When Subaru announced that it was sending two hybrids to America, it felt about time. Cut to the present day, and the Forester Hybrid has been on sale for months, offering a little bit of extra everything over a standard model. More power, more quiet, more miles to the gallon. How does that translate to the smaller Crosstrek? While we haven’t driven it yet, impressions from other outlets are out, so here’s what everyone’s saying about the new Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid.
Under the hood of the Crosstrek Hybrid sits a 194-horsepower hybrid powertrain consisting of a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated flat-four, a 1.1 kWh battery pack, and a two-motor transaxle feeding a mechanical all-wheel-drive system. It’s effectively the same setup as in the Forester Hybrid, and when I drove Subaru’s larger hybrid earlier this year, I noted substantially more refinement that in the regular Forester.
Does the extra electric motivation of the Crosstrek Hybrid make a substantial difference? That seems to depend on what your benchmark for acceleration is. On the one hand, Motor Trend found that the hybrid setup gives the Crosstrek an appreciable power boost, writing:
On its face, 194 horses aren’t world-bending compared to the regular model’s 182, but when a power bump also brings more low-end electric muscle, you tend to notice. Also, given the Crosstrek never had a ton of scoot to begin with, it’s nice. The hybrid Crosstrek now accelerates from a stop eagerly and even piles on mph nicely when already at speed.
On the other, Car And Driver seems to feel that freeway reserve power isn’t exactly stellar, writing:
An aggressively tuned gas pedal and the extra torque from the electric motor make the Crosstrek Hybrid feel zippy around town. Still, like the standard Crosstrek, the hybrid loses steam as the speeds rise. We reckon the run to 60 mph should still take in excess of eight seconds. The handoff between the gas engine and electric motor feels smooth, although our drive mainly took place on empty rural roads and not the sort of low-speed, stop-and-go urban driving that might reveal clunkier behavior.
Reading between the lines, the Crosstrek Hybrid seems to drive like a Crosstrek, and that should extend beyond the powertrain to the handling. While the suspension has been retuned to cope with the extra 330-ish pounds of the hybrid powertrain, the result seems to give the impression of a fairly standard model with almost nothing out of the ordinary happening when the road gets curvy. As The Drive wrote:
Even with the same 8.7 inches of ground clearance and nearly identical MacPherson front and double wishbone rear suspension, the Crosstrek Hybrid felt solidly and evenly connected to the pavement. Off pavement, it negotiated trails at speeds I wouldn’t dare in other small crossovers.
Wait, why almost nothing out of the ordinary? Well, road testers have noted that the brake pedal doesn’t seem to inspire a ton of confidence. Car And Driver found that “The brake pedal doesn’t provide a ton of feedback,” while Motor Trend wrote that “the brake pedal can feel odd when it’s in the regenerative mode.” Still, not all road testers noted pedal feel, so there’s a chance it’s fine for most drivers.
As for other downsides, it’s worth talking about the price and the packaging of the hybrid system. While some road testers noted the loss of 1.3 cu.-ft. of trunk space, everyone noticed the $35,415 starting price. That’s a good clip higher than a Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid, but the Crosstrek Hybrid does serve a slightly different use case and doesn’t come with a super-base model.
At the same time, EPA ratings of 36 MPG on all cycles represent improvements of three MPG highway, nine MPG city, and seven MPG combined over the standard 2.5-liter Crosstrek, which should be enough to make a noticeable difference in the real world. The result looks like the obvious choice if you’re set on a Crosstrek and able to splash the cash. As Edmunds summed it up:
The hybrid is the best-driving model in the Crosstrek lineup. It’s quicker, smoother and offers better fuel economy than the rest of its brethren. I am charmed by the Wilderness, and it’s certainly the best buy if you want something compact but surprisingly capable off-road, but to live with day-to-day, the Crosstrek Hybrid is the one to get.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the Crosstrek Hybrid once it hits the local press fleet. Early media drive impressions seem positive, but there is something to be said about living with a car for a full week and taking it over the sort of familiar broken pavement that really lets you get an accurate gauge on things like ride quality and cabin noise.
Top graphic image: Subaru
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Those black plastic wheel arches on Crosstreks: why?
Also, I’ve driven a few Crosstreks and they’re OK provided you don’t care at all about how driving feels. They’re not bad, they’re just meh.
And don’t get me started on the CVT.
