Price as tested: €34,995
+ Cracking engine, chunky good looks, good to drive, solid build, foul-weather ability, space
– Too-firm ride, pricey, some cheap cabin fittings
= Best new Subaru in ages, but price means it’ll struggle against rivals
You could have forgiven the average car buyer if Subaru had fallen off their radar in the past couple of years. Ever since its rally team, once equally feared and fearless, was pensioned off at the end of 2008, a little of the magic that once haloed the iconoclastic Japanese company had disappeared. Without those iconic blue-and-gold Imprezas bursting through forests with a McRae, a Burns or a Solberg at the wheel, Subaru’s sense of purpose seemed to be gone.
Sequential launches of two rather underwhelming cars didn’t help. The current Impreza hatch and Legacy saloon and estate are fine, or at least fine enough, but too obviously tilted towards Subaru’s largest market in the USA to be of particular interest over here. A shame; the previous generation Legacy had one of the most sympathetically-set-up chassis for Irish conditions that we’d ever experienced.
All that being the case though, Subaru us still capable of turning out a fine car. The Forester SUV is still providing rugged, practical transport to those who have discovered its charms and much of the Toyota GT86 coupe’s dynamic brilliance is down to Subaru, now part-owned by Toyota, being responsible for much of the engineering, being as the GT86 is paired with its own BRZ coupe.
Now, there’s this, the XV; a car that seeks to distill Subaru’s traditional combinations of rugged build, four wheel drive and driver appeal into a package designed to appeal to the Qashqai and yeti buying set.
Right off the bat, it’s off to a better start than either the Impreza (with which it shares most of its underpinnings) or the Legacy because it actually looks good. In fact, it’s the first truly handsome Subaru for a generation or more; chunky, appealing and distinctive, even in the rather washy baby blue paintwork of our test car.
Inside, things are not quite so good. The cabin can best be described as functional, and it lacks many of the soft-touch surfaces or design flourished of its rivals. A Yeti instantly leaves it in the shade for interior ambience, although it’s about on a par with the equally dour Qashqai, and at least both quality of assembly and space are there in abundance. There are also plenty of toys on this range-topping version, with a reversing camera, rain sensing wipers and Blutetooth wireless connection for both phone and music.
Twist the slightly-old-fashioned looking key and the familiar flat-four Boxer Diesel fires into life with a throaty whirr. Its 147bhp and 350Nm of torque seem fine, rather than exceptional figures these days, and its 146g/km Co2 emissions actually beats the Yeti when fitted with four wheel drive, but is trounced by the larger Mazda CX-5. Still, the Boxer is one of the few diesel engines with a true sense of character. It soon shrugs off a low-rpm diesel clatter for a more traditional Subaru woofle, underlaid with all manner of chirps, whistles and cheeps. Different, for sure, if not necessarily to all tastes. It’s easy, accessible performance should please though, as will a decent 6.4-litre per 100km fuel consumption.
Subaru does seem to have forgotten its old magic touch when setting up a car for Irish tarmac, though. The steering is the high point, dynamically speaking. A little numb around the straight-ahead, but becoming ever more garrulous as you apply lock. The XV certainly feels more up-and-at-’em than most of its rivals, and it’s a reasonably entertaining car to drive. Combine that with Subaru’s traditional all-wheel-drive that gives you a smug feeling of security even as rain-mageddon breaks out all around you, and you have a car seemingly ideal for Ireland and Irish drivers. A pity then that the ride is just too stiff, too ready to jiggle and bobble over rough surfaces. Surely with all that extra ride height a little more suppleness could have been found?
But the XV faces one final, possibly insurmountable, hurdle. Its price. OK, so our test car was the range-topping version and perhaps its €34,995 price tag can be explained purely from that point of view. But to place it just €1,000 cheaper than the entry-level (larger, more practical) Forester seems silly and the fact that an entry-level XV costs €28,495, and with a petrol engine at that, seems closer to daft. In fairness to Subaru Ireland, it’s struggling with an unfavourable exchange rate with the Yen, but the unpalatable truth is that the Yeti or Qashqai beat it for value, as do larger rivals like the Mazda CX-5 and Ford Kuga.
Which is a shame. The XV is engaging to drive and has a personality that’s both distinct and charming. Given Subaru’s reputation for reliability and shrugging off even the very worst weather that the winter (or spring, or summer) can through at you, it would be a tempting prospect. But at that price level, it’s giving itself an uphill struggle for even committed Subaru fans, never mind more casual buyers.
Subaru XV 2.0 TDS Premium
Price: €34,995
Range price: €28,495 to €34,995
Capacity: 1,998cc
Power: 147bhp
Torque: 350Nm
Top speed: 198kmh
0-100kmh: 9.3sec
Economy: 5.6-100km (50.4mpg)
CO2 emissions: 146g/km
Tax Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 86% adult, 90% child, 64% pedestrian, 86% safety assist
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