- Car fans are giving Subaru a hard time over the design of its 2026 Outback.
- The new body is much squarer, and especially brutal in tough Wilderness trim.
- Commenters ridiculed the fender flares, posted images of the Family Truckster.
Subaru debuted a brand new 2026 Outback at the New York Auto Show and it’s fair to say the design has gone down like an anvil dropped from the top of the Empire State building, at least according your comments.
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Much like it did with the Forester for 2025, Subaru has turned the Outback wagon into a me-too SUV. That alone would be enough to enrage Subaru fans disappointed that the automaker is turning its back on the nice little wagon-centric niche it had carved out for itself.
Related: New Subaru Outback Finally Comes Out As An SUV
But what’s really driving the hate is the awful design. People gave the Forester a hard time for looking too much like a Toyota RAV4 disguised as a Ford Explorer, but the Outback is worse. Way worse. It’s clumsy and smacks of trying far too hard to out-tough the competition.
Multiple posters on our story covering the debut posted pictures of Clark Griswald’s Wagon Queen Family Truckster from the original National Lampoon’s Vacation movie, another big, boxy green machine. The similarities are undeniable, though ironically the Truckster was a true wagon, a class of car Subaru seems intent on leaving behind.
Other people called out the nasty fender flares, saying they reminded them of the flares on Kia’s Tasman, the Elephant Man of pickup trucks. And commenters were united in their distaste for the off-road-focused Wilderness model, which is even more brutal-looking, while also managing to resemble a bad Chinese knock-off of an American SUV.
“The Pontiac Aztec is slowly coming back” wrote a user on Subaru’s Instagram page. “No one liked the Forester remodel so you make the outback the Forester?” asked another one.
Photos Mecum
Some of the criticisms weren’t aimed at the Outback’s exterior design, but what was underneath the skin. Why is the 12.1-inch touchscreen square rather than rectangular, some wondered? And why are the drivetrain options even lamer than last year’s? To recap, the naturally aspirated base engine is downgraded 2 hp (2 PS) and delivers a feeble 180 hp (183 PS), and the available turbocharged 2.5 makes the same 260 hp (264 PS) as before. There are no hybrid options.
To be fair, not every comment was entirely negative. There was praise for the amount of physical buttons on the dash, and CarMark, one commenter in our article, saw method in Subaru’s madness.
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“Detract and *itch away, they did the same thing when the Forester came out and it just had its best March and Q1 ever,” he wrote. “Some styling quibbles aside, I’d definitely still consider one, and it’s still more wagon-esque than full on SUV to me.”
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