Gadgetory

mankind has been paving roads for thousands of years almost as soon as we invented the wheel we started inventing services to allow those wheels to turn more easily over the 20th century enough of our planet has been asphalted over to allow us to drive virtually anywhere in perfect ease and yet that's not enough not satisfied with having access to virtually everywhere in the built up world some of us want to access the rest of it and preferably without getting our feet muddy today we snuck out into an area slightly more dangerous than our average shooting location to do just that I want to leave behind the world of roads and rules and comfort for an opportunity to carve my own path across some landscape that's meant to challenge some of the most capable cars out there the car we've chosen today to go off-roading in is the Subaru XV now of course most people who buy this won't be taking off roads it is however a pretty capable little vehicle I actually really loving this is the top of the line a 25 grand I think you're getting a hell of a bargain now most people who would buy this car probably wouldn't take off road and it certainly doesn't have any of the fancy hill descent control or adaptive drain controls that a modern land rover product might have but it's got a torquey engine and a driver behind the wheel who's been off-roading a couple of times it's a Subaru with all-wheel-drive if it can't handle some off roads I might not be as enthused we've come out to the Salzburg plains to have a bit of a play around it's a massive area not too far from where they test out artillery and tanks so the area is pretty dug up and quite rough and there's some nice little obstacles you have to get our teeth stuck into or rather are our tires if you prefer let's see just how far we can push this thing it's not gonna be the worst off-roading terrain ever and presents it to a car we should be able to have some fun now as I said this isn't something that's necessarily sold to people who are going to take it off-road that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be able to see and to do most of these things you don't need fancy hill descent control adaptive terrain to some fast hands a keen eye and very common sense and of course our wheel drive and your set drive down any road in any city and you'll spot car after car with the ability to tackle mud and snow or traverse small rivers if needed but most of these cars will never even see anything more threatening than a deep puddle but still we flock in droves to buy cars that have the capability to go where no car should have to but why why in 2016 do we feel the need to leave the path more traveled and take to nature you see I think it's all about conquests all of the gaps on the map have been filled in there's nowhere left to explore no matter where you go you're never the first just the latest in a long line of people to visit there but when we drive a car that can go off-road we reclaim even for a slight moment that feeling of discovery and conquest even if we are doing it from the comfort of heated seats in Radio 4 we feel unbound and unrestricted not confined to the white lines of a road or even the natural obstacles in nature we truly experience that freedom we were promised when we first got our driver's license as soon as you realize that the car you're in doesn't need to be restricted by asphalt white lines and Road regulations and you've got the confidence to start throwing it around and some deep muds and ruts there's a whole world of fun to be had out there big slidy muddy fun I had some doubts whether or not the XV could handle what we were going to throw at it but it did remarkably well today we've thrown steep us and steep descents ruts Hills deep puddles up to small lakes and a lot of mud at this car and so far it's dealt with everything just fine it took on every challenge we threw at it and came out unscathed it's comforting to know that during the inevitable zombie apocalypse there are going to be vehicles out there that are able to take us to where we need without having to rely on roads and I for one celebrate that fact of course for almost all of us almost all of the time having the ability to traverse terrain like this is completely redundant but a primal side of us the same parts that keeps a torch in the house and some wellies by the door urges us to be prepared for any journey under any circumstance and with cars like the Subaru XV we can do just that your driving experience just isn't complete unless you've taken a car outside of the asphalt kingdom and challenged it offroad