olliesgrandad

The XV will need a good clean after a very mucky week in Cornwall !!!

Went out at quarter to nine this morning and as I turned out of the end of the street the low sun dazzled me - it also must have dazzled the car too as the Eyesight system shut down with a dashboard warning and also showed warning lights for lane departure and distance monitoring. I wondered if I would need to stop and restart the car to try and sort it but I then turned left at a roundabout so the sun was no longer hitting the windscreen and within about 2 minutes the system reset itself ...Phew.

My experience of owning many diesels is that they need to be driven a lot to avoid issues with DPF and EGR. I never had issues with the 10 diesel cars I owned between 2007 and 2016, but my cars were doing between 50 and 200 miles a day so I can't ever recollect seeing a DPF light on. If the car appears to be running ok I would suggest a nice long motorway drive which may do the trick, perhaps a dose of Redex in the tank before you do it might help. If not it will be a case of getting the DPF and eGR valves checked for issues.

I would suggest reposting this on the international version of this site. Our bretheren in foreign climes (especially US and Australia) have a lot more of these cars and are well into tinkering. (3) Subaru Crosstrek and XV Forums (subaruxvforum.com)

Filled up with petrol today after a busy day on Wednesday where the XV took a trip to Exmoor and some very narrow and steep lanes we know there. Very impressed with the last tankful of petrol - 38.10 over 254 miles brim to brim. The trip computer showed an optimistic 41mpg I have started using premium unleaded this week as our local pumps are all E10 and I'm a bit concerned about the long term effect on engines. Car seems peppier on the 99 octane so we'll see how it goes...

Very good tyres. I had them on a Lexus GS300h.

Glad to hear it worked. Kind Regards Les

Therein lies the problem, cars with eyesight are very restricted on where accessories can be fitted. I've got my satnav tucked down the right hand corner of the dash.

Great pictures. Good job

When I bought my car I couldn't find a premium. I have a TomTom sat nav with speed camera warnings and I rely on that to warn me if I wander over the limit

I bought my XV at the end of June . I downsized from a lovely 2017 Lexus RX450h Premier with 37800 miles on the clock. I bought the car in November 2019 with 24,000 miles on it and paid £33,950 for it from Cheltenham Lexus. The trade in price I acheived against my Subaru was £28,500 which I consider was a fair price as the Subaru was £18495 with less than 16000 miles on it. The Subaru dealer tried to retail my Lexus for just shy of £33,000 and then 2 weks ago dropped it to £31495. Last week on Friday the car appeared at Lexus Reading with an asking price of £34,800 - £850.00 more than I paid for it. Today it is no longer available and is shown as sold.......... Admittedly I bargained hard when I bought the car and it was a good price for the range topping model (With the extras on it was originally sold for over £61,000 new in January 2017). I just can't believe the way used cars are sellng at present. At some point the balloon is going to burst in a big way. Strange times

Actually upon reflection I seem to recollect seeing something about entering a pin code on the tailgate release, but I lost the will to live after the first sentence as I'd be sure to miscount somewhere along the line and then subsequently forget what the code was 😢 I Haven't yet worked out what the pincode pad in the dash does .........

The pin access code pad is on the XV hidden in a compartment on the dashboard.

Hi Sarah, Another XV in Gloucestershire - welcome. Unfortunately I believe you still have to manually release the hatch when you get to it. One thing I have learnt is that when you park the car if you hold the lock button and press the subaru log button twice the little red light on the key fob flashes 4 times. Once you have done this the key fob stops giving off a signal ( can't be grabbed by the bad guys). This also deactivates the keyless entry by holding the door handle. Instead press the subaru logo buton on the key fob to unlock the drivers door. Press it twice to unlock all the doors. Hopefully you will tel us what model and colour your car is. Regards Les

Got the exterior cleaned and gave it a 2nd coat of Chemical Guys 'white light' Allowed it to cure nd buffed off with microfibre towel. A spritz of V07 Hyper gloss enhancer completed the job.

Having experienced similar I called Subaru Rescue as presumably your car is under warranty. They got it going and the battery was replaced under manufacturers warranty.

A small brush on a stiff long nylon line that people use to clean aquarium power filter pipework is very useful tool and less likely to puncture any tube you are trying to clear

I bought my registered September 27th 2019 XV a few weeks ago and on day 3 of ownership 98 miles from home had a flat battery. After AA assistance drove home and battery went flat overnight. Dealer replaced the 60ah factory battery with new Yuasa 65 ah battery. Last week talking to the parts guy at Simpsons Swindon when buying some mudflaps he told me the factory fit batteries are rubbish and that the ones replaced under warranty should be Yuasa and they are far superior. Might be worth checking what battery you have now. BTW the vin on my car shows it was Manufactured in 2018.

