Dogconker

I know most of this conversation is about petrol, but can I drop in about diesel as I know there's a few people with diesel subarus. An AA engineer told me he has had to go to several breakdowns involving the diesel virus, with diesel there has to be a percentage if biodiesel I'm all diesel, if there is any moisture in your tank you can get fungal growth that will clog you filters, cause you car to stall and required either a complete stream clean of the fuel system including the tank or drain it and park it for 3 months. The reason Tesco and Asda and all the other cheap fuels are cheaper is allegedly because they don't pay for the cleaners to prevent these fungus growths whereas the mainstream companies do, the fuel is exactly the same it's just the additives that are different. We now only use Shell Diesel but apparently any of the mainstream suppliers are ok (BP esso etc) just stay away from the supermarkets is what I was advised. Anyway I through that out there for anyone interested Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I actually searched for a subaru owners club and found you guys I guess its true what they say "be careful what you wish for!" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Willie rushton used to voice that, god how old are we? Edit. Sorry this was carrying on from the trapdoor thing Sorry Dave Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You nearly did see one near you. . . . . . me! Subaru just don't advertise them, for some reason they design a great car that would challenge the nissan Quashqai market and they sit there and go " what a great car, but for gods sake don't tell anyone about it, we want to stay in the niche market". Apparently Porsche sell more cars in the UK a year than Subaru, that makes Subaru more exclusive than Porsche! As for where I was being near where you live that might explain why I felt a but creeped out over there ;)

drove mine up to North Wales yesterday, mostly motorway driving returned 71.6mpg, pretty impressive for a permanent 4x4. Carstin's Dealership are submitting it as a story, might end up in the Subaru mag? so far the XV has been pretty impressive around, just wish there was some snow to test it out on. although the other day when I went up to Spurns Head near Hull and it looked like it had been hit by a tsunami I did have some mud and some floods to contend with, although to be fair they were probably passable with care in a normal car. one thing I have found is that the white car is a pig to get clean, all the water marks and brake dust spots show up even after you've washed it. I had to use a clay bar to clean the lower half, looks nice when its done though, just a thought for anyone buying one and unsure of colour, if you don't like cleaning your car, don't get a white one! If I get time over next couple of weeks I'll put together a little review with some pics and stuff for anyone interested

I want some snow!!!! I wanna do this :o

forgot to ask because its not clear in the photo, is that the black or cherry pearl colour on your XV?

welcome to the XV club, you've had yours a bit longer than mine, I'm not sure the bonnet trim would look right on a dark coloured one, my wife has the dark metallic grey, which is a gorgeous colour as its really metallic and sparkly, also makes the car look a lot more butch than the light colour which tends to look more sporty. its amazing that when mine and my wife's are parked next to each other and they don't look like the same car. I must admit though that my wife is thinking that next time she changes she might go for a forester instead, so looks like we're with Subaru for a bit now. I'm still running mine in at the minute so the engine & transmission is still a bit tight, but its still turning 69mpg on the M6 over about 80 miles which is pretty impressive for a permanent 4 wheel drive weighing 1.4t What I did buy though which we have for both cars is the rear bumper trim that protects the top face of the bumper behind the boot, its about 90 quid but that will get really scratched in no time, especially if you have a dog! @Gambit - to be honest I'd suggest that the white one is a bit understated for you, I think you'd be more of the colour below (though I've been advised they devalue quicker)

Not sure if this helps but the XV I have uses Yokohama All year tyres, that is they are summer and winter, so you have the dry/wet road tyre but in winter it also has heavy tread for winter. Not suggesting you use the same as they're £170 a boot. but there might be something similar for non-off road cars such as yours. As for whether you need winter tyres in this country, I'd say no, they wear very quickly compared to ordinary tyres, provide you with much less grip in on tarmac especially wet tarmac and you'll only really need them for a few days a year in reality. If you lived in Sweden then I'd say yes (in fact its mandatory) but if you from the midlands or similar probably not, plus you need somewhere to store them.

Merry Christmas everyone, hoping for some snow now so I can go and have a play ;-)

if you search on Forza 4 for gamer tag Dogconker in the storefronts, you'll find loads of painted cars I did when I was into playing it, can't remember if I did any scoobs

I know it was an opinion, i'm cool with that. not sure why Subaru want to keep it so quiet, its a class beater, or at least it would be if only people new it was even in the class. do you not like the new imprezza concept? I quite like it actually, but I can see its going to divide the Subaru community. thanks for the complement on the car, I think its just that bonnet trim, apparently no one buys them, so its one of the first ones they've fitted, yet it makes a massive difference to the attitude of the car, all for £80. I do agree with you that the front is definitely better looking than the back though

