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Are 4-Cylinder Automatic Outbacks Underpowered?

6K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  dakboy 
#1 ·
I am looking at 2000-2003 Outbacks. Are the 4-cylinder automatics underpowered? Are the 6-cylinder autos any better when automatic?
Thanks
 
#2 ·
I have an 02 Outback Wagon 2.5l 4 cylinder w/auto.

I find driving with no passengers and no AC the performance is brisk up to about 40mph. Highway passing and hills require a bit of forethought on the gas pedal however it's not bad. The transmission seems to upshift a little early and drop of quite a few rpm between shifts losing some of the momentum. I drove an 05 Outback wagon with the same engine tranny combo and found that using sport shift really helped, even in auto mode it seemed to shift nicer than mine.

When I have four adult passengers in the car it's doggish.

The AC also seems to sap allot of power from the engine.

I wish Subaru would have tuned the engine for more lower end torque where it's really needed. My wife's VW Passat with 1.8l turbo w/auto handles these duties much better. I would imagine the Subaru six cylinder would better be as well but I've never driven one myself.

With that said, there is no better way to find out what you want to know than driving one.
 
#3 ·
I hate to use "underpowered" & "Subaru" in the same sentance; it's so cruel. That said, the 2nd gen (2000-2004) outbacks seemed to have the worst power to weight ratio of the lineup. I had a '97 with the 4 banger and found it fairly sporty...tough to drag 4 big guys and all their camping gear up a mountain at 80mph, but it held its own and darted thru traffic pretty well when I was alone. While I owned that car, I test drove the H6 in a 2003 and found it was much less agressive and felt way heavier (it was). The H4 I can't even imagine, but I'm sure it left something to be desired. The reduced weight & slightly better power of the 05 2.5NA makes it a lot like driving the gen 1 outbacks, albiet better suspension. The H6 in the gen 3 (2005-06) is confidently powerful, but the 2.5 turbo is by far the sportiest, most powerful car overall.

I know you're all going to point out it has the same peak power, but the peak torque is higher, giving it more power earlier for harder acceleration. It's a hell of a lot of money to spend on a car, so don't test drive it unless you're willing to buy it...because...you will :)
 
#4 ·
I've only had my '03 for 18 hours, so I can't speak with any significant degree of authority, but I'll try.

The engine seems to be well matched with the car as a whole. I'm still learning the car and trying to figure out where the torque band is (anyone got a link to a stock 2.5L dyno chart?), but I find with the automatic (and most automatics, actually), performance seems low compared to a manual-equipped model simply because you can't put the engine right in the torque band when you want it there.

It's definitely a better performing vehicle than my truck or K-car, but with the truck I could really wind it out or downshift as needed because it was a 5-speed.

AC seems to hurt just about any 4-cylinder engine. On my '89 Corolla, I had to turn it off to have any chance of merging onto the interstate without getting clobbered by other vehicles. My wife's Hyundai definitely takes a hit when the AC is on too.
 
#5 ·
I have and 04 OBW with 18K on it, and I would say its performance is about 110% what that of my 98 OBW with 140K on it was. They both had very similar mods, so that would leave me to believe that at 18K the 98 would have done a little bit better.

I have found with the 04 I find myself leaving it in 3rd most of the time when I am running around town, that seems to help me zip through traffic a little better, and stops those annoying upshifts into the 4th. Hasn't seemed to hurt mileage that bad either, I am still getting around 24 in the city.
 
#6 ·
rockhopjohn said:
I have found with the 04 I find myself leaving it in 3rd most of the time when I am running around town, that seems to help me zip through traffic a little better, and stops those annoying upshifts into the 4th. Hasn't seemed to hurt mileage that bad either, I am still getting around 24 in the city.
I found that on my way home tonight, on the gently rolling counrty roads if I left the transmission in D it was hunting a lot between 4th and 3rd. It was unsettling, even my '99 Dakota didn't hunt that much that I recall (my Acclaim only had 3 speeds, so it didn't have anywhere to go :))

I'll have to make more use of 3rd.

Do these trannies have lockup torque converters?
 
#7 ·
Yeah, if you watch your Tach when you are pulling those gentler hills, you will feel what seems like a slight "shift" from the tranny, and pickup about 300-400 RPM, that is the torque converter locking up, trying to squeeze a little more torque without having to down shift.
 
#8 ·
rockhopjohn said:
Yeah, if you watch your Tach when you are pulling those gentler hills, you will feel what seems like a slight "shift" from the tranny, and pickup about 300-400 RPM, that is the torque converter locking up, trying to squeeze a little more torque without having to down shift.
Are you sure? I thought the torque converter locking up was the last thing to happen upshift wise, you see it when the revs drop by 400 or so when cruising on the highway. When you hit a rise it unlocks, letting the engine rev higher and produce more power without a downshift.

As for the 4 cyl being underpowered, I'd say no, not the 3rd Gen ones. They actually feel more brisk from standstill than other cars of similar power that I've driven. However they aren't as get up and go on the highway as my 3.0R is by any means, still pretty acceptable though. Of course the 3rd gen has about 20% more power...
 
#9 ·
No, I am not sure. I was just kind flyin by the seat of my pants on that one. I just knew that 300-400 RPM increase had something to do with the torque converter, and assumed it was the torque convert engaging clutches to lock the tranny to the flywheel.
 
#10 ·
Originally posted by Jondalar Are you sure? I thought the torque converter locking up was the last thing to happen upshift wise, you see it when the revs drop by 400 or so when cruising on the highway. When you hit a rise it unlocks, letting the engine rev higher and produce more power without a downshift.
That makes sense to me. Just wanted to confirm that the car does have a TC. Been living in clutch land for the last 18 months w/ my truck, it's tough getting used to having a "fun" car w/o that control.
 
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