Subaru Levorg review New Zealand
Alright, so the first thing that probably springs to mind is the Military grabbing their guns and running to their designated areas; all while sirens are blaring and adrenaline is at fever pitch – well this is not that type of review, or that type of action station for that matter. What I’m talking about is Subaru’s new Levorg GT-S (yeah I struggle with the name a little too); it is a new, stylish and very capable sports wagon that will take you gung ho to where the action is.
I picked up the keys to a Steel Blue Grey Metallic version and I must say; it looked sharp. The first thing I noticed was the large bonnet scoop – something that alludes to the beast within, but I’ll get to that in a moment. Chrome ‘accents’ the hexagonal grille nose and separates the lower air scoops. Hawk eye LED headlights illuminate your way forward, while discrete fog lamps are there should the weather turn soupy. The Levorg’s profile has an athletic feel about it with its sporty side sills and darkened rear glass, plus the whole car seems to sit low on its 18” alloys. A Rear spoiler, shark fin antenna, diffuser and dual exhausts gives the followers behind something to ogle at, with the tailgate hiding 1,446 litres of cargo space – plenty of room for virtually any weekend pastime you can imagine.
Back to that bonnet scoop. It has a powerful 2L turbocharged Boxer engine that spews out 197kW’s of power (from 5,600rpm) and a beastly 350Nm of Torque from as low as 2,400. Acceleration from 0-100kph will take only 6.6 seconds and all this speed and power action is controlled by a ‘drive by wire’ accelerator – don’t you just love technology!
I am aware that owning a Subaru gives you priority parking at the mountain and I’m also reliably informed that the luggage space will comfortably accommodate an adult’s mountain bike, it’s plain to see that diving or climbing equipment will fit in nicely as will things like parachutes and even a big dog. But for me, it was my six year olds bike and a trip to the park – hey action is action. I can happily say that there was no need to drop the back seats, no ramps needed and loading and unloading took mere seconds.
With family time over, I was allowed to go and stretch the Levorg’s legs, and stretch they did. Once warmed up, you can select several power settings on the wheel, each of them display a ‘curve’ image in the centre of the instrument cluster that illustrates the power delivery available. From the steady growth curve of Intelligent to the ‘cliff face’ jump of Sports Sharp the power is there any way you want it – in saying that, I ended up using the paddles! There are displays everywhere. High up, Centre Dash gives you things like turbo boost dials and near side camera to keep your alloys away from kerbs. The instrument cluster has all the info you’d expect but the fuel gauge is part of the Speedo (which took a bit of finding). Then there’s the main infotainment screen, a 7” electrostatic touch display that control apps, audio, nav and settings – all in a pinch/zoom format.
The rest of the interior is full of leather and blue stitching, with heated seats and a flat bottomed wheel that is loaded with functions– it’s durable with an undertone of luxury.
All wheel drive means that you can throw this sports wagon around without a care in the world. Blistein shocks on the front and a hardened sub frame in the rear grips the road with ardent adoration and I’d say would lap up the slippery conditions of an NZ winter (regardless of what Island you live on).
Its safety rating is ANCAP 5-Star and as such the Levorg comes loaded with features. Electronic Stability, Traction Control, Hill start assist, Blind spot and cross traffic detection, Active Torque vectoring, High Beam assist… I liked the Eyesight Driver Assist functions, adaptive cruise control, lane sway departure warning and lead vehicle start alert (the Levorg notifies you when the car in front pulls away – no need for the car behind to honk).
The Subaru Levorg does both general life AND outdoor adventure well. Some of us are not out to save the world or conquer every mountain; some of us take pleasure in kids outings to the park, DIY jobs around the house and regular day to day family life HOWEVER let’s face it; we’d all still take comfort in knowing that should push come to shove (and our friends demand that you go on a Ski trip or a forest trek), that at least we’d have a car to take us to and from the action in style.
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