Subaru Levorg

I want to thank Subaru for honoring and replacing my touch screen as it was 2 months out of warranty and they replaced my head unit due to and delaminating interior part of screen. 10k unit I’m a very happy customer their service at Brookvale was amazing and very understanding, thank you Subaru. Show details

Sexy family car that can kick butt – I absoloutely love my Levorg. Being someone that cannot stand SUVs and love the wagon life, going to the Levorg was really my only option. I love the fact I can fit the fam on weekends but get to have the experience of a nice drive on my commute every day. It's comfy, its sexy, it's practical. What more could you want? Show details ·  1

Subaru warranty means nothing in Australia – I assumed buying Subaru meant quality engineering and a reputable company that stands by their cars when things go wrong. Instead of helping owners with a fix for the suspension faults you can read about on this page, Subaru have chosen to do nothing at all. No suspension retune, no remedy and no refunds. We have a $50k car that can't take the family away on sealed Australian roads. I cannot recommend buying a new Subaru in Australia. Show details

Love it! But! All owners will tell you the suspension is painful at times – I love my levorg! It was by chance I saw one for sale in Perth WA. There was only one for sale at the time I had not seen this car before, I test drove it and fell in love! I’ve now had it for just over a year I have an 2018 GTS 1.6L I went from a Toyota Corolla, definitely an upgrade. The main issues I have found with the car: -suspension over… Read more ·  1

speed bumps non existent! -prefer to drive in sports mode ALL the time I find intelligent mode to slow.. -terrible sound system -terrible car maps -wish the exhaust had a little more sound to it to match the look.

Other than this I love it! -loads of cameras I can see front, passenger side, rear via cameras, -Lane departure is really good, -The cruise control is amazing the car nearly drives itself. -Emergency brakes very helpful! They have saved me twice now. I would definitely buy a newer model if only Subaru had not ceased the sale of Levorg’s in Australia. The 2016 model apparently has quiet a few issues, I have minimal complaints to date.

Would I buy another Levorg after owning one for 4 years ? – As a performance car addict and having owned 2 WRX’s ,Evo 10 and Focus RS plus a Mustang GT I can honestly say with all the Levorg’s suspension issues I absolutely love this car ( not the CVT) ! If it was a manual I would be in heaven ! Show details ·  1

2018 - LEVORG - 2 year honest review – Melbourne Victoria. I have now done 50,000klm in this car and overall I love it. It has been my first Subaru and hopefully not the last. This is my daily drive. Fuel efficiency around 9lt/100klm. Would I buy one again or second hand - ABSOLUTELY! Firstly the negative, the main one is that suspension problem, you can solve a lot of the big bang… Read more ·  1

issues with the suspension with changing the tyres. I just changed to Dunlop Sport MaXX RT tyres and there is significantly less road noise and more importantly far less impact when hitting pot holes. This is a far less costly option than replacing the suspension. With the standard tyres (Dunlop Sport Maxx) the suspension bottoms out on pot holes. You would often wince when you saw one and do everything you can to avoid it. For a car of this price point I would have appreciated Android or Apple car play and a heads up display which this model doesn't have. Also why is there no option for an upgraded stereo, the standard one is just terrible, no bass and or tweeters. Yet, the WRX has a Hardon Kardon option. Don't get me started on why this isn't called a WRX wagon, yes yes I know its not t he same as a WRX, but I call it a WRX wagon and I WONT STOP! LOL. On hard bends/tight corners the car can get brake fade. I'm talking real hard continuous braking. No option for the upgraded brakes like on the WRX was a shame as well. Normal driving the brakes are fine.

Issues with me- Be careful with your mags I and the Mrs have scrapped them on many an occasion as the height of the mags vs the gutter are in perfect alignment to scratch away. I have had three trips to the mag fixer at $250 a pop. I struggle with the opening of the doors other than the drivers, I feel as though I have double clicked and it doesn't register. So I just put my hand on the drivers door, it opens (every time) and then I press the open all doors button on the inside of the drivers door. When the family complain I answer "This is the way".

Likes/Loves - I love the set up of the dash, the digital speedo and everything is where you want it. I love the adaptive cruise control with lane assist it virtually drives itself, VERY NICE! I love the shape and colour of the car (deep blue) and that front bonnet scoop. Every time I look at it I still get excited that it's mine. The seats and interior overall are of a quality commensurate with the price. Although the suspension is hard it is not bouncy and other than the bang when you hit a pot hole is good on long trips. I have done several trips out to the country and I don't get out of the vehicle tired or weary. The sports and Sports # mode are great fun and give you that extra punch when you need it. The car feels strong and powerful at most rev levels. The positioning of the sports button on the wheel is great. Boot is just amazing, holds plenty of stuff and those fold down rear seats mean trips to Ikea are easy. The flat entry at the rear is great for loading things in and out and would suit someone with a wheelchair very nicely. The infotainment system is nothing to write home about and is relatively functional. It connects in with your phone easily enough and it reads your messages to you which is a great feature and you have 15 pre-sets to reply with, including one that integrates the travel time on the GPS to advise the person the ETA. Just great. The turbo and power of the engine is great, lots of fun without being too silly as to shred your driver licence. The transmission is responsive and fun in manual mode. The handling around corners and driving is absolutely amazing. It just feels like a surefooted beast. Driving in the dirt and in the snow is just a dream.

This would be a great second hand car for someone that has a family and wants something sporty.

Enjoy.

Do not buy!! Gearbox shudder Is ‘normal’ – I have a 2016 2.0L GT Levorg. This was my dream car, what a nightmare it has turned out to be!! At 25000kms we had a new gearbox installed because of a shudder, at 30000kms we had another new gearbox Installed because of a shudder, unfortunately the shudder returned and now we are advised that ALL Levorgs have a gearbox shudder and it is normal… Read more

operation of the CVT. The Subaru dealers have done all they can to help but unfortunately Subaru head office Refuse to help. Now stuck with a lemon I can’t sell. Advice; avoid the Levorg like the plague!!

Modifications required to bring it "up to scratch". Suspension is bad. Reliability issues – I really liked the Levorg when I first got it. Its incredibly practical, yet not much bigger (physically) than a WRX. Despite what some people say about CVT's I actually think this CVT is good as it's very smooth, always in the power band and keeps on top of the torque. However there are downsides. The factory infotainment system is the same as… Read more

all other Subaru's on this platform; rubbish. The audio quality from the head-unit is pretty bad and Bluetooth hands free quality isn't great either. Resolved by replacing head unit, upgrading speakers, and adding sound dampening to door ($1.5k) Secondly...the suspension. I have the GT-S, so its got the Bilstein's. I'm used to driving modified cars and harsh coilovers, but this suspension set-up is not sporty...its just bad. Very crashy, bottoms out too easily, and responds poorly to uneven dips in the road at highway speeds. Solved by replacing suspension with aftermarket coilovers ($2k).

Other than that, very quiet, looks great for a wagon, quick enough. Fuel economy is horrendous for city driving (12l/100km), but on the highway or roundtrip it'll do half that. I averaged 6.2l driving from Gold Coast to Sydney.

UPDATE: A year on after writing my initial review, more things added to the negatives list. The car is becoming expensive to keep on the road as build quality issues are becoming more apparent. Leather on steering wheel started peeling, body paint extremely soft and thin, and gets damaged very easily. At 62,000kms I had to replace the turbo due to excessive oil consumption and blue smoke. At 66,000kms I have a leak from the CVT which will cost over $2k to repair (mostly labour costs and transmission fluid). The engine detonates /pings very easily, and have spent a considerable amount of time and money chasing this. Subaru were reluctant to admit this was a known issue, but there is a lot of stuff online about it. The engine also suffers from carbon build up (also contributes to the detonation problem) and I needed a full de-carb cleanse, another $2k.

The direct injection engine is extremely sensitive to petrol quality, so you've really got to choose your fuel wisely. Not any 98ron will be good enough, I've been advised to avoid Shell and stick to BP or Caltex 98 where possible. Which is quite inconvenient. Pretty disappointed to have come from an older BMW Mini Cooper S, which was notoriously unreliable for its early turbo charged direct injection engine, to be experiencing much the same problems in the Subaru, which I had expected to be more reliable.

