First drive: the new Subaru Levorg

What on Earth is a ‘Levorg’?

What looks like a trying handful of letters from the Scrabble bag is actually the convoluted amalgamation of ‘Legacy’, ‘revolution’ and ‘touring’. Yep, it’s even more stretched than Subaru’s explanation of ‘BRZ’.

If you want a less clunky description, it’s a spiritual successor to the old Legacy Spec B, an under-the-radar performance estate we really rather liked. Unusually for Subaru, it’s even boasting about the Levorg’s ground clearance being lower than that of rivals.

“We sold a lot of high performance Legacys,” Subaru UK says. “And those people haven’t been able to replace them.” It costs £27,495.

Is that why there’s a big bonnet scoop?

We’re pretty sure that’s just for styling purposes. But the Levorg is a decent-looking thing, subtle despite its gaping air intake and flared wheel arches. There are links to the brand’s rally heritage, but only if you look for them.

And what about underneath?

Rather than being a Legacy replacement - Subaru still makes one of those, it just doesn’t sell them in the UK – this is based on the mechanicals of the smaller WRX STI. So there’s torque vectoring and four-wheel drive, though the latter is less complex than the STI’s, with no adjustable diff settings to toggle.

A new 1.6-litre direct injection turbo engine offers up 168bhp and 184lb ft. Not as much as the old Spec B, admittedly, and it has four cylinders rather than six. Just shy of 40mpg and 164g/km are unspectacular compared to rivals, too.

I want torque. Is there a diesel?

Nope. Subaru is perfectly happy satisfying a niche rather than struggling for mainstream attention, and as such there’s not a single nod to the endless personalisation you’ll get with rivals. So you can only have one petrol engine, in one trim level, linked to one gearbox, a CVT automatic.

The transmission is an unfortunate hangover from Japanese preferences, the Levorg making it to our showrooms after a little while on sale in the Far East. It’s an entirely new gearbox designed to match this engine, though, and it comes with six notional gears you can flick through with paddleshifters.

Is the Levorg good to drive?

It is. Subaru has always known how to set a car up well, and even a diesel Forester entertains on a good bit of road. The Levorg is no different; its electric steering is precise, its suspension is firm but shrugs bumpy roads off well, while the handling is sharp. You can tell there’s a WRX STI buried under there somewhere, and you can achieve some surprisingly high cornering speeds, the Levorg always unruffled.

Which makes it a little bit of a shame that the STI’s more flamboyant four-wheel-drive system isn’t tucked under there to better enjoy such abilities, and a bigger let down still that there’s only a CVT on offer.

It is genuinely a lot better than those you’ll find elsewhere, and it’s super smooth when you’re pottering around. But it simply isn’t as engaging as a proper paddleshift auto or, better still, a manual, and it smothers any character the engine may have. A modest 8.9-second 0-62mph time feels entirely accurate.

So what else can the ‘Vorg do?

Its boot is bigger than a Volvo V60’s, it’ll tow up to 1,500kg and there’s plenty of tech on board to prod away at to your heart’s content, including a smartphone-like seven-inch touchscreen incorporating satnav and copious multimedia options, while a smorgasbord of active safety stuff includes blind spot monitoring and parking assistance.

The interior materials and aesthetics won’t titillate Audi addicts, but the seats are supremely comfortable, the driving position spot on and visibility good. Subaru does the simple, driver-pleasing stuff very well, and those who ‘get’ the Levorg (around 500 a year, Subaru hopes) will likely be deeply satisfied, especially when they take some unsuspecting hot hatch scalps on a twisting B-road.

And here’s what’s got us excited: if Subaru’s assumption is correct, there’s going to be fistfuls of Legacy Spec Bs suddenly arriving on the used market…