, blind spot monitor (BSM), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic data recorder (EDR), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), emergency stop signal (ESS), fatigue reminder, fatigue monitor and detection, forward collision warning (FCW), lane departure warning (LDW), lane keep assist (LKA), pre-crash systems, rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), reversing collision avoidance (camera), roll stability system, secondary / multi-collision brake, speed assistance – auto / intelligent speed limiter Speed assistance – manual speed limiter and speed assistance – speed sign recognition & warning come as standard.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub’s asleep!