Lexus LX570 vs Subaru Outback

What's the difference?

The Lexus is awkwardly big and not very fleet of foot when you're negotiating the commute to work, school or the shops. It slurps fuel at a rate we're not used to seeing these days and it's not the easiest to park, even with all of its cameras and beepers.

The LX is far more at home out on the highway, where it is incredibly comfortable and quiet. One imagines the diesel entry-level model would do it all, but with less consumption. If you must have a V8, the LX 570 without the S might be even more comfortable without the sports dampers.

Either way, it's a lot of car for the suburbs.

Over 30 years and seven generations of Outback in Australia, the latest might just be the best.

It's great to drive, even better to sit in, very easy to live and willing to go further than most equivalent large SUVs at its price point.

The styling is definitely divisive, with purists unhappy that the long, crossover wagon silhouette is now gone, but what we have instead is a family-friendly vehicle that pleases on so many fronts.

We’d go as far as saying the latest Outback might be the most-rounded Subaru currently available, and great value to boot. And the base AWD is all the SUV most people will ever need.

That’s not bad for something this square!

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The LX came in for a facelift in 2021, perhaps to differentiate it from its Toyota sibling and, according to the press release, “ its level of urban sophistication.” That kind of tells you where this car is going to spend all of its time, doesn’t it?

There’s the new spindle grille that dominates the nose, with some clever detailing to make it look a bit more sporty and dramatic. Around the car there are modified bumpers, skirts, new wheel designs, all that kind of thing. It does look sportier, but there’s no way to hide the visual bulk of such a big unit.

The interior is largely unchanged and the ruggedness is softened somewhat by semi-anline leather trim and alloy sports pedals. It’s terribly conventional and very usable, but there’s none of the excitement or innovation you'll find in other, more recent Lexus cabins.

Historically, Subarus have majored on quirky. Kooky even.

Think buggy ‘60s 360, offbeat ‘70s 1400, spacey ‘80s Vortex, futuristic ‘90s SVX, Alfa-esque ‘00s pre-facelift Tribeca, dorky ‘10s Exiga. We’d go as far as saying that, in over 50 years, only a handful of Subarus have looked normal. And they’ve all been boring. The beautiful ones, like the original Impreza and ’03 Liberty, remain stunning.

But quirkifying such an important family car in such a mainstream segment… that's risky. And we’re here for Subaru’s boldness. We just wish the details weren’t so heavy handed.

Longer, larger and wider than any prior version, the 2026 Outback shares its stretched platform architecture fundamentals with the latest Forester. That’s a sound basis. Just Xeroxed up by about 15 per cent. Boxy shape. Deep glass. Wide doors. Form over function. This is designed to make life easier.

What you make of the Wilderness’ visual features, including the dramatic grille mask, SUBARU wording, painted trim surrounds and cladding-on-cladding (behold the Kia Tasman-like squared-off wheel arches if you dare) is down to personal taste. Eyes be damned! But it is so far-removed from the elegant grace of the previous model that some might argue a name change would at least have silenced the critics.

On the other hand, besides fugly being in Subaru’s DNA, a large, lofty SUV is probably truer to the term ‘outback’ than on any elegant and gracefully-silhouetted crossover wagon.

Meanwhile, the polar opposite is true inside. It’s as if the interior designers strove for class and calm, with none of the exterior styling’s visual noise, or shouting in the Wilderness’ case. And there is the luxury of space, vision and scope, further enhancing the Outback’s usefulness. That you can’t see the body, just the beautiful cabin’s detailing, elevates this Subaru. Unlike in the previous model, which was a bit of an aesthetic and functional mess inside.

Hellooo?! I think there’s an echo in here. This is one giant car, with eight seats available for the keen or foolhardy to squeeze themselves into. If you’ve got all eight deployed, the boot space starts at a reasonable 349 litres. Kick out the three in the back row and flip them up to the sides of the boot and you have 710 litres, although that figure is slightly down on what it could be as the seats don’t stow neatly away under the floor.

Getting the third-row passengers out is a bit of a chore, because the middle row needs a hefty shove to move, while folding the third row jump seats is a power-assisted affair. The middle-seat passenger in the third row is hugely unlikely to be comfortable no matter their size, but the headroom is good anywhere you choose to sit, and the second row has heaps of legroom.

Scattered throughout are cupholders - I counted seven - and you get bottle holders in the doors. All three rows should be reasonably comfortable, with vents supplying climate-controlled air to each and everyone, and the middle row has its own set of controls.

