• It’s all feeling a bit old now
• Multimedia system not the best
• Hard-wearing rather than fashionable 

How is the quality and layout?

The cabin of the Subaru XV is a perfectly acceptable place to spend time, but nevertheless, it’s feeling its age. It’s still not as stylish as an Audi or as futuristically high-tech as the Toyota C-HR, but it was never meant to be. Instead it’s intuitively laid-out (with one or two exceptions, such as the poor seat-heater controls) and built to last, with fabrics and materials that hide minor scuffs and damage.

However, where Subaru wins against some of the competition is in retaining physical buttons for items such as climate control. Others have integrated this into the touchscreen, which makes the operation fiddly and in some cases dangerous. Less useful is the splitting of driver information across three screens – the central display, one in the instrument panel and a further one high up on the dashboard. And the steering wheel controls will take some getting used to, simply due to the sheer number of them.

Infotainment and tech

Again, it’s all feeling a bit past its prime here. The infotainment system feels and looks old, although it’s perfectly functional. But compared with newer rivals, such as the Nissan Qashqai and Skoda Karoq, it’s lacking in features and user-friendliness. It’s also rather dim, and this combined with the glossy display coating makes it hard to read in bright sunlight.

The touchscreen is quite slow to react – especially when connected to a mobile to use the mirroring function – and that can mean you risk getting confused at junctions as the sat-nav mapping struggles to keep up with itself. The built-in navigation system is only fitted on SE Premium cars, but is still slow to operate.

The XV does at least have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, so you can bypass the slow built-in software.

Comfort

• Cabin is quiet and refined
• Ride firm but still comfortable
• 1.6 engine can be noisy when pushed

The seats are relatively firm but don’t have much bolstering, which combined with rather slippery leather upholstery on SE Premium cars means you don’t feel as held-in as you’d like. That upholstery, incidentally, was already showing creases and wear, even on our nearly-new test model.

The pedals are a little too close for taller drivers, meaning their legs can feel slightly bunched up. Refinement isn’t fantastic, either – wind and road noise are decently well contained but the XV’s engine is noisy under load.