The Outback is heavy, but a tad underpowered for the weight, and when I bought it I considered going for an upgraded engine, but decided that since I don't live in a mountainous area or haul a trailer, that I really couldn't justify the cost for the few times that I'd really need that extra power. The paddles bridge the gap; I can manually shift to instantly give me more torque when I need it.
One thing to note about that radar, and all of the other stuff that the EyeSight camera system does: if you have to replace your windshield, it all has to be recalibrated, and only some glass shops have the right equipment. I had the bad luck to catch a small rock off a construction truck 3 weeks after I got my Outback; the crack spread quickly, and the bill to replace the windshield was $1400 because of the extra labor involved. My insurance paid it, but man, was that a sticker shock.
BTW, I found that if you set the sensitivity of the warning systems to medium, they won't drive you nuts with too many extra warnings, but it does take time to get used to them and learn what each one means. I ceased being distracted by them within about 6 weeks of daily driving. My DH, who normally does not drive my car, still has issues when it's his turn to drive on road trips; he gets worried because he doesn't know what the specific sounds mean and tends to think it's some sort of failure warning that needs immediate attention, when all the car was telling him is that he got too close to a double yellow line, or failed to signal when he steered around a piece of trash on the road.
