This week I discovered the XV offers a two-speed rear windscreen wiper. Wow. And have been left wondering if the leather interior is tough enough. Welcome to week 7.

Run by: Isaac Bober
Travel: 2424km
Fuel consumption: 7.0L/100km (7.0L/100km official)
List price: $36,990 (+ORC)
Service Costs: Nil
Week ending: 29 August.

Read our full review of the Subaru XV

IT’S A SHORT ONE THIS WEEK. It’s been raining so hard up here in the Blue Moutains that I haven’t had a chance to try out the Armor All Custom Shield Coating, but with the sun peaking out from behind the clouds as I write this it looks like I’ll be able to apply it over the weekend. Full report and maybe even a video of how the stuff goes next week.

Now, and I’m not boasting right now, but I’ve driven a lot of cars, hundreds, many hundreds in my time as a motoring writer and I’ve driven everything from budget beaters costing less than $15k all the way up to the bank-busting Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe ($1.1 million, thank you very much). But never have I come across a rear windscreen wiper that offers two speeds. Have you? Maybe I haven’t paid enough attention to such things…

As I mentioned at the top, the rain this week has been torrential and while I normally don’t use the rear windscreen wiper that often when it’s raining, I do when it’s combined rain and fog, the rain this week was so heavy that I did, actually, I used it in HIGH and it was awesome. It’s the little things, right.

The other thing that’s becoming noticable as the family settles into life with the XV is that the leather interior is surprisingly easy to mark, and even the slightest stain stands out as if it was fluorescent paint. Okay, it’s easy enough to wipe the stain away and, Subaru that’s exactly what I’ve done. But when you’ve got small children that like to swing their legs around in the back, you do end up with shoe marks all over the back seats and I just wonder if the leather is a little too thin to stand-up against repeated abuse by my mini-people. Has anyone else had similar problems?