REDESIGNED ICONS! -- 2026 Toyota RAV4 vs. 2026 Subaru Outback: Comparison

What's going on YouTube? So both Toyota and Subaru have been Japanese automaker powerhouses for decades now And two of their very most important crossovers have both been fully redesigned this year Those of course are the Subaru Outback and the Toyota rav4 america's best-selling suv Studies have shown that many cross shop these suvs as well So it's time for us to put them head to head in a comparison. So which should you pick? That's what we're here to find out today to show off these latest offerings with all they have to offer We are showcasing the fully loaded models in this comparison each with its unique advantages And if you're looking to buy either of them Make sure to check out carconfections.com slash new car quotes to get the best price and access to invoice pricing information But jumping right into the exterior section There's a lot to take in with these redesigns as subaru and toyota are both in a period of big design changes The new rav4 takes a clean and boxy look Blending camry and forerunner elements with a body color grille and silver accents for this top model Meanwhile, the outback undergoes a major design transformation Moving from its traditional wagon-like shape to a tougher suv appearance for this new model It has less cladding than the previous generation But in comparison to the rav4 it has the tougher look While we don't score design, we'd love to hear what you prefer in the comments below What we do score are the various features and differences starting with the headlights Both are rocking full led headlamps with fog lights as equipped However, it's only the outback that has the premium feature of adaptive lights which bend around corners But the rav4 strikes back with wheel size where it is rocking new 20-inch alloys instead of 19s as the top size on the outback Rest assured we will be discussing ride quality later for those concerned Also, feel free to grab a notepad and keep your own score if you want based on your personal priorities When we head to the sides, it's the outback that has the extra inches over 10 of them in fact While many consider them to be in different segments research and pricing overlap show that many view these two as direct rivals Stay tuned for the cargo section to see if that extra length is actually an advantage Moving out back. They're quite similar with boxy designs exposed wipers and hidden exhaust outlets But it's the rav4 that goes above and beyond with full led tail lamps versus two out of three elements on the outback The all-new rav4 fights back with greater towing capacity this year, which means it can match the outback with an impressive 3,500 pounds At the mirrors each of them has heating and blind spot monitoring when only the subi throws in power folding And for safety they both offer the latest and greatest from their respective brands Each features all four of your active safety features as standard equipment, but both have extra tricks up their sleeves The rav4 has a standard drive recorder which uses the existing cameras on the car to act like a dash cam But the outback has a new hands-free highway driving assistant on eligible mapped roads That concludes the exteriors. So now let's see what else is new for the interiors But first if you're new here, we're brothers and we've been reviewing cars since we were 12 and 16 We started young and since then we have reviewed over 2,000 vehicles at every price point No matter what you're looking for from humble to high end We'd love for you to subscribe to be a part of our car confections family Let's learn a lot and have some fun with all the latest cars Starting with the keys both feature smart entry systems and support for remote start While the keys aren't new opening up the doors will show off lots of brand first touches But let's start with the seats The rav4 seats are wrapped in a realistic soft tex faux leather But the outback has the real deal for its seats nappa leather It also has two ways of extra adjustment with a manual thigh extension However, they share the rest of the features including heating ventilation and memory Once seated the differences continue as we get into the broad category of material quality Which will divide into solidity and material selections The outback once again leads the way in both categories Offering a generous use of leather and soft touch materials that fit together in a sturdier and nicer way than the rav4's new cabin Firing them up. You'll be greeted by digital gauge clusters on both at an equivalent 12.3 inch size With customization options such as putting google maps in there As equipped neither has a head-up display. So the digital clusters will have to suffice Pulling back to the steering wheels. We have leatherette wrapped manual adjusting wheels with plenty of easy to use buttons Both steering wheels are heated and the wipers are rain sensing Next up is storage where both models received changes for 2026 We will evaluate both the console and the multi-use cubbies in the dash The newly enlarged consoles are quite large and equivalent to each other The toyota has a trick of its sleeve though Its lid can flip upside down and turn into a table for something like eating Beyond the console they continue to match each other with lots of cubbies passenger storage shelves and wireless chargers But only the rav4 has a second wireless charging pad on the limited for 2026 to keep your passenger charged up, too As far as the shifter is concerned only the rav4 has an electronic one But when in reverse both feature 360 degree cameras with