I shouldn’t like the Subaru Crosstrek. I’ve always gravitated towards driver-focused and performance cars — vehicles developed with the idea of setting a track record or being a split personality that can be fun on a backroad but also comfortable for a commute. That’s what I always thought was cool, and it’s why I own a 2023 Civic Type R now and previously had Miatas, a Lotus Esprit, and a 2003 330i ZHP. But a homely lifted hatchback with a CVT and basically no power made for taking hikers to the base of a trail with a dog, or more commonly, taking four people to the mall? That’s not in my Q zone. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be.
Thing is, I’m getting older and now I like things I never thought I’d enjoy — like Steely Dan, baking, and antiques. I’ve also found that I like being comfortable on the road. My desire to go fast off a race track has waned. Now, I’m fine being at (or near) the speed limit on a back road. I don’t need to get pulled over, I don’t need to risk anything, and I really don’t have anything to prove.
Still, when David and Matt asked me to review a Crosstrek, I can’t say I was excited. Some folks get amped by reviewing everyday cars, but that has rarely been me. It’s why I worked at Road & Track and not Consumer Reports. I see Crosstreks everywhere, and I felt like I knew enough without ever sitting in one. Turns out, I didn’t. Now the Crosstrek is another unexpected thing that I like a lot.
The Basics
Here are the specs, just so you have them up front:
Engine: 2.5-liter flat-four
Gearbox: CVT
Drivetrain: front-engine, all-wheel drive
Output: 182 hp @ 5,800 rpm, 178 lb-ft @ 3,700 rpm
Weight: 3,349 lbs
Fuel Economy: 27 city, 33 hwy, 29 combined
Base Price: $32,930
As Tested: $33,086
What’s It All About?
The Crosstrek started as a more rugged trim of the Impreza before splitting off into its own model. It’s never had a performance model, and still doesn’t, but it was available with a manual gearbox until this latest generation debuted in 2022. Most trims come with a 2.5 liter boxer four-cylinder linked to a CVT, and a hybrid version will come next year. Think of it like how the Outback came from the Legacy — a taller hatchback with some off-road ability. There is also a Wilderness version, Subaru’s most rugged trim meant for people who will actually use it off road, or at least think they will.
Most people, however, will not buy a Crosstrek to use off-road. You’ll see teens getting them as first cars. You’ll see them commuting into major cities and parallel parked in front of hot yoga studios. They’ll be sitting at a trailhead or transporting a bunch of dogs to a grooming appointment. How is that different from any economy crossover, you ask? It isn’t.
Subaru has built its reputation on all-wheel-drive, boxer engines, and safety. The Crosstrek delivers on all three. Rather than a turbocharged inline-four and an eight-speed auto, it has a flat-four and a CVT hooked to all-wheel drive. It also comes with Subaru’s entire suite of safety features, dubbed EyeSight. That includes adaptive cruise control, blind spot alerts, automatic emergency braking and steering, and a preposterous number of airbags. The car may as well be made of airbags.
Is It Nice?
Before I got in the Crosstrek, the two Subarus I’d driven most recently were the WRX and BRZ. Neither of those cars are known for a high end interior or really anything approaching luxury. They’re kind of basic, with decent seats and a nice wheel and not much else, but that’s what you get in a driver’s car. I expected the same ethos from the Crosstrek, = — something utilitarian and crunchy, something that can be hosed down and comes pre-covered in dog hair.
I was wrong. This Crosstrek, a Limited trim, came in at $33k, and it feels worth the price. Maybe even like a deal.
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The seats are lovely, supportive and heated. They’re even real leather, not a faux leatherette. That’s combined with a nicely sized steering wheel, soft touch materials, and easy-to-read analog gauges. There are some switches, like the ones for heated seats or the climate control, that feel cheap and look old, but otherwise it’s just a nice place to be.
