Subaru Outback 2002 test drive - 2003 station wagon
From princes in mud
In late autumn, the weather in the south-west of Russia is not a phenomenon for the faint of heart. In the afternoon, you calmly wander along sandy reaches in shorts and a T -shirt, driving away annoying mosquitoes and admiring the vast landscapes. And in the late afternoon, the impotant south-Russian darkness suddenly collapses at nothing obedient to the end of the crumple, the cold river wind from the Volga shamelessly rushes to you in an embrace, knit on his arms and legs and drives away from under the star canopy into the hut. A hot Russian bathhouse is already heated in the extension, and a fried sterlet with a bottle of astralschina and a juicy salty cucumber awaits the steam room on the generous of the master's table of steamers. With arrival, friends! You are our guests. Set aside your affairs for tomorrow, and now a light couple, pleasant appetite and calm sleep!
Going to the Moscow Astrakhan car racket, we gathered two dozen car cars together and decided for a long time, a comparative test of which cars would need to be carried out on the road and upon arrival at the place. After consulting with the chief editor and guys from the expert group, I decided to talk about a trip to the Audi Allroad, Subaru Legacy Outback and Volvo Cross Country. Despite the fact that all three cars are well known to the Russian consumer and have already passed the picky consumer tests on the pages of numerous domestic publications, our case looked unique. Judge for yourself.
Almost three thousand miles to the mouth of the Volga and vice versa will have to be done on forgotten road workers, but chosen by the traffic cops of federal public roads. Comfort, dynamics, controllability will be in handy here. And upon arrival at the destination, the participants in the run are waiting for adventures in the Kalmyk steppes and on the off -road left by God and people of uninhabited islands, generously scattered between the fairway and sleeves in the lower reaches of the Great Russian River. Sand, forest paths and wild pierces of shaggy river islets simultaneously imitate the maximum possible off -road, into which the owner of any of the three universals of increased cross -country, who fell into our full -fledged all -terrain journey, will dare to go to his bumper.
Let's start with the appearance of competitors. As usual, it will be studied in detail and appreciated by Professor Rozanov, but I will only note that I have long been a fan of station wagons in general, fast in particular, and unique and truly, without any quotes, universal cars, which are all three participants in our testing , and even more so. The aesthetics of comfortable distant wanderings live in the guise of each of these machines, and it is difficult for me to take out any one higher assessment. If you do not set yourself an extravagant task to choose the most beautiful woman, the most elegant costume and the most cozy house from the list of approximately equal offers, you can breathe calmly and live in harmony with themselves, who understands a lot about practical purchases, colleagues and households will accept any of these Three cars with approval. Moreover, Subaru will be primarily appreciated by adherents of reasonable expenses and Japanese automotive industry, Volvo fans of angular Swedish suitcases, who finally survived to the Great Scandinavian rounded revolution, and Audi wealthy inhabitants of the capital's cities, who do not think of themselves without German car in the garage and giving a report on the fact that Whatever neither Mercedes nor BMW have been released yet.
Regarding the interior, the task is more complicated because on the road and outside its requirements for ergonomics differ from each other. However, let's be realistic and admit to ourselves that, despite their wide possibilities, most of the time, the owners of such cars spend in civilized bowels of large cities and guarded cottage villages, only occasionally getting out of the real off-road (owners of Range Rovers and Uazikov-Kozlov I ask you not to sink with laughter! It is only in your understanding by off -road is the area in which your car will stuck, while others will not even get there!). Nevertheless, always evaluating the work of VOLVO ergonomists with the highest score, and this time we will give them an extra half a glass. Cross Country, unlike Audi and Subaru, does not copy one to one interior of the Donor Volvo V70, and several elegant strokes with a convenient passenger for the central tunnel especially emphasize the exclusivity of this particular machine. In Allroad and Outback, everything is very convenient, but there are no differences from ordinary A6 and Legacy universals there. I am sure that several practical elements of the decor, unobtrusively reminding the owner that he is in an exclusive machine for all occasions, and not just in the most expensive version of the basic city station wagon, would not be at all prevented.
