Subaru Forester vs Subaru Outback: Which Subaru Should You Buy?

Sooner or later most Subaru shoppers end up in this spot: do I need the Forester or the Outback? They share a badge, a boxer engine, standard all-wheel drive and a five-year warranty, and they sit about $3,000 apart at the entry. The honest answer depends on three things, how big a car you need, what you tow, and whether a hybrid matters. We take them in that order. As always we compare current rows only and put a price basis next to every dollar figure. We have not driven either car, so this is all from maker documents, ANCAP and our own records.

What each one costs

We hold recommended retail before on-road costs for both, so every figure below is on that basis. The cheapest Forester AWD is $45,990 and the cheapest Outback AWD is $48,990. The Outback then climbs further: $53,490 for the Premium, $56,990 for the Touring, and $59,690 and $62,690 for the two Wilderness grades. The Forester's petrol grades stop at $50,990, and its hybrids run from $47,990 to $55,990.

The ranges overlap more than the headline gap suggests. Line them up by price and three pairs fall out. The Forester Sport at $48,490 sits $500 under the entry Outback. The Forester Hybrid Sport at $54,990 is $1,500 above the Outback Premium. The Forester Hybrid Touring at $55,990 is $1,000 below the Outback Touring. So the question is rarely a $3,000 one. It is what you get for roughly the same money.

Subaru Forester

Subaru Outback

Prices are recommended retail before on-road costs; we hold no drive-away figure for these twelve rows. The weekly line is a finance estimate on an assumed rate, not a quote.

Size, boot and ground clearance

This is the biggest practical difference, and it is a real one. The Outback is 225mm longer than the Forester, 50mm wider and has 75mm more wheelbase, and its boot is bigger: 530 litres seats up against 496 on the petrol Forester and 484 on the hybrid, and 1,267 litres seats folded against 1,174 and 1,162. Those are maker figures measured by each maker's own method, so take the differences as a guide.

The Forester is not just the smaller one, though. It is 15mm taller than the standard Outback, turns in a tighter 10.8m circle against 11.1m, and it matches the standard Outback on ground clearance at 220mm. Only the Wilderness goes higher, at 240mm. The Outback's length is also a garage question: at 4,880mm it is a close fit in many older garages, so check before you commit.

Engines, the hybrid and the Wilderness turbo

On the face of it the standard cars are twins. The Forester's 2.5-litre four makes 136kW and 247Nm; the Outback's makes 137kW and 254Nm. Both use a CVT and 91 RON. The difference shows up in the fuel figure, 7.9 L/100km for the Forester against 8.1 for the Outback, which is about 30 litres a year at 15,000km, and in the fact that the Forester also has a hybrid that claims 6.2.

The Wilderness is the outlier. It swaps the 2.5 for a 2.4-litre turbo with 194kW and 382Nm, and its claimed fuel use is 9.7 L/100km. Against the standard Outback that is 1.6 litres per 100km more, so about 240 litres more over 15,000km. Against the Forester Hybrid it is 3.5 litres more. You are paying $10,700 over the entry Outback for the Wilderness and then spending more on fuel. What you get for it is 57kW more power, 128Nm more torque, 20mm more ground clearance and a higher braked tow rating. If you never leave the bitumen, the standard Outback is the better buy. If you do, the Wilderness has no equivalent in the Forester range.

Subaru does not publish a 0 to 100 time in the documents we hold for any of these rows, so every cell says no data. On the claimed combined figures a tank (63 litres on every row) covers about 797km in the petrol Forester, 1,016km in the Hybrid, 778km in the Outback 2.5 and 649km in the Wilderness. That is arithmetic on the claim, not a range test. Our news piece on the Outback Wilderness has the launch detail.

Towing

If you tow, this is where the Outback earns its premium. The standard Outback is rated to 2,000kg braked and the Wilderness to 2,100kg, with tow ball download limits of 200kg and 210kg. The petrol Forester is rated to 1,800kg braked with 180kg on the ball, and the Forester Hybrid drops to 1,200kg braked and 120kg. Everything is 750kg unbraked. A 2,000kg trailer is therefore inside the Outback's rating and outside every Forester rating, and inside the Forester range the powertrain matters as much as the badge.

