Range Rover Sport vs Subaru Outback

What's the difference?

The Range Rover Sport P460e Dynamic HSE is a cool and classy premium five-seat SUV. It’s comfortable, refined, powerful and efficient with excellent safety and thoughtful practicality.

If you’re in the market for a luxurious SUV and your budget sits just under $200K this car should be on your shopping list but we’d recommend careful assessment of its value proposition across standard features and cost-of-ownership relative to its highly credentialled rivals. 

If you’re a Subaru fan chances are the Wilderness will float your boat. It’s an appealing mix of on-road refinement and more than satisfactory capability on bush tracks.

The Wilderness engine-and-CVT combination helps to make this Subaru well refined and highly responsive on-road and it benefits from punchier low-rev output in off-road scenarios.

Subaru has made a habit of producing practical vehicles and this new addition to the upgraded Outback line-up doesn’t disappoint.

Does anyone need a Wilderness version of the Outback? Probably not. Will anyone want a Wilderness edition Outback? I reckon a lot of Outback fans would fall over themselves to get their hands on one of these.

Gerry McGovern may have left his role as Jaguar Land Rover Chief Creative Officer (under mysterious circumstances) late last year but his design fingerprints are all over the current Range Rover Sport.

A clean, confident and tightly wrapped exterior reflects his focus for SUVs on large, relatively unadorned surfaces, a high waistline and a curved, sloping nose. 

A coefficient of drag (Cd) of just 0.29 also supports his team’s consistent focus on aero efficiency.

The interior treatment gives off a clearly discernible echo of Land Rovers and Range Rovers past with a compact angular hood sitting over the compact digital instrument display and the flat lower dash section enhancing a feeling of simplicity.

Perforated semi-analine leather seat trim (in Ebony on our test car) dials up the luxury feel, as does the sleek 13.1-inch media screen and soft-touch materials across the dashtop as well as in and around the doors.

Worth noting piano black surfaces across the front centre console might look slick in the showroom but in day-to-day life they attract fingerprints like Chopper Read before a police interview.

The most obvious design tweaks include a glare-reducing bonnet decal, the new grille and bumper, substantial durable plastic cladding on each side, and some tailgate trim and lighting variations away from standard Outbacks.

There’s gold edging here and there around the Wilderness exterior (fog lights etc) and it’s eye-catching, but this vehicle attracts some bemused looks.

While it’s based on the mid-spec Outback AWD Premium, the Wilderness stands apart because of its taller stance (with an extra 20mm ground clearance over standard Outbacks) and chunkier overall look.

For numbers nerds, the Wilderness is 4880mm long (with a 2745mm wheelbase), 1880mm wide, 1735mm high and has a listed kerb weight of 1781kg.

Its wheel tracks (1575mm front / 1600mm rear) are 10mm narrower in both cases than those of standard Outbacks.

Inside, the Wilderness has water-repellent upholstery with embossed Wilderness logos on the headrests, Wilderness tags on the seats, orange stitching throughout and all-weather floor mats.

All in all, it looks stylish, inside and out, but it’s also ready to play in the dirt.

At just shy of 5.0m long, more than 2.2m wide and a bit over 1.8m tall with a 2997mm wheelbase the current Range Rover Sport is a large five-seater. 

Its wide-track, high-roof stance and the dash’s away slope means there’s lots of room up front  and storage aplenty.

A deep box between the seats is covered by a padded lid and a dual cupholder unit in front of it is able to slide away to reveal another handy space. A wireless charging pad sits in front of the gearshifter.

The top of the centre console forms a flying buttress which leaves another useful storage area underneath.

Generous bins in the doors (neatly outlined by bright metal trims) are big enough to hold large bottles and there are two (upper and lower) glove boxes on the passenger side.

There are also individual front centre armrests swinging down from the inner edge of the front seats, their angle adjusted via a twisting rotary dial.

We’re not convinced by the multimedia package with a relatively complex line-up of screens and functions proving at times a struggle to navigate. 

Physical controls for the ventilation system, rather than in-screen adjustment would be a good start.

But what we loved was the heated windscreen which is part of the Cold Climate Pack fitted to the test car. A cold winter morning’s foggy windscreen cleared in an instant is a huge safety plus.

Move to the back, as you’d expect for a car measuring close to three metres between its axles, there’s lots of room.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position I have plenty of head, leg and shoulder room. 

