Nissan Subaru XV review (29/08/2012)
These vehicles are mainly to be found in that latter day market which has become known as the ‘Crossover’ segment, and they are effectively regular two-wheel drive cars dressed up in four-wheel drive clothing.
The Nissan Qashqai has been the single most successful of these
machines of recent times and its appeal for many people appears to be wrapped up in the fact that it is a normal family car, dolled up to look like something which it patently is not.
But, fair play to Nissan for managing so spectacularly to successfully mine this delusion and, in effect, create a whole new market segment. Their success has led to a host of successors, such as the Kia Sportage, the Ford Kuga, the Skoda Yeti and the VW Tiguan — although each is available with full time 4x4 systems — have followed the Nissan into this expanding and very lucrative market. And now there is a new addition to the fray, but this time the car concerned is slightly different, and that’s hardly surprising when you consider who is making it.
The Subaru XV (a curious name, it must be said; is it being aimed at rugby fans?) is aimed squarely at the crossover market, but the critical difference between this car and all the other
pretenders in the segment is that it will only be built and sold as an all-wheel drive machine with none of that faux 4x4 nonsense to be seen anywhere.
But therein lays a catch: for the XV to be a serious player against the likes of the Qashqai and the like, it needs to be a hell of a lot cheaper than the price at which it is being sold here if it is not to become a niche curiosity. But then, Subaru’s Irish operation has always been something of a curiosity anyway.
Other than the fire-breathing Impreza variants which appeal to rally heads and young tearaways in equal measure, Subaru has largely sold to the agri set; its appeal based on its’ cars on and off road abilities as well as their mainly bombproof reliability. This does does not add up to heavyweight sales figures.
And so it will probably be with the XV which will sell in reasonable but not spectacular numbers and that’s a bit of a shame because this really is quite a decent buying prospect.
Sharing a lot of components with the forthcoming new Impreza, the XV might look quite hatchbacky from the waistline up, but from there down it exudes all the visual qualities buyers like to see in their crossover contenders — bulk, sturdiness and solidity. In fact, it really is your old fashioned 4x4, and has the sort of genuine go-anywhere ability that would make the majority of its competitors pale with embarrassment.
There is an unfortunate downside to this, however, as the Subaru is not quite the on-road sophisticate that many of its rivals are and thus its ability to attract the urban driver will be compromised somewhat.
While there is a petrol variant, we tested the two litre turbodiesel version. This, of course, is the horizontally
opposed ‘boxer’ design which is part of the Subaru DNA and a fine engine it is too.
Outputting some 108 kW (150 bhp) at 3,600 rpm and a fairly impressive 350 Nm of torque at between 1,600 and 2,400 rpm via a six speed manual gearbox, the engine is not short of motivation. The 0-100 kph dash is achieved in a very respectable 9.3 seconds and the top speed is just shy of 200 kph. It will also return a very decent 5.4 l/100 km (which is 50+ mpg) over the combined cycle.
We tried the top line version of the car, and certainly there are few holes in the specification list, what with leather upholstery and trim, excellent high grade features such as a reversing camera, 17” alloys, Bluetooth, rain sensing wipers and a raft of airbags.
On top of that the interior is well thought out, highly flexible and the driving position is suitably commanding.
Subaru has added a decent new arrow to its quiver with the XV; it might be a little too expensive to worry the main contenders in the crossover segment, but it will certainly find favour with Subaru traditionalists who know what to expect and why they like things done the Subaru way.
It may be that it will be the rural rather than the urban buyer who turns to the XV, but for whoever it does attract, it will prove to be a loyal and forgiving partner, and one which will undertake even the most strenuous tasks without demur.
