Loyalty Reward: The 2020 Subaru Outback Touring XT

The 2020 Subaru Outback Touring XT.

Love is what makes a Subaru a Subaru, it appears.  The love owners have for the pioneering crossover has earned it the IHS Markit (formerly Polk Automotive) Loyalty Award in its vehicle class  (mid-size CUV) for the fourth year in a row.   And return customers will find a vastly improved Outback for 2020.

30 Minutes With: The 2020 Subaru Outback

The 2020 Subaru Outback.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Day in Monterey, California.

Needless to say, these are quick drives and brief impressions that we hope to be able to flesh out with a full review of the vehicle at some point in the near future.

Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley over Laureles Grade and back or off-road on the acclaimed Land Rover Experience on the grounds of Quail Lodge.

My ninth drive of the day was the 2020 Subaru Outback on the off-road course.

Why The 2014 Subaru Outback Is A Car With Integrity

The 2014 Subaru Outback.

We have discussed art (in the Lexus IS 350 F-Sport review), and form and function (in the Audi Q5 review).  But what about identity?  There is something compelling about a brand that stands for something and that does not blur that identity in an attempt to be all things to all people.  Such honesty can even overcome other shortcomings.

Subaru is a classic example.  For the most part, Subaru builds reasonably priced, but not cheap all-wheel drive vehicles of good quality, high value and remarkable utility.  The one that essentially sealed the image for the masses is this one, the Subaru Outback.

Ford Sweeps North American Car & Truck Of The Year

(11JAN10) Detroit, Mich. Mark Fields, Executive Vice President, Ford Motor Company, accepts the NACTOY Car and Truck awards. This is the third time in NACTOY's history both awards have gone to one OEM.

For only the third time in 17 years, a single manufacturer has swept the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards (announced today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit).

The winner? Ford, for its Transit Connect van and Ford Fusion Hybrid (we reviewed the mechanically identical Mercury Milan Hybrid).

The Transit Connect was competing with the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback for North American Truck of the Year (The Outback? A truck? Station wagon, sure...but truck?). The Fusion was up against the all new Volkswagen Golf and GTI and the Buick LaCrosse.

                                                                      
Keep your interior looking brand new with Ford F150 seat covers.