The rear seat’s breadth means three adults can slide in there quite easily. But the centre position isn’t sculpted and padded like the outer two and a driveline hump in the centre of the floor limits footroom, however power recline functionality (with controls in the doors) adds extra flexibility.

The reason for the non-sculpting in the centre spot is a hefty fold-down centre console housing a lidded storage compartment and a pair of flip-out cupholders.

The door bins are generous, there are hard-shell map pockets on the front seatbacks and adjustable ventilation control at the back of the front centre console sits above the seat heating dials. Nice. 

The boot swallows no less than 647 litres with the 40/20/40 split-folding rear seat upright which grows to a healthy 1491L with it folded and there are numerous helpful additions back there including hooks, lighting, a netted pocket, storage cubby and 12-volt power socket. Boot-mounted buttons to release the rear seats are handy, too.

The same control panel contains a height adjustment feature for the electronic air suspension to make loading and unloading easier and Land Rover also deserves a medal for including a full-size spare wheel rather than a space-saver or inflator kit.

In this case that means a monster 23-inch alloy rim shod with the same tyres as the rubber doing the work under the car. Bravo!   

Power and connectivity options include two USB-C sockets, a 12-volt outlet and a wireless phone charging pad in the front, another two USB-Cs in the back and a second 12V plug in the boot. So no problems with charging capacity for phones and other devices.

Braked trailer capacity is 3.0 tonnes (750kg unbraked) and one of the Range Rover’s party tricks is the ability to swing the tow bar into place or back out of the way at the touch of a (you guessed it) boot-mounted button. Exposed shins everywhere are grateful.

In terms of practicality the Wilderness doesn’t disappoint. The cabin has a neat and familiar layout with enough soft-touch surfaces, storage space, cupholders and charge points to satisfy most drivers and passengers.

The 12.1-inch horizontal multi-media touchscreen is easy enough to operate, with many cabin functions able to be controlled via on-screen buttons, but some functions (including air-conditioning and auto vehicle hold) can also be adjusted via physical off-screen controls, which is handy.

The seats offer improved lumbar and pelvic support relative to previous Outbacks, there’s more headroom for the driver and passengers and Subaru reckons the rear cargo area opening is more than 50mm higher than standard for easier loading and unloading of gear into the rear.

According to Subaru the Wilderness upholstery is “hydrophobic synthetic leather with an anti-slip embossed finish” which looks good and seems durable enough for a lifetime of weekend road trips with some dirt inadvertently tracked inside for good measure.

Cargo volume is a listed 530 litres (with the rear seat up and in use), and that expands to 1211 litres when the 60/40 split-folding rear seat is down.

You can conceal whatever is in the rear cargo area with the new foldable fabric cargo cover which can be used as a tonneau-style cover, cargo partition, or even to protect the rear load lip. Its rear-most fixing points attach to the inner walls with magnets.

The cargo area has a 12-volt outlet, two shopping bag hooks on each wall, four tie-down points on the floor and a full-size spare wheel stored under that floor.

The Wilderness has new high-strength roof rails which are claimed to offer a static load capacity of 363kg (increased from 318kg).

Subaru has made a habit of producing practical vehicles and this new Outback doesn’t disappoint.

The 2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness has a manufacturer list price of $59,690, before on-road costs.

It’s based on the mid-range Outback AWD Premium but offers a lot on more onboard than that variant including an upgraded turbo engine, 240mm ground clearance (20mm more than the standard Outback), electronic dampers and extra 'X-Mode' off-road functionality.

As well it gets a new bumper and front grille (with SUBARU emblazoned across the front), substantial cladding on each side, water-repellent upholstery with embossed Wilderness logos, all-weather floor mats and some Wilderness-specific trim and lighting on the tailgate.

The Wilderness also gets a 12.1-inch horizontal multi-media touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (and wireless charger), a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, heated/powered front seats, heated outboard rear seats, a hands-free powered tailgate, X-Mode off-road mode, roof rails, 18-inch black-finish alloy wheels (with full-sized spare).

Annoyingly, the Wilderness misses out on some features included in its cheaper stablemate, the Outback AWD Touring ($56,990, before on-road costs) – namely active lane-change assist, a 360-degree camera system, 12-speaker Harman Kardon sound, Nappa leather, ventilated seats and a sunroof.

Spend another $3000 over the Wilderness price-tag and that $62,690 (before on-road costs) will put you in the top-spec Wilderness Apex. Its extras (over the Wilderness grade) include sat-nav, and the aforementioned 360-degree view monitor and Harman Kardon audio system.

