Subaru Levorg 2017 Review

There are a few things to get your head around with Subaru’s Levorg: Why is it not simply branded as a WRX wagon? Why isn’t there an equivalent in the Impreza lineup? And is the STI version really an STI?

Essentially, the Levorg came into being as the spiritual successor to Subaru’s fourth-generation, late noughties Liberty wagon. Speaking at the Levorg’s introduction in June 2016, Mr Nick Senior, Subaru Australia’s Managing Director, claimed customer requests for a Liberty replacement had been ongoing since the fourth-generation model was flung from the product list.

So, right from the get-go, the Levorg was faced with a pretty big task. A task which no doubt played a role in the decision to position it as neither another Impreza variant, nor as a Liberty, but as a model in its own right.

And although you’d need to be fairly unobservant to miss the obvious relationships with WRX, the Levorg nevertheless has a distinct character, contributed to significantly by the elongated wagon proportions, beginning at the B-pillar and sweeping backwards from there.

As for the top-spec STI Levorg, no, it’s not a wagon STI at all. The powerplant is not the hefty 221kW/407Nm 2.5-litre employed in the WRX STI – rather, it’s the same 197kW/350Nm 2.0-litre seen in the Levorg 2.0 GT-S and the regular Rex. Firmed-up STI suspension settings – and a few bodywork and trim fripperies – take it no further than the half-way mark.

Of course, the 2.0-litre Rex engine is nothing to be taken lightly. And, accordingly, in August 2007, Subaru expanded the Levorg model spread and upped the status of the 197kW powerplant by fronting with a new 1.6 GT version which undercut the STI on both power and price, yet still offered up enough performance to ensure it remained within sports wagon parameters.

Tagged at $35,990 - against the 2.0-litre GT-S’s $49,140 - and good for 125kW/250Nm, the 1.6 GT Levorg actually feels as if it’s got more than the specs suggest. This is partly due to the 1.6’s slightly long-stroke configuration and comes despite the artificial CVT transmission ratios which give the 1.6-litre only six ‘gears’ to play with, compared to eight in the 2.0-litre.

We experienced all three members of the basic Levorg fleet recently and found that, despite what the figures indicate, there’s no experiential chasm in on-road performance differences. What we did find: Due to being around 100kg heavier than a WRX sedan, the Levorg is not quite as quick.

In terms of equipment, we already knew the Levorg was well endowed and the new 1.6 GT doesn’t let the team down. It gets standard low-speed autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, active LED headlights, seven airbags, a 40/20/40 rear-seat split-fold system, climate-control, starter button and 17-inch alloys.

No, there’s no satnav at this price point, and the seats are cloth-trimmed and manually-adjusted up front. You’ll need to hand over almost $7000 more for the 1.6 GT Premium version to address those issues. As well as leather, the extra $7K buys you Bilstein suspension, a power sunroof and heated front seats, plus extra Eyesight-backed safety devices such as a side view monitor, blind-spot detection, lane change assist, rear cross traffic alert, auto-dipping headlights and a front camera.

Nonetheless, even though it’s the base version, the standard 1.6 GT Levorg is nicely furnished. There are plenty of soft-touch surfaces, as well as a degree of control functionality which improves with familiarity.

A couple of things surprised though: No Levorg gets a centre rear air vent, and rear-seat legroom is barely adequate if reasonably tall passengers are sitting up front. Headroom, on the other hand, is fine and vision towards the rear is remarkably good, among the best in the small-wagon class in fact.

The 1413-litre maximum load space is handy too, though not up to the standards of Skoda’s similar-size but surprisingly massive Octavia wagon (1718 litres).

The 2.0-litre Levorgs also featured the ‘smart’ rearview monitor which resides in the centre mirror: In some cases excellent for clarity and breadth of vision, and in others a trifle unsettling as initial focussing, from road to monitor, can be a bit difficult. Thankfully, it can all be turned off to become a regular electrochromatic mirror.

Another surprise concerned the limitations, in certain conditions, of Subaru’s otherwise impressive Eyesight system– such as heavy rain, which on one occasion rendered it inoperable – and the occasional failure of the lane-keep assist system to prevent the Levorg crossing the left-side white line into the gravel.

So how does this aspirational up-marketer perform on the road?

Well - as indicated a moment ago - the 1.6-litre does an august job. Especially considering the Levorg, when compared to rivals such as the Renault Megane GT wagon, tends towards heavy. The specs tell us the 1.6 GT Subaru Levorg weighs 1579kg, a long way up on the athletic 1337kg Megane (which, with 151kW/260Nm, also produces more power).

Nevertheless, although the 1.6-litre Levorg is quoted at an unimpressive 8.9sec for the zero to 100km/h sprint (7.4sec for the Megane), it always feels brisk and responsive, and is not perceived as much slower than the 2.0-litre version’s quoted 6.6sec.

Which brings us to the Subaru’s Lineartronic CVT system which partly apes a conventional gearbox via distinctly separate ratios contrived to largely avoid the typical fixed-rpm racket suffered by earlier belt-and-pulley transmissions. In fact, Subaru’s Lineartronic is right at the pointy end where smoothness and unobtrusiveness are concerned – although there’s still a certain indecisiveness in the system’s workings, plus the odd thumping from within when moving between forward and reverse.

Lineartronic works well with the more-flighty 2.0-litre engine. It helps overcome the characteristic tardiness on takeoff, and slips through its ratios in a manner nicely complementing the boxer engine’s smoothness, especially as it climbs towards the 6400rpm red-line.

The Levorg 2.0-litre is no screaming tearaway though. It’s very much a grand tourer, eminently happy on the wide open road and – apart from the accompaniment of some road noise coming through the wagon interior – quite restful over long distances.

This is not to suggest a more enthusiastic engine note wouldn’t be welcomed. The boxer four, in this application, could have been given more of a voice.
And the suspension systems, which varied on the three cars driven, leave the driver thinking Subaru still hasn’t got it quite right in sorting out the Levorg’s ride/handling compromise.

While the ride is generally smooth, soft even, in all versions – standard, Bilstein and STI-tuned – the odd bump catches it completely unawares and telegraphs an uncomfortably loud crash into the cabin, while patchy undulations can throw the system into a seeming state of confusion.

The Levorg points well nonetheless. The steering is quick and well-weighted, while there’s encouraging grip from both the tyres (215/50R17s on 1.6 and 225/45R18 on 2.0-litre versions) and from Subaru’s three-differential symmetrical AWD system.

Fuel consumption? We recorded 8.0L/100km in the 1.6 GT and 8.8L/100km and 8.4L/100km respectively in 2.0 GT and STI – pretty close to the official figures, very much ballpark in its category and impressive for a weighty AWD.

As an appealing small wagon, with the sort of punch you’ll normally only find in hi-po contenders such as Skoda’s Octavia RS and Renault’s Megane GT – backed up by full-time AWD – the Subaru Levorg is bound to capture attention among those who still, when it comes to family-friendly sporting vehicles, favour tradition over fashion.

2017 Subaru Levorg 1.6 GT pricing and specifications:
Price: $35,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 125kW/250Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 7.4L/100km (ADR Combined) / 8.0L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 169g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

2017 Subaru Levorg 2.0 GT-S pricing and specifications:
Price: $49,140 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 197kW/350Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 8.7L/100km (ADR Combined) / 8.8L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 201g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

2017 Subaru Levorg 2.0 STI Sport pricing and specifications:
Price: $51,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 197kW/350Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 8.7L/100km (ADR Combined) / 8.4L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 201g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP