Hybrid SUV talks the torque
Subaru has added hybrid power to the XV, but its true advantage isn’t in fuel savings, writes Damien O’Carroll.
Subaru has come over all green with a new addition to its popular XV range in the form of the long-awaited hybrid model.
While it does bring fuel consumption benefits, the real advantage of adding hybrid tech to the company’s boxer engines comes in the form of drivability. Yes, really.
But it’s a hybrid, so it is super-frugal too, right?
Let’s not count those organicallyfarmed free-range eggs just yet, because Subaru’s hybrid system is very much at the mild end of the hybrid hot sauce selection.
While Toyota owns a chunk of Subaru, this isn’t just a case of jamming a Toyota hybrid system into a Subaru, with Subaru engineering their own system ‘‘using the same box of bits’’, according to Subaru New Zealand GM Wally Dumper.
Subaru has chosen the milder route than Toyota simply to not scare its customers too much, as the one thing that consistently showed up in their customer research about hybrids was the question, ‘‘it’ll still be like a Subaru, right?’’
Hence we get a mild-hybrid assist system in the XV that trims around 14 per cent off the urban cycle figure and 7 per cent off the combined cycle.
And does it actually do that? Yes, it does. Quite effortlessly, in fact. But the big question is this: is it worth the extra money you pay to get those savings?
The petrol-powered XV Sport lands here at $37,490, while the up-spec Premium is yours for $5k more, or $42,490 if you’re not good at maths.
The XV Hybrid offers up Sport trim and equipment for Premium price, providing a nice, straightforward choice between gear or modest fuel savings.
But wait, as they say on TV, there’s more.
I would argue that the real benefits of the hybrid system don’t come in the mild fuel savings, but rather in the tangible improvements in drivability that the added torque supplied by the electric motor adds to the XV’s boxer engine.
How does that work then? While horizontally-opposed engines are intrinsically cool, they do have a traditional weakness in the low-down torque department.
While the petrol XV offers up a perfectly reasonable 115kW of power, which is fine for a small car, it does fall down somewhat with its 196Nm peaking right up at 4000rpm.
While the hybrid’s petrol engine offers up the same amount of torque peaking at the same revs, the electric motor’s additional 66Nm comes in from the start, making for a far more satisfyingly wide spread of usable torque, particularly around town.
Not only does this make the XV more satisfying to drive, it also has the added advantage of reducing the need for the CVT transmission to flare irritatingly up to higher revs quite so much, instead relying on the electric motor’s small, but insistent torque hump.
Does it do anything particularly hybrid-y otherwise?
Not really, and that is arguably the beauty of Subaru’s system – you get small but noticeable fuel savings and improved drivability without any real tangible changes to the Subaru experience.
You still get the same boxer burble and the XV feels largely the same to drive as the petrol-only version, just better low down.
The hybrid system has a number of drive modes, including the ability to use electric power only, but Subaru has elected to make them completely automatic – meaning you can’t lock it into a pure-electric drive mode.
Given the hybrid system’s extremely mild approach, this makes sense, given it generally only ever operates purely on electricity at very low speeds in the real world.
Although it can ‘‘sail’’ in EV mode at open road speeds, which makes a seamless, no-choice approach the best one as it also completely removes any potential anxiety or confusion for buyers new to this whole hybrid thing.
Any other cars to consider? The most obvious direct rival is Toyota’s slightly more adventurous styled and significantly more frugal C-HR Hybrid but while it is cheaper, you can’t get an AWD version of it.
To go AWD you need to head higher up the Toyota range in size to the similarly-priced ($43,490 for the base-spec GX) RAV4 Hybrid, or even further up in price to the considerably more expensive Lexus UX 250h AWD at $66,300.
There is also Kia’s Niro hybrid in EX ($39,990) and Limited ($44,990), but that is only FWD as well.
Of course, there is also no shortage of petrol-powered small SUVs in the XV’s price range, but for the vast majority of interested customers, the XV Hybrid’s biggest competitor will be the Petrol XV Premium.