We’ve been in the new house for a month now, so it’s time to stop faffing about, time to start blogging about what I’ve been up to.

I’ll start by discussing the car I borrowed to do the actual moving with: the 2010 Subaru Outback diesel.

Let’s start with what I thought was going to be a positive, but actually turns out to be a bit of a negative – the car comes with a manual transmission only. Now, I’ll bang on for as long as you care to listen about the driving experience, the connection between driver and machine and the commitment to learning the craft that’s part and parcel of choosing that third pedal, but let’s be honest: driving a diesel with a manual transmission in the city sucks. It really does. The rev range is so minute that you’re touching the stick more than a schoolboy who’s just discovered masturbation. And worse, the 2-litre boxer diesel engine in the Outback just doesn’t have the torque that you’d expect down low, so you’re forced to push the tacho towards the redline to get the thing moving.

And that’s where another problem crops up. The Subaru has a shift indicator that tells you when it’s most economical to change into the next gear. Sounds great, but unfortunately it wants you to change just before that torque finally kicks in. If you drive the car as intended it doesn’t feel like a powerful diesel engine – it feels like a Prius. And even when you do try to help out the planet, the fuel economy is far worse than Subaru would have you believe. I struggled to get below 9 litres/100km in combined city/highway driving – Subaru claims 6.4!

The list goes on. The ‘park brake’ is dangerous, substituting a strange push/pull button in the dash instead of a good old central brake handle. Hill starts can be nerve-wracking, requiring you to rely on the car to figure out when you’re stationary on an incline and apply the brake automatically, then release it once you start moving again. This works most of the time but when the system screws up the car immediately rolls backwards, you yelp in panic and start bunny-hopping the torqueless bastard up the hill in a desperate attempt to avoid stalling it or cleaning up the BMW behind you. This happened to me. I did not enjoy it.

Now for some positives – the shifter feels nice and solid and you always know which gear you’re in. The rear seats fold well and the entire cargo area is intelligently put together, with a clever retracting cover to hide your shopping. I also had no real issue with the way the car rode – yes, it was a fairly large SUV but it didn’t roll around like a Patrol or Land Cruiser. I’d say it was about as car-like a ride as you could realistically expect.

In the end, though, this ‘premium’ version of an Outback diesel feels like a rushed first effort. No auto is offered so most folk will write it off right away, and those that don’t will probably be underwhelmed by the interior, which is a long way behind European standards. That means a lot of hard plastics and no automatic wipers/headlights/mirrors – a curious omission in a vehicle that will cost close to $50k driveaway. Oh, and don’t wear polarised sunglasses or you won’t be able to see the AC controls. Unbelievable!

Would I buy this car? No, I don’t think I would, but it was incredibly handy during the move. I give Subaru a 6/10 – must try harder next time. Sorry, but I didn’t have time for photos due to.. moving!