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We all owe Subaru a big debt of automotive gratitude. You may not have even noticed our car-buying tendencies veering away from mainstream cars and toward SUVs, but as utility and versatility would take over, Subaru would shine through at the top of the list.

To put it simply, Subaru has come to define SUVs more than SUVs could ever hope to define Subaru. Back when nobody had ever strung together the term “SUV” for sport-utility vehicles, Subaru had been well along in the process of building just such vehicles, including its smallest cars, such as the Impreza, and on up through larger and enlarged sedans and wagons.

There was a time when Subaru folks were offended that Subarus weren’t included in SUV conversations, but that has evolved to the point where Subarus define the genrel. The prime example of where Subaru has come, resides, and where it’s future is headed is the 2024 Subaru Outback Touring XT, which I recently spent a week living with, and with which it is virtually impossible to find much to complain about or criticize. The test vehicle I drove from the Chicago press fleet listed at $43,795, and while it was loaded up with as many contemporary features as Subaru can muster, it also had an attractive glow, like an oddly-shaped emerald, in its Autumn Green Metallic exterior print.

The Outback began life as a Subaru wagon, raised slightly above its siblings to allow added flexibility in off-road duty, or at least hauling the family up those primitive pathways to the favorite family campground or fishing cabin. As years passed, the genre was perfected, and if the Outback wasn’t a legitimate SUV, it had more SUV-characteristics than most SUVs.

Most remarkable about the 2024 Outback to me is ho much outright luxury Subaru has crammed inside the spacious family truckster. The best example is when you approach the vehicle the first time, walk around the array of lights that dominate the grille and front end design and then  pop open the driver’s door.

As the door opens, it is almost startling to see the oceans of right, Nappa leather awaiting you on the well-bolstered bucket seats, as well as on the console and door trim — and in the rear seat, where three adults can sit comfortably. That leather is so soft and supple that you realize the sticker prize is well justified. You can spend as much, but you can’t be more swathed in luxury. That includes heaters and vented leather for cooling in those seats. The seats also offer excellent support, which is good when you’re driving on curvy roads, because the Outback also responds impressively to aggressive inputs through the gas pedal.

The vehicle has had adequate power in recent years, but the 2.5-liter flat-opposed engine that has been supplanted by a new 2.4-liter 4-cylinder that is turbocharged gets 260 horsepower and 277 foot-pounds of torque, delivered, of course, through the familiar Subaru symmetric all-wheel drive system.

You also can enjoy the fun of controlling all that power with paddle shifters on either side of the steering wheel. Somewhat typical of Subarus is their quest for power exacts a compromise in fuel economy. The EPA estimate for the vehicle is 22 miles per gallon city and 29 mpg highway, but the best we got in mixed driving was 19.4 mph going up and down the steep hillsides of Duluth. But when you step on the gas to pull onto the freeway or two pull out to pass a slower car, the power is much appreciated, as well as the responsiveness of that engine.

The flat-opposed design was copied from Volkswagen, by way of Porsche, decades ago, with the pistons split by a center crankshaft and pumping side to side, rather than up and down, allowing a lower profile for styling and arrangement of vital parts. But there is no shortage of power, ever. In the driver’s seat, you have complete control of all the features, but I must take issue with a bit of overdoing it when it comes to the center stack.

A tall, 11.6-inch vertically placed screen has enough room to include all sorts of information, including vitals such as heat, air, warnings, alerts, messages, audio settings, and what all. So Subaru included everything it could think of. I found that when I was driving, I had to engage my wife, Joan, to monitor the info on the screen because there was more than I could absorb at a glance or two. Riding in the rear seat was comfortable for two, and the storage space in the rear, under the hatchback, is not only spacious but has a heavy-duty rubber liner that assures whatever gear you’re hauling will remain secured without risking ruining that plush interior.

Through Christmas this year, we have incredibly been devoid of snow through an amazingly mild December, meaning it was a brown or green Christmas. A year ago, we had record snowfall in December, and this year we’ve had a record lack of snow. We have a hunch it’s still coming, somewhere in the near future, but staying up near 40 degrees is a natural preventative against snow, and a major benefit is that the Subaru Outback Touring XT stayed clean and didn’t seem to mind just hauling us around. We also know that if it snowed, we were more than ready with the raised platform and greater ground clearance, plus that legendary AWD. S

o well does the Outback Touring XT check all the boxes of SUV requirements that maybe Subaru should start charging a surcharge for SUV lovers who need the initials to identify their utility vehicles.