2010 Subaru Outback Diesel Road Test

Subaru has always been a quirky company, from demanding that engines have horizontally opposed cylinders to the slightly more recent habit of ensuring that every single product is all wheel drive.

But it takes a very rabid sort of dedication to building the world's first boxer diesel engine. There were plenty of easier options, and it would have undoubtedly been cheaper to buy an engine from another carmaker, but hey, that's Subaru for you.

Good thing the engine is so good then in the $52,990 Subaru Outback 2.0D Euro Spec. It produces 110kW but a much more important 350Nm of torque. That means that when the engine is in the sweet spot acceleration just isn't a problem. And because of the unconventional layout of the diesel engine cylinders you get an exhaust sound halfway between that of a diesel and that of an old Audi Quattro.

The rest of the car is pretty much conventional Subaru Outback, being a jacked up version of the Legacy wagon, the only real difference being that, since this is the Euro Spec version of the car the indicator and wiper stalks are on opposite sides of the steering column compared to the rest of the range.

Also being a Euro Spec, this car has a six speed manual, and that's where things begin to go a little out of wack. In Europe there are obviously a lot of wide open motorways, autostradas, autobahns, and whatever they call them anywhere else and this car has gearing perfect for them.

That means that when you take this car and put it on a typical New Zealand winding rural road you have to be careful which gear you are in if you don't want to be screaming away at 5000rpm or lugging along at 1000rpm.

Normally in a diesel this wouldn't be so much of a problem, but there are a few gaps between the gears, such as between second and third gear. There's nothing wrong with the final gear ratio, which is the same as the 2.5i petrol powered outback, but it's the selection of gear ratios in each gear, which are much higher than in comparable Outback models.

Having said that, once you get the hang of it it's not that much of a problem and the engine will return very good mileage when you find bits of road straight enough with around 6.6L/100km at a speed just over 100km/h.

You can tell the gearing in sixth is meant to correspond to the 70mph motorway speed in the UK, as the car will return around 6.0L/100km at a constant, if rather naughty 112km/h.

As one of the fuel saving 'tips' on the dashboard there's a gauge that tells you how you're doing - the only problem is that it actually doesn't have any numbers on it. A little experimentation showed however, that the middle of the gauge corresponds closely to the aforementioned 6.0L/100km.

The Outback also has an electrically operated handbrake which for once I actually like. I habitually put the handbrake on while at a standstill in a manual car, and some electronic handbrakes just don't work that well in the situation. The Subaru one actually works quite well, releasing automatically as you pull up on the clutch pedal to move out.

Other than that this Outback is pretty much like any other - big enough to take a family and all their stuff, and more fun to drive than the Legacy because of the Outback's higher centre of gravity (you have to switch off the VDC control first though).

The only real problem is other 'enthusiastic young drivers' who mistake the intercooler intake on the bonnet and think you're in some sort of super turbo petrol powered Outback and leave you standing at the lights. To which I can only say I hope they have put enough money aside for all that petrol they just burned off.