Horrible Suspension – Just purchased a 2019 MY20 Subaru Levorg GT-S just before Christmas. Love the car but, this has the worst suspension in the world. I'm not driving it on a race track, Rebound is terrible! Suspension bottoms out on small pot holes and over speed bumps. Someone will get killed driving this car and I guess this is when Subaru Australia might listen. Show details

Great car, Great Value – Used for my daily 50km commute and recreation/camping a couple of times a month. Several long interstate trips as well. Reasonably economical, very comfortable and I'm bigger than average! Controls and accessories all work very well for me and absolutely meet expectations of a modern car. Wish there was a HUD. 2.0 litre Sti motor has plenty of power. Manual sports modes are fun too! Handling is excellent, ride is definitely on the firm side. Show details

Completely different experience to the ones that have complained – I have found the Levorg STi Sport (not a real STi) that I picked up last week to be a complete and refined vehicle. It seems those complaining did not take one for a proper test drive as all these things would have been obvious when test driving. The Bluetooth works perfectly for me. No issues with connectivity or sound quality. Even in the… Read more ·  1

middle of a call when I walk up to the car, get in, start, it switches over to hands free perfectly. Complaining about a one-step process to shut down but a two-step process to open seems funny to me.

It's correct that you have to retract the external mirrors manually, however, if you switch off the engine before you do this it's actually very simple to turn on the accessories to move the mirrors. In any case I retract the mirrors just 1% of the time if that. You do not need to start the car to move the mirrors.

If I need to open all doors I press the fob twice and it opens all doors always. It's not that hard. Even without using the fob, if you press the passenger door handle it opens all doors which is perfect to throw stuff in the front and assist my three year old getting in the car.

On the weekend I went for a blast on the Old Pacific Hwy. For those familiar with this stretch of road, it has a combination of fast and slow bends, long and short straights, some smooth sections, some rough sections and a number of bumps and dips throughout. Not once did the suspension crash, hit the bump stops, or skittle across corrugated sections. It only inspired more confidence the more I pushed. 19 years ago I owned a Version 6 STi so I know what a car with similar DNA should be able to achieve at pace on that piece of road.

I agree that it has some excellent intelligent drive features, I also enjoy the various camera positions available, it has excellent performance and the CVT is what all other CVTs should be. I took it for a thorough test drive prior to purchase and I am a very happy new owner.

Unfinished design - extremely disappointed – I expect Subaru to make completely finished and refined vehicles. The Liberty Wagon of 2005-2009 era was one of the best cars they produced when it came to luxury, comfort and drive. After destroying this category with the ex-IGA, I was excited when they released the Levorg. I came back to the brand after a long absence. During the test drive, I… Read more

was impressed with the intelligent drive system, the luxury of the interior and the responsiveness of the engine. I placed my order and waited 5 months for the build and delivery from Japan.

The Levorg is a beautiful car, however, Subaru have failed to deliver on the most BASIC of driver convenience features!

Complete Fails:

BLUETOOTH - easily the worst bluetooth system of any car I have come across! It barely passes the most basic test. Every person on the other end complains that they cannot hear me, there is significant background noise, that the line is very poor and that they can only make out every few words. This is regardless of whether I am parked, driving or idling. It is completely useless for use when driving. For the record, my phone carrier is Telstra and I often have full signal so the issue is with the bluetooth system. The voice command part of this system is also atrocious and rarely if ever works. It also takes about 10 mins to initialise.

Push Button Start/stop - when turning off the engine, using the "Stop Engine" button, the car completely shuts down! This means that if you are on a phone call, the bluetooth system shuts down. If the windscreen wipers are on, they stop immediately (even if they are in the middle of the windscreen! Whatever happened to a two step process to shut down the car (like every other car on the market)??

Retracting side mirrors - can only be used when the car is ON. So if you park and turn off the engine, you can't use them. You have to start the car (or at least TRY to put it in accessory mode) press the retract button - wait until they fully retract - because if the car is turned off in the middle of this process they will stop whenever they are in the retraction process - and then turn the car off. This is so frustrating that you will never use this feature.

Two Step Locking System - This is by far the most frustrating non working feature of this car. Unlock the car by pressing the remote button once and it opens the driver side door only. Press it 17,659 more times to unlock the rest of the car. Oh but wait! We have keyless entry! The "smart" door handle on the driver's side door allows you to unlock your door, and your door only, by touching it (when the key is nearby - i.e. in your pocket). If you want to open the rest of the doors (Subaru assume that their drivers are rarely with other passengers) you have to manually unlock their doors using the unlock button on the inside of the driver's door. Unlike most other cars in the market that you simply, press the drivers door handle twice to unlock the passengers doors.