multiple angles and good resolution At the climate controls we had two zone automatic systems, but their ease of use differs While the rav4 lost its physical knobs for 2026 in favor of smaller temperature buttons The outback added back physical knobs this year We find it easier to use knobs without being distracted from driving And all the comments we see indicate that the vast majority of people agree with that sentiment However, each has a physical volume knob for the audio systems in the rav4 you max out with a jbl nine speaker system But the outback's harman kardon bumps you up to 12 speakers. Let's sample them The outback system really is one of the best for the money and it gets the point here Since their most recent updates both the rav4 and outback are both worlds better in terms of technology The toyota has a 12.9 inch display while the outback is 12.1 inches enough to give the rav4 the edge For functionality though these two match each other rocking the newest versions of their brand software This means you'll see big improvements in performance and graphics as well as wireless apple carplay and android auto and built-in navigation Wrapping things up in the front of the cabins. They both have auto dimming mirrors with home link and the rear camera ability However, it's only the rav4 with a larger panoramic sunroof Things continue to heat up in the back of these two. So let's dive right in Starting with the backseat space the numbers say that there's not enough foot difference on paper in the advantage of either competitor But when we measure the practical knee room with our ruler it reveals that the outback is realistically roomier With almost three inches of extra space behind my five foot eight driving position As far as the features go they are each equivalent and luxurious Both seat backs offer room to recline. There are vents usbs and heated seats Opening the hands-free power tailgates on both the rav4's packaging refuses to be defeated With the back seats upright. It's actually the toyota with an almost nine percent space advantage However, the subi runs away in maximum capacity with an over 13 advantage It also makes accessing the full space easier by having handles to fold down the seats For peace of mind both include a spare tire in case of accidents That wraps up the interiors, but there's some very important things to consider on the test drive So let's take this fight to the streets The power plants toyota and subaru equip these crossovers with are quite different The all-new rav4 focuses on efficiency with a standard hybrid system making more power than ever at 236 horsepower Meanwhile, the outback focuses on power with the high-end xt model we have today Which uses a turbocharged boxer engine to make 260 horsepower We'll talk about efficiency in a moment, but for now, it's the outback that is more powerful and is quicker to 60 miles per hour All right That is 60 miles per hour in the outback Xt so this is the more powerful of the two powertrains It will continue with this new generation to be offered with two different powertrains This is the 2.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine making 260 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque Now as you just saw with that zero to 60, um, I think power is pretty good on this model Okay That was 60 miles per hour with this 2026 rav4 So of course the big news with this next generation rav4 is the fact that they're moving to A full hybrid powertrain arrangement. So you have a traditional hybrid and you also have a plug-in hybrid option We're in the traditional hybrid right now This is going to be the what the vast majority of customers will walk away from the dealership with Because it is standard on almost every single trim level a six out of seven trim levels Transmission wise the rav4 uses an e-cvt and the outback a regular cvt Performance is relatively snappy on both providing power when needed But in typical subaru fashion, it's the outback that is more suited to go off-road While both trims tested have standard all-wheel drive The subi has a more capable full-time symmetrical all-wheel drive system with variable torque distribution ability Compared to an independent rear electric motor providing the back wheels with power in the rav4 Furthermore the outback's additional 0.6 inches of ground clearance would be helpful when going off the beaten path If off-road performance truly matters to you, you can shop the woodland or wilderness trims of the rav4 and outback respectively So this will continue to have the linear tronic cvt like many other subaru products um When you're when I was accelerating there, you probably noticed that it does have some simulated gear changes actually has eight simulated gear changes. So Don't have any drone situation or anything like that, which I certainly appreciate now, of course in terms of the transmission situation This is an e-cvt which is typical for toyota's hybrid system Now let's discuss ride and handling while neither of these crossovers are back road champs ride quality is where they truly shine Both soak up road imperfections with ease Even on the rough arizona roads both were driven on We would give the slight edge to the outback with the extra cush in its suspension and smaller wheels Now that we're just kind of cruising through this town here and going over some bumps in the road It's a great time for us to talk about ride quality for the outback That always was a pretty strong element for this model And i'm really happy to tell you they continue to emphasize that in this vehicle It has really good ride quality when you hit a