Small SUVs are often just a bloated hatchback. But, with symmetrical all-wheel drive, ‘X Mode’ and a tangibly higher ground clearance, does the Subaru XV truly live up to its SUV label?
In July 2021, a surprise model earned bronze in the sales podium of the small SUV segment. Exactly 895 Subaru XV models were sold on the back of high demand and semiconductor shortages.
Derived on the firm’s Impreza hatchback and sedan, the XV received a minor facelift in late 2020 that brought a new fascia, tweaked wheels, more standard safety kit, revised suspension, and an additional hybrid model.
The Subaru XV is available in six models, two of which use series-parallel hybrid powertrains – 2.0i, 2.0i-L, 2.0i Premium, Hybrid L, 2.0i-S, and Hybrid S. The range starts from $29,690 before on-road costs to $40,790.
All models feature a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and all nine paint colours are a no cost option.
Here, I review the second-from-the-top 2.0i Premium trim in Crystal White. It’s priced at $34,590 before on-road costs ($38,706 drive-away in Queensland as at publication).
This makes the XV’s ‘SUV tax’ $5800 pricier than the equivalent Impreza 2.0i Premium hatch.
The XV competes in a highly concentrated and popular small SUV segment. Notable rivals include the Hyundai Kona, Kia Seltos, Mazda CX-30, Toyota CH-R, Skoda Kamiq, and more.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This test vehicle was provided by a dealer as part of a service loan.
Design
Let’s admit it: you don’t want people to envy you if you drive a Subaru XV.
The exterior is typical for the Japanese automaker – straightforward lines, horizontal light clusters, and 18-inch alloy wheels. It’s not pretentious nor too boring; it’s an acquired taste. But, this Crystal White pearlescent paint doesn’t help its case.
As with all SUVs, it features obligatory contrasting plastic cladding moulded around the front and rear bumper, plus sides and around the wheels. The latter is distinctly uneven with a small kink.
The most aggressive moulding is at the front bumper and, again, kinks up almost to the small grille and headlights.
Black plastic cladding provides some protection from those tiny, flying rocks in and around suburbia and remote roads. Bona fide black roof rails and mud guards also come with all XV models, too.
However, the all-round halogen lights are disappointing – especially with this ‘Premium’ up the end of this range. That includes incandescent circular daytime running lights (DRLs), usually positioned where fog lights are.
While the exterior is ho-hum, the interior surprisingly holds up well.
There are two stacked infotainment screens, with some gloss black surfaces flowing from the glass touchscreen that is a fingerprint and dust magnet.
It isn’t simple, though. There’s a smattering of buttons in all various sizes, nebulous glyph icons, and ways of interacting.
This is magnified by the fact there are three screens, selected buttons that can control two screens or serve multiple functionalities, and Subaru’s confusing acronyms like RAB (reverse auto braking) and AVH (auto vehicle hold).
It can be overwhelming to new drivers who aren’t familiar with Subaru; there’s a clear learning curve.
Strewn across the interior dashboard, doors, all seats, steering wheel, and even analogue instrument cluster is orange stitching that fits with the outdoor lifestyle theme typified by the Subaru brand. It brings a welcome contrast and lift from an otherwise monotone interior.
There are also artificial carbon fibre elements near the door handle, some matte and glossy silver materials that imitate metal, leatherette, and even some cloth on the door cards. There’s a mix of materials, but it works well together (if you’re not too fussy) and is mostly soft touch.
The font style Subaru uses across buttons and the instrument cluster is almost robotic and unappealing, though.
Overall, the interior feels that it just lives up to its ‘Premium’ nomenclature, despite some harder plastics surrounding the HVAC controls.
Practicality & Comfort
The XV measures in at 4485mm in length, 1800mm in width, and 1615mm in height. Importantly, it features a 2665mm wheelbase, 220mm ground clearance, and 10.8-metre turning circle.
It certainly feels spacious outside and inside. Its dimensions and ground clearance are noticeably larger than many of its small SUV rivals, including the Kia Seltos and Nissan Qashqai.
Since the wing mirrors are placed on the door, it liberates better outward visibility. This allows for a small glasshouse at the A-pillar, plus decently-sized mirrors, and sizeable rear window that doesn’t slope as much.
All-round visibility is a promising strong suit of the XV, thanks in part to its ho-hum, rugged exterior shape.
Accessing the vehicle is easy with proximity key and push button start in all models. There’s a handy sensor inside the front two door handles for unlocking and a touch sensitive button for locking when the slim key fob is precisely near one door.
