XV in general and boxer diesel in particular

[ianrb]

Looking at used XVs, as a characterful alternative to a Yeti. Does anyone have insight as to how good or bad the car is and specifically what is the engine like. Only had petrol Subarus previously.

[Freds]

They're a good car, my daughter-in-law has my wifes old XV, she's a rural district nurse and it's nearing 90k without issue, I had one of the first ever diesel outbacks and put 120k on it, again without issue, I currently have a new model. You will read of some engine (crank) problems on the earlier engines but I believe the later engines have been heavily modified.
The basic underpinnings are shared with the forester so the poor weather ability is excellent and roadholding very good, the only potential negative thing I can put forward is they don't like constant short journeys where the engine barely reaches operating temperature, the usual DPF issues are common if they don't get a blast through from time to time, also avoid poor quality diesel, we always use Shell Nitro in ours. As with all Subarus they're well engineered.