There is one thing inside that stands out, and it’s the simply gigantic 11.6-inch portrait screen that houses the infotainment system. Big screens like this aren’t necessarily bad, as long as they add to the experience. I found the screen in the Crosstrek frustrating. The interface felt old fashioned and dated, with graphic icons for all the settings more similar to something you’d find in a PlayStation 2 game. It was also slower to react to touches than I’d like and didn’t go back to the screen I expected when setting a bunch of satellite radio presets. But it also has CarPlay and Android Auto, which most people will likely use instead of Subaru’s home-brew interface, and it worked well. So just plug in your phone, folks.
Outside, I think this gen of Crosstrek is actually handsome. No, it doesn’t evoke the hawkeye WRX, which I still think was the brand’s highpoint, but this Limited trim takes the semi-rugged Crosstrek, smooths it out, keeps some cladding, and gives it some presence. It’s not going to win a beauty contest, but it’s also not going to be the subject of derision every time someone looks at it.
Driving? Driving!
I didn’t take the Crosstrek off-road. In fact, I spent most of the time on the highway and driving around Philadelphia. In this trim, it’s the sort of driving the Crosstrek is built for. It’s not fast or exciting, but it is comfortable and fuel efficient.
It’s also refreshing to drive a small car with a different engine than a small-displacement turbo inline-four. Subaru has made boxer engines its thing for ages, and while its most iconic versions are turbocharged, the Crosstrek has a naturally aspirated 2.5 liter flat-four with 182 hp and 178 lb-ft. These aren’t wild numbers, but they are enough to cruise on the highway at 80 mph for two hours without an issue. And while it maintains that distinct Subaru boxer-four thrum, it’s not unrefined or agricultural. If it were turbocharged, it could make more power and torque, but that instant response of an NA engine is wonderful, and a rarity today as everything seems to have a turbo attached to it.
That’s linked to a CVT, the sort of gearbox people like to slag on without any experience using one. These gearboxes have come a long way over the years, and the Subarus is actually very good. At speed, it’s quick to react and keeps revs as low as they need to maintain speed, limiting any droning. It also has an eight-speed simulated manual mode, but I didn’t try it because I saw literally no point whatsoever.
The issue I did find with the CVT was on throttle tip in. Automatics all have a bit of creep built in to get you moving. The CVT reacts a little differently, and while it does creep, as you transition to throttle, it revs up and then the gearbox seems to catch, meaning there’s more forward momentum than I expect. Not an issue on an open highway, but in traffic and around Philadelphia, it took some getting used to. The last excuse that I think would be accepted for rear-ending someone would be that you weren’t used to the transmission in your car. After some time acclimating, I got used to it, but it never felt natural. I guess chock that up to years of driving manuals or regular automatics.
Once I hit Philly, the Crosstrek won me over. This is a wonderful city car. Sure, the lifted suspension and smaller wheels are supposed to make it more comfortable on gravel and dirt roads, but it has the same effect on potholed city streets. For years, I’ve driven cars that need me to be overly vigilant for any appearance of a pothole or other massive road imperfection to avoid bent wheels, flat tires, or a back injury.
The Subaru soaked it all up thanks to a suspension that was most definitely not turned with lap times in mind. Whenever I came to road plates or construction or a road that looked like the DPW forgot it existed, I didn’t have to panic and think about how I’m going to get around it. I just went over whatever the obstacle was and went on with my day. What a delight.
Now, many of you are probably just saying that a Civic or Corolla could do the same, and you’re probably right. But if you don’t want to worry, then that extra lift is nice insurance. And if it keeps someone from buying an SUV that they don’t really need to drive around the city, then the Crosstrek has done its job.
A Surprise
My entire loan of the Crosstrek was spent being pleasantly surprised by how nice it was to drive and spend time in. How it could take car seats and kids to swim class and be a capable highway and city car. I didn’t expect much from it on a back road. It’s tall, on small, hard tires, and has never been claimed to have any sporting pretension whatsoever. I don’t think Subaru took it near a race track or worried that someone was going to want to chuck it into a corner far above the speed limit to see how it stuck.
On my way to take photos, I was on some of my favorite roads in my area. Turns out, it was unexpectedly fun. I talk a lot about how limits for modern cars are just too damn high, that to have any fun in a new performance car, you need to be going so fast on the road that you’re going to lose your license. The trick is to try it in a car like this. No, I didn’t find some magic connection or realize that this has the most feelsome steering of any car out there today, but I did find myself laughing as it leaned and dove through some quick corners, feeling like it was floating. It wasn’t built for anything resembling speed, but it’s a willing partner when some is thrown at it.