No Android Auto/car Play Connectivity - almost every car has this feature nowadays. Subaru has its own MIRRORLINK system (which isn't available/supported in Australia) but good news! It comes pre-installed with Pandora!! Oh, yeah, right! Pandora hasn't existed in Australia since 2017. NB - I was delivered the car in April 2018. The only connectivity is via bluetooth (see Bluetooth section for how well this system works)!

SUSPENSION - other reviewers have mentioned this so I won't add more but simply echo their complaints. The suspension is sub par for Australian roads.

In short, Subaru have delivered an aesthetically beautiful car, with very intelligent drive features (Adaptive cruise control, lane assist, safety cameras...etc but they neglected to give the driver the most basic of convenience features. The Levorg is certainly NOT "All for the Driver".

Luxury, Sporty... in a Wagon!! – The car is incredible to drive, for a wagon. The handling is fantastic and has many similarities to that of its predecessor (liberty wagon/wrx wagon). The turbocharged engine has plenty of oomph, however with the additional weight they could have made the STI the same 221kw motor as the WRX. The stock tyres are quite noisy and are not great in… Read more

corners. The motor is quiet and all safety features are quite easy to use. The interior is luxurious. The seats are comfortable and quite adjustable. The dash and instruments are neat and easy to use, however the steering wheel is overcrowded with buttons.

The running costs are reasonable having to run minimum 95, but on highways can get up 700km a tank with ease. Town driving is around 450km a tank

Horrendous Suspension – Took delivery of one of the first GTS spec B Levorgs that arrived in Aus mid June 2016. Wife and i were excited about taking delivery after waiting some 9 months for car to be released and to arrive. Almost immediately noticed the poor suspension setup, particularly front. Way too soft and continually bottomed out on its internal bump stops on… Read more

even the most minor bumps and road undulations.Hit a big bump and look out! Rear end also way too soft and wallowed around significantly. Dangeous & terrible to drive.

Reported to Subaru Australia on numerous occassions whom continually denied there was a problem with vehicles suspension system knowing full well that there was an issue also being alerted to it by many owners. (A long story in itself although had a win of sorts with them eventually).

Could not continue to drive the vehicle with the factory fitted Bilstein system as it was just too dangerous. Ended up replacing the vehicles entire suspension system only a few months after vehicles purchase with a far superior after market system albeit at our own cost which we were not happy about after paying so much money for a brand new car. Nobody should have to do this with a brand new car... Very dissapointed with Subaru Australia.

Excellent vehicle with one major issue – Overall i love this vehicle, ample power from the 2.0L turbo, ok fuel economy, spacious for my family and looks great. Only issue i have is the suspension which is not good enough. Driving in country areas where the roads are not flat at times the car feels like its about to bottom out. There has been times drinks have spilt due to how bumpy it gets. subaru australia has given me the usual response and no real help.  Show details

The Borg after 4 months – I have the base GT version (in Australia) and it is just like a wagon version of a WRX. Great handling and the ride is as expected... that is not soft, but it is not hard. Saying that though, the ride height is too low for rough dirt roads, othewise it's ok. Driving position is good and the seats are better for me than in the Forester. The… Read more

front and rear overhang has to be consideredwhen negotiating gutters and vehicle ferries. Haven't run up enough kms yet to consider pushing the car, but even on moderate throttle, it goes as expected.

The CVT is great and when using manual mode, the ratios are fixed for each gear (8 speeds in S# mode which is great, but usually use I mode around town. Hardly ever use manual mode in town, but do use the paddles which forces manual mode for a short time. Little engine braking when selecting lower gears.

The interior is Subaru standard, which is good, unusually I have an intermittent buzzing in the dash on the left when its been in the such for a while (or on a 34C day) - leaving it until next service. Good sized boot area (but it wouldn't fit a 100 litre wheelbarrow already assembled! What's the world coming to.

Definitely do not like the 6 months service period is Australia.... certainly a rip off, when everywhere else it is 12 months. ie: 6 months or 12500km intervals.

The adaptive cruise control is great, but not as good as my 2014 Forester. It does not slow down the vehicle as much when going downhill as the Forester. However combined with the auto, the cruise control is just great for everyday driving, especially on the highway. Leave it at 100 and let the car in front slow you down (but back off if it doesn't). It's saved my licence a couple of times....reduces the urge to go just that little bit over.