From the point of view of technology, comparing and declaring grades is less difficult. Even despite the fact that in Ingolstadt, and in Tokyo, and in Gotheborg the best engineers, a gold gene pool of automotive industry, worked over these mechanisms! Which of the engines to give preference? 250-horsepower V-shaped AlloD with two turbines The most powerful engine in our test. And if 0-100 km/h in 7.7 seconds, V Max 234 km/h you are not impressed for some reason, then 350 Newton of the torque, already coming at 1800 crankshaft revolutions per minute, cannot but cause respect even to respect Hot fans of off -road diesel engines! Subaru and Volvo, against the backdrop of Audi turbines, look smaller than 220 and 210 horses. More modest and dynamics with a maximumee of 8.9 and 9.0 s; 210 and 200 km/h. The moment is enough for both cars (282 Nm at Outback and 285 Nm at CROSS Country), however, the Subaru opposite engine reaches a peak quite high at 4400 revolutions. No matter how hard the electronic assistants try, and outside the road you can only get through the slip. True, as soon as you find out that the Japanese is almost half as much as a German, you understand that from time to time you can afford and set it up. At worst, keep a tractor driver with a satellite phone for several years ...
All three transmissions are automatic (Allroad and Cross Country 5-speed with manual switching, Outback 4-speed with the function of forced elimination of the ability to enable the highest gear). The relative similarity ends on this and serious differences begin. Audi all -wheel drive with longitudinally located engines is always His Majesty Torsen, simple, like all ingenious, differentials of high friction, always providing the optimal torque of the car axle where the best conditions for clutch on the road canvas. The function of inter -celebrations falls on the EDL electronic system, which operates through the brake mechanisms and the engine control unit. On the roads and crossroads, suggesting that the car is traveling, and not crawls, the transmission behavior can be estimated at the hard five.
Subaru in all its mechanical versions successfully uses Wytheft as an inter-axial lock, but we have a very successful machine without a lower row (the latter is available only with a handle). And thank God, since for heavy loads inevitable on large off -road, Viskift has one obvious minus with severe overheating, this expensive detail fails and requires replacement. In the field is not restored. But on Outback with the automatic transmission as a lock of the center, a dry multi -disc clutch is used, the circuit of which is controlled by smart hydraulics. Suffice it to say that a similar scheme used by the Subaru factory rally in active diplomas of combat vehicles Tommy Myakinen and Peter Solberg has established itself as extremely reliable and adequate.
Volvo all -wheel drive with varying success. Like the usual V70 All Wheel Drive, Cross Country in ordinary life is almost a 100 percent front-wheel drive car. The rear wheels are included in the work only in the case of the front slipping, and the more they skid, the more the moment the engine is sent back. The Swedes for a long time studied the all-wheel drive needs of Scandinavian drivers who are the main consumers of their products, and came to a reasonable conclusion that there was no need to have a rally car with a calm and thorough Viking-Lesoruba. Volvo should help its owner in a difficult and slippery minute with a timely connection of the reserve axis, and in the vast majority of cases a person while driving will not even notice a change in the nature of the machine. However, in the modes close to critical, the change of concept is not as correct and imperceptible as that of recognized all -wheel drive authorities Audi and Subaru. The behavior of the machine becomes a little more nervous and slightly less predictable, which puts AWD from Volvo in third place compared to the German and the Japanese. It is not for nothing that now the Swedes have agreed on cooperation with their fellow countrymen from Haldex, and now all the cars from Gotharg will be equipped with Scandinavian couplings successfully used on the same Audi with the transverse location of the engine.
The trouble of all three transmissions is inability to dispose of the moment in advance and fixedly. Interssexation locks work only after a small, but slipping of one of the axes. A little twisted the wheels and lay down on the belly. It is better not to meddle in loose sand and fuely clay on any of these machines, or with a shovel or a tractor, a stop is guaranteed. Reasonable off -road can be affected, however, without being carried away by a parody of Camel Trophy, remember that even on much more prepared, full -fledged SUVs, you need to storm only those obstacles that cannot be bypassed by the side, even if the hook is not one kilometer!
If we talk about suspensions, then again I would like to note the breadth of the approach of German engineers. ALLROAD Office adaptive pneumatic suspension with the possibility of stepped clearance change in the range from 14 to 21 cm! The upper boundary of the bar set by Audi is unattainable even for some far from parquet SUVs! Subaru and Volvo clearance are the same 20 cm. However, when driving along the usual asphalt road, when the German express stretches above the ground, his two classmates continue to remain at the same height. In fairness, it is worth noting that in not the most smooth Russian directions, the need for 14 centimeters arises much less often than in the German autobahn, but at the same time the Bavarian station wagon really fully practices a considerable money invested in it. In the mode of the city, the village of Drive on Alload is fast, and will not give the driver a great pleasure!
