[DebsXV]

Introducing Sunny, my beautiful new MY18 Subaru XV!!

It would have taken something pretty fabulous to replace my first XV, 'Lovely' MY12 Orange XV..and she will always have a special place in my heart.. And 'Sunny' certainly is fabulous!

She is a Sunshine Orange S model Australian Subaru XV..top-of-the-range with ALL the fruit! ..my goodness, she is amazing 😄
Delivered the last day of June 2017..she came with 5 year unlimited km warranty. This is the first model Australian XV that has eye-sight, and this S model has extras the other 3 Aussie models don't have...it may take me a while to figure out all the tech lol


I've only done 250kms since I got her yesterday, but I've been putting her thought her paces and it's been interesting to see how she differs from my old first gen XV 'Lovely'.
First up, she drives SO much better...very very quiet and solid and refined. She feels far more like my husbands Outback. I haven't noticed a big leap in power..she is only a baby and will loosen up.. but she's certainly got enough oomph for me, and overtakes with ease.

Today we had horrible winter weather with storms and torrential rain. And Sunny handled the conditions exactly as I knew she would..the safety and handling of the outstanding Subaru AWD is why I've driven Subaru's for more than 20 years. I didn't expect anything less!

The eye-sight tech is just amazing..she has lane detection and will physically keep you in the lane. If you start to drift towards the line, she takes over and brings you back. It feels bizarre! And you can't reverse into anything...she will stop herself before you hit something.
Interestingly, I was able to reverse my tow bar right up to the hitch of my teardrop trailer..there was lots of warning beeps and flashes and things on my screen though, and I wonder if she would let me actually let the hitch wack into the back of my car? I don't think I'll try it

I love X mode! Push the button and let her drive you up and down hills and over rough terrain..wow! Very very cool. I did a little bit with her today out in the bush, but as soon as I get proper Gorilla mudflats we will be taking her out 'X-moding ' a lot more that's for sure. It's a lot of fun.

The interior is just gorgeous...really really nice! She came with a dash mat, but honestly the dash is so nice I decided to remove it. Such a shame to cover that striking orange stitching. I may put it back on in summer, but in the meantime she is naked.

I've made a few clips... a couple I've already posted in another thread. But I'll put them here as well just to keep them all together.

My first look at her...
https://youtu.be/d_EQLHFV7Jo

Trying out the reverse stopping with the guys at Subaru
https://youtu.be/RVUlLFwUHCI

The reverse camera now has guide lines that move and predict where you're going to go..it's pretty cool.
https://youtu.be/O8u-8qctrYg

This one is showing the different display screens and what they do..
https://youtu.be/VvGp2bF_asc

And this one shows what happens with X mode...I will try and get a better clip of that, but at least this gives you some idea.
https://youtu.be/3Tm7lHXsJcM

 

[vahallaoven]

Wow, thanks for being the first 2018 on the forum!

She certainly is a fabulous car with almost everything we gripe about getting upgrade. Love the smiles on the Subaru guys when the car stopped for the box.

It is amazing and bizarre when EyeSight does its thing. I'm amazed by how it can stay on even in the worst of weather. It can be pouring cats and dogs and it will stay up and warn me of the lines. My generation of EyeSight is a bit stupid sometime with things on the outside corner on a sharp corner and the black tarmac patch that looks suspiciously like lines to Eyesight.

Looking forward to your reports of your Sunny as you get to know her better. While I have been tempted by you to think about 2018+ model I don't think I'm getting rid of mine anytime soon.

 

[oscaroo]

Crikey Deb! 250km already?
i'm only at 37km so far. The car came in with 21km and 1 fuel bar missing.

Today I installed the dash matt, the weathershields, and some rubber strips on the door so I can open without worry of walls.
Tomorrow i'm buying a dash cam and installing it, as well as the toll tag.

 

[DebsXV]

Yep, clocking up the K's is one of the side effects of rural life I suppose..it's a 60km round trip just to get to the nearest shop 😅
Mine came with 9kms on it and my dealer filled the tank for me.

 

[HadABaja]

Congrats! Glad to hear it is an upgrade, and not just another XTrek.

Will all your accessories fit on the new one? Or did you leave them on when you traded it in? (Roof rack, etc.)
More importantly... Will the orange on your trailer match Sunny?

 

[Seattle]

Deb, Great first impression write up. It is exciting to read about the 2018. Makes me all the more impatient. Thanks

 

[Traceee]

Hi Deb, I've been stalking you and the other "countdown" thread. I have 2 questions. Are the seats a bit more comfortable? More bolstering? A little longer seat reaching the knees a little better? AND what exactly is x-mode? Is it like a boost of power like 4wd? If you were driving in a snowstorm would you put the vehicle in x-mode like you would 4wd? Does X-mode turn off automatically if you reach a certain speed or stay on until you release it?

Oh dear, ended up being about 10 questions LOL!! Thanks in advance! She's a beauty!

