Road Test: Subaru XV 2.0 TDS SE Premium

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

Road Test: Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited

Price as tested: €38,000 (approx)

+ Fabulously rugged, more practical and refined than you’d think, so cool
– Boot’s a bit small. emissions a bit high
= Quite simply, the coolest car we’ve driven all year

If I tell you that the Jeep Wrangler turns out to be a bit of a surprise, would you be surprised? You might be, especially if you’re expecting some thundering, lumbering heap of Detroit iron, bludgeoning all in its path with a war-mongering “Yeee-haw!” and a distinct lack of Euro-style refinement.

Because while the Wrangler can trace its lineage directly back to the original 1941 Willys-Overland General Purpose 1/4 Ton Truck (GP, or Jeep for short), the reality is that the resemblance lies mostly in the styling and marketing departments.

So, while there is a seven-bar grille, round headlights and a pervading sense of squareness, there are also sophisticated Panhard linkages and coil springs in the suspension, there are comfy, heated leather seats in the cabin and there is even a Bluetooth phone connection. Disappointed that there’s not hand-cranked Bakelite phone in the back to put you in touch with brigade HQ? Yes, a little but that’s the way of the modern world.

The Wrangler’s only real rival, in both the heritage and off-road stakes, is the Land Rover Defender. But while you would, happily, make excuses for the Defender’s crudity, discomfort and rampant thirst, all because it looks so cool, the rather nice thing is that the Jeep simply doesn’t ask that much of you.

Haul yourself up into the cabin and you’re presented with a simple, workmanlike cabin. There are no soft-touch plastics, and more consideration seems to have been given to making its hose-out-proof than slush-moulded, but there’s a sense of purpose, a sense of rightness and, just as importantly, a sense of decent build quality. The seats, as we’ve mention, are comfy (and they warm your bum, in Sahara spec) and the steering wheel adjusts to help you find a comfy driving position.

Fire up the 2.8-litre CRD diesel engine and, yes, it’s noisy and grumbly, but once it warms through it’s not too bad. It’ll propel the Wrangler to 100kmh in an entirely reasonable 11.1secs, return a claimed (and believable in our experience) 7.4-litres per 100km on the  combined cycle and emits, in four-door unlimited guise, 194g/km of Co2. You can drop that to 187g/km (and get a €630 road tax bill) if you downsize to the less practical three-door Wrangler Sport.

The long, wand-like gear lever makes you think that it’ll have the shift accuracy of a drunk teenager on Valentine’s night, but actually, as long as you don’t rush it, there’s quite a pleasant gearshift to be had, in a moving-big-bits-of-metal-around steampunk kind of way.

Rolling refinement in the Wrangler is surprisingly good. Clearly, with a (removable, if you have a hoist or enough tall friends) plastic roof, big wheels and a very upright shape, wind and tyre noise are prevalent, but the engine shuts up quite nicely in a sixth gear cruise, and the standard fit stereo is man enough for the job.

Long motorway runs? Just fine actually. Your ears will ring a little at the end, but other than that, the Wrangler takes long hauls in its stride. Actually, in town is its Achilles Heel. It’s a big car, bigger than you think at first, with a broad turning circle, so tight car parks are a bit of a nightmare. With practice, it’s fine, but some parking sensors would be helpful.

While we’re criticising, the boot’s too small. 498-litres sound big, but it’s oddly shaped to cover the fuel tank hump, and there’s no luggage cover, so everything’s on show through the vulnerable, lift up flap that makes up the rear window. Don’t plan on leaving valuables in your Wrangler.

Honestly though, who cares? Get out on the open road and the Wrangler handles with surprising (there’s that word again) aplomb. Yes, there’s slack in the steering and apparently wood in the suspension, but it’s fundamentally well behaved and won’t do anything bad.

