The Subaru Outback Proved Goldilocks Was Right

We’ve previously seen the successes and failures of the growing SUV boom of the 1990s, an era when the economy grew stronger and we seemingly could do nothing wrong. The stock market saw unprecedented growth, there was bipartisan support for a nebulous agreement called NAFTA, and we were still bringing it home to the USA. (Well, allegedly). It was a monumental shift, with prosperity easily seen in our driveways: street-minded Sport Utility Vehicles were dominating well-heeled zip codes around the country.

In some ways it was living a lie, a gilded notion that somehow the SUV was superior to the station wagon and the minivan it was replacing en masse. Yet this genre opened up a new market for a Goldilocks utility, one that combined the attributes of station wagon and SUV into a porridge that was “just right.” This fable of a utility came out at the perfect moment, and it likely saved the company that implemented it. Meet the Subaru Outback for 1995.

This famous ad featured actor Paul Hogan and a Subaru station wagon with a distinctly Australian theme: Outback. Based on the Subaru Legacy wagon, the Outback sported beefier body cladding with a deep chin front bumper, recessed fog lights with utilitarian covers, two-tone paint, a mild suspension lift, a raised roof, and Subaru’s familiar (but not yet mainstream) all-wheel-drive powertrains. Ah, to live in a world when most passenger cars were front- or rear-wheel drive, but not both at the same time!

Subaru has a legacy (sorry) of mandating all-wheel drive in its vehicles, so the Outback’s unique all-weather, multi-terrain design was a natural fit. They even marketed the Outback as “The World’s First Sport Utility Wagon,” which had the potential to resonate around the country thanks to the success of the Ford Explorer and Jeep Cherokee as reference points. But Subaru’s future was far from set in stone: Resting halfway between the bad old days of hustling Subaru 360s and our current reality of mainstream success, things must have been stressful back for Subaru USA in the mid-1990s.

The Outback panned out, becoming the right product for the time: Previous all-weather wagon designs from AMC, Honda (Wagovan), Toyota (Tercel Wagon), and Mitsubishi (Dodge Colt Vista) beat Subaru to the punch, but the market wasn’t ready to embrace their higher profile, pavement-optional prowess. But the Outback didn’t just draw new customers, as its underlying engineering upgrades over a regular Legacy wagon couldn’t alienate their Loyale-ists (sorry). Those folks embraced the AWD Japanese import for their snowy climates, and subsequently earned the brand a reputation for toughness and durability. The Outback was completely brand-appropriate, making for a rare slam dunk from a smaller automaker.

Yet when introducing the first-ever Outback to Motorweek’s audience, host John Davis curiously avoided the low-hanging fruit of referencing the now-popular SUV. Instead, he led with the space-efficient minivan, eschewing the Outback’s recipe for success: doing off-road worthy things without the performance and fuel economy penalty of actual SUV ownership.

Performance from the Outback’s signature powertrain and suspension design left Motorweek staffers impressed with its ability away from pavement, but they wisely noted the independent suspension and communicative steering were impressive on the streets. That raised roof is still lower than a minivan or SUV, but made for a roomier rear cabin for adults and bulky cargo. It seems like an awkward middle ground to pursue, but it became a sweet spot in the market. And we all know where this is going…

The passenger car-based, almost-SUV nature of the CUV (crossover utility) now thrives in the world where family sedans, minivans, and station wagons once thrived. They are all two-box hatchbacks heavily based on a unit-body construction shared with a more traditional family car. And their inherent advantages (both for the consumer and manufacturer) are clearly seen in the Motorweek review. The SUV craze matured into a CUV phenomenon. Goldilocks’ preference in porridge wasn’t a one-off, apparently.

It’s come to the point that CUVs should be referred to as cars, with everyone from Kia to Lamborghini making fat stacks of cash off the genre. While Mustang EV crossovers and Porsche Macans likely infuriate the purist, everyone follows the money. There’s ample fiscal motivation to add height while removing truck-like bulk.

The first Subaru Outback was the first “car” to make the CUV genre both relevant and cool, proving that Goldilocks was very much right in her porridge preference. And you can’t do much better than that for your long-term, ahem, legacy.