These come nicely packaged but without written instruction. All can be fitted quickly without removing any wheels. A 5mm combination spanner will aid this , also a Philips screwdriver. A pai rof pliers and a flat bladed screwdriver may also help. Front Pair. These are the trickiest. In the kit besides the splash shields you will find 4x 5mm headed bolts, 4 washers, 4 plastic coated threaded spring clips. 2 x grey plastic push in plugs. Offer the 1st splash guard up and you will see where the holes in it are there are 2 plastic plugs holding the plastic wheel arch liner in position. These must be removed. Try holding the outer edge still while !Removed! the centre Phillips cross anticlockwise. If this doesn’t work break them out as they aren’t required. When both plugs are removed you need.to pull the wheel arch lining out of the way so you can insert the 2 clips over the edge of the wing panel (Flat side facing out ) engage the into the holes in the wing panel. Now carefully put the wheel arch liner back into position without moving the clips. Once in place use a very small screwdriver to ensure the holes line up so you can insert the small bolts. Under the sill you will find another plastic plug which lines up with the hole underneath the splash guard. Remove /break this out and you’re now good to go for fitting the unit into place Place a washer on each of the bolts and then offer up the splashguard locating it in position. Fit the 2 bolts into the clips on the inner wing tightening them up with either a Phillips screwdriver or the small spanner. When nearly tight check the hole underneath the splashguard to ensure it is clear for you to insert the grey plug. Then fully tighten the bolts and push the grey plug in by hand into the underneath of the unit. Repeat on the other side and congratulate yourself as the worst is now over. Rear pair Similar components ( Black Plugs instead of Grey) but now much easier as nothing has to be forced off the car. Prepare the bolts as previously, but this time the clips can be easily slipped into place without any problem as the holes are already there and good to go without pulling anything out of the way. Fit the splashguards as before, but in this case because you can’t turn the wheels out of the way either a small socket with a 5mm head or as I did use a small combination spanner. Once secured in place you now have 2 black plastic plugs to use (one for each side). Underneath the sill the holes are already there for use. Push the plugs in and the job is complete. Now stand back and admire!

I had the misfortune to require a windscreen in a brand new Lexus loan car a couple of years ago. The independent windscreen guy told me that if a proper oe windscreen is fitted by someone who knows their stuff there should be no need to recalibrate these modern driving aids. Suspect then the,'Big Boys' use this as an excuse to make money.

This mornnig I rang Simpsons Subaru at Swindon and ordered a set of mud flaps. Whilst chatting to Jason the parts guy I learnt that the battery problem that I experienced with my car is extremely common on UK vehicles . He saisd the original batteries aren't up to the stop start system demands. He told me that the replacement Yuasa batteries supplied under warranty are much better quality and should prove reliable. Subaru still bring all their vehicles upon import to a site a 1/2 mile from wher I live to do the UK spec work ( locking wheel nuts etc) and store the vehicles there. I also learnt that vehicles can bes stored for some time before sale. The Cosworth Subarus of some years ago were nearly 3 years old before they were sold and registered! All in all a very useful chat and he reinforced the fact that Subaru UK don't specify changing the CVT transmission oil. He told mre that an apprentice didn't reealise this and drained the CVT gearbox on a car which cost £200 for the oil required to fill it. I'm now looking forward to receiving and fitting my mud flaps.

The tyres I replaced only had 16,00 miles on them and were much less than half worn. I had the same model Bridgestones on my Lexus RX450h and disliked their grip in the wet, thought I might as well bite the bullet and get some decent tyres on this one. My wife has cross climates on her Fiat 500 (I had them on a previous Lexus RX450h 3rd gen ). The new ones are cross climate + which supposedly have a better economy rating.

This morning I had my new Michelin Cross Climate+ tyres fitted to my car. Great service and price as always from Chris Mullins Tyres in Gloucester. As expected they have transformed the ride over the factory fit Bridgestone Duellers. When I picked the car up Chris said I'd done the right thing changing the tyres as all four Bridgestones were starting to perish. This really surprised me as the car was registered on 27th September 2019. The tyres however bore a date code of 2018, even so surprise was expressed at such a deterioration in that time period. The only thought was that as the car had been stood around outside during lockdown this may have been a reason the tyres began to deteriorate prematurely. The moral is then that you need to keep an eye on the condition of modern tyres as they can begin to fail at a relatively young age, in this case 18 months away from the cars first MOT test!

Washed and thoroughly polished with Chemical Guys 'white light' hybrid premium gloss enhancer and sealant . Amazing result with the pearlescent really popping. There were a couple of tiny stone chips on the front and I didn't have a touch up kit so I then had a 'lightbulb moment' My wifes pearlescent white Fiat 50 0i s a slightly different colour so that was no use. In a box in the garage I keep touch up kits from cars I've previously owned . Hurrah! The Subaru is exactly the same pearlescent white as Lexus use . Pefect match and no sign of chips until you get about 3 inches away. All in all a good result. In the past I've always used meguiars APC, but it is rather pungent. Recently I bought some Chemical Guys Nonsense APC which you can either dilute 20 to 1 or for stubborn marks use neat. The rain gutter grooves were quite dirty so neat nonsense applied with an artists brush soon shifted the muck. I have no connection with Chemical Guys but a lot of their products are exceptionally good. The only disappointment I've had was a synthetic sealer I bought on salel a month ago having thought I would try something different from Black Light which I've used for many years. One trip to the hand car wash and all the gloss was stripped off (supposed to last a year). Never had issue with Black Light so clearly that is why the product was on sale .....

Well having had the opportunity tob take my car into some challenging locations last night I realised that the current tyres are less than desirable on anything other than a good surface. Found Cross Climate + online (which Michelin recommend for the XV at Black Circle for £648 fitted. Currently they are doing £40 off a set of four making a set £608. I spoke to my usual supplier ( Chris Mullin in Gloucester) and he said he could do them for £596 fully fitted. This means they would be cheaper than if I waited until September for the next Michelin offer. They are on back order so should be in around the middle of July which suits me fine as the current tyres are probably less than half worn. Very pleased with the price.