DRIVEN
SUBARU XV 2.0 E-BOXER Subaru’s smallest SUV is a rugged crossover that does everything well enough to compete all round – then pulls a rabbit out of the hat when the tarmac ends and the real fun begins
THE SUBARU XV BECAME A CLASS WINNER in our 4x4 of the Year awards when it was first launched. Then last year it was facelifted – and it became a class winner all over again. Here’s where we get the chance to explain in greater detail what impresses us about Subaru’s smallest SUV. It’s been six months or so since the brief experience on which our initial assessment of the newshape XV was made – but a week in the driver’s seat including plenty of running around in town, several lengthy sessions on fast roads and some dry, dusty green laning is a week of pretty much exactly what Subaru’s vehicles are all about. This, the second generation XV, was the company’s first SUV to be built on its Global Platform. It has since been followed by the Forester and Outback, but when it was new it could make a strong argument for being considered the safest family car on the market. It became safer still when it was launched last year, thanks to a range of new high-tech measures including a Front View Monitor which constantly scans the blind spot just in front of the bonnet. The spring and shocks were revised, too, and the X-Mode and SI-Drive systems were tuned to let drivers trim the vehicle to suit the conditions both on and off-road.
28 | SEPTEMBER 2022
2pp Subaru XV.indd 28
What hasn’t changed is the 2.0-litre boxer engine, which continues to be part of a hybrid system driving all four wheels through a CVT automatic gearbox. It produces 150bhp and 194lbf.ft, in each case needing a decent whack of revs to get it there (5600 and 4000 respectively) and delivers a 0-62 time of 10.7 seconds and top speed of 120mph while returning 35.7mpg combined and 180g/km. So, the figures probably don’t make the most exciting reading. But there’s a reason why the XV has become a serial class winner in 4x4 of the Year. Instead of hanging its hat on one single aspect of its performance, it manages to get 95% of the way there in every area there is – making it an exceptional all-rounder. Which is right at the heart of what makes a crossover what it is. Actually, the XV does have something to hang its hat on. So many crossovers look rugged and are good at everything – but when you take them off-road, they wilt. The XV is the opposite: show it ruts, steep hills and slippery wet grass, and it roars with delight. Its ability to find traction where there is none is little short of incredible, and even on road-going tyres it can plough through the sort of deep, wet mud you’d think twice about tackling in a Wrangler or Land Cruiser if you didn’t have a means of recovery on hand. We know that of old, and while the improvements made to Subaru’s X-Mode programme are aimed more at treacherous road conditions they certainly won’t do its mud-plugging ability any harm. On this occasion, though, we were dealing with what for most people will be more of a real-world kind of off-roading – hard-packed, loose, stony tracks whose surface was baked hard by the summer sun. This is where a vehicle’s traction gets another kind of test, because naturally the ground allows you to press on way more quickly than seriously uneven or deeply muddy terrain. It’s a test of suspension, in particular your shocks, and it requires the all-wheel drive set-up to keep on top of the slide you’re always on the verge of drifting into. Subarus have a wonderful way of just taking it all in their stride, and that’s exactly what the XV did here. Obviously, as with every vehicle you
4x4 02/08/2022 13:01
