Subaru Levorg 2016 Review

Subaru Levorg GT
Road Test

On home turf the Levorg remains what it appeared to be during the drive programme for its local launch – a solid, sporty tourer that's practical and appealing on a day-by-day basis.

But the Levorg is not perfect. It's more tourer than sports car, for a start, and given its dimensions it arguably should skew a little more towards sports/agility than it does. There's room in the range for a Levorg that's a hard-core variant, one can't help thinking. Whether it would sell in adequate numbers to be viable in the Australian market remains to be seen, however.

The steering of the car on test felt light and lacking feedback when pressing on over local roads. While the car's brakes were strong, the Levorg did feel under-tyred when jumping on the big pedal. The contact patch just felt a little narrow for hard braking and indeed even traction, with the Levorg spinning a wheel briefly turning into a driveway – and that was on a light throttle setting, at low speed.

Although the Levorg was a quiet car when driven sedately, CVT whine was present when the engine spun up to higher revs, under load. In 'I' (intelligent mode) the Levorg cruised at 100km/h with the tacho registering around 1800rpm, but switched to S (sport) mode the revs increased to 2200, with S# (sport sharp) mode lifting the revs again by another 100rpm.

Torque was flat across a wider rev range in the 'I' mode, and in some ways the Levorg got away from a standing start quicker in this mode than in either of the S settings. In the sport modes, however, there was a distinct surge of power from just under 3000rpm. Over the course of the week the Levorg posted a fuel consumption figure of 10.9L/100km.

Some muted tyre roar was audible on country bitumen, but the Levorg was otherwise very quiet – especially the engine. There was subdued labouring at lower revs (1500rpm and less), but it wasn't noticeable enough to set teeth on edge.

Ride quality was generally fine, but speed humps proved to be a trial for the Levorg. Where everything from soft-roading SUVs to conventional front-wheel drive hatches – and the Levorg's obvious competitors – can negotiate a traffic pacifier at reasonable pace, the Subaru crashed and pitched at anything more than the advisory speed limits posted.

Headlights cast a white light that picked up objects and brightened shadows even on low beam. In the test car they felt like they had been set just a bit low.

In traffic, the Levorg's EyeSight system did observe and notify me when the car in front had moved off – which is a good feature for those who have their heads down checking social media or news on smartphones. It's recognition that we're infallible and frequently do things in cars that we shouldn't be doing. For the record, I wasn't checking a smartphone in traffic...

EyeSight in this new version is much improved, but the lane-departure warning on country roads remained inconsistent, when it wouldn't pick up the line markings on occasion, or when lanes merged and it would signal the car was leaving a lane that was ending anyway.

As a package, the Levorg scrubbed up pretty well. On the plus side of the ledger the speedo and tacho were easy to read, with plenty of real estate for legibility through the wheel.

I did find the dash and centre fascia layouts were 'busy' however. Stylised graphics in between the major instruments added to the complexity of the view.

But it's the different means of accessing infotainment functions and displays that confounds the driver most.

There's a wand in the instrument binnacle to shift between the two trip meter readings. And there are additional switches on the left spoke of the wheel to scroll between different trip computer functions in the instrument binnacle – including the S/I drive graphic.

Then there's a toggle below the hazard flashers button to display different information screens in the centre fascia's larger screen. In short, it's ergonomic overkill, with three different readouts and switchgear that could all be clustered in one screen with one switch.

And on the upper edge of the left spoke of the steering wheel there's a 'memo' button and a 'back' button, with audio track/channel and volume button below that. On the right spoke are the cruise control and two S/I drive buttons to adjust engine management mapping.

Altogether, it makes for a puzzling presentation that an owner will come to understand in due course; it's just confronting during the first few days.

As mentioned in the launch review, the Levorg in GT trim comes with seats that are less supportive than those in the higher-grade Levorg GT-S. Most of the time they're up to the job, but are no match for the Levorg's cornering ability.

In the rear, accommodation was up to scratch for adults, with the Levorg's rear-seat legroom well ahead of the original fourth-generation Liberty wagon that was the inspiration for the new car.

Betraying the Levorg's Impreza DNA, however, was the lack of adjustable vents for rear-seat passengers, and the rear/centre passenger seatbelt was a two-clip affair anchored in the headlining. That's an inconvenient throwback to a time when manufacturers weren't fixing seatbelts to seat frames.

The Levorg does come with two USB ports in the rear to keep the kids occupied and their portable devices charged.

In the boot, there's a full-size 17-inch alloy spare with Continental tyre under the floor. Changing the wheel could be time-consuming with a load on board, but traditional owners will welcome replacing a flat tyre with the same wheel and tyre combination – to carry on at unabated speed.

Also in the boot are finger pulls to flip down the rear seats, which don't quite fold entirely flat, but do liberate significantly more room for bulkier, longer loads.

While the Levorg GT is generally well equipped for the price, I would expect heated mirrors, auto headlights and rain-sensing wipers for the money – in the current market. The Levorg's headlights do turn off when you kill the engine, but there's no setting for them to turn on automatically when day turns to dusk. To the Levorg's credit, it does have power fold-in mirrors…

Despite the points noted above, which I freely admit could be considered nit picking, the Levorg remains an appealing car. It steadily walks that fine line between fun and functional and it will address those conflicting needs any day of the week.

2016 Subaru Levorg GT pricing and specifications:
Price: $42,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 197kW/350Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 8.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 201g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

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