Get off the open road and into open country and, well, this vehicle is Trail Rated, meaning it will climb up Jeep’s fearsome Rubicon Trail in Utah, a mountain pass littered with trees, escarpments, dust, dirt, boulders and the occasional bear. Yank the hefty lever back to select four wheel drive, low range (the Wrangler’s best left in two wheel drive on tarmac to avoid transmission wind up) and there is probably no decently solid surface that you cannot traverse. And whether this winter brings snow, floods or both, prepare to be called on by stranded friends.

If you haven’t already guessed it, we loved the Wrangler. Compared in saloon car terms to its SUV rivals, it’s nowhere. But there is such a thing as fitness for purpose, and the Wrangler is not only the origin of the species, but it could pummel any SUV into the dirt when the going gets tough, and isn’t so far behind them in terms of everyday driving that they could relax. It’s the anti-Evoque, and for that, and for being four-square and dependable in a world slowly but surely going mad, we salute it.


Facts & Figures

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
Price as tested: €38,000 (approx)
Range price: TBC
Capacity: 2,776cc
Power: 200bhp
Torque: 410Nm
Top speed: 172kmh
0-100kmh: 11.1sec
Economy: 7.4l-100km (38.1mpg)
CO2 emissions: 194g/km
VRT Band: F. €1,050 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD Limited

Price as tested: €54,995

+ Handsome looks, comfy, decent chassis, good quality, excellent engine
– Some cheap trim, body rolls a lot
= One of the most pleasant surprises of the year


Managing a brand is tricky. Every new product has to be good, slightly better than its predecessors, yet not so much that owners of the old one feel gypped. Innovation is everything yet you can’t get too avant-garde, or your risk alienating the technophobes.

And even the best get it wrong. Coca-Cola royally stuffed it up in the early eighties with New Coke. Most of you probably don’t remember it and that’s a good thing. It was terrible, and it nearly killed the company. Likewise, Apple, the most valuable company in the world right now, once (or twice) got it spectacularly wrong. Neither the Newton Message Pad nor the Pippin games console set the world alight. How did these companies recover from such failures? By getting back to what they’re best at and digging deep to create some truly great products.

Which brings us nicely to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. When Jeep first began its trans-Atlantic foray in the early nineties (well, the first since 1945 at any rate), the Grand Cherokee was the star of the show. Big, bluffly handsome and very American in its value for money, it nevertheless had a very real tilt at the vaunted Range Rover’s luxury SUV crown. All that let it down was the lack of a decent diesel engine.

Come the 2005 model and all the omens looked great. A new body and chassis, and a new diesel engine from then owners of Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz. It should have been brilliant. It was actually awful. The engine was fine but the gimpy styling wasn’t, nor was the crummy, cramped cabin and the ride and handling, with those big, hefty live axles, was utterly dreadful. Never mind the Range Rover, launched a year after the Land Rover Discovery III, the Grand Cherokee should have been a convincing rival to the Disco but instead struggled to even be an also-ran.

Combine that with a pretty poor Cherokee and an utterly dreadful double-whammy of 1st-gen Compass and Patriot and you have a brand rattling and creaking under the strain of some pretty serious duds.

But thankfully, the Jeep brand is a strong one and like Coke and Apple, it regrouped, delved deep and started to do things better. Should we expect any less from the only car brand ever to be name checked as a war-winner by none other than Brig. General Dwight D. Eisenhower? Resilience is in the blood.

As with the 2002 Range Rover, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee has been developed under the auspices of one car company and launched under another. In the Rangie’s case, it was developed and prototyped by BMW but Ford swept in the year before its launch to buy out Land Rover and so got the kudos for one of the most iconic SUVs of all time.

For the Grand Cherokee, work began while Jeep, owned by Chrysler, was indepedent, hived off from former owners Daimler-Benz and then under the control of investment fund Cerberus. So, there’s rather a lot of Mercedes DNA deep within the structure of the Grand Cherokee. In fact, beneath its all-American skin, it’s very much a Mercedes ML. And the biggest benefit of that is that the GC now does away with the awful live axles of old and switches instead to a much more car-like construction, with proper, modern, independent suspension with air springs.

