The compact SUV has competition in this segment from Mazda, Toyota and Honda.

For Subaru New Zealand, the XV has always been the compact SUV that can. It can attract new customers to the brand. It can be a tough off-roader like its siblings. And it can have the latest safety technology.

The first XV was launched in 2012 and has been a popular model for Subaru NZ

In 2017, the second generation was launched in New Zealand however during that time it was overtaken in popularity by smaller two-wheel-drive SUVs, such as the Mazda CX-3, Toyota's C-HR and Honda's HR-V.

Now the XV is back with a new attitude and that starts from the ground up. After the Subaru Impreza, this is the second car to be built on the new and remarkably strong, billion-dollar Subaru Global Platform, a 70% increase in torsional rigidity meaning a very strong frame underneath the car.

It also has a smoother ride, greater performance on the road, and off the tarmac it has the ability to go where bigger SUVs can go thanks to 220mm ground clearance and its four-wheel-drive system called X-Mode.

There are two models available: the Sport (from $36,490) and $41,490 Premium.

Both have a 2-litre petrol engine producing 11kW of power and 196Nm of torque. 

The Sport has 17in alloy wheels and cloth seats while the Premium has 18in alloys plus heated leather front seats, and a sun roof.

It has an 8in touchscreen plus gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Thankfully you also have menu buttons in the dash, to stop the screen being covered in finger print marks.

The XV also comes with the latest iteration of Subaru’s EyeSight safety technology, which the company says has been responsible for a 40% reduction in the accident rate of its vehicles in Japan.

EyeSight works thanks to a camera on each side and in the rear-view mirror that scan the road ahead. The system warns you if a vehicle ahead has stopped, or when you are at traffic lights if the vehicle ahead has moved (put down that phone!).

It also helps with lane keep assist (making sure your car doesn’t drift off the road), adaptive cruise control (where it maintains the speed and distance between you and the vehicle ahead) and emergency braking.

The XV (also nicknamed 15. Get it?) is a sharp looking vehicle thanks to front and rear lights. Inside, the Premium looked like its name suggested, thanks to the leather seats, though the dash had a lot of hard textures and came off more rudimentary compared with the likes of the Mazda CX-3.

So, what was it like to drive?

Well, first we need to discuss something about motoring writers. We get to test vehicles for three to seven days on average. I usually (pre lockdown) had two vehicles a week to test.

During that time I’d drive them in many situations: city, country, winding road, motorway, off-road (if suitable), and to the supermarket for daily driver situations. But, unless it’s a long term loan vehicle (up to three months) then it’s a narrow overview of the vehicle, rather than what it’s like for an owner.

This explains why so many car reviews you’ll read will slate continuous variable transmission (CVT) that the Subaru XV also has.

A conventional automatic transmission uses a set number of low, medium and high gear ratios to send the engine's power to the wheels. A CVT has no gears and instead uses two variable-width pulleys connected by a flexible belt. One pulley is also connected to the engine, while the other is connected to the wheels.

Instead of smoothly moving through the gears, CVT instead feels like a rubber band.

It works well when running smartly through the ‘gears’ in city driving and when on the motorway, but when you put your foot on the accelerator you get a forever-revving feel of the transmission as it works on maximum performance and you get a drone from the engine.

It’s a pain and you find yourself muttering (or yelling in my case) to the XV that it needs to get into “gear”. 

Car companies like CVT as it helps provide fuel efficiency, but it takes more than a few days behind the wheel of XV to understand and appreciate the CVT.

Instead, you’ll get the likes of me whinging about how it performs top end. Sorry (not sorry).

But if you own a CVT that you understand how the system works.

On the upside, compared with its competitors, the XV handles smaller lumps and bumps on the road in a composed manner thanks to its all-wheel-drive system, and is capable of getting off the road.

What Subaru, and its existing XV owners, will be looking forward to this year is the launch of a hybrid version of the car. This will make it a great alternative to an electric vehicle, especially if you do some distances in your XV.