2019 Volvo XC40 vs Subaru Forester

What's the difference?

The Volvo XC40 is the smallest and most recent addition to the Swedish brand’s SUV line-up and from the moment it arrived in 2018 it seems just about everybody hailed it as the best thing since smashed avocado.

Seriously, the praise was so high for the hugely anticipated car you could have been forgiven for thinking it could have been the new Dalai Lama or the Messiah.

But what’s it like live with? The XC40, not the Messiah.

We found out when an XC40 Inscription T4 came to stay for a week. During that time, I found out just how much fuel it needed, how much room was inside, what is was like to drive and what was missing from that impressive armoury of safety technology.

Subaru is synonymous with bringing effective – and popular – all-wheel drive wagons to market. And its Forester has done pretty well in the past as a comfortable and capable dirt-road tourer, more than appropriately equipped to tackle low-intensity off-roading. 

But has the company now tipped too far in the direction of style over substance? Has the Forester lost its way as a bona fide campsite conveyance?

Read on.