In terms of value for money, you get a lot a of bang for your buck in this Outback and it more than holds its own against rivals, such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X and Toyota RAV4.

The Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is powered by a 3.0-litre, turbo-petrol, inline six-cylinder engine sending drive to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel-drive system including a two-speed transfer box for high- and low-range running off-road.

A permanent magnet synchronous electric motor, positioned between the engine and transmission, is powered by a 38.2kWh lithium-ion battery located under the rear floor.

The motor’s roughly 160kW of peak power contributes to overall outputs of 338kW and 660Nm, the 2.7-tonne SUV claimed to sprint from 0-100km/h in a spritely 5.5 seconds.

There are two direct-injection Boxer engines on offer in the Outback line-up: standard Outbacks get a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated engine (137kW at 5800rpm and 254Nm at 3700rpm), while the Wilderness and Wilderness Apex get a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol boxer engine, producing 194kW at 5600rpm and 382Nm at 2000-3600rpm.

Both engines are matched to a continuously variable auto transmission (CVT) with eight-speed 'manual' mode. No Outback in the new line-up has a manual gearbox.

The Wilderness’s engine-and-CVT combination helps to make this Subaru well refined and highly responsive on-road and it benefits from punchier low-rev output in off-road scenarios.

Claimed combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel economy for the Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is a miserly 1.6L/100km, the 3.0L inline six emitting just 38g/km of CO2 in the process.

It’s important to note that the official number is predicated on the car’s battery being charged consistently.   

Land Rover says pure-EV range on the combined WLTP cycle is 118km, noting a real world number of “up to 96km” is more realistic. Maximum electric-only speed is a lofty 140km/h.

Maximum DC charge rate is 50kW which Land Rover says will deliver an 80 per cent charge in 40 minutes. A 7.0kW AC wallbox will take you to 100 per cent in five hours and a 2.3kW domestic socket will have you waiting 15 hours for a full charge. Home and public charging cables are included.

We recharged at a 150kW pylon and as expected the peak rate went to around 45 kW and it took 30 minutes to half fill the battery. Using the supplied home charging cable on a three-pin outlet for a roughly nine-hour stint delivered a 50 per cent battery top-up. 

Over around 300km of city, suburban and highway running we spent most of the time in Hybrid mode which leaves it to the powertrain’s brain to switch between pure-electric and internal combustion power, rather than the dedicated EV setting. 

Overall result was 6.1L/100km, which is pretty great for a full-size, 2.7-tonne SUV.

A 71.5-litre fuel tank (which requires a minimum 95 RON premium unleaded inside it) equates to a real-world range of around 1170km using our on-test consumption figure.

Official fuel consumption for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 9.7L/100km.

Fuel consumption on test was 10.8L/100km (combined) and while a lot of this test was spent on sealed surfaces, we did do unsealed road and rough-track driving.

The Outback has a 63-litre fuel tank so going by our on-test fuel consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 583km from a full tank of premium unleaded petrol.

Applying a Sport badge to a 5.0-metre long, roughly 2.7-tonne SUV is a brave call. But there’s no doubt the Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is rapid in a straight line. 

Zero to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds is quick for a car of this size, and just so you know, it has the ability to storm on to a maximum velocity of 225km/h. It will even hit 140km/h in EV-only mode.

The 3.0-litre, turbo-petrol six feels and sounds suitably brawny without upsetting what is an impressively refined drive.

Throttle response is as smooth as it is urgent, the eight-speed auto is slick as butter and the option of manual shifts via wheel-mounted paddles is welcome when you want to get more involved.

The front seats manage to combine long-distance comfort with firm location and the continuously variable adaptive suspension smooths out imperfections with uncanny ease.

The layout is double wishbones at the front with multi-links at the rear and the Sport’s calibration keeps in planted and balanced in corners despite its high-riding SUV form.

Noise from the enormous 23-inch rims, shod with 285/40 Pirelli Scorpion MS rubber is minimal and we didn’t come close to challenging their grip strength. Road feel through the steering is pretty good, too.  

Brakes are big ventilated discs all around (400mm fr / 370mm rr) and they’re well up to the task with regen braking in support at slower speeds.

This test was on-road only, but for the record this car’s approach angle is a maximum 33 degrees, breakover is 24.5 and departure is 30, with a handy wading depth of 900mm.

Despite its substantial footprint the Range Rover Sport is surprisingly easy to park, with sensors, multiple cameras and screens helping to keep things low-stress.

