Test drive Subaru XV Bifuel – Day 4: Geneva > Spain

Everything good sooner or later comes to an end. Now we head into the final leg of the special test of the Subaru XV Bifuel through French lands. Over the past week we have travelled (even if only virtually) through France accompanied by a very versatile SUV with low consumption, thanks to the use of LPG.

Our fourth day on the road runs from Geneva to Spain, specifically Girona. However, since the stretch between Girona and Madrid was rather short and monotonous, in this last on-the-road article we are going to combine both days. We will put the final full stop in the next article, where we will give an overall assessment of the Subaru XV, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this new instalment of our journey outside Spain.

Day 4: Geneva > Girona (788 km) and Day 5: Girona > Madrid (680 km)

We set off from Geneva, a city that becomes more difficult to drive in every day. They quite literally look down on drivers, giving top priority to public transport and bicycles, to the point of having only two lanes (one for each direction) for cars, with the rest of the wide avenue devoted to the tram and cycle lane.

At rush hour, with a single lane in each direction, some streets are impassable. Luckily we spent little time behind the wheel of the Subaru XV in Geneva, and we set off towards Annecy. A town at the foot of the Alps that deserves a stop to visit, especially the old town of Annecy beside the lake.

The route continues south, with many kilometres ahead, all of them on national roads, and personally, as I enjoy driving, just thinking about it put a smile on my face. The road continues through valleys with long straights, and soon we reach Aix-les-Bains, a small town beside a lake, with a very interesting road running along its shore.

Until we reach Valence, green plains keep us company the whole way. On the way to Nîmes we see few interesting things, although things change as we get closer to the city. It is also worth making a detour to Avignon if possible; it is a city with a great deal to see.

Along the way we come across the village of Pont-Saint-Esprit, a place with a strong medieval tradition whose name comes from the bridge that crosses the river and dates from 1309. From the famous bridge, the view of the village is very pretty.

Night falls on the way to Montpellier and we pass through a large industrial zone near Lunel, as we get closer to Spain (where we cross the border on the national road and not on a motorway). The village on the French side of the border is Perthus, while on the Spanish side we are greeted by La Junquera.

The next day we made the trip between Girona and Madrid, again avoiding toll motorways, a very quiet route all the way to the capital. The most notable thing is the absence of any LPG refuelling point between Zaragoza and Madrid along the entire A-2.

Driving impressions

We can now give figures for the journey, with a total of 3,182 km covered and an average LPG consumption of 9 litres of LPG/100 km and an average cost of €7.5 per 100 km. On petrol, the few times we drove on petrol alone, consumption came to 7.4–7.6 litres per 100 km.

A detail we had not yet mentioned about the Subaru XV is its complete equipment (Executive Plus trim): it had leather seats, a sunroof and even the navigation system. And it is precisely the navigation system we are going to stop on now.

The sat nav was very complete in its functions, but it took us a while to get used to it, and some buttons were too small, especially for someone not used to touchscreen devices.

The speakers were not notable for their power, but the sound was acceptable and in keeping with the car. We liked the on-board computer, with its colour display, which gives the driver a lot of information about the car.

In the next article we will definitively close the test of the Subaru XV Bifuel with an overall assessment of the car, as well as the model’s prices.

Photos | Test team