Dogconker

Just ordered a dash cam/ in car CCTV so I can prosecute idiots on the M6 trying to trash my car, mainly nobs in Audis, or wannabe Audi drivers in Passats! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I want an Xbone

Well, talking of under advertised, did you know that Subaru are bringing out a car to go onto the company car market, an impreza 1.6, they're hoping to take on ford for the mid size company car, only problem is they don't plan on telling anyone about it, if you could have a 1.6 company car what would you have a Subaru or a Ford? I know which I'd choose. As for worthy of publishing, thanks for the kind words but I doubt its to their standard, plus I doubt they'd agree because its not an Audi, and I have in fact told them the Audi is over priced

Yokohama 509s used to be like that, used to confuse the ell out of the tyre shop. Always looked like if you hit a shallow puddle with all four wheels that it would crab sideways, also leaves the problem should you keep a left or right handed spare in the boot or one of each? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I’ve done 5000 miles in my 2014 XV now so thought it about time I’d knock up a review for those interested. What is an XV? So first up, what is an XV. Well, the XV is the Outback’s baby brother, based on the Impreza hatch back it its been beefed up, given some big wheels with all season tyres and heavy duty plastic trim to protect the bodywork. The suspension has also been jacked up to provide around 9” (230mm) of ground clearance, the result is a mid sized Cross-over Utility Vehicle (CUV). Apparently the XV stands for cross-over vehicle, however, in America the XV is known as the Crosstrek. The idea behind the XV is to provide a daily use car with the option to go off road. Video showing some XV off roading, its pretty surprising how capable this car really is. (if you're in a hurry, skip to 8:30 to see the really rough stuff) Now when I talk about off road I don’t mean mud bogging or rock crawling, you should be looking at Landrovers and the like if that’s your thing. I am however, talking significantly more challenging than just a grassy field or a gravel track. The XV is surprisingly capable off road on some quite difficult terrain and in the snow you should feel pretty comfortable. There is even a display that highlights loss of traction etc to each of the wheels. Drive train information screen highlighting direction and spinning of wheels The XV is in general a good looking car, fairly classic lines nothing too outrageous, it has a presence however that many of its competitors can’t seem to match, its quite an imposing vehicle for its size. I’ve owned mine for several months now, and it certainly draws attention, whether people you drive past or pass you on the motorway many will look at this car, often wondering what it is. I’ve even come back to the car after leaving it in a car park to find people peering in the windows which usually leads to a rather embarrassing and uncomfortable moment when I ask if I can help them, often they walk off and get on one of the XV’s competitors. The reason for this; this car is rare, and I mean properly rare. My wife also has an XV and has owned hers since September 2013 in that time apart from mine we’ve only ever seen one other on the road. In fact to put this in perspective, apparently, Porsche sell more cars per year than Subaru, with Subaru only selling between 3000 - 4000 cars across the range in the UK, compare that to the circa 40,000 Nissan Qashqai sold each year. In some respects the Subaru is more exclusive than a Porsche, certainly more obtainable. The XV comes in 2 variants, a 2.0 litre normally aspirated boxer petrol, and a 2.0 litre boxer turbo diesel, both have two trim options, SE and SE Premium. The SE will be the best seller whilst the Premium has extras such as Satnav and leather seats. The petrol also has an option of the Lineartronic gearbox, not available on the diesel. The 1.6 versions have recently been dropped from the line up and there is a rumour of a petrol hybrid being released in 2014. I haven’t driven the petrol but I am aware that the diesel is more fuel efficient, has faster acceleration and has significantly more torque, but generally comes with a slightly higher price tag so you’ll need to weigh up what you will use the car for and likely annual mileage to decide on your engine type. This review will primarily apply to the diesel though much of it will cross over to both types. I own an XV 2.0D SE so in reality this is what I am reviewing. Specification The XV comes with a pretty high specification as standard. The SE version, which is what most people will buy and is effectively the base model (although in reality there isn't a base model), comes with the following: Heated Front seats Leather steering wheel and gear knob multifunction display Front fog lights (also running act as running lights) Windscreen wiper de-icer Roof rails Automatic Wipers Automatic on/off headlights HID headlights Headlight Washers Privacy glass Cruise control Hill Start Assist Dual Zone Climate Control Bluetooth Hands Free 2DIN 6 Speaker Audio unit Reversing camera Engine Stop/start (petrol only) This is not an exhaustive list, but as you can see, even the SE comes with a pretty impressive specification, the Premium version adds the leather seats and Pioneer satnav/stereo. Few of the XV’s rivals boast such a high specification as standard. Performance (as of Mar 2014) 2.0 Boxer Petrol (Normally Aspirated) - £21,995 - £25,495 Max Power – 150BHP @ 6200rpm Max Torque – 196Nm @ 4200 0 – 60 – 10.5 seconds (10.7 seconds for the Lineartronic) Max speed – 116mph Fuel efficiency – Urban mpg – 32.1 (32.8 Lineartronic) Extra Urban mpg – 48.0 (51.4 Lineartronic) Combined mpg – 40.9 (42.8 Lineartronic) 2.0 Boxer diesel (turbocharged) - £23,995 - £25,995 Max Power – 147BHP @ 3600rpm Max Torque – 350Nm @ 1600 - 2400 0 – 60 – 9.3 seconds Max speed – 120mph Fuel efficiency – Urban mpg – 41.5 Extra Urban mpg – 56.5 Combined mpg – 50.4 The performance of the car is pretty good considering the weight of the vehicle , throttle response is very good on the Diesel (can't comment on the petrol), so much so that you can even blip the throttle during downshifting, a rarity in diesels. There are some reports that the petrol is a little bit flat in performance and could have really done with a turbo to just lift it a bit, that’s something you’ll have to decide if you test drive, I’d certainly advise trying both the petrol and the diesel if you are unsure which is for you. The XV has the ability to surprise when driven in different ways; drive the car carefully and smoothly with extensive use of the cruise control and you’ll be rewarded a very comfortable, easy drive with excellent fuel economy from a permanent AWD, I’ve managed over 71mpg on an extra urban run and consistently 59mpg averaged over a whole tank giving me a range on a full tank of around 700miles before the fuel light comes on, even then it says I have another 100 miles in the tank. The electronic display provides good info on the fuel usage and can show a really handy “swing-o-meter” telling you if you’re using more or less fuel than the average to date, this actively encourages economic driving. Fuel economy "Swing-o-meter" However if you’re feeling in the mood the diesel can be pretty spritely and feel quite sporty, and with the audible turbo noise makes it feel more sporty than it maybe should, the firm suspension and limited body roll all add to that sports feel. 0-60 in 9.3 seconds means it would only be 0.6sec slower than an Audi A3 Sportback Sport 2.0 TDI, and more than capable of leaving most in not all of its direct competitors behind, that's pretty impressive when you consider its around 1.4 tonne in weight. Safety One of the cars big selling points is its safety, it received a 5 star NCAP rating and scored highest in class for small child (<18 months) occupancy protection, it also comes with an apparently endless list of safety features (and I'm pretty sure I haven't listed everything below): Front passenger and driver airbags, front and rear curtain airbags, driver knee airbag Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control Integrated ring roll cage Retracting pedals Side door reinforcement beams ABS Brake system assist Child seat anchorages Luggage tie points Brake override Additional door anchorage to prevent opening on a roll Video showing NCAP crash tests and airbag deployments What’s the XV like to Drive? OK, so its safe, it's well kitted out, and now you know the performance. But what is the XV actually like to drive. It's always difficult to put across in words what a car is lil ego drive because it's really subjective. I’ve nearly always had either sports cars or hatchbacks such as Honda Civics including the Type S, Opel Manta, Honda Prelude, Mazda 323 Sport so I’m used to firm suspension and a rigid chassis, for me, the XV has both of these so suits me perfectly. Now whilst I don't see the stiff suspension as a negative, id doesn't hide the fact that it is stiff, if you’re used to a nice smooth Mercedes or BMW that glides effortlessly across the tarmac as though it was riding on silk, then the ride of the XV may be a bit harsh for you. On poor or rough roads it can feel a but bumpy, but it doesn’t feel in anyway unstable in these circumstances. You certainly get a lot of feedback from the road which may be unwelcome if you’re of a more refined disposition, for me though, its just fun. At high speed on long corners the wet XV can feel a little unsettled, but in fairness its never felt like its going to put a foot wrong, I think it’s a combination of tyre roll, the all season tyres and the ride height that make it feel a bit strange at first. However the car, despite its weight and height is very agile and shows a willingness to turn that is quite impressive, mainly due to the low centre of gravity of the flat 4 boxer engine and the 50/50 AWD system, flooring it around a roundabout won’t cause any drama either, even if you did manage to over do it, the Subaru Vehicle Dynamics System would soon pull you into line, just remember we’re talking about an SUV here not a super car. As with all Subaru the interior is fairly plain with hard wearing plastics and minimal soft touch materials although the important bits that you lean on and hold are comfy enough. It has clearly been designed with a view that it should last rather than be all nice and spongy and wear out. It might not envelope you in endless soft touch, fluffy materials but it is very probable that how it looks new is how it will look in several years time. Its certainly pretty dog and child resistant, as it’s very easy to clean. Functional is probably the most accurate description, though I should point out that it doesn’t look cheap in anyway, just rugged. Its certainly one of the better interiors Subaru have done, but other car reviewers are extremely critical of its lack on refinement, I'm just not sure they really get what this car is. Standard Black Interior (sorry about the cheap looking, dirty floor matts. £3 each from Halfords, sorry) Seats are very comfortable, I have done some pretty long drives of 4-5hours with no issues regarding comfort, the adjustment available make it easy to set them to a position comfortable for your driving position even if your 6'3" as I am. Controls are well laid out and easily accessed and fairly intuitive. View of instrument display View of centre Console and 2Din Stereo The Bluetooth phone system works well and you can hold a conversation easily, however it can be somewhat annoying as it does not show the name of the person calling or is calling you, only their number. This can make using the voice activated dialing a bit of a lottery, a couple of times I’ve phoned the wrong person because the Bluetooth misheard me and I couldn’t tell from the displayed number it was wrong. Visibility is generally good with the mirrors positioned further back to free up the quarter light, rear visibility isn’t the best but a rear camera compensates and provides a very clear image of the rear even in low light, though judging the corners using the camera isn’t that easy and you certainly shouldn’t rely solely on the camera. Thinking of Buying One? So what about if you’re thinking