2020 Subaru XV vs 2019

What's the difference?

Well this is awkward. On one hand the XV Hybrid is excellent and on the other it’s… not.

It’s great to drive on and off the road, the fit and finish of the cabin are superb and the safety tech is outstanding. On the other, the value for money isn’t good when you consider that it’s almost the most expensive XV, but still doesn’t have sat nav, dual-zone climate control, nor the larger display.

And then there’s the fuel economy. Even if we had matched the 6.5L/100km Subaru says we should get, the saving is a mere 500ml for every 100km compared to a straight-petrol XV. The plug-in hybrid version of the XV, as sold in the United States, can get about 2.6L/100km. Now that type of hybrid XV would make far more sense.

The XV is an interesting alternative in a busy small-SUV market. Our top-spec car has one of the best cabins in the segment, luxurious features, all the safety and multimedia features you could possibly ask for, as well as Subaru’s inherently good AWD system to justify its cost of entry.

If only Subaru would give it a tad more power and a better warranty…

That Lagoon Blue paint. As mentioned above it’s only available on the hybrid and in the metal the colour is so stunning and different that right now from my desk I can see people rubber necking at it parked out the front of my house. The hue, combined with the ‘e-boxer’ badges, makes for an intriguing package, which, from where I sit, is generating a stack of interest. That was always Subaru’s intention, I guess.

Other hybrid-only design features include the frosted silver elements around the fog lights, the slim-line roof rails and, of course, those ‘e-boxer’ badges.

Those are the only styling differences between the Hybrid and the other XV family members.

Not having the chunky roof racks means the overall height is 20mm lower, at 1595mm, but the rest of the dimensions are the same as a regular XV, at 4465mm long and 1800mm wide.  

The XV is a small SUV, but larger than most of its rivals – it’s about 200mm longer than a Honda H-RV, and similar in size to a Kia Seltos or Nissan Qashqai. That said, its cargo capacity isn’t the best – but more on that in the Practicality section below.

We’re just talking about appearances here and the XV hybrid is cute and angry looking at the same time, with its Pokémon-like face.

Nothing has changed about the overall exterior styling since this new-gen XV was introduced in 2017. And that goes for the interior, too, which is a highlight of this SUV.

There’s no other small SUV in the price range with a cabin that feels this good – the craftsmanship is superb, the fit and finish is excellent and the materials (even the plastics) feel gorgeous. I never use the word gorgeous, but you won’t find a more comfortable and luxurious cabin this side of a Lexus.

That said, the small display screen lets things down, and so does the featureless hard plastic on the back of the centre console, which stares at the rear passengers.     

The XV is a chunky unit, inside and out. Our car was, of course, in the model’s signature Sunshine Orange shade, which you’ll never lose in a parking lot. The only way to tell the 2.0i-S apart from the rest of the range are the chrome door handles, silver roof rails and the tough-looking 18-inch alloys.

The XV rides 50mm higher than its Impreza siblings and scores black plastic inserts on the lower part of its front and rear bumpers, down the sides and over the wheel arches. The most recent updated added a slightly more sculpted look to the front light fittings and grille, too.

It’s undoubtedly a Subaru from any angle, with the XV’s additions adding up to a tough, ready-for-adventure look. It’s not hard to picture it with a snorkel and roo-bar.

Inside, everything is super chunky and satisfying, from the bumper car-like steering wheel to the solid, leather-trimmed centre console and the big buttons and switches jutting out from the door inserts, stereo and climate-control unit.

Even the leather trim on the seats is well above par for the segment and is equally good for rear passengers. The 2.0i-S scores orange contrast stitching which is a nice touch. I’d go so far as to argue the XV possesses one of the best cabins in the small-SUV segment.

On the downside, the XV shares the current Subaru problem of having one too many screens. Three important displays (media screen, information display and multifunction screen) is one too many places to look. 