 

[troutbum]

Congrats Deb

Thanks so much for the driver critique, I knew from the development write ups the New Rigid frame Would make the Drive experience
So totally different, and being that this is the same Global Platform that other Subaru Models Will be built on, they had to get it right the First
time :sFun_whistle:

Glad to hear you are enjoying your New baby ccasion14:

Happy Canada Day from the Colonies:rock:

Troutbum

 

[DebsXV]

Congrats! Glad to hear it is an upgrade, and not just another XTrek.

Will all your accessories fit on the new one? Or did you leave them on when you traded it in? (Roof rack, etc.)
More importantly... Will the orange on your trailer match Sunny?

Ah, I didn't trade in my previous XV...I sold it privately quite a few weeks ago, and the new owners got everything.

We had horrible weather yesterday and it was too wet and wild to get the camper out of the garage, but the orange is quite different. I don't have time to mess with my car today, so tomorrow I'll hook up 'Teardre' and get them both out into the sunlight and see what they look like together.
Hopefully it will be ok, and I keep the teardrop in Tangerine Orange Pearl as a homage to my first XV.
My husband is not keen at all in spending extra $$ on having it resprayed Sunshine Orange. It's really not that important to have them match exactly I suppose, but it wouldn't hurt to get a quote and find out how much it would cost 😜

 

[oscaroo]

Hi Deb, I've been stalking you and the other "countdown" thread. I have 2 questions. Are the seats a bit more comfortable? More bolstering? A little longer seat reaching the knees a little better? AND what exactly is x-mode? Is it like a boost of power like 4wd? If you were driving in a snowstorm would you put the vehicle in x-mode like you would 4wd? Does X-mode turn off automatically if you reach a certain speed or stay on until you release it?

Oh dear, ended up being about 10 questions LOL!! Thanks in advance! She's a beauty!

Xmode: Makes accelerator "slower". Reduces wheel spin time. Adds hill descent and ascent(i think) control. Not sure if it auto goes off.
I would use it anywhere (inc carpark) when i need slightly finer control of speed; or plan on having a lot of wheel slippage.

Seats seem the same but they have some perforated holes down the centre. I haven't driven it much yet.
Not sure if a little longer.

 

[coletrain]

Congrats! Looks more high tech!

 

[DebsXV]

Hi Deb, I've been stalking you and the other "countdown" thread. I have 2 questions. Are the seats a bit more comfortable? More bolstering? A little longer seat reaching the knees a little better? AND what exactly is x-mode? Is it like a boost of power like 4wd? If you were driving in a snowstorm would you put the vehicle in x-mode like you would 4wd? Does X-mode turn off automatically if you reach a certain speed or stay on until you release it?

Oh dear, ended up being about 10 questions LOL!! Thanks in advance! She's a beauty!

Traceee, I never had any issues at all with my previous XV seats....they were different from what you get in the US though, and were 8 way power leather and were extremely comfortable. These ones look different, but are also the leather power seats and they seem just as comfy. I'm pretty sure they are the same size.
I'm not sure if you will now have the option to get the power seats, but if you do then I highly recommend getting them! Honestly, I'm never going to own a car without them. You can adjust every part of it in micro increments including your knee height, to find the perfect driving position. The only thing this one doesn't have, which my husbands Outback has and I do like, is the seat memory buttons.

Lol X-mode! I'm just learning too what it's all about...basically if you're going under a certain speed you can press the X mode button and the car will drive itself, sending the most optimum power to each wheel to suit the road conditions. It works both in forward and reverse...I've never driven in snow, but I imagine it would be perfect for it.
We've got some real steep rough bush tracks around here and I'm looking forward to trying X mode on them later this week...should be fun. I'll see if I can video what happens.
I only played around a little bit with it yesterday, and didn't see what happens when you speed up and if it turns off by itself. But I will try it and let you know.

 

[oscaroo]

I'd like to also remind everyone of a commonly not known feature of the new imprezas and XV.
You can open the car using a PIN CODE!

The pin code is entered throught the boot's lock button (not the unlock) using 1 tap = 1, 2 tap = 2 .. 9 tap = 9, 10 tap = 0. It's five digits. It's in the manual in section 2-11.
Once unlocked, you can relock the car by using the retro way - ie, driver's door lock all doors, pull handle and close.
The interior lights and dash screens will timeout eventually.

Other cool not well advertised features include:
- little faint blue LED shining from the above-head buttons down over the gearstick buttons. Keeps them slightly illuminated at night time.
- front row seats can have the overhead light switched off. Old XV couldnt' do that. Meant mozzies kept hopping in when i opened the car at night to get stuff out for camping. So now all interior ceiling lights are switchoffable.
- The AU USB plugs are rated to 1A each according to the manual - the Japanese ones are 2A each

 

[DebsXV]

One thing I was a little disappointed with is that the Apple Play only works if you plug your phone into the USB in the front cubby hole. I have a plus size phone that doesn't quite fit, and there's also a big mess of cables you have to squeeze in there too (..until I buy a super short USB cable).
There's also USB's under the middle arm rest..I wish Apple Play worked with that instead so I could tuck the phone and cords out of sight.