I do envy Subaru’s gentle warning chimes that aren’t incessant or repetitive like some other brands.
Inside, there’s a smattering of almost clearly labelled satisfying buttons and knobs, including the HVAC controls. This model features dual zone automatic climate control, which cools up quite quickly in my testing and is plenty powerful.
In this 2.0i Premium model, it comes with a tilt and slide electric sunroof with a strong sunshade, alongside auto up/down windows for the driver and front passenger. Electric folding mirrors are a good-to-have, but they’re not automatically linked to the proximity key and you can’t fold them when the vehicle is off.
Automatic headlights and wipers are reserved for the flagship 2.0i-S, ditto LED lights. But, this 2.0i Premium can only auto turn off only, which is quirky.
All five seats are finished in ‘Premium’ cloth trim on this spec, which is a mix of a mesh-like cloth and leatherette on the side buckets. There’s ample height adjustment for the driver.
The seats feel durable and comfortable for longer drives. They are well bolstered with surprisingly thick buckets. While the fake leatherette are clearly made up of a cheap vinyl material, the abundant use of orange stitching certainly helps.
Disappointingly, for a nearly top-spec SUV, there aren’t any rear air-con vents and the front ones are so thin that air would be difficult to circulate to the back. There is a centre fold-down leatherette armrest with two cup holders, though.
Fitting three people abreast would be difficult due to a high centre protruding transmission tunnel to accommodate the full-time all-wheel drive system, along with an awkwardly placed middle seatbelt buckle held at the D-pillar.
With my ∼179cm stature, there was plenty of leg, toe and head space behind the front seats.
At the rear, the Subaru XV only has a 310-litre boot capacity, which expands to 765-litres when the rear row seats are folded down in a 60/40 split. That makes it one of the smallest in its class and doesn’t reflect its above-average dimensions.
It comes with an almost flat loading lip for easier loading/unloading, but it’s still a struggle due to the model’s high ground clearance. The manual tailgate is light to operate. A space saver spare wheel sits beneath the boot floor, with a small cubby on the side, one bag hook, and a self-explanatory retractable soft cargo cover.
Subaru’s small SUV also has two ISOFIX anchor points, three child seat anchor points, and rear door child locks.
There are sizable door pockets, cavernous glove box, two large cupholders in the centre console, and a large – albeit non-carpeted – centre armrest cubby. I found the small slot, usually reserved for keys and coins, handy for propping up my wallet, too.
An electronic park brake and auto hold function are nifty to have and saves centre console space.
There’s a rubber-lined storage space beneath the HVAC controls for a phone, but it is laughably small – and my ginormous Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra sticks out with its USB cable running Android Auto.
Technology
With carmakers going all out on one or fused screens in infotainment, does Subaru’s antithesis approach of three separate screens and a laundry list of buttons mean a good in-car tech experience?
At the centre of the cabin is an 8-inch display using Subaru’s Starlink software, built-in satellite navigation by TomTom, and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
It’s quick to boot up, snappy to use with little to no animations between screens, and bright enough. As it is built-in to the dashboard, slanted and on a single piece of glass/piano black panel, the sun and dust can obscure the infotainment.
While the Subaru font is an acquired taste, its menu structure is mostly logical with clear icons and convenient physical shortcut buttons.
Diving in the settings, there are some illogical menus and text descriptors that you won’t expect in the world of Apple and Google. I often inadvertently touched the screen when adjusting the thin air-con vents.
It’s also one of the few remaining new cars with a CD player. Of course, Bluetooth, AM/FM and DAB+ radio also feature matched with a decent six-speaker sound system.
The TomTom maps are intuitive to use and integrates well with the second-screen and driver’s instrument display, but I found the speed limit function wrong and misleading most times, and the built-in voice control is middling. You’re always better off bypassing it with Google Maps or Waze via smartphone mirroring.
But, there were some sporadic Android Auto connection issues with my test sample. The classic turn off and leave fixed it temporarily; the problem did reappear again.
Moving up, there’s a second 6.3-inch wide LCD multifunction display unit. It always displays the time, outside temperature and climate control settings, as well as pertinent information like the EyeSight safety system, TomTom navigation directions, media source, the all-wheel drive system, and more. These widget screens can be switched by an ‘info’ button on the steering wheel.
I found the default screen showing the car’s safety systems and which lights or indicators are quite reassuring, even though it frustratingly switches away when adaptive cruise control or the in-built navigation is enabled.
