Holden Calais Tourer v Subaru Outback 2019 Comparison

Cars have such evocative names. Escape, Liberty, Outlander, Homer… Okay, maybe not the latter, but there’s no doubt there’s an adventurous tinge to plenty of vehicle badges.

None moreso than the Holden Calais V Tourer and the Subaru Outback. Apart from the bit of the Holden’s name that references a scrubby French seaport, these two call out for a trip beyond the big smoke to the great outdoors.

So, being the intrepid testers we are at carsales.com.au, we thought we’d oblige, by taking an example of each touring in the outback spectacular that is South Australia’s Flinders Ranges.

In a world gone SUV-mad the Tourer and Outback wagons hark back to a saner world where people drove passenger cars because they were the best choice for bitumen roads and urban environments. Not SUVs because they made them look good.

The Outback has been around since the 1990s, is now into the final year or-so of its fifth generation and is very much a known quantity. It shares its basic underpinnings, body and drivetrain with the Subaru Liberty wagon.

That model is no longer sold here because it was completely eclipsed sales-wise by its higher-riding relation. From next year the new Liberty sedan looks like it’s also going to get the boot. That’s because no-one buys medium sedans in numbers any more, apart from the Toyota Camry.

The Tourer is the barely higher-riding – more on that later – relation of the Holden Commodore Sportswagon, which in turn is based on the German-built Opel Insignia.

Both these vehicles are five-seaters and come with light-duty adaptive all-wheel drive systems.

The Holden has a big cannon under the bonnet though – a 235kW/381Nm 3.6-litre V6 mated to a nine-speed (yes, nine) auto. The Outback makes do with a 129kW/235Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer four-cylinder and CVT automatic with seven manual steps.

So unarguably then, at least on paper and in a straight line, the Holden leads the way.

Family-types with modest off-roading aspirations are the sort of people who will shop these two vehicles.

Serious rock crawlers will want to look elsewhere as neither car has the sort of clearance, underbody protection or low-range gearing such activities really require.

And serious towers need not apply either. The Tourer has 2100kg braked towing capability and the Outback just 1500kg combined with a Subaru-imposed 80km/h speed limit.

Instead, these two can get you to the ski resort, the beach house or complete that scenic drive in somewhere a bit remote like, well, the Flinders Ranges. That comes on-top of an ability to get around urban environments in a maneuverable car-like fashion

The Outback 2.5i Premium on-test is $42,640 plus on-road costs and is the upper of two four-cylinder specifications in the Outback line-up. There’s also the six-cylinder 3.6R Premium for $49,140 which we have tested previously, and a couple of diesel four-cylinder choices too.

Lined up on the Holden side is the top-spec Calais V version of the Tourer, which is a hefty $54,540. There is a cheaper Calais version which chimes in at $45,990. So yes, there is a bit of a pricing imbalance… but that just makes up for the engine imbalance.

Equipment-wise the Holden comes really well stocked. Safety equipment kicks off with six airbags, an active bonnet, a 360-degree camera and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection. A swag of driver assist features include side blind-zone alert, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward collision alert and a following distance indicator.

High-end tech and comfort gear includes adaptive LED matrix headlights, colour head-up display, BOSE premium audio, dual-panel panoramic sunroof, a driver’s seat with massaging and powered side bolsters, ventilation and heating for both front seats and heating for both rear seats, one USB port up-front and two in the rear.

The Outback is doing well in equipment terms too. Seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, front and side view monitors, a reversing camera, lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert, side view monitor, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and lane sway warning are highlights of the safety equipment list.

Tech and comfort gear includes LED headlights that follow the wheels, heated and powered front seats, powered lumbar support for the driver, a sunroof and two USB ports front and rear.

Both cars include adaptive cruise control, fuel-saving idle-stop, an 8.0-inch colour touchscreen mounted high on the centre stack, sat-nav, dual-zone climate control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, leather trim, a powered tailgate, three child anchors and two ISOFIX points.

The Subaru comes with a full size spare tyre while the Holden only gets a space saver. Both cars get 18-inch alloys standard.

Both cars come with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. The Holden gets seven-year/84,000km fixed price servicing, while the Outback has a five-year/125,000km program.