of buying one, well there are a few things to consider, as with all cars there’s some stuff you won’t find out about until someone tells you or your footing the bill for it. There are some costs that you'll need to plan for, the big one is the tyres, you’ll get around 30,000+ miles out of a set (unless you drive aggressively), but you’ll probably need to replace all four at once and you’ll be talking around £190 a corner, servicing is every 12,000 miles (or annually) for a general service at around £300. Road Tax is £140 a year on the diesel. On the up side you’ll get a 100,000 mile 5 year warranty with breakdown cover as standard. Its worth considering that the Subaru XV 2.0D SE is group 25 (from Parkers) If you buy one, make sure you buy the rear bumper top protector, its about £90 and will make sure that shiny paint on rear bumper doesn’t let the look of the car down by getting scratched and worn and hold up the trade in value. Also worth knowing that the pearl white colour (same as vehicle in earlier pictures) is the free paint colour so will reduce your car cost by about £500. The bonnet trim shown on my car is also an optional extra and mainly improves the front appearance whilst protecting against stone chips, again its around £90, there are a lot of extras that you can fit from sump guards to roof racks and rails. The Competition If you are genuinely looking for this sort of car, you will almost certainly have looked at the many rivals. Well I did some comparisons with some of the XV’s main rivals. I took the base car of equivalent standard (ie 4x4, 2.0D 5 door, manual etc) I then matched the specification to the SE, where needed, I added the optional extras that the XV has as standard, including extended warranty, HID lights, Bluetooth, cruise control etc, the outcome is the cost of an equivalently specified alternative not the off the shelf cost, in most cases though the equivalent “off the shelf” car was still more expensive. All the prices are the on the road cost. The figures below therefore are as best like for like as I can get, you should go onto the relevant sites and “build your own car” to see what the car will cost for what you want. I haven't just taken the base model of each and compared them as this isn't like for like, using the XV as the bench mark I've priced the other cars to match the specification of the XV. It’s also worth considering that most of the XV’s rivals do not have permanent 4 wheel drive (most are front wheel drive with on demand rear wheel assist) and virtually none/if any, have the 50/50 power distribution of the Subaru and many of the cheaper ones are only 2WD and have much smaller engines than the XV. Subaru only do a 2.0 litre permanent AWD version (whether petrol or Diesel). So if you don't want or need AWD then in all honesty there are cheaper 2WD cars to be had of a similar size, but you'll have a 4x4 sized car with none of the benefits. Only the Kia Sportage was comparable in price and specification, so in that sense would seem to be the XV’s main rival, which you choose will come down to how you feel about the looks or brand of the car or whether the extra 2 yrs the Kia gives is significant. Skoda Yeti Outdoor SE 2.0 TDI CR 140PS - £25,110 Audi Q3 SE 2.0TDI Quattro - £29,830 Nissan Quashqai Acenta Premium- £27,548 (1.6 engine with 3 yr Warranty) BMW X1 xDrive 1.8D SE - £30,935 Kia Sportage– KX1 2.0 CRDi - £23995 (7yr 100,000mile warranty) Subaru XV 2.0D SE - £23,995 with 5yr 100,000 mile warranty I chose the XV over the other cars above because of the specification and the visual appearance of the car, it is also quite exclusive, unlike the Qashqai which you cannot drive anywhere without seeing one, it depends if you want to follow the crowd or stand out from it. My personal thoughts on the car? To me, it feels like a car that can, pretty much go anywhere, isn’t going to break down every 5 minutes, has a history and impeccable safety credentials particularly if you have smaller children. It’s a great car to drive and feels like a car I want to drive, its not perfect, annoying bluetooth, plain interior and a bit of road and wind noise might put off people looking at some of the XV's competitors, particularly with regards luxury. The XV however is very comfortable, spacious, has good boot space and comes kitted out with a lot of toys you’d only expect from a top end version. The great fuel economy and a sporty agile feel reward the driver unlike many other cars of this type I have driven and in most cases much cheaper than an equivalently specified alternative. It is also extremely capable off road as it uses the eminently capable Forester rolling chassis and legendary Subaru AWD system, although a low drive and diff-lock might be something that would improve its capability, particularly downhill. In short; I love the car, with all its rugged charms and robust build quality, even with its little niggles, I feel good driving it. I like the fact no one else has one (except my wife that is), and you never see them, I like the fact that if I want to go off road, I can, if a get to a flood, unless its of biblical proportions, I can ford it, no getting stuck in fields in heavy rain at events and snow becomes fun, not a nightmare. I’m not going to tell you this is the car you must buy because I don’t know your needs or tastes, that’s a personal choice and that’s as it should be. You need to do your own comparisons and pick the car right for you not what some bloke writing a review says. What I will say however, is this, if you’re in the market for a mid sized SUV you really should take a good look at the XV, go see one, test drive it and see what you think, pound for pound it actually works out a fair price. I hope this short review is useful for anyone, if someone is in the search for a medium SUV show them this. I purchased the car in this review from Carstins Subaru in Coventry, if you want more information on the XV click HERE, this link will take you to the Subaru Dealer website and details of Carstins Dealership where I bought mine from as well as link to info on the XV itself. Let me know if you have any questions on the XV Thanks Dogcoker