There are also - to my count - thirteen buttons and two toggles on the steering wheel. Thirteen! Surely there is a better solution to controlling this car’s many functions. This leads to a significant learning curve for figuring out how to use the multifunction display and cruise control.

To sum things up, room for people is good but the cargo capacity is not. That means I can sit behind my driving position, even though I’m 191cm tall, with about 15cm to spare between my knees and the seatback. Headroom  is fine for me, too.

Boot space, however, is 345 litres, which sounds like it could be a lot but when you consider the Honda HR-V has a 437-litre cargo capacity and the Kia Seltos has 433 litres of luggage space, it’s clear the XV’s boot isn’t very big.

Cabin storage isn’t so bad, though, with a big centre console bin, two cup holders up front and two more in the rear fold-down armrest, plus bottle holders in the doors. The hidey hole in front of the shifter is showing its age because my phone was too large to fit into it sideways, but there are other little nooks to store your things in.

Parents should know that the XV Hybrid doesn’t have directional air vents for those in the back seats, but the dark-tinted rear windows were a welcome feature whenever we had our five-year-old back there.

The hybrid has three USB ports – two for charging in the centre console bin and one for media under the dashboard. Need a 12V outlet? There are two.

While the XV is meant to be an SUV, its practicality is limited by the fact that it is based on a hatchback. This is not unusual for the segment. In particular, the Mazda CX-3 comes to mind with its limited dimensions and cropped boot space.

Despite the XV’s fairly large footprint, cabin space is limited thanks to high seats and a sunroof that reduces headroom. That having been said, legroom is surprisingly good, and it’s boosted by the fact that there are padded leather panels on the inside of the transmission tunnel for front passengers.

In the rear, the seats are comfortable and offer good legroom, and even the door inserts feature padded leather. There are also decently-sized cupholders in the door and in a drop-down armrest. While there are no extra amenities like air-conditioning vents or extra storage areas, I was impressed with the level of comfort in an area often overlooked in other small SUVs.

The XV’s boot comes in at 310 litres. It’s not big. The C-HR is bigger at 377 litres, the Vitara is bigger at 375 litres, but it does beat out the CX-3’s 277 litre capacity.

With the seats down, you can expand that out to 1220L. The boot floor is quite high, making access easy, but also making it difficult to lift heavier objects up into it.

Front seats benefit from a decently sized centre-console box, glovebox and four cupholders; two in the doors and two in the centre. There is also a trench in front of the shift-lever that hosts USB and aux ports. It’s a good size, spending most of my drive week housing my wallet and phone.

The media screen is bright and easy to use for the driver, and there are thankfully rotary dials for volume, temperature and fan speed.

Subaru’s multimedia software is now impressive, if a tad clumsy, in its layout. I’d recommend sticking to CarPlay or Android Auto for maps or voice inputs, as asking the system to take me to my home address caused it to freeze, disabling the stereo even when I turned the car on and off again.

This was particularly annoying as I had to sit in silence on the freeway for two hours…

What does 2.0i-S mean? For some reason, it’s the top-spec model. Even higher than the Premium version. Don’t ask me how that works.

Confusing naming conventions aside, you’re looking at the most expensive XV you can buy. It carries an MSRP of $35,490, which is $3,100 more expensive than the 2.0i Premium that sits below it, and $5,750 more than its Impreza 2.0i-S hatchback equivalent.

That pricing is at the top-end of small SUV town and pits it against similar all-wheel-drive rivals like the $35,290 Toyota C-HR Koba, $32,990 Suzuki Vitara S Turbo, $39,000 Hyundai Kona Highlander or petrol-powered $36,790 Mazda CX-3 Akari.

If you’ve been paying attention, there is also now a remarkably similar hatch-based SUV called the Ssangyong Tivoli XLV, which is priced at $35,490 for the top-spec Ultimate.

