Our motoring correspondent Syd Taylor applauds the style and good manners of the Subaru XV 2.0 D SE
Subaru certainly suits you sir - and you too, madam - if you desire a combination of style, SUV capability and sterling pedigree. Who better if you’re chasing a manufacturer of four wheel drive cars who got there first and has had the opposition playing ‘catch-up’ ever since?
They can dish out a deal that has their customers salivating by cleverly adapting the SUV’s appearance to today’s style-conscious imperatives while underpinning a very attractive car with hardware that does the business in the best possible way.
Inside the large and airy cabin there’s plenty of room for five and the varying needs of family transportation are well catered for. There’s plenty of storage space, seats are really comfy and the driver enjoys the benefits of good ergonomics.
Well equipped with climate control, cruise control and a reversing camera, and all the safety aids to make you invincible, the rugged XV is the sort of vehicle that’s ideal for battling everything from the busy highway to the bumpy forest track to your castle in the hills.
And in these straitened times, prices starting from �21,295 aren’t too bad. The XV diesel SE as tested here costs �26,295.
As you would expect with a Subaru, there’s a horizontally opposed engine beneath the bonnet - and this, of course, is low slung to give all the benefits of a low centre of gravity and the resultant good handling that brings.
It’s an excellent engine, but right at the bottom of the rev range torque is a little lacking. In mid rev range though, it’s splendidly gutsy and willing so you don’t need to overuse the positive but fairly slow changing six gears. Silky smooth and sepulchrally silent are not for this Subaru when working hard - yet back off the throttle on the motorway, set the cruise control and it’s all very comfy. I liked this car because it felt tough and indestructible.
Naturally, the car’s dynamics on or off road are excellent. It’s just an all-round jolly good egg of a car that doesn’t use much diesel. I easily achieved 51 mpg with the official average running at 50.4 mpg.
So there you have it. The car’s all-round manners are the finest - and I was blessed for part of my test with a companion equally well-mannered, equally stylish and equally capable of unsurpassed versatility - being not only a concert hall flautist.
‘What a superb vehicle!’ she cried. ‘A veritable symphony of a mechanical polyphony, which hits the right note at the right time in the right way.’
Exactly!
