Somewhat confusingly, an icon for the blind-spot monitor lit up on the instrument cluster when the system was off. Lacking that, however, this Outback had blind-spot monitoring and a backup camera. I highly recommend the EyeSight assistance feature. 8.7 inches of ground clearance will help in the ruts. None of this equipment makes the Outback a serious offroader, but it will certainly handle dirt tracks and trail driving reasonably well. Unless you plan on loading the Outback with five adults and their luggage, and towing a trailer, you can probably get away with the smaller engine. Mixing urban, freeway and mountain backroads in my driving, I came in at just 21.1 mpg. Where the 3.6 achieves 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, the smaller engine turns in 25 mpg city and 33 mpg highway, a pretty substantial difference. The available 2.5-liter engine also comes mated to a CVT, and produces 175 horsepower. CVTs can often be more fuel-efficient than fixed-gear transmissions, and also offer smoother acceleration. As a change from the previous generation, it comes with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), a type of gearless transmission using belts to constantly change the drive ratio for the best power and efficiency combination. The 3.6, sticking to conventional port injection, makes 256 horsepower and 247 pound-feet of torque. This Outback sets itself apart from its sibling majority with a 3.6-liter six-cylinder engine, arranged in the same flat opposed cylinder format as the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine available at a lower price.

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