bump in the road It does a great job of soaking things up They particularly also said that they focused on making these seats more comfortable now Also good news is the ride quality so we've been driving around here all morning long and like I just said, this is a pretty rough road surface and Even if we hit big bumps in the road, I think it does a great job in terms of ride quality Now I have to say I was a little bit skeptical because we have the 20 inch wheels on the outside for this limited example I thought the ride quality might be sacrificed a bit by choosing those and i'm happy to tell you it really is not Sound insulation is also important, which is why we take sound level readings of every vehicle we test here at car confections Scientifically speaking most adults cannot discern a difference of less than one decibel between sounds And with our preliminary measures taken in arizona, the rav4 is close, but not quite one decibel quieter All right, so we have settled in at 59 and a half decibels is our sound level reading 58.7 decibels is the number that we have settled in at finally. Let's talk about the all-important aspect of fuel economy Toyota's hybrid system will certainly have the advantage here with a combined advantage of 18 miles per gallon You heard that correctly 18 miles per gallon combined That means the rav4 gets close to twice the fuel economy But if you're not ready to adopt a hybrid yet, the rav4 no longer offers a traditional gas engine to choose from In our reviews and comparisons We're also adding in reliability and resale information to give you a better picture of the overall value beyond just the original msrp beginning with reliability We developed the combined reliability index Which takes into account several studies from trustworthy sources and combines them in a way that gives you a more realistic picture In this respect, they are some of the strongest brands money can buy Subaru is rated 11 spots above the industry average giving it plus 2.2 points And toyota is 15 slots above average giving it plus three points Related to that they have the same general warranty coverage, but the toyota offers the perk of complimentary maintenance for two years We also put mason's economics degree to work to develop a detailed predicted resale value tool After five years and 60 000 miles toyota has one of the highest resale values in the entire auto industry It's 64 and a half percent expected retained value Subaru is not far behind with 63.03 after five years and 60 000 miles This will give toyota a slight boost in score of plus 0.2 points Now let's talk about pricing while the outback is a tweener between the compact and midsize segments The toyota has been known for being one of the most expensive compact crossovers you can buy While the outback is almost touching fifty thousand dollars the rav4 we have today is not far behind Accounting for the estimated 31.95 price difference between these two We will give the rav4 plus one and a half points for value I want to emphasize that if reliability resale value or money matters less to you personally feel free to disregard these points So there you have it the objective winner, do you agree? Let's go over some pros and cons about why you might personally pick one over the other based on what's most important to you And then we'll tell you which ones we would put in each of our driveways So i'll start with the outback the main reasons you would choose this more maximum cargo capacity more luxurious interior finishes And of course this has a more powerful turbocharged powertrain option Now the rav4 on the other hand has way better fuel economy because it is a hybrid system It also has better resale and reliability ratings and it also has some tech advantages over the subaru Although the outback has improved the tech a lot the rav4 still has it beat in certain areas Now speaking of those areas where one is excelling over the other we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash vehicle rankings We've looked at numerous vehicle segments such as the compact suv segment the midsize two-row suv segment as well And ranked each of those options in the most important categories of this type of buyer things like technology powertrain choices fuel economy A value under a certain price point as well as cargo space are all detailed for you on our website So if you want to make an informed buying decision, definitely check out carconfections.com slash vehicle rankings You won't regret it. But which one are we going to put in our driveways? So today I would pick the toyota rav4 I appreciate its efficiency and just its consistency all throughout the vehicle now on the flip side I would take the subaru outback because I appreciate the more luxurious interior I like a nice interior with a lot of nice materials and the rav4 is a little bit lacking in that respect Now if you're looking to buy either one of these suvs or any new vehicle We would also encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash new car quotes The reason you should do that is because we have a tool on our website That'll connect you with local car dealers in your area to get you the best price It's also going to give you access to invoice pricing information Which is a great tool to use while dealership negotiating If you'd like to take advantage of that as well as things like our monthly payment tool You can find a link to that down below in our video description as well as a pinned comment at the top of this video But guys that's going to be where we conclude this comparison. 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