And it's worth noting none of the Range Rover’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) functions intrude beyond their intended purpose in day-to-day driving, which is always welcome. 

From the start, this is an enjoyable car to drive. The driver’s seat is eight-way power-adjustable so it’s easy to dial-in your preferred driving position. There’s ample visibility for a vehicle that feels so snug around you and this is a nimble mid-sized SUV with a 11.0m turning circle.

On-road, it is quiet and smooth, and its ride and handling are well controlled, with new dual-pinion electric power steering adding more precision.

The tweaked Wilderness suspension set-up – MacPherson struts at the front and double wishbones at the rear (both with newly tuned electronically-controlled dampers) – yields a comfortable driving experience.

As mentioned, the engine/CVT combination is generally impressive, but if driving based on the CVT’s behaviour is not entirely your cup of tea, you can always use the paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel to have your fun.

The Outback has always been a solid all-rounder and well suited to light- to medium-duty off-roading and over the years its driver-assist systems have been tweaked and finessed to improve those attributes.

Worth noting, we define light- to medium-duty off-roading as driving on well-maintained gravel tracks or dirt roads in dry weather, or coping with minor corrugations, or muddy potholes on dirt or gravel tracks in wet weather.

This SUV's AWD system is intended to keep you safe on less-than-ideal terrain, such as rain-splattered wet blacktop, loosely gravelled bush tracks or slightly muddy dirt roads, rather than transform the Outback into a rock-crawling beast.

Afterall, this is not a 4WD with low-range gearing, ample ground clearance and aggressive all-terrain tyres.

However, with a skilled, experienced driver at the helm, the Outback is even able to tackle off-roading so difficult it would otherwise seem out of an all-wheel drive’s realm of capability.

The Wilderness edition simply builds on that reputation.

For starters, it has greater ground clearance (240mm) than other Outbacks and so its off-road angles are an improvement, with its 20-degree approach, 21.2-degree ramp-over angle and 23.6-degree departure angle besting its lower-spec stablemates.

Subaru’s X Mode system, with snow/dirt and deep snow/mud modes, adds another level to the Outback’s capability. These modes tweak acceleration, off-road traction-control activity and front and rear axle limited-slip function, among other things, to suit the terrain. Working in conjunction with driver-assist tech such as Hill Descent Control, the Outback handles light- to medium-duty off-roading with no strife whatsoever.

Ride and handling remain fine on unsealed country roads, and the suspension mostly soaks up the more dramatic bush track lumps and bumps.

If you’re looking for a vehicle to tow a 2500kg-plus caravan, boat or horse float then look elsewhere because the Wilderness has 750kg (unbraked trailer) and 2100kg (braked) towing capacities.

In terms of all-around driveability, this Outback has a lot going for it and can stand its ground against the likes of the Toyota RAV4, and even the Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X.

The Wilderness has not been tested ANCAP, but it has an extensive suite of safety gear and driver-assist tech.

Standard safety features include nine airbags, AEB (Auto Emergency Braking), driver monitoring (annoying), active lane-change assist, front and side alert assist, emergency lane keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitor, traffic-sign recognition, adaptive cruise control and more.

For child seats there are top tether points for all three rear seat positions with ISOFIX anchors on the outer two.

Land Rover covers the Range Rover Sport with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is in line with premium competitors like Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes but lags the mainstream market with an increasing number of brands at seven, eight and up to 10 years conditional. The warranty for the hybrid battery is six years/100,000km.

Roadside assistance is included for five years, service is recommended every 12 months/20,000km and a five-year service plan will set you back $3900.

That’s a solid average of $780 per workshop visit, which is marginally more expensive than a BMW X5 M60i ($714) over the same period, but substantially cheaper than the Audi SQ7 ($920) or Porsche Cayenne S ($1135) and less than half the cost of the Merc-AMG GLE53 ($1684).

Land Rover has a long-standing network of 74 dealers across the country including all state and territory capitals as well as key rural and regional centres.

The Wilderness is covered by a five-year/unlimited km warranty, five-year/75,000km capped price servicing, and comes with 12 months of roadside assistance.

Servicing is recommended at 12 month/15,000km intervals.

The upfront prepaid service plans are a three-year service plan ($1275.37) and a five-year service plan ($2347.31).

For comparison, the first five years' service for a comparable Toyota RAV4 will set you back $1625.

At time of writing, Subaru Australia has more than 114 authorised dealerships and more than 120 service centres around the country.