That’s what I found the entire time with the car — that it’s surprising. There’s a reason so many of them are sold. This trim makes the Crosstrek the perfect city car. I’m sure the Wilderness is excellent off-road, but if it were my money, the Limited is what I’d go for. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to convince myself that my Type R is still the perfect car for everything I need.
The clutch in the old Crosstrek was so awful I still have nightmares about it, I have never forgiven that shitty demo car
I agree about the CVT. I hate modern automatics—cannot stand the gear-hunting—and the Subaru CVT is fine. It’s not exciting, but that’s not its purpose and the important thing is that it isn’t frustrating. My sister has something like 130k on her Ascent and it’s doing fine, though she’s had the fluid changed out a couple times, I believe, which seems like good preventative maintenance. I’ve often found Subarus to have more character than you’d expect. That’s how they once won me over—I hated them as a kid, but when my 240Z couldn’t pass inspection, I ended up with an ’84 GL wagon for $500—ugly, slow thing, but it didn’t feel as slow as it was and wasn’t bad to drive in general, plus it took an absolute hammering and neglect for about 3 years before rust (mainly) doomed it. I replaced it with a 260Z in great original condition, then an ’83 GL with a 5 speed because the 260Z gave me a bunch of problems. The GL was more fun to drive than the Zs—much better feel to the controls and a kind of endearingly eager character. Zs definitely looked better, though.
That giant screen is abominable.
Not sure I agree about the turbo vs NA throttle response in modern cars. Throttle response in everything I’ve driven has been mediocre (at best) since E-throttles replaced cables. Unless you mean response as in lag from the turbo once underway, then, yeah, maybe a little.
Going into my 30s my friend circle is like that scene with Toy Story where everything is changing around Woody to Buzz Lightyear stuff. Instead it’s my friend array of mid 00s daily drivers all turning into Crosstreks! One of my friends even has a ‘his and hers’ pair for him and his wife!
I’ve also seen quite a few in the wild with various furry stickers on them. Subaru really nailed several markets with that one. I do like the yellow/green color they debuted a few years ago.
The wife’s on her second Crosstrek and it’s really not a bad car. It’s not gonna win any drag races but has plenty of power to negotiate traffic. It’s got a comfortable ride and the Eyesight is great on long car trips. And also, like you say, the CVT is much nicer than folks give it credit for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have my BRZ for more enthusiastic driving but the Crosstrek deserves its credit too.
Miss my 22 Outback. Ride second only to a Citroen DS.
nvm
My neighbor picked up one of these. I assumed it was for their teenage kids, but I noticed the adults are driving it instead of their “nicer” cars. So maybe it isn’t quite the penalty box people might assume it to be.
Personally, I’m in the “a small car should get better gas mileage” camp. If the Crosstrek Hybrid shows up, I’ll be considering it in the future.
I bought a 2021 Limited last year to use for commuting and it’s great. Compared to my jeep it’s a smooth, zippy luxury car.
I’ve given the Subaru cult plenty of shit over the years, sometimes on this very blog…but as a mid 30s dad of a 1 year old who’s going to need more space and is getting a little tired of being beat to shit by their psychotic hatchback every commute, I’m starting to get why they appeal to so many people.
There’s something to be said for a car that can just get the damn job done no matter what, and Subarus are very good at that. All of their cars are at or close to being class leaders in passenger and cargo space. Their all wheel drive system is about as good as it gets for affordable cars, so there isn’t any weather that’s going to unsettle them much.
They’re not quite Toyota reliable (and yes, HEAD GASKETS, I get it), but they’re pretty damn good. They’re also safe. Basically…they’re great appliances, but on top of that I’d argue that they have something the RAV4s, CRVs, etc. of the world don’t-and that’s character.
