AWD Outback vs 4WD Harrier: Which is more stable, reliable and economical?

Hi JM,
Thanks for your humorous and educative thoughts on motoring, though not entirely painless to those you rebuke. 

The description you gave to accompany Fig 4 (in picture above) in your article on Wednesday 22, 2017 titled “Be warned, guardrails can turn into killers”, was not fully accurate.

The end of a guardrail sector is not simply “rounded off presumably to blunt the tip somewhat,” as you opine, but most importantly so as to cause the guardrail to recoil out of the way as the motor vehicle pushes into it during a crash.

On to my motoring needs: I currently drive the much maligned non-turbo Subaru Forester SH5. True, it is limp when in auto but works just fine on tiptronic, with no noticeable difference in fuel consumption. I get to the fourth gear reasonably quick.

But I need to upgrade and I’m choosing between the AWD Outback 2013 and the  4WD Harrier 2013. I know the Harrier is a looker and the Subie is great off-road, but I really need highway stability, good fuel consumption and reliability more than anything else. 

PS: Also, car manufacturers are now adding so much tech into cars that I fear this will be a major challenge in our region in years to come. Any thoughts on the points raised?
Mbugua P.

Hi Mbugua P,
Thanks for the addendum on the guardrail issue. It does make sense. I believe the SH model of Forester is “much maligned” not because it is an awful car — far from it — but because it is no longer a Subaru, a fact I carped viciously against it sometime back over the disappearance of the frameless doors and quirky looks, and the increased use of CVTs even in the supposedly exciting STi version whose legitimacy as a true enthusiast’s car is slowly coming into question (Save the manuals!).

It simply cannot be compared to the Savage School Bus, the SG (9). But from an objective point of view, you will rarely go wrong with the SH. It acquitted itself quite honourably during a 2015 recce for what eventually developed into last year’s Great Run XII.

Between the Outback and the Harrier, it really is a bit of eeny meeny miny moe because both will offer passable highway stability, both have unconvincing fuel economy figures and both are reliable.

The Outback will offer extra robustness and practicality, the Harrier counters it with more comfort and a slightly higher, more SUV-like driving position. It depends on what your tie-breaker is.

I have said before on these very pages that if I got my hands on an Outback Turbo I would not be displeased, but that’s just me...Of course, not only will the blooming technology be a major challenge to come, it kind of is already.

You don’t even need an overly complicated European vehicle to use as an example, let’s instead focus on the paragon of manly toughness and reliability – the Toyota Landcruiser. Do you know why Toyota Kenya won’t sell a petrol version of the 200 Series? Besides its fearsome thirst, it is because it is too complicated.

The array of sensors and systems on that vehicle is simply staggering, and that is before you get to the facelifted (2017) Lexus LX version, which packs even more stuff that we never knew we needed and still don’t. At one point a trustworthy internal source let it slip that the franchise not only doesn’t sell the petrol V8, they are cagey about running maintenance on it as well.

It is too much of a headache troubleshooting all that electricity and pneumatics running around the vehicle, and more specifically because newly rich braggarts import pre-owned junk of unknown provenance with equally sketchy service histories; trucks that are subsequently driven carelessly and treated brutally, sometimes literally to death, before being brought in for neo-biblical resurrection with a self-important instruction barked at the dealer to “fix it asap!”

Why would they bother with a vehicle that was dug up from a faraway land and that they haven’t trained their people for because they won’t bother stocking it in the first place? The diesel car is more honest and a truer Landcruiser than the petrol politician pimp pod. And this is Toyota we are talking about, the bastion of reliance and reliability.

What of Range Rover? BMW? Mercedes-Benz? Porsche? Audi? Volkswagen? Only hands from approved dealers are authorized, legally—by warranty—and morally, to touch them.

You know backstreet mechanics are in for a hard time when a friend of mine mentions he sold his 200 Series with an unresolved automatic transmission issue inherited from its previous owner’s use (Save the manuals!). That means the problem is haunting a third consecutive owner... from a Toyota Landcruiser, no less!