It’s a crowded playing field, but the Subaru delivers with some good equipment at this price. Included is front LED lighting (with steering-responsive, dusk-sensing headlights), 18-inch alloy wheels, a sunroof, heated and power-folding wing-mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with nav, digital radio and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto support, leather trim on the seats shift-lever and steering wheel, heated front seats, an eight-way power adjustable driver’s seat, and exterior chrome accents.

All those bits certainly add up to a plush feel behind the wheel. Missing for a top model is the option of a holographic head-up display (available on the CX-3), or the option of two-tone paints (C-HR, Tivoli XLV).

The Subaru instead gets the decidedly more substantial addition of its signature ‘X-Mode’ off-road system and hill descent control to go with its symmetrical all-wheel-drive system. These give the Subaru a rugged edge for the same money.

The XV Hybrid has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine under the bonnet (making 110kW and 196Nm) and built into the transmission is an electric motor (making 12.3kW and 66Nm). The batteries are under the boot floor and they’re charged through energy captured during braking, which is then turned into electricity.

The transmission is an automatic called a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). I’m not a fan of CVTs because they tend to take all the oomph out of acceleration, but Subaru’s version is one of the best and the addition of the electric motor gives nice little nudges while driving that the straight-petrol XV doesn’t offer.

All XV’s are powered by the same 2.0 litre non-turbo ‘boxer’ engine. It produces 115kW/196Nm, which, on paper, is decent when compared with other small SUVs. In reality, though, it feels quite underpowered.

It’s not quite as underdone as the Toyota C-HR’s 85kW 1.2-litre turbo, but it’s also nowhere near as spritely as the Suzuki Vitara S-Turbo’s 103kW 1.4-litre engine.

It’s puzzling, as Subaru could seemingly easily turbocharge this engine to give it the slight boost it needs, or simply fit the very good 2.5-litre unit from the Forester.

All XVs have continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) and are all-wheel drive. The AWD system is marginally superior to many competitor systems as it is always on and theoretically splits power more evenly between the wheels.

Hybrids are all about saving fuel, but the XV Hybrid doesn’t use a lot less petrol than the regular XV, which makes you wonder what the point of it is. According to Subaru the XV Hybrid should use 6.5L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads, while under the same driving conditions the regular petrol version does almost as well at 7L/100km.

My own testing showed higher consumption. After 401.5km of motorways, urban commutes, city traffic, suburban runs, country twisty fun roads and even dirt and gravel tracks, I filled up with 37.51 litres, which comes to 9.3L/100km. The fuel tank in the hybrid is 48 litres and the trip computer told me I had a range of 90km left. The straight petrol XV has a 63-litre tank.

So, even if you use Subaru’s figures you’re saving 500ml per 100km, which comes to about 70c per 100km if 91 RON is about $1.40. Factor in the fact that the XV Hybrid costs $3970 more than the XV 2.0i-L and you’d have to drive more than 550,000km to make that difference in money back. Again, you have to ask, what is the point?

I’ve tested Toyota’s C-HR Hybrid and while it is only two-wheel drive the combined fuel economy is 4.3L/100km.

Subaru’s XV Hybrid needs to be way more fuel efficient for it to be a worthwhile hybrid vehicle.  

The XV has a combined fuel usage figure of 7.0L/100km, and after a week of truly combined driving, including a 450km return trip from Sydney to Tea Gardens on NSW’s Central Coast, I produced a figure of 8.0L/100km.

Only one litre off the official figure is impressive, and 8.0 is about on-par for the segment, despite the Subaru’s larger engine displacement.

All XVs have a 63-litre fuel tank and happily drink 91RON unleaded petrol.

I said in the video above that I think the XV is one of the best-handling small SUVs for the money and it’s true, even on twisty country roads the vehicle feels planted, with great body control. That’s thanks to well-sorted suspension and the boxer engine design, which lowers the centre of mass, making the car less ‘wobbly’ and more secure in the corners.