A rating is a ceiling, not a plan: the weights have to add up with people and gear aboard. The rig check below runs the Forester Touring and the two Outbacks that have a full set of weights on record. The Forester Hybrid has no gross combination mass on our record, so it sits out of it. Our ball weight comparison explains why the ball limit often decides before the headline number does.

Safety

Both are five-star ANCAP cars in our records, and both list nine airbags. The years differ, which matters: the Forester's result is from 2024 and the Outback's is from 2021, three years older, and the current Outback generation went on sale after that. ANCAP lists which builds a rating covers, so if the star rating is part of your decision, check the register for the exact car you are buying.

The percentages split. The Forester is ahead on vulnerable road user protection (86 against 84 percent) and ties on child occupant protection at 91; the Outback is ahead on adult occupant protection (88 against 83) and well ahead on safety assist (96 against 75). With different test years, treat that as a rough guide, not a ruling. Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and lane keep assist are standard on every row of both models in our records.

Equipment by grade

Four states: Standard, Optional (with a printed price), No (the document says it is not fitted) and No data. A No data pill is a gap in our record, not a missing feature. The table shows a spread of grades across the two models.

Screens: 11.6 inches in the Forester, 12.1 in the Outback. Speakers: 6 on the lower grades of both, 10 in the upper Forester and 12 in the Outback Premium, Touring and Wilderness Apex. Wheels are 18 inches on every Outback and on the petrol Forester, with 19s on the Forester Hybrid Sport and Touring. The spare is a full-size wheel on the Outback and the petrol Forester; the Forester Hybrid has a puncture repair kit.

Warranty and servicing

On paper the two are identical. Both carry a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, both service every 12 months or 12,500km, and both use the same five capped service prices: $370.91, $636.98, $379.36, $888.62 and $398.77, which total $2,674.64 over five services. The Forester Hybrid adds a separate battery cover of eight years or 160,000km. Same dealer network, same plan; the choice here is not a servicing one.

Running costs, finance and tax

With servicing level, running cost comes down to fuel and the price you pay. The petrol Forester claims 7.9 L/100km against 8.1 for the Outback 2.5 and 9.7 for the Wilderness, gaps of 0.2 and 1.8 litres per 100km, and the Forester Hybrid's 6.2 widens them to 1.9 and 3.5. Tyres on the Wilderness are bigger, at 245/60 R18 against 225/55 R18 on the Forester, which is worth a question at your next replacement.

On tax, every grade of both models is under the 2026-27 luxury car tax threshold of $80,809 for cars that are not fuel efficient, so LCT does not apply. The electric car FBT exemption covers battery electric cars only, so none of these qualify, hybrid included.

So which Subaru should you buy?

• You want the lowest price: the Forester AWD at $45,990, $3,000 under the cheapest Outback.
• You want a hybrid: the Forester, from $47,990. There is no Outback hybrid in our directory.
• You tow 1,800kg or more, or want a heavier ball load: the Outback, at 2,000kg braked (2,100kg in the Wilderness) and a 200kg ball.
• You carry a lot of gear or a long load: the Outback, with 530 litres seats up and 225mm more length.
• You live with a small garage or tight streets: the Forester, at 4,655mm and a 10.8m turning circle.
• You want the most off-road height: the Outback Wilderness, at 240mm of ground clearance. The standard Outback and the Forester are level at 220mm.
• You want the newest ANCAP result: the Forester, rated in 2024 against 2021 for the Outback.

Keep reading

The cars: Subaru Forester range and Subaru Outback range, or all Subaru models. Rival head-to-heads: CX-5 vs Forester, Forester vs RAV4, CR-V vs Forester and Outlander vs Forester. Related guides: best wagons, best AWD cars and best cars for camping.