Subaru is stable, predictable, obedient and safe, like everything that comes out from the Fuji Heavy Industries Civil Automobile conveyor. No complaints and comments, except for one, are driving. Even with a great desire, you cannot completely turn off the stabilization system of course stability in certain modes, it is automatically activated and will strangle the motor and brake the slipping wheels. Therefore, you will not succeed in passing the turns, nor use the slip as an assistant on some types of off -road. If you get used to it right away, then there will be no problems with driving on Legacy Outback.
To Volvo, only one riding claim is too soft and non -energy -intensive standard suspension. Due to a somewhat slaughtered settings of shock absorbers (frankly I want the racks to extinguish the fluctuations in a half-reception, and not two!) We have to constantly catch the car on a straight line, spending too much energy on the process of driving an expensive comfortable car. However, the minimum investments in the suspension (I assume that a set of the necessary springs and shock absorbers will cost thousands in two conditionally European units) will not increase the cost of Cross Country. At the same time, it will be guaranteed to save him from reasons for criticism while driving. Do not pity your funds for light tuning and you are unlikely to change your favorite Volvo to Audi or Subaru. Just as the potential consumer of Allroad will not bother himself to visit dealer centers of the Swedes or Japanese when a person is going to spend 70 thousand cu on the car, he is not interested in either the average family Volvo or free Subaru celestials near Moscow. And if the fashion for just like the jeeps goes on decline, Audi will not have competitors at all in this price and consumer sector of the market. As for Legacy Outback, in addition to the assortment that is certified with us, I recommend paying attention to Canadian assembly machines. Among them are sedans. Canadian versions are very well equipped for winter operation harsh climatic conditions in our countries are quite similar.
Text Alexey Mochanov,
Photo Alexander Nozdrin
How do they look:
Nikita Rozanov
OUTSIDE:
Two years ago, we already compared the design of Subaru and Volvo, and then the Swede defeated with the advantage in the crew. The appearance in the company also only confirmed the faithfulness of the previous assessments and the indisputability of German leadership in this market sector. All these cars in their first life were ordinary front -wheel drive station wagons, but then a kind of off -road tuning underwent, in which it was the design that began to play one of the first roles. Allroad is the latest child in this family of all -wheel drive station wagons with an enlarged clearance and, in this regard, his style and design look most convincing, completely correspond to the purpose of the car. Here in the details of off -road paraphernalia there is not a drop of obsessiveness of black patterns of the Volvo body or excessive good -natured Subaru style. Even the polished metal protection metal of the doors and luggage rilings does not bring variegated variegation into the image of this car. Very similar to the middle ground.
Results:
Audi Allroad is a very verified design and delicious details that subtly shade the sharpness of the character of the car. From this, the style does not look dry and overwhelming rational.
Subaru Legacy Outback is a whole and easily recognized look. The style may seem unnecessarily complacency and even decorative. Therefore, only an expert or the owner can understand the purpose of the car.
Volvo V70 Cross Country is an original and characteristic design that fully meets the utilitarian purpose of the car. However, the contrast of dark details with light body slightly reduces the integrity of the form.
INSIDE:
The brightest and most pure interior style is still demonstrated by Volvo. The laconicism of the panel of devices without decoration under the tree, functional upholstery of the doors and self -valuable seats of the original shape and cut of upholstery, it makes the most favorable impression. Although the other two participants in the dough look good: Subaru flaunts with a two -tone leather trim and abundant decoration with wood, and Audi interior design is classically strict and corporate in relation to the entire model line of this brand. The luggage compartment of the Universal body is an integral part of its inhabited space, and therefore no less stringent requirements are imposed on its decoration and design than to the cabin. For example, under the lids in the Volvo and Subaru floor are two containers for hidden storage of baggage or tool, and in the sidewalls of the Audi places for additional equipment in the form of a CD changer or navigation system. All cars, except for Volvo, have a trunk curtain, but the Swede and Audi also separate the grid trunk.
Results:
Audi Allroad is strict, whole and functionally so that some may yawn. This insignificant flaw is compensated by the rational and unsurpassed German combination of luxury and quality.
Subaru Legacy Outback at first glance will not be held. On the second, you understand that it is possible differently and much more modern, for example, as it is done on Volvo.
Volvo V70 Cross Country is a very modern and very whole design with carefully designed and stylish details and well -chosen finishing materials.
Source: Cars