This topic seems to have taken a very dark turn?? Using a proper upholstery cleaner might work, once cleaned with some elbow grease. put a stack of towels on it and sit down on them for a few minutes, use plenty of towels because you won't feel your !Removed! getting wet until its too late. Problem with steam on its own is if you can't dry the seats out quickly enough you can get mildew forming in the foam and it'll stink forever, proper cleaners have mold suppressant. Foam cleaners tend to be the best as they don't make things as wet this might help too - http://www.carcleaningguru.com/videos/

arses were never meant to be pretty, purely functional. The back end on the XV is mainly functional, I don't mind the back myself but its a matter of taste. and of course the XV is basically a hot hatch that's been jacked up, i.e. an impreza with a bit of a steroid shot, in that end I guess the extra bulge in the bumpers seems to work, as a sleek street racer . . . er no. I think its the jacked suspension and the oversized wheel arch clearance allowing for the near 9" of ground clearance. anything bigger than 17" rims though would make this difficult to handle off the road. Knobbly tires might be great off road but they're particularly unpleasant on motorways, the summer/winter tires fitted to these seem a fair compromise, i guess I'll confirm that or not the next time it snows and I've got to drive over the Welsh hills. I've also just done a price check against some of this cars main rivals and it doesn't stack up why they don't sell, what I've done is build a car to the same spc as the XV i have, inc engine size, transmission and extras such as cruise control, bluetooth, xenon lights etc, the results are surprising Nissan Qashqai - 1.5D manual 4x4 - £28900 (this only comes with a 3 yr warranty not 5) the 2.0D only comes in auto and starts at 27k so thought I'd give it a fair crack and drop to the 1.5 D Audi Q3 - 2.0 D - £29800 Skoda Yeti 2.0 D 140PS - £25100 At £23995 with a 5 yr 100k warranty the Subaru looks a no brainer. Problem is, Subaru just don't advertise this car or any of their other cars for that matter, we only found it by accident at a game fair when the dealer was doing a display.

I know the wheels styling is a bit Marmite but I think on this car, particularly the lighter colours they work well, wouldn't put them on an STi though. I'll get some picks of the back end later and stick them up. I agree with you Gambit, when researching this car I noticed the bonnet trim and thought it definitely improved the look of the car, and it'll save me some stone chips as I do quite a bit of motorway driving.

I think its deceptive, its actually already got 17" rims, they're pretty big wheels as standard. I think they just look small because of the wheel arch clearance? I've seen about 3 since I bought my wife one in September, not sure why they are so rare, not complaining I like having something no one else knows what it is. its a good looking car too, would love to have an STI or a BRZ but sadly I go to a lot of construction sites in the deepest darkest bits of the country, all secret squirrel stuff so need the ground clearance which I wouldn't get with anything else, the forrester isn't my style of car, so it was this or the outback and I thought this looked the smarter of the two. obviously I had the extra bonnet trim which I think really smartens up the front end on the light coloured cars and gives a bit of a purposeful look to it. Looks like everyone is buying the XV's competitors and mainly the Nissan Quashqaui or however the hell you spell it, because its a 4x4 (cough cough) and is only £19k unless you want an extended warranty, and by extended I mean like all other manufacturers give you, a 100,000 mile 4 yr warranty for a Nissan last I looked was £2800, that makes the XV only £2k dearer and its a hell of a lot better looking than the Nissan jelly mould. anyway I've wittered on enough now

Picked up my new Pearl White Subaru XV D SE today from Carstins in Coventry. Very pleased with it so far although still bedding it all in, returned 60mpg on way back home so looking pretty efficient too. As promised the other week here's a couple of photos from when I took the dog for a walk If anyone wants to know anything about the XV let me know, I couldn't necessarily say i'll do a review but I'll give you my opinions. Thanks Dog

I know this is probably a little out of date but we had same question with ours as we leave a dog in it. apparently the easy answer is to lock the drivers door with the key rather than the remote, this engages the dead locks but not the alarm, you can then unlock with the remote without the alarm activating. this works on the 2013 XV so imagine other will be the same. Just thought I'd throw this up in case anyone else needed this answer in the future Cheers Dog

I'm more than happy to answer any questions, I'll give some feedback when I've had my car and had a run around in it. I do know my wife loves hers, I've driven it a few times and it felt great which is why I'm getting one instead of another honda.

In that case I guess I've may have trebled the XV membership on here as the wife has one too :D I've only seen 2 others since September 13 when she got hers. I like the exclusivity though, she gets asked quite often what it is.

Hi, I have had Hondas for several years now, including CRVs a Civics, however the styling from Honda has gone a bit odd and I'm not keen on the cars to look at now, they've also become a bit detached from the driver, although good cars generally. Anyway I've made the switch to Subaru now and in 7 days take delivery of a pearl white Subaru XV SE and looking forward to driving it both on and off road. Thought I'd join a forum as its always handy if you need to get advice, although I'm getting the feeling there aren't that many XVs around in the UK. Will stick a pic up when I get the car and go somewhere pretty Anyway thats my intro done, so Hi to everyone DC