Sports Tourer 1.6i GT Lineartronic 5dr

Brilliant car much underrated

I really don't know why there are so few of these on the roads. I previously had an Outback but wanted a smaller estate car. The only money I have ever spent on either car has been on replacing tyres. I hit a water-filled pot hole on a dark night at about 40 MPH and one tyre slowly deflated. As they were three-quarters worn at 32,000 miles I opted to replace all four. I wish they gave you a spare. The 1.6 turbo gives good acceleration, especially in sports mode. Economy has been around 35-36 MPG in normal driving until lockdown and 33-34 MPG since when I have only done short distances. Road holding on both dry and wet roads is exceptional. My only grouse is that the car does not come with hill descent or X-mode like other Subarus. There is a long steep hill on my daily commute which is never gritted by the Local Authority when it snows. If I select first gear the speed runs up to about 30 MPH. This can be improved by setting cruise control at it lowest speed of 20 MPH which is too fast for this narrow lane. ABS is useless in snow and touching the brakes loses control. It is hardly worth fitting winter tyres for the two or three days a year when it snows.

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