This is the new Subaru Outback estate

Last year, we saw the new Subaru BRZ. But just as we were getting attached, we learned it’s unlikely to make it to British shores.

Yet this new Outback proves Subaru still wants to sell cars in the UK. It’s a familiar recipe: a hiked up, off-road ready estate car with an unfashionably large boxer engine up front and much safety equipment squeezed inside.

In fact, the latter is Subaru’s big sell now it’s not shifting dinky turbo sports saloons off the back of World Rally glory. The Outback gets the latest iteration of Subaru’s Eyesight driver assist system, which uses a plethora of cameras to almost double the driver’s field of vision, while new to this latest Outback is a fatigue detection system and a reverse parking assist that’ll bong politely if you’re about to reverse into oncoming cars.

None of it’s especially unique, but a jet washer for its reversing camera kinda is. It’s all wrapped up in a big estate car that starts below £34,000, though whether you can stomach its only powertrain option – a 2.5-litre 4cyl boxer turbo driving all four wheels through a CVT auto – is another thing. Subaru offers hybrid tech on its other SUVs, just not here yet.

This is described as its ‘toughest SUV built to date’ as compensation, with a number of different terrain and hill descent modes that, thanks to the rather niche positioning Subarus now fill, might actually get used. While its former rallying foe Mitsubishi has given up on the UK, Subaru soldiers bravely on. But should it be doing so with a sports car in its arsenal?