I used to run some Yokohama tyres similar to that, unidirectional asymetric. The outer 3rd was slick with occasional drilled holes, I had quite a few crayon rubbings taken of those. Those look nice tyres, what are they? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shopto seem to be about the cheapest these days, I think MS are holding them to random over the price of Xbone games though Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know, I'm just waving my broadband manhood about lol

We've got infinity broadband 40meg download, 32 upload, definitely some advantages in living near a town. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel your pain

Off to see if I'm owed any PPI, only need £399 back

I reckon I'll succumb in the end just because I love skyrim, and this sounds better, Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But the bullet and bought some tyre black, tyres looked really sharp, glad I cleaned the car yesterday, all looks like new now. I did buy the applicator too as Halfords had a buy 2 get one free, having used it on 8 tyres if strongly advise against the applicator, it's 6 quid and it's shredded to bits, will be taking it back tomorrow as I think it should last more than a few goes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i'd love elder scrolls online, i just struggle with the heavy game cost and the £9 a month to keep playing,

I'll just keep churning them out now and then, road race legacy next Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Peacocks! Sounds a bit posh?

Could just have several of each car with all SOC designs on then we'd have a good looking replay with loads of different looking cars, would be good that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think you'd have your work cut out with this lot, we get a murmuration most nights in spring and autumn with several thousand birds, on a bad day it looks like the Somme, well the bird doings equivalent anyway. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think you need to drop any Subarus that can't be used for the season races out of the garage, once painted you could pick some that have an unfair advantage, also that design just doesn't work on the S04, I'll try to think of something that is easier to switch over, I'll send over that design for the 2005 car, but I think you'll have to make your own or buy a design. Unless you can get mine to work Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

here's the design for the S04, appreciate its the wrong car hopefully Gambit can sort out the wrap I've sent him and make it work on the S04 Might see if I can do the Ketomaa car on the one in the pic below

Did the hankook drift car in the end, sent you some instructions on XBL. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Washed it again, thanks to a flock of starlings!

Tell me which car is the closest I have all the DLC cars, I can make a vinyl to fit each side, front back etc and then you'll need to tweak it all to fit then, no reason why it shouldn't work, send me a link if you have a design in mind Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if you can gift unicorns but I can certainly do a design on it and send it back if it can be gifted? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just doing a drift 22b now Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk