The reason behind this decision is not clear but it is there all the same.
The new 2016 Subaru XV is going to be on sale in Russia soon, sometime in the middle of 2016. It will have an identical 2.0 L horizontally crossed Boxer gas engine that is used on the US models, and that has become a symbol of Subaru's ingenuity. But it is also going to get a couple of extra features which US customers will not find on their version of Crosstrek.
Stop-start Feature
Subaru Motors, the Japanese car maker, is the official distributor and importer for all Subaru cars in Russia, and the XV is going to get an exclusive stop-start feature in Russia which will help save a lot of fuel. This feature is available on the Crosstrek Hybrid model in the US but fails to make an appearance on the gas only model. The Russians on the other hand are also going to get this feature in the 2.0 L gas powered engines.
There is no apparent reason why this feature has not been included on the US Crosstreks. It works really well when traveling in stop and go traffic by automatically starting and stopping the engine. It also works well at stop lights. A lot of people do not like this feature since they find it annoying for their engine to shut off all the time, but it does help in saving fuel and that is why the Crosstrek Hybrid models have it. What else is not available on the US version of the Crosstrek?
6 Speed Manual Gearbox
The other feature which the Russian Subaru XV 2016 will get but which is not to be seen in the version for US customers is the 6 speed manual gearbox. That is right, the Russians get this feature too while US buyers will have to be satisfied with a 5 speed manual transmission. With the additional gear, the Russian XV will be able to save a lot more fuel when driving on the highway.
Some people want to know if there will be space on the Russian version to mount their camera. A few years ago there was a large asteroid that hit southern Siberia destroying lots of buildings and windows. It was caught on camera mainly because so many Russians drive with car cameras to guard them against corrupt police. So hopefully the Russian Subaru XV 2016 takes this into account.
These separately featured models from Subaru are going to be made available to the Russian buyers as the XV begins arriving at Subaru showrooms. Russian car buyers will be impressed. Now if Russia could just fix their corrupt government and develop another way to make money rather than just oil and natural gas, they will have something going for them but those are other topics.
So there are two different but useful fuel saving features that the Russian model of Crosstrek gets but the US model lacks. Several fans have reached out to the car maker looking for an answer. The discussions can be seen taking place on the forums as well as social media. So far, no official word has arrived from the Japanese giant but fans are still hopeful. Maybe one or both of these features will make it to the future editions?
So far there are no laws in the country that prohibit a technology like this, so maybe Subaru is testing the waters before rolling the feature to the US market. This can be a possible explanation. This will also give them some feedback as well as some time to rectify any mistakes customers may report. It also means less number of cars that has to be called back resulting in lower overheads expenses.
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