Subaru Outback as a pull vehicle?

Michele

I have almost closed the deal for a new T@B; love it and the idea that it can be pulled by regular vehicles. The Subaru Outback has a 2700lb tow capacity. Has anyone pulled the T@B with an Outback, and how does it do?
Thanks,
Michele

Verna

Welcome, Michele. If you do a search (upper right corner) for Subaru, you'll find many previous discussions concerning them. 

Ramrod

I towed a 16 foot boat. Weight 2,120 lb. Adequate for a 20 minute drive to the lake. I am not sure the Outback's engine is powerful enough for a T@B on long distance or hills/mountains.

Graton

Do you have the 4 or the 6 cylinder engine? There is a discussion about 2 years ago - http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/341/towing-with-subaru-4-cyl-vs-6-cyl/p1 Personally, I had a four cylinder Outback and once towed a Uhaul with it and it underperformed.

EWizard

I know a guy that has a T@B, and he used to tow with a Subaru Baja (truck-like vehicle).
It towed fine.  He has since bought a Honda Ridgeline though.

cbarnhill

Michele: I pull mine with a 2015 Subaru Outback 4-cylinder and it does great. I have even heard of folks pulling their tabs with a forester. 

mash2

Forester reduced towing capacity a few years ago.  They are now rated for 1,500 pounds.  I had a 2012 that was rated at 2,400 pounds and used it for a couple of years covering 20K miles.  It worked okay in general, but struggled in in western mountain areas.  

db_cooper

We have a 4 cyl Outback and 6 cyl Xterra.  While the Outback can pull the T@B I don't think it would be good for it long term.  More wear on the AWD parts and the engine has to work out of its comfort zone.  We use the Xterra for a TV, but if I needed to move the trailer short distamces I could use the Outback.  

We keep our cars forever though, so YMMV.  

Michele

Thanks everyone for the advice; the Outback is a 4 cylinder with 2700 tow capacity. I will give it a try as a newbie; like the idea of one vehicle. I'll have to wait till the end of March for my new T@B, very excited. I'm sure I'll be picking everyone's brain a lot for some time!

mash2

Michele. If I'm not mistaken, the tongue weight limit on the outback is 200 pounds.  Confirm this with your model year and tow bar.  If this is the case, watch putting stuff in the front of the wheels that has any weight.  Like I said, I used a forester rated for 2400 for a while and it is doable, but I'd be cautious if you get to western mountains.

TomStephens1

I specifically bought my new 2016 Outback to tow a t@b.  We've now been on three trips and have another one planned for April. We've up and down mountains with our 4 cylinder without any problems whatsoever.

brookings

I have a 2009 outback with only 45k miles. It was the last year with pre cvt trans. Gets a little les mpg but with a trans cooler is much better suited for pulling. Just take it easy.

Tabbieannecamper

The cvt transmission used in most cars including the Outback does not hold up to towing and can be very expensive to repair and more to replace. The outback is a fantastic vehicle but not for towing with a cvt. You really need a more sturdy transmission with a cooler attached.

GibW

We tow our 2017 T@B Max-S with a 2015 Subaru Outback 4 cyl. It does okay but feels a bit underpowered on steep hills/mountains. On long trips it it seems to be working too hard. Most troubling though is that we've had to replace the rear, passenger side wheel bearing 3 times and it now sounds like it's about to go for the 4th time. First two times just the bearing was replaced. The third time the entire axle assembly was replaced. I don't think the Outback is rugged enough to tow the T@B even though we travel lightly packed. I especially think that backing the T@B up an incline, as we do on our driveway, is too much for the Outback. Wondering if others have had wheel bearing issues with their Outbacks.

Freshaire

I have long had my eye on a Subaru as my "next" vehicle.  When I decided I was going to purchase a Tab, I knew I needed to get something that could tow it as the two cars I had weren't going to be up to the task.  My brother is a Subaru mechanic at a very busy dealership, so I called to ask him what he thought.  His response, "Don't do it Sis.  The Subaru is not a tow vehicle, it's a passenger vehicle."  He followed  up with various reasons why the Subaru would not be good.  My brother thinks Subs are great cars, but he knows what they are capable of.  I bought a truck instead.  There is no question about whether it can safely pull the Tab.  The Subaru is still in my future, just not as a towing vechicle.

webers3

Specific reasons why it's not a good tow vehicle would be very helpful to us who are researching various tow vehicles instead of anecdotal evidence. I would think that a Subaru mechanic could offer more concrete reasons.

pthomas745

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/tow-me-down-1609112611/1609771499

Have some science.  Lots of interesting stuff here...."He promptly told me we was busy doing science things but turned my attention to a technical document, written in 2008 by Delphi published by the SAE, to investigate the dynamic properties of articulated vehicles (cars and trailers...see sciency already!) and the effectiveness of trailer sway mitigation techniques."

webers3

@pthomas745 OK, I get that one needs to take weight and tow capacity under consideration, it's an important factor. I want to hear what is the specific argument against towing the T@B with Subaru Outback.

pthomas745

https://www.google.com/search?q=subaru+4+cylinder+site:tab-rv.vanillaforums.com&ei=RMkAWuy_JIzmjwOvrI3wBg&start=10&sa=N&biw=1920&bih=1091

jason330i

webers3 said:

@pthomas745 OK, I get that one needs to take weight and tow capacity under consideration, it's an important factor. I want to hear what is the specific argument against towing the T@B with Subaru Outback.

My guess is it would be the CVT transmission. CVTs are designed for fuel economy, not towing.

An interesting note, I believe the V6 Subaru outbacks used to be rated to tow 3500 lbs. But Subaru lowered the tow rating down to 2700 lbs to match the 4 cylinder version. This would indicate that the engine is not the limiting factor for towing.

brookings

I'm in Salem 60miles away. I'm concerned about my Subaru outback pulling over the continental divide. What do you think you will be using yours for the most part. Did you try Amazon? Nice to get a reply to my first message on the forum. 

brookings

I have a 2009 subaru out back. Last year with the older style tranny. Less mpg but stronger. I just bought my Tag 320 s and pulled it 70 miles from dealer. Great on flat road. 16 mpg at 60mph. Pulling a grade the engine really had to work. I don't mind going slow and my car only has 50,000 miles on it. Can you tell me your experience with it. I plan on long distance towing.  

brookings

Aren't all the newer suv's cvt trannys? 

GibW

Our 2015 Outback has a CVT. The transmission has no problems - in fact works great - shifts appropriately and crisply. And you can use to paddle shifters to downshift or upshift as wanted - something we rarely felt we needed to do.

We put about 4,500 miles on our Subaru Outback/T@B this last summer. Including a 3,000+ mile trip from MN to Jasper & Banff National Parks. Our concern with the Outback as a TV for the T@B is twofold:

1) the 4 cyl engine just doesn't have enough power to deal with hills and mountains. Even on the flats it's working pretty hard. It does the job but it's straining. The 6 cyl might be better. But...

2) The Outback is limited to a 200 lbs tongue weight. By keeping the spare in the back and judicious packing this is not a problem. BUT, you end up being very close to 200 lbs and with gear in the back of the vehicle you are really close to the limit. As I've said before, it does okay in normal conditions, but when things get dicey it begins to feel like the trailer might be running the show. I don't think I'd like to have to run any emergency manouvers in the Outback when towing the T@B.

So while the Outback does work as a TV, it seems as if you are pushing up against the upper limits of what the vehicle is designed to do. Our choice was to upgrade to a TV with greater tow and tongue weight capacity. 

Verna

Thank you @GibW, for your candid review. Your post should satisfy all of the questions that have been asked lately about Outback vehicle. 

rcuomo

I would echo Jason's comments, CVT transmissions are optimized for fuel economy not pulling torque. I own a 2015 4 cylinder OB with a factory installed hitch and have previously owned two others. Two factors to take into consideration. Subaru decreased the towing capacity when they went to CVT and they have extended the warranty on CVTs because of inherent issues. Anything can tow on a flat surface but IMO I would not use a four or six cylinder OB to tow a T@B on a regular basis. I bought a new Ridgeline to tow our 320S.

Homebodyatheart

Luckily for Subaru fans they are coming out this year with the Ascent, a 6cyl Subaru with up to 5000 pound tow capacity. We traded in our Outback for a higher rated tv, but I am very interested in the new Ascent! 

dsatwork

System said:

This discussion was created from comments split from: Kia Sorento V-6 as tow vehicle?.

I this link added because there is some information on that thread which pertains to this discussion?

Verna

@dsatwork, this comment was moved to here because it pertains to the Outback, not the Kia Sorento. 

dsatwork

Verna said:

@dsatwork, this comment was moved to here because it pertains to the Outback, not the Kia Sorento. 

I didn't see a comment... just the link.

Verna

It is one of Brookings’ comments.