Like all Subarus, Outback boasts an interior of very high-quality craftsmanship, being built beautifully, without rattles or noises or jarring trim.

The difference here is just how pleasingly practical and easy yet attractive this environment is, from the moment that wide-opening door opens and shuts with reassuring solidity.

The horizontal dash layout departs from the Tesla-aping portrait screen domination of the previous generation, banishing the confusing and annoying virtual controls for real, live buttons.

But is it original? The layered presentation is attractive and distinctively Toyota… err Subaru. Yes, it is very much like the bZ4X-based Solterra EV’s look inside.

That’s no bad thing from an ergonomic point of view. The driving position is flawless, the seat/wheel/controls relationship considered and the placement of the climate controls, audio system, armrest and storage just right. We’re also happy to see the instrumentation display incorporate various visual choices, including digital analogue-style dials.

A particular callout goes to the slick and speedy tactility of the brand’s latest touchscreen, as well as the (again suspiciously Toyota-like) interface and graphics layout. It’s all good.

But wait, there’s more. The Outback’s front seats are claimed to be particularly supportive, and after hours in them on and off road, they seem to exceed Subaru’s claims.

If you’re expecting regular mid-sized SUV levels of interior space, be prepared to be impressed, because the Outback’s extra sizing outside seems to be multiplied inside. There’s ample room for long legs, big hats, broad shoulders and buxom hips. It all works so well. This is probably one of the best modern SUV interiors, period. Nothing seems to have been overlooked.

The rear seat is presented to please, too. It can seem a bit drab in the lower-line models, but the same virtues of effortless entry/egress, seat comfort, convenience (including air vents, USB ports, cupholders and armrest placement) apply. We noted the lack of road/tyre noise intrusion at speed, too.

Behind the very sixties Jeep Wagoneer-looking rear is a vast luggage area, complete with a low floor, remote rear-seat folding handles, 12V outlet and quality trim. And that space-saver spare lives underneath.

Subaru seems to have designed this car from the inside out and it shows. A rare 10/10 from us.

Bad news first. Model-for-model, each Outback grade is now up around 10 per cent compared to the preceding, more petite and prettier version.

This means the cheapest of the five grades available, known simply as AWD (for all-wheel drive – this seems almost redundant for a non-BRZ Subaru), now kicks off from $48,990. All prices here are before on-road costs.

This includes a proper off-road mode, climate control, synthetic leather trim, a 12.1-inch multimedia touchscreen, 12.3-inch electronic driver display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a powered tailgate, heated front seats with powered driver’s side, chunky roof rails, 18-inch alloy wheels (with a space-saver spare – thank you, Subaru), nine airbags and comprehensive Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS). Check out the safety section further down for more details.

Notes for the facelift, Subaru: Why can’t the base grade come with cloth, rather than clammy vinyl seats?

Next is the AWD Premium. From $53,490, that’s a reasonable ask given its 360-degree-view monitor, sunroof, heated steering wheel, powered front passenger seat and 12-speaker Harman Kardon audio upgrade.

The $56,990 AWD Touring includes Nappa leather, ventilated front seats, heated outboard rear seats, a wireless charger, active lane change, auto-fold mirrors with self-dipping in reverse (c’mon, this should be standard) and glossier alloys.

From here, we’re in new Wilderness territory. Two grades, AWD Wilderness from $59,690, adding more cladding upon cladding, a turbo engine, electronic dampers, 20mm extra ride height, broader 'X-Mode' off-road functionality, a wireless charger, claimed water-repellent seat trim, different fog lights, black-finish alloys and more.

But, strangely, you lose the sunroof, sat-nav, 360-degree view monitor and premium audio. Subaru demand another $3.0K to restore these in the flagship AWD Wilderness Apex from $62,690.

Still no cloth option, though. We’d like a new base AWD grade with the Wilderness mechanical gear and stance but not the extraneous cladding and visuals, and with coarse fabric upholstery, manual option and steel wheels. Maybe call it Leonie for fun.

Anyway, does new Outback represent value for money? One of its main rivals in the sparsely-populated five-seater large SUV class (most have three rows) is the Mazda CX-60. The AWD slots nicely between the slightly cheaper but very basic four-cylinder RWD Pure yet undercuts the much-sweeter six-cylinder AWD version, so we’d answer that with a yes.