As this second-screen is higher up and under a visor, it’s always legible and visible, though the plastic dashboard in front of it tends to collect dust.
This is particularly useful for seeing and changing the climate control temperature; however, adjusting the volume interrupts the entire main infotainment display.
The litany of 19 steering wheel buttons and switches can be very perplexing.
Besides the typical buttons on the two wheel spokes, there’s also a row of side buttons that need to be pressed from behind the wheel. These control the information second-screen.
However, not all buttons serve only one function. For example, the two left and right arrows seemingly controls the media playback for skipping or scrubbing through radio stations, but it also controls what’s displayed on the small digital driver’s screen at certain times.
This can be confusing for new Subaru drivers as there are countless buttons to either control or not control one of the three screens. However, once accustomed, it becomes quite intuitive and ergonomic.
The driver’s 4.2-inch LCD screen clearly shows pertinent information like a digital speedometer, trip computer, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and other alerts.
There are four USB-A charging ports in total – two in the front and tiny phone cubby for smartphone mirroring and the other two in the centre armrest – plus two 12V sockets. You won’t find any USB’s at the back, but cables can be fed through the centre storage box thanks to two slits. All XV models miss out on Qi wireless charging.
Safety
The facelifted 2021 Subaru XV carries over its 2017 tested safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), which is based on the Impreza.
Like electric juggernaut Tesla, Subaru’s EyeSight safety system relies on two front cameras for auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and lead vehicle start alert.
This 2.0i Premium model completes the safety suite with Vision Assist, scoring blind spot alert, rear cross traffic alert, reverse auto emergency braking (RAB), and a front view camera. It notably misses out on the two side cameras found on the top-spec 2.0i-S, sadly.
All models come with rear parking sensors and a reversing camera with guidelines and uses augmented reality (AR) to put blocks on close-up objects via the main 8-inch infotainment screen.
The front view camera is displayed on the secondary info screen. I found it quite handy to know where the curbs or lines are while parking front-on, even though it’s no stitched 360-degree system like in other car brands.
The overall camera quality is acceptable, but the small screen can make it difficult to see at times. It is also hard to toggle via the ‘view’ button on the steering wheel; I’d much rather it on the centre console, but it does turn on for a few seconds when in the drive gear.
As for adaptive cruise control, it’s triggered by the steering wheel buttons on the right spoke, which requires two to four button presses – activating cruise control, setting the speed, adjusting the distance, and turning on lane-centring assist.
Once the speed is set (one flick for 5km/h increments or a hold for 1km/h steps) and distance (up to five bars), the XV works well in keeping a safe distance to the vehicle in front and braking accordingly.
In my testing, it could detect a motorcycle driving behind a truck and quickly react to cars quickly switching and swerving lanes. I set the distance to level two to be on the safe side.
This is my first time using smart cruise control and, while I questioned Subaru’s reliance on only stereo cameras, it works almost flawlessly.
However, sometimes reactions can be slow and it’s common for some hard braking (at least not to my standards) and may deactivate in rainy or foggy conditions as the warning label cautions.
It’s a matter of trust and being alert. Once it has stopped, the system immediately deactivates with no notice, leaving me in seconds of stress. A quick flick of the resume switch gets the car back on again. Thankfully, there’s a lead departure warning alert that notifies drivers the car ahead is off and moving.
The lane departure warning sometimes deactivates after multiple alerts, which is disconcerting, and the lane-centring assist can tug the wheel over the line at times.
Additionally, the blind spot monitor works reliably, too. The amber lights are closer to the interior by being on the mirror housing (not the glass), so they’re bright and visible. They flash with a warning chime when there’s a car on the side if the turn signal is on. Likewise, the rear cross traffic alert – which is still a life saviour despite the large glasshouse and visibility – and works in tandem with RAB.
If you want the complete safety suite, this 2.0i Premium model is the pick.
Driving
Under the bonnet is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ petrol engine, making 115kW of power (at 6000rpm) and 196Nm of torque (at 4000rpm).
Power is driven to all four-wheels with full-time symmetrical all-wheel drive (AWD) and a continuously variable transmission (CVT) automatic as standard.
What is ‘Boxer’? Essentially, the engine has a horizontally-opposed layout, providing a lower centre of gravity, and thus better handling, stability, and even crash safety.
Like lesser models, the 2.0i Premium features 17-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Yokohama BlueEarth E70 tyres (225/60 R17).
