With its 2020 Outback, Subaru bets on turbo engines and big screens

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The fact that people can buy an Outback with a turbo engine for the first time in years might be enough to sway some car shoppers, but that might not be the most important feature here. Subaru has confirmed that — just like last year — all versions of the 2020 Outback will come with the automaker’s EyeSight driver assist system. That means you’ll find a pair of road-facing cameras on either side of the rear view mirror, constantly monitoring the road in front of you to optimize cruise control and automatically apply the brakes when the worst nearly happens.

While it probably won’t help keep you alive the EyeSight can, it is worth noting that Subaru took a surprisingly big step forward with its infotainment system this year. With its 2019 models, Outbacks had touchscreen displays that topped out at 8-inches diagonal — functional, certainly, but nothing to really write home about.

This year, though, Subaru made an 11.6-inch vertical touch panel standard on all Outback models save for the most basic. If nothing else, fiddling with the podcasts and saved tracks on your phone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto just got a lot easier. And since we’re talking about Subaru — a company that seems to persist because of folksy charm as much as technical ingenuity — it’s little surprise that the big screen can also run an app called Chimani that lets you read up on all 417 of the country’s national parks. Granted, this app partnership isn’t anything hugely new, but just tell me that isn’t the most Subaru thing this touchscreen could be used for.

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