One thing both do quite well is fuel economy. The Subaru scored the better average on-test at 8.7L/100km (7.3L/100km claim), while the Holden finished up averaging 9.3L/100km versus a 9.1L/100km claim. So a pretty close result.

Predictably the Commodore wins any acceleration race hands down. It’s a funny combo this drivetrain, the engine harks back to the days of ‘no replacement for displacement’ and for all its sophistication (four camshafts, multi-valve, direct injection, etc.) it still sounds and feels a bit yesteryear. But in a good way: Instant throttle response, a throaty soundtrack and lots of shove.

Nothing retro about the auto though. This is perhaps the best feature of the entire car; smart, intuitive, sympathetic. If it was a bloke you’d keep it away from your wife!

Then there’s the Twinster all-wheel drive system which cleverly vectors torque side-to-side at the rear as well as fore-aft between the axles. All that combines with a pretty taut suspension set-up and Conti rubber to provide a sporty experience on-bitumen and an absolute drifting blast on smooth gravel roads.

The Calais has comfy and supportive seats up-front and plenty of space in the rear. The boot is a hefty 791 litres before you split-fold row two and open it up to a commanding 1655 litres.

The Outback is a calmer more placid drive than the Tourer. It’s quieter in the cabin and has a long-legged ride that does a better job of soaking up the bumps when the going gets that bit tougher.

Engage X-Mode – which tweaks various driveline parameters and adds hill descent control – and it’s even able to clamber up and down rutted hill tracks. It’s just that bit adventurous. It’s perfect for somewhere like the stunning Glass Gorge tourist drive in the Flinders Ranges, dealing with the ups and downs, ruts, corrugations and gravel splash in its understated stride.

The Outback has a modern and quality feel to its interior, which is something that couldn’t be said about Subarus until quite recently. Hey, it’s not benchmark-setting, but it is workmanlike and pleasant.

Like the Tourer, there’s no shortage of rear seat space. The boot has 512 litres behind row two and 1801 litres once row two is flopped forward. You’ll fit a mountain bike in the back of either set up like that.

The Tourer has one basic flaw – a lack of ground clearance. With only 125mm, the Holden has more chance of grounding its belly than some standard cars. In fact, the Tourer is classified as just that for sales purposes even though Holden includes it in its SUV range for advertising purposes.

Just for comparison’s sake, the Outback offers a minimum 213mm ground clearance.

Time and again on the rougher – but by no means difficult – gravel roads of the Flinders Ranges we had to proceed cautiously in the Tourer while the Outback simply bowled on ahead. And when we did venture into slightly tougher terrain, albeit on tracks that were marked as tourist drives, the Tourer’s low belly and long overhangs forced us to turn back.

That stiff suspension tune that made the Holden so enjoyable on smooth roads produced bone-jarring inputs on the rough stuff. The corrugations of the Flinders soon exposed creaks and rattles in the dash and body, although it should be noted our car was a press tester with a tough 14,000km on the clock it must be admitted.

But did that cause the graunching noise when sliding the reach adjustment for the steering column through its range.

What could the Outback do better? Not much really. A little more torque would have been nice. The SI-Drive system offered two engine modes but neither changed the Subaru’s plodding demeanor.

The Flinders Ranges is a beautiful place. Every Australian should head there at some stage and have a good look around, take in the spectacular sights and enjoy the brilliant sunsets, preferably sitting around a warm fire sipping a cold drink.

There’s only one vehicle in this test that is logical to make that journey in and that’s the Subaru. It simply does the job better than the Holden.

Hey, if we were marking this test based on blasting around on the winding bitumen of the Adelaide hills then the Tourer would be looking good.

But we’re not, so it isn’t.

There’s a deeper issue here for Holden. It is now selling itself as the only real Australian brand with a superior ability to tune cars for local conditions than any of its rivals.

The Tourer is proof that is not always the case. It desperately needs more ground clearance, something Holden engineers tell us the architecture can’t technically deliver.

Consider it an opportunity lost. In the meantime, the Outback shows how it should be done in the outback. It’s a great – and appropriately named – vehicle.

How much does the 2019 Holden Calais V Tourer cost:
Price: $54,540 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.6-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 235kW/381Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 212g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)

How much does the 2019 Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium cost:
Price: $42,640 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 129kW/235Nm
Transmission: Continously variable
Fuel: 7.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 166g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2015)