Furthermore, when you tally up all that extra stuff, size and space, today’s out-stretched Outback offers comfortably more over the old model than that modest 10 per cent price hike suggests. That’s a win for buyers.

The 5.7-litre petrol V8 is classic Toyota/Lexus, unstressed and unhurried, with 270Kw and 530Nm. All of this is harnessed to an eight-speed automatic and an extremely capable off-road setup that almost nobody who buys this car will ever use.

The LX 570 S will tow up to 3500kg braked and 750kg braked.

Don’t worry, Subaru traditionalists. The Outback again offers a pair of horizontally-opposed 'boxer' four-cylinder engines.

The regular Outback versions are powered by a 2.5-litre twin-cam petrol unit making 137kW of power at 5800rpm and 254Nm of torque at 3700rpm.

Choosing the Wilderness switches things up to a 2.4-litre turbo version delivering 194kW at 5600rpm and 382Nm between 2000rpm and 3600rpm.

Both use a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with eight artificial ‘steps’ for a more torque-converter-like experience. Sadly, no manual gearbox is available.

The official combined cycle figure of 14.4L/100km is fairly sobering but the real world is even more so - my time with the LX 570 S yielded an indicated 18.5L/100km, which was not unexpected given I spent a lot of time in urban and suburban driving. I don’t think that figure will come as a surprise to any owner of a 2600kg-plus petrol V8-powered four-wheel drive.

The LX 570 S has twin petrol tanks (93 and 45 litres) for a whopping 138-litre capacity to swallow 95 RON fuel, which, on my figures should deliver 745km between fills.

Where the Outback regresses compared to its predecessor is efficiency.

Despite a modest 50kg weight rise, the substantially boxier shape is probably behind the jump in petrol consumption, rising nearly one litre per 100km compared to before in the Outback, and nearly 2.5L/100km, in the heavier Wilderness.

The combined average consumption figure for the 2.5-litre naturally aspirated engine is 8.1L/100km, for a carbon dioxide emissions rating of 183 grams per kilometre, while the 2.4-litre turbo manages 9.7L/100km and 228g/km.

Filling the 63L tank, expect an average range of about 777km in the former and just 648km in the latter. Surely, the coming hybrid version can’t arrive soon enough for some buyers.

At least both engines can drink from the standard 91 RON petrol bowser.

So much for the theory. Out in the real world, over a solid day's testing on- and off-road, we found there was a difference of about 1.5L/100km between the regular Outback and the Wilderness.

First, some key figures - the LX 570 S is 5.08 metres long, 1.98 metres wide and 1.87 metres tall, depending on the height you’ve set the air suspension. It is Quite Large. Yes, cars like the Mazda CX-9 are as long and the Hyundai Palisade is nearly as tall, but given the LX’s humble origins, it just feels really, really big, and it looks it, too.

That feeling is not helped by oddly heavy and slow steering. The latter quality is a result of its off-roading abilities, but you can’t help but wonder if the variable-ratio steering couldn’t be made a bit quicker for town use. The S in the 570 S also adds sportier dampers front and rear, which do the ride quality few favours. Smooth roads are fine, of course, but concrete roads induce a weird porpoising movement that some air-suspended Land Rovers get, and it’s not particularly pleasant, although if you don’t use one of those roads, you won’t notice.

It's obviously a tricky machine to park and get around tight inner-city back streets. Our narrow suburban street posed a challenge when turning in and out of our narrow driveway with cars parked either side. And I did wonder about the strength of our driveway, given the heft of the LX.

I'm not going to pretend I enjoyed driving the LX, but it’s not bad to drive. You’re always aware of the sheer size and weight of the thing, though, as well as the conspicuous consumption of the very smooth and very agreeable V8. The engine does its best to shift the huge weight and the transmission is beautifully calibrated.

Once you’re on a motorway, progress is quite regal, too, so trips away in the LX will be supremely comfortable, even if you hit the busted-up dirt roads I accidentally ended up on. 

Confession time. The way the previous Outback drove was profoundly disappointing. The steering felt numb, the ride was too stiff and the car seemed wilfully dull, even in the turbo version.

The contemporary Forester ran rings around it for driving pleasure and refinement.

But Outback number seven is completely different and maybe the best-driving non-WRX Subaru right now.

From the moment you climb on board this vast SUV from Japan, everything feels right – from the driving position and relationship with the controls, to the sumptuously comfy seats and commanding vision all around the vehicle. That’s a promising start.

