Subaru Outback 3.0R | Shed of the Week
There's a lot to be said for a ruggedized AWD wagon - not least the 245hp flat-six upfront
Three-litre flat-six Porsche anyone? If you’re talking about a late '70s 911 SC you’ll be needing at least £60k for that and very likely a great deal more. Why waste all that cash when you can have a 3.0 flat-six in a much more practical vehicle for a mere two grand?
We had one of these Subaru Outback 3.0 Rs on here almost exactly two years ago to the day in March 2023. That was a 2004 example in gold with 145,000 miles on the clock, a clean MOT pass, a full service history and a £1,999 price tag. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong with it at some point after Shed’s report because when MOT time came around again in December ’23 the owner chose not to bother. Presumably it was scrapped. Quite a fall from grace and a sobering reminder of how quickly things can go south at the sub-£2k end of the used market.
Will today’s Outback fare any better? Although it has almost exactly the same mileage as that gold shed it’s three years younger and, at £2,000, £1 better. Shed will leave you to work out the actual relative prices factoring in inflation and the price of eggs. It’s a midlife refresh model but still a gen-three Outback, which means it’s based on the gen-four Legacy, a car that didn’t rust as readily as its predecessor but that was still vulnerable in its lower parts (wheelarches) and some higher ones too like the surrounds for the big sunroof and windscreen.
The MOT history on today’s car shows corrosion beginning in 2021 on the normal stuff like brake pipes and exhaust and creeping up to a less specific ‘corrosion to vehicle’ level in 2022. Interestingly it hasn’t been mentioned since. Nor has ‘underseal obscuring underside components’. That’s odd because in Shed’s long experience of scrutinising MOT certificates, one is normally replaced by the other.
What about that engine then? Well, if you didn’t mind giving it plenty of revs (6,600 of them) the ultra-smooth variably valve-timed 3.0-litre EZ30 H6 engine dished out 245hp and 219lb ft of torque at a still lofty-ish 4,200rpm. It all went through a five-speed torque converter auto. No manuals were available, which was not necessarily a bad thing given the reputation of other manual Subarus to prematurely spit out their dual mass flywheels, and you could still enjoy the engine by putting the auto into manual mode. The 3.0R estate weighed less than 1,500kg so with everything working as it was supposed to it would ease through the 0-60mph in 8.2 seconds and go on to 139mph. Some (usually non-owners) said they should have had some form of forced aspiration, but those who ran them knew what a good job they did as all-surface family runabouts and how satisfying they could be to drive.
The motor was actually very strong (and a lot more reliable than the later boxer diesel) as long as you paid attention to its servicing requirements. Do that and they can top the 300k mark. There were weak points however, like timing chain tensioners and guides, serpentine belts, throttle position and AC sensors, fuel pumps and oil cooler gaskets. Head gaskets did go on 2.5s but not so much on these 3.0s. You’d like to hope that the spark plugs are a good way off their 60,000-mile replacement date mind you. Shed will tell you that changing them is almost as difficult as getting Mrs Shed to smile.
On the plus side, Outbacks were practical with proper all-wheel drive, easy-folding rear seats, big boots and self-levelling McPherson strut front/multi-link rear suspension. This one doesn’t have a towbar, which is good because it means you won’t get phone calls at the dead of night from locals who know you’ve got something that will get their up to 1,800kg car out of some cow poop.
Like our earlier gold shed, this one has a Momo steering wheel and ivory leather, a strange choice of hue in the eyes of those who thought that the Outback was for going out back. The best you could say about it was that any dirt showed up straight away so you could immediately attend to it in an OCD fashion rather than letting it fester for months.
After not one but two MOT fails last November, the car having inexplicably been tested again two weeks after the first failure with no effort having been made to rectify the faults noted the first time around, the fail defects of ABS and stability control warning lights were cleared, although the advisories of a non-excessive oil leak, worn nsf suspension bush, worn rear ARB joint – all very common faults on these – were left undisturbed, as was the scabby rear numberplate. That oil leak began in 2017 so let’s hope someone has topped up the level sometime between then and now.
If none of that puts you off, this next bit might. Two years ago the annual tax bill for a 231g/km Outback 3.0 R was £340. Today, because it’s 6g/km too dirty to get into the £415 Band K, that bill will be £710. The torture will continue at the petrol pump too with an official fuel consumption figure of 28mpg and a more likely real-world one of under 20mpg.
But it’s a flat-six innit. That’s got to be worth something. It’s a current model too, sort of. You can still buy a new Outback with a boxer petrol engine but these days it’s only a 2.5-litre four with just 165hp and 186lb ft and a combined fuel consumption figure of 32mpg. For this oldest of old-school experiences you’ll pay at least £38k. Wow. Wonder how many of those they sell every year...
The thought of loosing 2K if it follows it's golden brother would be ever present in the mind and that possibility has coin flip on odds. I could live with that but not the excessive VED. It could be Scoooobie dooooobi doooooooomed.
Doesn't make it a bad Shed though as the expectations are somewhat different. They are definitely quirky (I'm a Subaru fan - had three Impreza's) and that's no bad thing nowadays.
It’s such a paradox these days with cars. When you see a blinged-up Range Rover Sport, you don’t tend to think that’s driven by a wealthy person, even though that’s likely to be one of the reasons they drive such a car. We are likely to think in most cases, it’s someone living right on the edge financially to meet the monthly PCP payments in order to keep up with the Jones.
But for 2 months PCP payments on said Range Rover, you can look far more successful and intelligent driving this.
It does look like a good workhorse though, so it will appeal to some folk I reckon as a good shed.
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