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Your first mod, Deb! https://9to5mac.com/2017/06/29/alpine-ilx-107-wireless-carplay-aftermarket/

 

[oscaroo]

More things I've found:
- One lose trim panel (near fuel cap), the black one.
- Sat nav thought yesterday i was driving in reverse and kept telling me to do a U turn. I turned navigation off and restarted it and it was okay.
- Seems the the TPMS sensor system can figure out which tyre is on which corner. I got new tyres placed and i noticed the rear left was over inflated, later, it became the front right!. .. i'll have to wait for them to cool down and go to the petrol station to confirm which one is the overinflated one.
- Don't drag the shortcut icons too quickly on the Headunit... or the drag will fail and it will be in an inconsistent state.
- You can change TPMS units on the instrument cluster settings.
- You cant change settings on the middle top screen (on top of headunit) by holding down the info button IF the instrument cluster screen is also on the "press set for settings" menu option.
- Android auto ... seems to also require it to be wired in. i installed the app. the headunit couldn't find it.. i deleted the app.
- The lane keep assist ... can steer your car on a bend!
- The auto highbeam is awesome.
- The lights that turn as you steer is amazing.
- Highbeam didn't seem too bright.
- Crusie control brakes using engine braking and brake pads.
- Adaptive cruise control works
- Seat warmers aren't too hot.
- Heated side mirrors are great!
- I tried out hill descent on a normal road that was a bit steep. It took me down at 4km/hr.

 

[DebsXV]

- You cant change settings on the middle top screen (on top of headunit) by holding down the info button IF the instrument cluster screen is also on the "press set for settings" menu option.

- The lane keep assist ... can steer your car on a bend!

I love all your research oscaroo !!
So can you actually change the top screen?? If so, how do you do that?
I really liked how you could change that multifunction display on the old model, but I haven't found how to change this one.

One thing I did notice today that was extremely annoying about that screen...it's been really cold here and I set the temp on the drivers side to about 26. And then for quite a few km's the screen just kept alternating between the eyesight car icon and the temp screen..a few seconds of each, flashing over and over ..so annoying! I finally turned the temp down to 21.5 and it stopped doing it and went back to normal. Weird!
I've got no complaints about the seat warmers..it's been zeros and one degrees here and ice every morning. That bum warmer is fantastic 😜

Yep that lane assist is amazing!! Perfect for drunk drivers and people who like to text and drive...I'd feel safer on the road if they all had that!

 

[oscaroo]

I love all your research oscaroo !!
Yep that lane assist is amazing!! Perfect for drunk drivers and people who like to text and drive...I'd feel safer on the road if they all had that!

I told my friends that with all this high tech stuff, I can drive microsleeeping for another half hour and be okay

Press the INFO button to switch between the different displays of the screen ontop of the headunit. (Info button next to the hang-up-call button).
Press the up/down button - where the previous model had the up/down button on the steering wheel to switch between different displays in the instrument cluster.

With top-HU display screen, press hold INFO when in the screen that says presshold info, to go into top-hu screen setup. You then have to use the up/down/set from the steering wheel where Lovely had it.
WIth instrument cluster screen ,press SET button when in screen that says press set, to go into instrumetn cluster screen setup.

Note: you can not enter the top-HU config screen by presshold INFO if the instrument cluster is also on the press set to config screen. You need to navigate out of that using up/down first.

ALSO .. to set the clock to 24 hour ... you have to:
- The headunit -> Home -> settings -> vehicle -> clock = manual. THEN
- topHU config -> pressholdinfo -> time -> select 24hrs.
- You may then return to headunit ->Home->settings->vehicle->clock = auto and the 24 hr setting remains.

The usability of the configuration screens ARE THE WORST I'VE EVER SEEN. Three different set up windows, in different displays, with different buttons that are somewhat unintuitively linked!.

IE: From HU, changing the clock = auto enables the top-HU screen to change the time, (auto off), but you cant change the time from the HU.
IE: From HU you can change some settings about car, which you can also change from the instrument cluster screen, but the instrument cluster screen includes more settings that you can't change from the HU.

What the heck Subaru!
Fortunately, I am a master of unintuitive user interfaces.

 

[DebsXV]

Lol Thanks! I shall mess about with it all tomorrow...
Big question though...will she wish me a happy birthday and remind me about my anniversary like the last one did?
And that bleak 'Goodbye' screen... don't know, I think Lovely was a little bit friendlier than Sunny 😂😂

 

[HadABaja]

At least you folks actually have nice options for the upper screen, unlike the cheapo-version we get here in the States.
Nice job, oscaroo, figuring all that out.