In suburban driving, I found the XV good enough for getting up to speed. Typical for CVTs – which lack a gear – the belt-and-pulley system evidently evokes some prolonged revving when pushed hard.
But, if you’re gentle on the throttle, the CVT screams won’t be as noticeable. It’s most ideal for urban driving.
There’s also a ‘manual’ mode with paddle shifters for simulated gears and an ‘SI-Drive’ sports mode, which displays a power curve on the driver’s instrument display when activated via the steering wheel button.
These are more pretentious features, however. I left it in normal automatic mode as they don’t really make a tangible difference.
Besides the annoying CVT roar, the overall noise, vibration, and harshness is quite good. Sounds from the tyres and outside are suppressed and the ride is plushy over bumps thanks to the smaller wheels. I did notice outside noise coming from the sunroof, though.
Unfortunately, it defaults with an engine stop/start system. That means, when the car has stopped for a few seconds, it’ll automatically shut the engine to supposedly save fuel.
Starting off can be jerky, with the engine taking a few seconds to kick on again. This can mean not being able to get in that roundabout gap or some stressful moments at the traffic lights.
Sometimes, restarting can feel like an inexperienced manual driver lifting up the clutch too fast. In fact, the lead vehicle departure warning alerted me several times in the seconds while the engine was still kicking back alive.
Thankfully, stop/start can be disabled via a button, but it’ll reactivate every time you start the car.
While stop/start has its advantages by cutting on idling emissions (like when in a drive-through), and works well with the auto hold function, it doesn’t really save fuel.
Subaru claims a 7.0L/100km combined fuel consumption; in my testing, it’s around 8.0L/100km which is average for the class.
The XV has a sizeable 63-litre fuel tank and can run on at least 91RON fuel, including E10. Combined carbon dioxide emissions are rated at 159g/km and meets the Euro 6 standard.
Furthermore, the symmetrical AWD system, coupled with the high ground clearance, is reassuring. It handles quite well with minimal body roll in more spirited cornering, but it’s no sports car.
There’s an ‘X-mode’ toggle that better primes the system to handle slippery surfaces, controlling the engine output, transmission, AWD torque split and braking system.
I only – and courageously – went on some grass without any issues. When X-mode is activated, the second-screen shows the car body’s angle. If you regularly go off-road, then the XV satisfies for light duties.
Ownership
As with all Subaru’s, the XV is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty with roadside assistance and state club membership for 12 months from the date of delivery. There’s also an eight-year/160,000km high voltage battery warranty
The company’s capped price servicing scheme covers up to five-years/62,500km, with a one-month complementary health check.
Scheduled services are required every 12 months/12,500km (whichever comes first), with pricing for the first five years at:
- 12 months/12,500km: $341.15
- 24 months/25,000km: $591.00
- 36 months/37,500km: $347.34
- 48 months/50,000km: $797.61
- 60 months/62,500km: $353.75
This equates to an average service cost of $486.17 per year for the first five years. Those jumps every two years can be particularly pricey compared to other rivals.
Would I pick the Subaru XV 2.0i Premium?
Subaru’s rally racing heritage has clearly transpired to the XV.
In some ways, the Subaru XV fits the SUV bill perfectly. It’s actually a small SUV with larger dimensions, tangible ground clearance, full-time AWD, and rugged looks.
However, the compromised boot space, average exterior design, and complex buttons could be deal-breakers.
At nearly $40,000 on-the-road, it’s not cheap. Although this 2.0i Premium trim would be my pick as it receives the complete suite of active safety assistance systems and smaller wheels for a softer ride, there are plenty of other fiercely competitive rivals.
On paper, at least, the Mazda CX-30 G25 Touring AWD has a more premium and minimalist interior at a slightly higher price tag, the Kia Seltos Sport Plus 1.6T AWD brings more power and a longer warranty, and even the top-spec Suzuki Vitara Turbo AWD is more practical and cheaper. And there’s plenty more in the small SUV segment.
Alternatively, you can consider the flagship Subaru Impreza 2.0i-S hatch – which still undercuts this XV trim by $3100 – while retaining symmetrical AWD, the Toyota Camry Ascent Sport sedan with a fuel-saving hybrid powertrain, or even an optioned-up Volkswagen T-Cross 85TSI Style with more boot space despite being a light SUV.
While the Subaru XV fits a niche group of buyers, I would definitely consider this 2.0i Premium model in my shortlist. After all, it still retains a CD player and has exterior dimensions of a ‘real’ SUV.
The Connected by Henry Man 