They’ve been doing the whole lifestyle vehicle schtick since way before it was cool…and while I also appreciate throwing cars around a track and won’t argue that seeing an Outback in the wild gets my blood pumping like seeing a Lamborghini I think they’re objectively a little cooler than the sea of grayscale blobs that they compete against.
Basically…I get why people like them, and there’s a very real chance that I give up on the dream of having an epic one car solution like an M3, IS500, V6 Macan, etc., just buy a Forester hybrid in the high 30s with the startex interior and rubber floor mats, use that as my dad car, let the kids grind Cheerios into it/subject it to muddy soccer cleats and paws, and eventually use the money I saved buying one and using less gas to get a dedicated weekend car.
Am I crazy here? I feel like a Subaru and later the nicest Boxster/Cayman I can afford are a better solution than spending 60 grand plus on a high strung jack of all trades that’s a heavily depreciating asset.
A little point of clarification: “flat four” is vague. You can have inline flat fours, you can have 180-degree V fours, you can have boxer fours. The Crosstrek wears a boxer four: each piston has its own crank throw, so each opposed pair of pistons move in opposition to each other.
Inline flat fours are more common than you might think: the Toyota TownAce – simply known as the Van in the States when it was a thing here, and its successor the Previa, were equipped with inline four-cylinder engines that were laid over on one side.
I think flat engines are most often used to describe motors that have pistons on opposite sides of the crank shaft. For packaging reasons these engines are always (?) arranged horizontally, but it’s not the horizontal alignment that makes them “flat.”
One thing I will say about Subaru’s vs other OEMs.
Their heated seats get so hot you’ll almost burn your ass. It’s awesome.
Spend some time in Phoenix in the summer and any car will do that!
I concur. I’ve owned a couple of Porsches (944 and 968), a few BMWs, including an E30 325is, E46 330Ci ZHP and my last one, a 2008 E90 335i. A couple of Mustang GTs too. A ’90 VW Corrado, ’04 Acura TL 6 speed and 1st gen Integra LS, etc.. I now drive a 2024 Crosstrek Limited and could not be happier. Is it exciting? Nope. I just needed a comfortable daily driver that is easy on maintenance requirements. In over 1.5 years it has been flawless and I am always impressed by the ride quality. The ground clearance is fantastic and I no longer sweat when dealing with potholes or especially tall speed bumps. The infotainment system is laggy as hell and there is a bit of wind noise, but it does everything else so well that I do not mind.
I cross-shopped a Crosstrek Sport and Civic Si. My heart was with the SI but the Crosstrek fit my lifestyle better. It’s as good in the city as it is on some crummy rutted West Virginia rd. And in the wet or snowy stuff, it does truly becomes a driver’s car. But most importantly, it’s not so fancy that I feel the need to be all that precious about it when it’s loaded up with friends and climbing gear. Hard Plastics = YES PLZ!
The one thing I’d note is that the stock tires are not particularly amazing but a new set of Michelins improved the car significantly in every way. Quieter on the highway, stickier in the wet stuff, and overall more sporting.
Hard plastic means never having a dash with Q45-style acne.
I think part of the reason this new one was more enjoyable is because this one has had a bunch of improvements over past Crosstreks… such has having the 2.5L engine instead of the 2L.
Now having said that, this car wouldn’t make it onto my list of vehicle candidates because the fuel economy sucks.
They need to start selling hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of this ASAP.
The only time I’ve been in a Subaru was being taken out to lunch by someone who had an aughts Outback. The ride was plush even with 140+K miles on it. I’ll wait until they have a PHEV version to maybe test drive one of these.
My mk1 Legacy was retired with about 270k on it. Nobody could believe it had so many miles by the ride. That longish travel suspension soaked up just about anything well beyond normal potholes, yet it handled fairly flat. I did have KYB shocks, which were about 15% stiffer, but that was it (and what they factory should have specced), plus I changed out the antiroll bar bushings with polyurethane somewhere over 200k because they were worn.
The fact that they don’t offer a WRX version of the Crosstrek is criminal.
Or a version with a manual.
They did, but they saddled it with the even less powerful 2.0 instead of the 2.5.