If it was just about driving, the XV Hybrid would be my pick out of the entire model range. That’s because I find the  basics petrol version has lacklustre acceleration. The hybrid gets little shoves from the electric motor, making it better for moving quickly in traffic. Yep, while the electric motor is tiny and only supplies a small output, when it combines forces with the petrol the difference is noticeable compared to the petrol XV.

Like the petrol, the hybrid uses a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). The transmissions are the cause of the indequate acceleration I mentioned, but they seem to be perfectly suited to electric motors.

The entire XV line-up is all-wheel drive, and that includes the hybrid. This is not a four-wheel-drive system, which large off-road vehicles like the Toyota LandCruiser use, so I wouldn’t try to cross the Simpson Desert in an XV. Really the XV’s all-wheel drive is designed for on-road duties but occasional dirt and gravel tracks are fine, as long as you don’t get too wild. Still, it is truly one of the most sure-footed small SUVs for the price that I’ve driven, and the impressive 220mm of ground clearance will let you head down bumpy tracks that would tear the innards out of other small SUVs.

The X-mode function is activated by pressing a button and the throttle, transmission and drive to the wheels is managed automatically to maintain optimum traction.

Where the Hybrid is at a disadvantage against its fellow XV family members is in terms of towing. The braked towing capacity is 130kg less than a straight-petrol XV at 1270kg.  

The XV feels as solid to drive as it looks. You feel removed from the road thanks to the high-riding suspension, and, just like its bigger brother the Forester, it makes short work of even bad potholes and crummy road surfaces.

It feels a bit heavier than some of the competition in the corners, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as the low centre of gravity gives it a sturdy, confident ride helped by an AWD system that never makes you doubt the amount of available traction.

Despite the car itself feeling a tad weighty, the steering is light and easy while not losing too much feeling. It’s somewhat refreshing to drive a small SUV that doesn’t feel like a large front-drive hatchback. 

The 2.0-litre engine could do with a smidge more power. It occasionally needs a solid prod of the accelerator to get it up to speed, leaving me wonder why a small turbo or, at this price, the very good 2.5-litre from the Forester were out of the question.

The XV is also impressively quiet around town, with very little noise entering the cabin. Oddly, this changed dramatically past 80km/h where a lot of tyre noise starts to intrude and the stereo became less good at drowning out noise.

I didn’t explore the X-Mode or off-road capabilities of the XV on my test, but it’s impressive it has capabilities at all. Check out our adventure review for more on the XV’s off-road ability. 

Subaru prides itself on its ‘EyeSight’ safety suite, and every XV gets it apart from the base-model 2.0i. It includes now-necessary active safety items like auto emergency braking (AEB) with brake-light recognition, lane departure warning (LDW) with lane keep assist (LKAS), adaptive cruise control as well as pre-collision throttle management and brake assist.

Our 2.0i-S is the only XV in the line-up which also gets blind-spot monitoring (BSM), lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert and reverse AEB.

That’s an impressive safety suite with all the active features you could realistically expect. All XVs have the standard array of seven airbags and electronic stability controls, they also all benefit from torque vectoring via the all-wheel-drive system.

The only item I would add to that is a full-size spare, as the XV only has a space-saver. This would further compromise the already-small boot, however.

The XV range received the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as of May 2017.

The Subaru XV Hybrid is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, while the battery for the electric motor is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty. There’s also a five-year/62,500km capped-price-servicing program. Servicing is recommended at 12 month/12,500km intervals, with the first capped at $350.25, the second at $588.31, the third at $354.83, the fourth at $784.77, and the fifth at $354.86 for a total of $2433.02 over the five years.

Subaru lags behind the standard today, with a three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Many major competitors like Mazda, Hyundai and Volkswagen are offering five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranties. Room for improvement here.

The XV needs to be serviced once every 12 months or at 12,500km intervals. It costs between $350.25 and $588.31. Over the life of the (did we mention short?) warranty it will cost an average of $429.60 a year to maintain.