I fall into the stereotypical wagon-loving camp; these are vehicles with the driving dynamics of a sedan and practicality of an SUV, something which Europe has bought into but we don’t, each to their own I suppose. In any case, there’s a new wagon coming to South Africa early in 2018 and recently, I was lucky to get to drive it. It’s called the Levorg and it comes from Subaru.
What is a Levorg?
To oversimplify this model, it’s a station wagon version of the outgoing WRX CVT, but with its name making reference to the previous Legacy (Legacy Revolution Touring). For the most part though, the Levorg is more associated with the former in that it shares the same FA20F 2.0-litre direct-injection turbo petrol motor, and the irksome CVT gearbox.
The interior also looks very familiar to our previous WRX long-termer, only with blue stitching on the leather finished seats and a far improved seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
From an exterior perspective, the Levorg resembles the WRX from its front-end, in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the two apart. It’s only when you have a look at the car from its side profile that its wagon design becomes apparent. The roofline extends and instead of tapering off into a boot, it creates a boxy profile while at the rear, the lights and bumper designs are all new.
The Levorg also comes with Subaru’s third-generation EyeSight technology, which is a semi-autonomous driving system that utilises several cameras, the main two being situated on either side of the rear-view mirror, to scan the road ahead and warn of potential dangers, apply the brakes and even tell you when the car in front has moved in a traffic situation.
Subaru hasn’t really reinvented the wheel with this technology, but it’s good to see the brand employing additional safety items to what was already a safe portfolio of products.
Driving Levorg
The Levorg produces the same 197kW/350Nm as the WRX and despite weighing more than its sedan counterpart, the car felt quite eager to get up and go. The car is of course equipped with the brand’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system, which helps it in the performance stakes too.
Expect the 100km/h dash to be dealt with in less than seven seconds while fuel consumption is far more respectable than older EJ-powered Subaru models; expect figures of around 9.0-litres/100km.
There are clear drawbacks to CVT transmissions, such as the drone when pushing on, but one obvious upside is that when you’re thumping it, the car stays in peak power most of the time while the ‘box in the Levorg is far more agreeable when mated with the turbo mill.
Aside from the rather nippy performance, the Levorg also has practicality on its side, with a massive 522-litre boot which extends to 1 446-litres with the rear seats folded down.
This means that the Levorg can swallow a couple of mountain bikes or several golf bags in addition to a few overnight bags. It’s not only the claimed capacity that’s impressive though, it’s the shape of the loading bay that makes it more usable than a sedan and lower/easier to load than an SUV.
A caveat, a conclusion
The caveat I need to add in here is that the Levorg I drove was an outgoing model, and that we will be getting the facelifted model in 2018, which is why Subaru delayed the local introduction. That being said, the Levorg will not be cheap, a WRX Premium auto now retails for R559 000 and I don’t see the bigger, better specified Levorg being any cheaper in six months time.
