SUBARU has made its name on forging forward with new crossover ideas like the Outback and Forester, and now the Japanese carmaker is at it again with the XV – a small-car based all-wheel drive lifestyle hatch with ample ground clearance and a fat wad of value pricing propping it up as well.
The big question is, though: is this yet another jumped-up Impreza or something genuinely different and innovative
Whatever the answer is, we like it.

Impreza XV
Released: June 2010
Ended: December 2011
Family Tree: XVSIMPLY a jumped-up third-gen Impreza, the first XV was a toe-in-the-water exercise to judge the acceptance of an Outback-style crossover model within the small-car range – although Subaru was already at it almost a decade earlier with the chintzy RV variation.
Power was delivered to all four wheels via a 110kW/196Nm 2.0-litre twin-cam 16V horizontally opposed four-cylinder Boxer engine, mated to either a four-speed auto or five-speed manual gearbox.
Performance wasn’t exactly meteoric, but the Impreza XV’s safe handling, exceptional grip and reasonable running costs meant that the car garnered a small following – certainly enough to persuade its makers to take the concept a step or two further come the G4 version.
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