On Sunday I spent an enjoyable hour in front of the telly with my three-year-old lad watching Jason Plato drive his Subaru Levorg to victory in his
500th BTCC race
. A quirky looking estate at the front of a touring car pack made up of everyday saloons and hatchbacks? Exactly how Subaru should capture some hearts and minds in its post-WRC age.
And the kind of product placement that clearly works on impressionable minds, given the connection with the Subaru Levorg I had parked outside was immediate. "Daddy, that's a FAST Subaru, isn't it!"
Hm. How to break this to you, son.
From stage to circuit in a Subaru boxer
To be fair the seemingly tenuous link between
BTCC success
and the Levorg you can actually buy works on more than just three-year-olds too. Enough for me to book one in on test to find out if its generally lukewarm reception could be offset by that typical Subaru quirkiness and the (now credible) motorsport link. As a Subaru owner I'd like to think audiences don't come much more sympathetic.
OK, so the Levorg ain't no oil painting. But then nor is my Forester and I love that. Defiant ugliness is something Subaru does well, the traditional long front overhang, bonnet scoop and heavy-handed sculpting of the estate car profile all very ... distinctive. Suffice it to say looks alone are not enough to put me off the Levorg, that name a slightly messy contraction of Legacy, Revolution and Touring with Subaru claiming further influence from its brand defining 4x4 Leone estate cars of the 70s onwards.
Reassuring news continues beneath that scoop too - yes, there's a top-mounted intercooler signalling the boxer engine is indeed turbocharged. OK, so it's only a 170hp 1.6 and untypically undersquare and torquey for a Subaru engine, with 184lb ft from just 1,900rpm. But it drives all four wheels. Could this be the thinking man's alternative to an MQB-based estate car like a SEAT Leon ST, Golf estate or Skoda Octavia? Three letters leap off the spec sheet suggesting it might not be.
Yep, it's CVT and CVT only
Continuously variable drone
Yes, the only transmission choice is a CVT. Like the irritating plastic wind deflectors I've recently spent hours chiselling off my Forester (and the JDM Impreza WRX wagon I owned a few years back) their popularity is a quirk of Japanese cars I've never been able to understand. I've driven in Tokyo, not least in a (CVT equipped)
Impreza WRX S4
. I can appreciate some sort of automated gearbox is desirable there. But, given the quality of modern dual-clutches and regular autos, why this sort? And why, when all the manual Subarus I've ever driven have had great shifts, make it compulsory?
Truth be told it's not that bad in reality. And with the boxer four's smooth power delivery it's actually a remarkably relaxing car to drive. There's just a hint of the distinctive throb when the CVT consents to giving you some revs but the rest of the time it's considerably more refined than the usual in-line fours you get in rivals. And, in the classic Subaru style, the engine's reduced deck height means a very low dash and excellent visibility.
Sure, the interior is a little bit old tech, with many familiar fixtures and fittings from my previous WRX STI long-termer. If lacking in flair it's clean and functional enough, the new and properly integrated touchscreen infotainment system a significant step up from the aftermarket unit on the STI. Subaru badly needed to get with the times here; credit where it's due - the system is there or thereabouts.
Turbocharged Subaru boxer (with 170hp)
This is window dressing though. Because a CVT will never be the enthusiast's choice. Sure, it doesn't do that slipping clutch thing cruder examples might. It's even got a 'manual' mode and paddles to control it. And in everyday driving it's unobtrusive enough. But when you really want some response things just get a bit mushy, revs don't necessarily correspond to forward progress, of which there is actually a respectable amount given the fairly modest numbers on the board. Because of the curious elasticity it's hard to tell what the engine's actually up to as well; conventional measures of response and lag don't really apply but it's clear the Levorg is willing and brisk, if nothing more than that.
Likewise this general powertrain mush doesn't really let you explore the abilities of the four-wheel drive chassis and brake controlled 'torque vectoring'. It'll be there for you when the conditions turn nasty but in everyday driving it's left to the background, fast, precise steering and a sense of agility welcome compared with some of the more inert competition. A pity the ride's brittleness feels out of sorts with the rest of the package. And looking at the nearest rivals it's hard to consider the Levorg as anything other than a bit pricey at £27,495 against £24,040 for a SEAT Leon ST FR with a 1.8-litre, 180hp 2.0-litre petrol engine and sharper DSG twin-clutch auto.
You thinking what we're thinking?
There could be hope though. In Japan, Australia and some other markets there is a 2.0-litre Levorg with 300hp and 258lb ft of torque - in Australia it's even referred to as the
Spec B
. It gets Bilstein dampers too, Japan's
2.0 STI version
getting the same, some tasty wheels, the option of WRC Blue paint and a host of STI branded goodies to boot. Sounds promising, right? But, yes, still a CVT.
So we've got an engine with the performance. We've got the pedigree to make it count. We've got the quirkiness Subaru fans like yours truly will happily sign up to. Translating motorsport success to the High Street worked a treat for Subaru back in the era of McRae and Burns. As it stands the Levorg is a decent transmission and some STI trimmings away from doing the same in the BTCC era of Plato and Turkington. C'mon chaps, you know you want to!
SUBARU LEVORG GT
Engine: 1,600cc flat-4 turbo
Transmission: 'Sport Lineartronic' CVT, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 170@4,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 184@1,800-4,800rpm
0-62mph: 8.9sec
Top speed: 130mph
Weight: 1,554kg (not specified)
MPG: 38.9
CO2: 164g/km
Price: £27,495