Subaru XV

The interior cabin of the Subaru XV doesn’t stick to the level of extroverted appeal of the exterior design. Instead, the cabin has been laid out in a more mature manner, with all the controls and panels having simple design yet they appeal with the premium fit and finish levels of them.

The three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel feels chunky and good to hold, however, the instrument console behind it looks a bit archaic with its too simple layout. The upper layer of the dashboard gets soft-touch leather finish and flows from the sides of the dashboard towards the sides of the lower part of the center console.

The upper center console looks broad with a large rectangular touchscreen infotainment system flanked with vertically placed AC vents on both of its sides. At the top of the center console sits another instrument panel in a carved housing, which shows readouts for MID, all-wheel-drive power distribution and compass. 

For a car of this price, the Subaru XV is decently kitted with equipment onboard like aluminium pedals, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, electronic parking brake, push-button start with keyless entry and many more. When it comes to space, the Subaru XV offers sedan levels of space at the rear, making the cabin feel spacious and practical.

The Subaru XV is one interesting vehicle to look at – while all the cladding and roof rails do try to create an impression of an SUV for it, the overall stance is quite low even by crossover standards. This makes it look like a jacked up hatchback, and in that sense, the Subaru XV manages to impress with its rugged personality.

The front end of the Subaru XV gets the same hexagonal grille with bigger lower edges as in almost all the other Subaru vehicles. The sweptback headlamps of the Subaru XV are shaped like bird’s beaks, and do get an all-black treatment while housing LED projectors and C-shaped daytime running LEDs. The front bumper gets rugged looking cladding around the fog lamps and below the central air dam. 

The hatchback like silhouette of the Subaru XV, with sloping bonnet and slightly curved roofline, makes the side profile of it look quite athletic and low slung. To make it look tough, Subaru has equipped the wheel arches as well as bottom portion of the doors with body cladding.

The additional bits which add to the glory of the Subaru XV are chrome finish on the door handles and window waistline, with large roof rails and door-mounted rearview mirrors adding some sportiness here.

The rear profile of the Subaru XV also looks quite aggressive, with a stubby design for the boot lid, sweptback tail lamps, black finished rear roof spoiler and cladding around reflectors on the rear bumper.

The Subaru XV retains the image of being a rugged vehicle under its modern skin from its other UV siblings. The Macpherson struts at the front and double wishbone at the rear of the Subaru XV feel tough and give the crossover a sturdy feel even over broken roads.

The powerhouse employed to bring the Subaru XV to charge is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine, which is mated to a CVT gearbox as the standard transmission. The engine has the ability to pump out maximum power and torque outputs of 156 PS and 196 Nm respectively.

With all the essential safety features at a place like the front, side, driver knee and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, active torque vectoring, vehicle dynamics control, electronic parking brake, reverse parking sensors, 360-degree camera, blind-spot detection, high beam assist, lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert, rain-sensing wipers and tire pressure monitoring system, the Subaru XV is well kitted on this front too.

The Subaru XV offers the best of all the worlds, with the ease of driving similar to those of hatchbacks, rugged styling and mannerisms off the road of an SUV and cabin space, features and comfort of a sedan. The combination of all these traits does make the Subaru XV a hugely practical car in its category, giving a tough fight to all kinds of vehicles in its space.