Believe It: There's a Deal to Be Had on the 2017 Subaru Outback

According to Cars.com, there are roughly 17,000 copies of the 2017 Subaru Outback on dealer lots across the United States.

That’s slightly more than one month’s supply for the Outback, a high-riding crossover of a wagon that has lately attracted an average of 15,600 U.S. sales per month.

But with a modest facelift and underskin refresh due for the 2018 model year — there are already 6,000 Outbacks in stock at Subaru dealers — Subaru needs these 2017 Outbacks to disappear before full availability of MY2018 Outbacks kills demand for the outgoing model.

So Subaru is doing what Subaru doesn’t do. You can get a deal on a 2017 Subaru Outback.

Granted, it’s not the $23,500 discount witnessed last week on remaining editions of the 2017 Volvo XC90 T8 Excellence. It’s not the $6,923 price cut on remaining in-stock 2017 GMC Acadia SLTs or the $3,000 rebate on 2017 Lexus GX460s.

This is Subaru, after all, where incentivization is as rare as a Smart Fortwo EV dealer. According to TrueCar, Subaru spent just $1,009 in incentives per vehicle in July 2017, 72 percent below the industry average, the lowest of any major automaker. That equals a modest 4 percent discount on the price of an average Subaru in an industry that discounted vehicles by 11 percent in July.

For the 2017 Subaru Outback, however, CarsDirect says the typical absence of Subaru rebates remains intact, but their 2017 Outback adds enticements via interest-free financing for up to 63 months.

CarsDirect says these offers on the fifth-generation Subaru Outback “are the best they’ve ever been.”

The only problem? Outbacks don’t stay on the shelf long when there are no deals to be had. Prospective Outback customers who want to snap up Subaru’s current deal will not have many weeks before stock runs dry.

The 2018 Subaru Outback, meanwhile, is all but visually identical to the 2017 model. Engines are unchanged, but the continuously variable transmission is retuned to be smoother and more responsive, and to sound less CVTish.. The Outback is expected to be more hushed inside thanks to thicker windows. There are also infotainment upgrades.

[Image: Subaru]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.