Subaru Outback 2010 News

After leading the world on so many fronts - from quality to comfort and reliability - they have been hit badly by the global financial crisis.  Toyota and Honda and many of the others wound back dramatically at the onset of the GFC, not just on their production lines but also in their motorsport programs - F1 was the first casualty - and new-product development.We are now seeing the results in Australian showrooms, where the Corolla and Civic are now mid-pack in the small-car class and former pacesetters including the Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro and even the locally-made Camry are struggling against newer and better rivals.  They are fine for everyday transport, but not as impressive as they were just five years ago.Subaru has also cut costs and its latest styling work - particularly on the Liberty and Outback - reflects a desperate desire to win sales in the USA.  Contrast all of them against the Suzuki Kizashi, which comes from one of the few Japanese brands that held its nerve through the GFT. Suzuki has cut its production targets, and admits that extra Kizashi models are on the back-burner, but is going to do brilliantly well with the car.Toyota and Honda, in contrast, are relying on value-added deals to keep customers coming in Australia. They are recovering from the economic downturn but nowhere near as rapidly as some of their rivals  - particularly Hyundai.In Australia, many of our Japanese cars are now also actually built in Thailand. It's not a major drama, because the quality is much the same, but it shows how the battle to cut costs is influencing the Japanese makers. The Thai drive also shows that Japan Incorporated is now happy to produce bland transport modules instead of appealing cars, going for numbers first - in showrooms and on the balance sheet. It's a reasonable response to the GFC but is going to cause problems in coming years.Why? Because Australia is seeing so many classy European cars at more affordable prices - look at the Volkswagen Polo - and because Korean is coming up fast.  Hyundai is now doing a better job than Toyota at building Toyota-style cars, with adventurous styling, classy quality and great prices. It's latest, the i45 replacement for the dowdy Sonata, is really good on every front except its awful steering and lacklustre front suspension.The i45 is a Camry done better and, like the Kizashi, one of the stars of 2010. And it's not the end for Hyundai, which has all sorts of new models coming from the baby i20 to an overdue sporty car sometime in 2012.And that's whan the Japanese really could be in trouble. It's not because Hyundai has something new but because the Japanese wound their development programs back during the GFT and the results of that conservative risk management will not really be known until we see - or don't see - the work which should have been done over the past two years.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

Loading and unloading the toddler into and out of a variety of cars, from a $19,990 scoot-about coupe to a $250,000 laze-about limo, teaches a lot about design and comfort and even window tinting and aircon outlets. These little things become just as important as ride comfort and cornering grip when you're trying not to unsettle a youngster who has just started dozing for the first time in the day. One jerky downshift, or a rocking-rolling response to the brakes, can easily undo all the good work.I can now see why so many mums want a compact SUV in the driveway, as the latest Subaru Outback ticks almost all the family boxes. The Japanese company's first diesel engine is never going to rival a Volkswagen, and is lacklustre at low revs, but the rest of the package is ideal when you have prams and change bags and swimming gear and more to lug about - as well as a back-seat entertainment package that runs from a custom carseat to hanging toys, mirrors, books, soft toys and more.My Eli testing over the past fortnight also reveals that a Mercedes S-Class is not as big as I think once the youngster and all his gear is on board, and that it is just about impossible to get a chunky chappie into a carseat in the back of a Kia Koup without a few tears and tangles. The Benz is nice, but the Outback is better for family use and I would actually prefer the latest Jaguar XJ if I was buying a car for my garage. But that's another story.The break also allowed me some driving time with my own car, and personal motoring touchstone. It's a 1980s Subaru Brumby ute which has seen better days and is slowly falling to the creeping touch of car cancer. The rust is not critical yet, but I have to make a decision soon before the faithful workhorse becomes critical. For people who don't know, or cannot remember, the Brumby is a baby ute that was a hero for Subaru in the days before the Impreza WRX became a worldwide icon and the company transformed into an SUV powerhouse with the Forester and Outback. The Forester is slow, basic and huge fun. It has a four-speed gearbox, a wheezy 1.8-litre engine, so-so brakes and - despite some Pedders tweaking - suspension which will never even rival today's Hyundai Getz.So why do I love it? Because it needs to be driven, and it reminds me of all the good things in modern cars. Any quick-start 2010 car is a dream compared to an ancient Subaru that usually needs a jump-start assist after sitting for a couple of months, as well as plenty of warming before it tackles any hillls. The Brumby is nothing special to drive and that's what makes it special. It reminds me every time of the days when I began driving and also serves as a brilliant benchmark of the progress over the past 25 years.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

The Fusion Hybrid took the car trophy, while the truck one went to the Transit Connect.  The Fusion is now officially the US’s most fuel-efficient mid-size sedan at about 5.7l/100km in the city and 6.5l/100km on the highway – stealing the crown from the Toyota Camry’s 7.1l/100km in the city and 6.9l/100km on the highway.The Fusion Hybrid beat competitors like the Volkswagen Golf/GTI to first place, and is the second hybrid to win Ford the Detroit trophy after the Ford Escape Hybrid took out North American Truck of the Year in 2005.The Transit Connect that won the Truck award this year is a compact carrier aimed at small business owners. Ford says it offers the ability to slip through crowded urban areas -- while still having generous cargo capacity -- and offers twice the fuel economy of full-size vansOther finalists in the category included the Subaru Outback, but Ford made it a back-to-back – and their sixth truck winner -- after last year’s prize went to the 209 Ford F-150.  A jury of 49 automotive journalists in the US and Canada vote for the vehicles.