One thing I do notice is that the software seems to be running slower than the Forester. You put your hand inside the door handle pause and then pull to open the door. On the Forester there is just no delay.

Great space inside for the size of the vehicle and for those who criticize the number of controls on the steering wheel, they are great and convenient so get over it. I like the adjustable steering for both distance and height. I definitely do not miss having a gps inbuilt. They are too expensive to update, when a phone or tablet do the same job at no cost. (I have found that Here We Go (android) is the best where there is no phone signal).

I reckon the led lights around the headlights are a much too dim and so I always run with the lights on. Don't like the space saver spare, especially when driving long distances. Will replace it with a full size wheel and tyre before going any long trip. Can't imagine having to drive a few hundred km at slow speed. I would like HID or LED high beam, but it's ok for normal driving.

As for reliability, I have never had anything go wrong with any of my Subarus period (well anything that wasn't caused by me) and that includes a lot of driving outback and in the centre.

I am considering a rear HD sway bar just because I have always installed them. Certainly has made a difference in the past, but the handling for ordinary driving so far has me wondering whether I should bother.

The fuel consumption so far has been 11.9 l/100km overall, but that is only around town and short trips under 25km. On the flat at 100km/h it's usually doing about 10.5 (according to the readout).

Overall.... great!

Why have SUV, if you can have bigger boot at near perfect ride height – Took my time before biting the bullet and got myself a true all round performer. Family car when they are in it and performance when not. Best of both worlds for me. Has most of the high tech goodies, which still lets me drive the way I want to and not baby me. I can get plenty of heads turning for its good looks. My pearl white the pick of… Read more

colours, truly highlighting each of the edgy muscular lines along the body. Fuel wise I am looking at around 10-11l/100kms. Push it hard and you might see it go up to 14l. Suspensions are bit bouncy for my like, coming from a corolla. Audio/speaker system demands an upgrade, rest very happy with the purchase. Lets see how it goes over the next 5 year warranty period.

Wagons are back baby – This Levorg is a super wagon. On the track or winding roads you’ll begin to feel like you are wearing it rather than driving it – so good is the connection between the road, car and driver. A wagon with better boot space and towing capacity than many small SUVs and a billion times more fun to drive  Show details

Nice quality build, plenty of space without going SUV – I have been driving my new Levorg for a month now. I left a Mercedes A200 CDI due to lack of space and guts for my needs. The Levorg has both these attributes - so tick! The interior is stylishly put together (although no ergonomic soft shapes here) and the exterior is a bit like the face on Kryten from Red Dwarf.....where a smooth round out would… Read more

do, we throw in another angle. Overall the exterior is easy on the eye, bonnet scoop could have been omitted.

Anyway, the Subaru dealership did not have samples of interior colours to choose from - nor exterior colours! Therefore, my Pearl interior should have been described as silver, not off-white. It is silver. As in shiny silver. real leather though - not the Mercedes pleather.

It handles well in flooded suburban roads, tows the trailer to the tip - fine; lights and wipers turn off and on automatically (gratefully) BUT no rear sensors for reverse. The 'eye' system will warn for cars approaching from left or right of your rear end (good for parking in shopping centres) but won't see the post directly behind you.

The GPS is far superior to the Mercedes Harmon Kardon.

Big downside: the audio. I don't know if the penchant for treble known in Asian cultures is the problem, (total lack of midi and bass) or the speaker position or both.The weak volume control (do I really need to go full revolutions to get it up??) or just poor hardware? Changing the sound to preset 'Jazz' 'Pop' etc doesn't help. I think it is stuck in 'Library'.

June 5th 2018 Update: Getting interesting

I have had my Levorg for 18 months now.

I have had to have the battery replaced, which kooked up the windows, so back we went. The windows were re-configured (why didn't they do that when they changed the battery?) and I left with the total audio/visual system crashed out. I returned today to have the system replaced (I have the bluetooth, GPS, radio all back now) but it leaves me wondering if the warranty is going to run out before the problems end.

Pathetic sound system. GPS updates require a trip to the dealer. The only door (most inconveniently) that doesn't unlock by the sensor is the driver side rear door. The very door I go to all the time to put my bag in, and every time I'm annoyed that I have to either find the remote, or open the driver's door to flip the unlock button. Yeah - I know - first world problem. But yep, I live in the first world, and I paid a lot of money for this car.