The 241bhp, 550Nm 3.0-litre V6 diesel is a Merc job too, and goes about its business with remarkable refinement. It can grumble and moo a bit under heavy throttle openings, but that you suspect is more down to the old-school five-speed automatic gearbox, which simply doesn’t have the spread of ratios that’s required these days. A fix is on the way in late 2012, when the ZF-supplied 8-speed box comes on stream, so you can expect to see improvements in the current fuel consumption and Co2 figures of 8.3-litres per 100km and 218g/km. Still those are good enough for a near-enough 1,000km touring range from the 80-litre fuel tank and at least it’s not in the top band for road tax, so you’ll pay €1,050 a year while Land Rover drivers must pay top whack.

That switch to car-like construction and suspension has brought one of two massive improvements the new GC displays over its predecessor. While before, you had to put up with a truly dreadful ride quality and ponderous handling, now there is serenity. The ride can still occasionally be upset by sudden, sharp shocks, but that’s pretty much endemic to all vehicles that have air springs and big, heavy wheels and tyres. For the most part, the Grand Cherokee displays impressive composure, riding comfortably and dealing with swiftly taken corners with only slightly too much body roll. You can sharpen things up by flicking the Selec-Terrain system into Sport (there are also Snow, Auto, Mud and Sand modes) but that disables the ESP, something we were loathe to do given the recent weather conditions.

Which is a shame, as when you hustle it, the GC responds well. The steering is a touch long-winded, and there’s about as little road feel as you’d expect, but give it a challenging, twisty road, and it responds with aplomb. In fact, it treads an almost perfectly judged line between the two Land Rover products that most closely rival it. It’s not as smooth and refined as a Discovery, but it’s more responsive and rolls less, and it’s not as sharp and tall-hot-hatch-y as a Range Rover Sport but is much comfier and rides more calmly. If that sounds like an uncomfortable middle ground, it’s not. More of a finely judged compromise.

The cabin is a slightly less well judged compromise, but only in parts. Mostly, it’s very good with palpable quality, lots of space and very comfy seats. The boot, at 782-litres, is equally massive, but it does suffer from intrusion into the shape from what looks like the fuel tank. As for the rest of the cabin, a few small details let it down, such as main instruments, some lower-level plastics and a few switches that have no place on a €50K car (mind you, that’s a criticism you could level at rivals from Land Rover and Toyota too) and little touches detract from the overall sense of quality, like a gear shifter that looks and feels cheap and clunky and touch-screen controls for the infotainment system that appear to have been lifted from a Sega NES.

But these are but small quibbles, the stuff of a critic’s nit-picking. The overall effect of the Grand Cherokee is... charm. That’s a dangerous quality, because while charm can cover up a multitude of problems, it can never erase the fundamental failings of a poor vehicle. The last Grand Cherokee had charm, but it was still crap.

This one isn’t. The charm is still very much there, and it’s a blue-collar American charm that means that the GC feels less ostentatious (even net of the big chrome grille and wheels) than a Range Rover Sport. But it has only the mildest shortcomings to cover up for. Honestly, the Grand Cherokee has turned out to be one of the surprises of the year. A thoroughly well-sorted, dynamically capable and above all characterful and interesting vehicle, that’s well-priced in its segment and never less than welcoming and engaging as soon as you sit into the high-set driver’s seat. We just wish every new car could be so charming.


Facts & Figures

Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD Limited
Price as tested: €54,995
Range price: TBC
Capacity: 2,987cc
Power: 241bhp
Torque: 550Nm
Top speed: 202kmh
0-100kmh: 8.2sec
Economy: 8.3l-100km (34.0mpg)
CO2 emissions: 218g/km
VRT Band: F. €1,050 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested