REPORTING FOR DUTY

OUTBACK HEADS TO COTY AS AN ALL-PURPOSE LOGISTICS VEHICLE

- SIMON TELFORD

SUBARU OUTBACK TOURING

Price as tested $47,790 (+ORC)

This month 1243km @ 8.1L/100km

Overall 1945km @ 9.1L/100km

LAST MONTH, I signed off hoping that I’d get the chance to take the Outback further off the beaten track, and boy, I wasn’t disappointed!

You see, the next issue is the Wheels Car of the Year edition. This year, the team headed down to the Australian Automotive Research Centre, located near Anglesea on Victoria’s Surf Coast. The AARC is a phenomenal venue, set in a spectacular setting.

It is a fair hike from Melbourne, though, and with 20 cars, six judges, and a stack of content to be made, COTY is quite the operation, requiring plenty of additional personal and support vehicles. And so, my supremely practical Outback was commandeered by photographer Alastair Brook for the duration.

“I had the choice of a Ford Ranger Raptor and the Outback,” says AB. “They both had the room and dirt road capability I was after, but for me, the Subaru was the pick because I’d rather do tracking shots out of the back of a wagon than a ute!”

Wise beyond his years, this lad.