One Subaru Keeps Winning Over New England’s Harshest Critics

Here in New England, winter doesn’t care about the calendar. At the summit of Mount Washington, snow has fallen in every month. Most of us get our first flakes between October and mid-December, depending on how far north and inland we live, and our last snow often falls in April. In October 2011, a freak nor’easter dumped just under three feet of snow on parts of western Massachusetts before Halloween, snapping trees still holding their leaves and knocking out power to millions. Grow up commuting in that, and you start to question your vehicle’s limits. Subaru is the answer, and its Outback is the pinnacle of the lineup for most families who want a car that can drive straight into anything Mother Nature throws at us.

There is an old saying in boxing that you must take the belt from the champion. You need to beat the champ in every round or knock him out to earn the title. The Subaru Outback epitomizes that. When the New England Motor Press Association’s membership votes on the Best Winter Vehicle, we all know, in the back of our minds, that the Outback is the de facto champ, and if you vote any other way, you need to have a real justification for that.

Here are five reasons why the Outback is the one to beat in New England winters, and we’re not going to get into all-wheel drive until we’re done with our list.

You Can Lift Up the Outback’s Wipers
Not every New Englander can afford a garage. We try to make it a priority, but the reality is that a lot of us park outside, either at work or at home. When three inches of frozen slush falls on your car and then freezes harder than diamonds, you need every advantage possible. Veterans of many winters have the habit of lifting up the wipers before bad weather, so they are away from the base of the glass that we are later going to assault with heat, scrapers, profanity, and any other tool at our disposal. It makes the job a lot easier if breaking a wiper is off the list of bad outcomes. You can lift the wipers up in an Outback. Why isn’t that the industry standard? We don’t know, but a LOT of models that hope to compete with the Outback don’t have wipers you can quickly raise when you park.

The Outback Can Heat Its Wipers
We mentioned using heat above. Cabin heat from the vents isn’t going to get you to work on time when you need to clear ice. What will help is resistive heating elements at the base of the glass. The Outback offers this, and not just on a special top trim. These are also very helpful when you are on the highway in a sleet storm, and the wipers are caked in ice and no longer contact the glass properly.

Any Trim Outback Can Have a Heated Steering Wheel
We won’t belabor this point, but if you can’t get a heated steering wheel in a vehicle, it should be immediately eliminated from contention on any NEMPA Winter Vehicle segment award. It’s shocking how many brands steal that option from you so that you’ll be forced to buy their top “Limited” trim, or step up to their luxury brand to get it. You can get a heated steering wheel in any Outback trim, and it’s standard on three.

The Outback Offers A Ridiculous Level of Safety
Nothing makes one grip the steering wheel tighter than an ice storm. Winter driving skills are one thing, but if the knucklehead behind you, or coming at you on an undivided highway, is on bald tires and texting, it’s not going to matter how good you are at driving. There was a time when Volvo alone owned the safety segment. No longer. For over a decade, Subaru has been throwing steel, airbags, and its EyeSight system at its vehicles in an effort unlike any other automaker’s to ensure that you and yours are as safe as possible if the worst happens. The result is another Outback Top Safety Pick+ rating for 2026.

Let’s take just one small example of how seriously Subaru takes safety. Open the rear door of the 2026 Outback and look at the bottom. There is a steel peg that fits into a slot in the lower panel of the body. If you are hit from the side, that peg keeps the door from folding up and in. The peg disperses side impact energy to other areas. Go look if your car has that.

All Outbacks Have Spare Tires
Subaru offers a spare tire and a tool kit on every 2026 Outback trim. In some trims, it’s a temporary spare, but you can opt to replace it yourself, and there is space for a full-sized tire. On two trims, there is a full-size matching tire in the cargo area. We tested an Outback Wilderness this past summer, and if you pull up the cargo area and look at its spare tire, it’s all covered in mud. Because one media tester needed a spare tire in muddy conditions. Tear a sidewall off-pavement and a lousy repair kit means your vehicle is towed, and you’re calling an Uber for your kids. Not ideal. Honestly, not even acceptable. The Outback won’t do that to you. Call AAA, have help mounting the spare, and enjoy your vacation. Deal with the tire replacement when you feel like it.

We’ve thrown down five ways the Subaru Outback excels as a New England Winter vehicle without even mentioning that every trim comes with all-wheel drive. And it’s literally the best all-wheel drive system you can buy. Need a little more help than normal AWD can provide? Toggle X-Mode. You don’t have to look away from the snowy road ahead because the switch is next to your thumb. Planning on some extreme snow? Like up to the door handles type of snow? Opt for one of the Outback trims with not one, but two X-Modes. If that’s not enough, exit the vehicle and don snowshoes. The Outback and particularly its Wilderness trim is so ready for snow, it’s like holding a tennis ball next to a lab. The thing is just dying for you to challenge it.

Can I Make It Personal?
We’ve had seven Subarus in our family. We’ve had so many sets of dedicated winter tires for them, I’ve lost count. Am I biased toward Subaru? Yes, absolutely. Because I’ve owned them and they have proven to be amazing. I’ve been a NEMPA member for fifteen years, but my Subaru bias is not from going on Subaru media junkets. I’ve never attended one. I owned two Outbacks before I ever heard of NEMPA. When we drove our firstborn home from the hospital, it was in an Outback. Three generations of our family have trusted Subaru to help us meet winter head-on, and I’d be lying if I said we weren’t all fans of the vehicles and the brand.

Will the Subaru Outback be awarded the New England Motor Press Winter Vehicle of the Year again for 2026? All we will reveal is that the Outback is the one to beat, and it is not easy to unseat this champion.