Push the ignition and press the accelerator down, and the regular Outback 2.5 quietly, gently and smoothly moves off the line. With modest power outputs and a CVT, you might expect it to also sound revvy and droney, but instead the acceleration is strong and throttle responses determined.

We drove this for hundreds of kilometres and never found the performance lacking, even with three adults and their luggage on board, over hilly and even mountainous terrain. Yes, it is possible to have the CVT whining at higher revs, but not within normal driving scenarios. And the quietness and lack of road noise is terrific.

Moving to the Wilderness and its 2.4-litre turbo powertrain, the same applies, except of course mid-range response is significantly faster and with a slicker, more refined delivery. Press and squirt, this is deceptively quick, because the car does a great job in masking the noises and vibrations that working an SUV hard often elicit.

We only wish there was a manual option. With steel wheels, cloth seats and without the Wilderness' add-on gargoyles.

Now, it also seems that Subaru listened and learned from previous criticisms like ours, because the Outback’s newly-redesigned steering is a delight, with a natural, fluent sweetness and ease that’s combined with a pleasing connection with the driver.

The result is balanced, controlled and enjoyable handling, backed up by reassuringly stable road holding. We drove through a sudden, heavy thunderstorm near Bathurst on the first, hot summer afternoon’s test session, and found the Outback to feel impervious through such slippery conditions.

And this all largely applies to the Wilderness as well, though its 20mm-higher ground clearance (to 240mm) makes it feel a little less composed than the glued-down regular model. Both feature a stiffened body and multi-link rear suspension, by the way.

More progress has been made in the Subaru’s ride quality. Gone is the hard suspension feel, for a far-less firm set-up, providing a comfortable and queasy-free ride. Even in the loftier Wilderness. This is the model’s greatest advance over its predecessor and we’re extremely happy with the outcome.

Finally, other than the at-times over-eager driver-attention monitor, the ADAS tech provides subtle, nuanced back-up, with quiet lane-keep intervention, a measured adaptive cruise-control functionality and no jarring buzzes and warnings.

We also enjoyed a session taking both grades off road, to show off their 4WD prowess. The clearances are ample, the hill-descent tech effective and the ability to scramble over wet rocks impressive. The Wilderness especially may even live up to its name!

This is a difficult SUV to fault. The Outback’s breadth of capability on and off the beaten track give it an unusually wide bandwidth for what is a monocoque bodied family convenience. That there is so much sophistication and fun to be had as well make this so much better to drive and live with than the disappointing old version.

We can’t wait to get to know the latest Subaru better on more familiar roads.

There is no ANCAP crash-test rating at the time of publishing, but anything less than the full five stars will come as a scandalous shock from Subaru.

The Outback’s aforementioned ADAS tech runs to AEB front and rear, rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, emergency lane-keep assist, lane-departure warning/prevention, a pre-collision braking system, adaptive cruise control with full stop/go functionality across all grades. Also present are traffic-sign recognition and new acceleration override tech to help prevent collision. Nine airbags are fitted, while a front-centre airbag is new to the series.

No AEB performance parameter information has been released as yet for Australian models.

Finally, there are two outboard rear-seat ISOFIX child restraint points and two top tethers available.

Lexus offers what I think is a unique four-year/100,000km warranty along with four years' roadside assist.

Capped-price servicing weighs in at $495 per service, almost $3000 over six services, and you'll be back at the dealer every six months or 10,000km before leaving with a loan car. Or the dealer will come and fetch the car from you and then return it freshly cleaned. Nice.

LX owners also get access to Lexus Encore Platinum . This generous program includes Lexus on Demand (you can book another Lexus - such as an LS or an RC F if you’re feeling racy - four times per year at some airports or dealers) and eight valet parking vouchers for some Westfields and Chadstone in Melbourne, all booked through the Encore app. There’s also a bunch of benefits inherited from the standard Encore program.

Subaru offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, and that also comes with 12 months of roadside assistance.

Now, that's pretty average nowadays, so nothing special, particularly when other SUV companies like Mitsubishi, Nissan and MG offer conditional 10-year warranties.

Service intervals are at 12 months or 15,000km for both engines. There is a capped-price servicing offer covering this timeframe. They are currently listed at approximately $350, $530, $405, $705 and $370 for an average of $472 per workshop visit.

There are 128 dealers or authorised Subaru service centres across Australia as of January 1, 2026.