It was a very frustrating vehicle to drive as a manual. It felt sluggish and couldn’t rev up enough to make it feel good.
They did that with the first gen (and maybe the earliest second gens?). They didn’t sell incredibly well.
I have a 2019 Crosstrek I bought with 9 miles on it, currently around 67K with zero issues. It’s even the dreaded CVT because I decided one car in the fleet as an auto was a good idea (the other 2-3 are manuals), and this is simply an appliance to carry my Star Wars costume bins and 66# dog.
I got a new one for a loaner during the last maintenance & liked it, but not enough for another car payment yet.
I love Steely Dan! Fleetwood Mac too. That’s how I know I’m getting old.
I liked them when they were new…
Those two bands were the part of the ambient soundtrack of my college years. And I still like them over the disco shit that also existed then. I am more of a New Wave fan now, but the non-disco stuff of that time still appeals.
I felt ashamed for liking a Toyota Yaris rental, but felt vindicated after seeing it was based on the Mazda 2 sedan so it had that zoom zoom DNA.
Based on the throttle tip-in issue I’m assuming Subaru’s CVT’s don’t have the starter 1st gear that Toyota developed.
My best friend has this Mazda 2 based car as a Scion iA. It’s really quite smooth and very well put together, even a little luxurious.
My sibling has the same car, color, and everything. It is fine. Fine, like a dozen other options in the category that are all indistinguishable from one another. That isn’t a bad thing since it is a very practical package, but I have never found any reason to select one over the other beyond getting the best overall value. Any differences are so minor that it feels like it takes work to have a preference.
As a current owner of a ‘23 civic type R (hello there!), an Elise, a S2000 and an outback, I’m always a fan of picking the right tool for the job. For urban pothole-ridden roads and traffic jams, the outback/crosstrek is perfect with a soft cushy lifted suspension. There is nothing better and you can haul stuff and travel 500 miles in one tank!
I love my gen 5 outback (no huge portrait touchscreen, all buttons!) and can’t see why I would spend money to replace it with anything else.
I have a Type R and bought a Crosstrek as my teenage daughter’s first car, so I seem to fit the demographic described in this article.
And yes, the throttle tip in is quite aggressive.
A large number of $80,000+ cars not having real leather as standard (or even available at all) should be ashamed to fall short of this $32k Crosstrek.
Good job by you Subaru.
They charge extra for less animal cruelty or whatever new trend is
Only the finest synthetic leathers in those luxury mobiles. Meaning some sort of recycled plastic most likely haha
It’s very ‘back to nature’ of them.
Good, honest review, thanks.
Like-for-like, the Crosstrek seems to be $3-4k more than an Impreza, and I’m not really sure I see the value proposition because, as you say, most folks aren’t taking these off the road.
I test drove the ultra base Impreza hatch last year. It represented a lot of value for around $23k, except… unless you really want to hate life, the 2.0 in the base Impreza/Crosstrek is a miserable, thrashy, underpowered mill. Whatever Subaru you pick, make sure it’s the trim with a 2.5.
That gap has been narrowing. I think it’s a hair over $2k apart base-to-base now. The Impreza Sport (next trim up and not quite the same additions as a Crosstrek Sport) is just $1600 under the Crosstrek’s next trim up, Premium…which added the 2.5 this year, so the Crosstrek is actually the cheapest way into the 2.5 by at least a grand. *Quoting prices without destination which is $300 more on the Crosstek for some reason.
I’ve had the 2.5 and the 2.4 turbo in Outbacks, and like you, I drove the Impreza 2.0, except mine was a service loaner. An Impreza with the 2.0 was disappointing and struggled to get up to highway speed on a short freeway ramp. The 2.5 is powerful enough for 99.9% of daily driving and gets 30mpg average with a normal foot on the go pedal. The 2.4 turbo (my current Outback) is 26.5mpg with the normal foot, and isn’t that much more fun. I got it for towing since the turbo changes towing from 750lbs to 3,500lbs.
The 2.5 the right answer, just like wagons are always the right answer. Subaru has that engine totally figured out, it has some nice growlies under acceleration, and it’s quite fuel efficient to boot.