2023 Subaru XV Reviews

Unraveling Tasmania's mysteries via a series of off-road tracks and stunning vistas.

Now, this is a fun looking car. The Subaru XV is known as a SUV version of the ever-popular Impreza, so it’s higher off the road and travels like an SUV but isn’t large, like its big sisters the Forester and Outback.It’s in the small SUV category and competes with cars like the Honda HR-V and Nissan Qashqai.I was in the second-from-top-of-the-range XV 2.0i Premium, which costs $32,670 before on-road costs, and drove it all through the city this week for a bunch of Sydney Fashion Week commitments.Here’s how it did with me and my family of four over seven days of testing.

Subaru landed on a winning format when it turned a Impreza variant into a small SUV, but does this new version continue that hot streak?

Snow's a funny old thing... it looks so lovely and firm and supportive, and really, it's just not that at all for the most part. It's cold and slippery and wet and treacherous and I'm not a fan, really.

Subaru sells a lot of SUVs, but none are quite as quirky as the small XV. Has it got what it takes to be a genuine adventure SUV for your family?

The first-generation XV was wildly successful for Subaru. And the cheaper price, better equipment and new high-tech platform of this second-gen car should hurt its popularity exactly not at all.

Subaru's XV is a small SUV that's actually big, and looks more like a wagon than an SUV, which all sounds weird, but it's now the biggest-selling Subaru in Australia. No wonder there's a new one.

The Subaru XV is more closely related to the Impreza than it is to the Forester. The second gen car doesn't stray far from the template, but it's what's underneath that makes all the difference.

Riding on the Impreza's new platform, the new XV is still, to be kind, challenging to look at. But if it's got the new and improved Subaru platform underneath, it's probably a better car. Right?

One of the quiet achievers of Subaru's range, the small XV has grown over the years to be a vital third cog in the brand's SUV range behind the Forester and the Outback.