There’s a wide-open market looking for a tall-wagon-y vehicle that isn’t an SUV.
This lets gramps easily get in/out, kid seats loaded/unloaded without bending down or reaching up, and space in the back for whatever.
In city driving my Crosstrek with the 2.5 gets low to mid 20s MPGs. On the interstate I get 33-35. And I have never considered it lacking in power for what it is. Acceleration and passing on the interstate always works fine.
At altitude, these things are very, very underpowered.
My wife’s 2.0 Crosstek manages really good fuel economy. It rarely drops below 30mpg combined. However, it’s easily the slowest modern vehicle I’ve ever driven. But to be honest, it’s absolutely fine most of the time, there are just a few shorter on ramps make my butthole pucker when it’s busy out.
Subaru must be very happy with their current customer base and sales figures. I don’t see anything here that would bring new customers to the fold.
For $2k less that the Subaru, I’ll take the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid.
My RAV4 Prime gets 37mpg in hybrid mode, weighs 600lbs more, and has 302hp.
WTH is Subaru doing wrong?
And also you get nearly 40 miles of all electric range, right? So real world MPG for people that paid for the Prime is well into the 80s
I think people that are trying to rationalize this vehicle by looking at everything on paper are missing the point. Is it pricey for what it is? Definitely. Do other compact crossovers, particularly hybrids, offer better MPG? Yes. Will the fuel savings take a really long time to make up for the cost delta, if they ever do at all? You bet.
…but it’s a fucking Subaru. People don’t buy Subarus because they’re the logical choice or class leading. People buy Subarus because they want a Subaru, and I’d imagine that a huge chunk of the people that buy new ones don’t even look at anything else. The hybrid not being efficient enough to save you a bunch of money isn’t relevant.
What’s relevant is that it gets better mileage than the pure ICE one and that it has a hybrid badge on the outside. Subaru drivers care about the environment and they care about people knowing they care about the environment. It’s part of the package. Whether or not they truly care or a single person choosing a hybrid Crosstrek over a gas one is doing anything to appreciably help the environment is up to you.
People have shown time and time again that they’re willing to open their checkbooks for the Subaru life. It’s also important to note that this car maintains Subaru’s excellent symmetrical all wheel drive system. It’s not an eAWD system like the Toyotas and Hondas that put an electric motor over the rear axle to get you out of a jam.
This car is, factually, more capable, and the average Subaru owner will gladly sacrifice 3-4 MPG for that capability. In fact, they already did before the hybrids were launched. Do they actually NEED it? 95% of the time probably not, but that doesn’t matter. We know this, and the people who actually do need it will be grateful for it, because if you’re in a place with real winter an eAWD system probably isn’t going to do it for you.
Anyway, this is a decision you make with your heart and not your brain. And while many of us (myself included at times) like to give Subaru buyers shit for it, is it really that different than someone like you or I choosing a GTI over a regular Golf? The regular one is cheaper, more efficient, still pretty decent to drive, and has the exact same amount of interior volume, cargo capacity, etc.
Cars are emotional and the choices we make about them aren’t always logical. With that in mind, I do think the Subaru cult has their own version of car enthusiasm, it’s just different from the one we have. For that reason I kind of respect them to be honest.
100% spot on with this.
I mean that’s exactly the point behind the Dump. Subaru is a lifestyle for a lot of people.
Odd that Autopian wasn’t on the list to get one of these early drives?
Two words: skid plate
Yep. I forgot all about this.
I must have missed it, what is this referring to?
Yeah, basically Subaru is insecure about the size of its pen- I mean skid plate.
“36 mpg?? from a hybrid??” – Everyone
The price is high, but the equivalent trims already were too. The Crosstrek hybrid comes off more like Honda’s positioning of the hybrid in the Civic lineup. You can still get the regular nonhybrid 2.5 Sport and Limited, but the option packages each offered are basically paired with the hybrid now. With the 2.0 gone from the Crosstrek I could see them fully committing to hybrid in those trims before long to add differentiation.
The potential advantage over a Corolla Cross is availability, and probably actual MSRP is going to be a lot closer given Toyota add-ons. But the biggest competition is more likely to be the Forester: the hybrid there starts at $38k and you get more room with the same mileage.
Making hybrid standard on the Crosstrek might be the most viable option – assuming they can amortize the costs to match non-hybrid trim pricing. Without that, the Forester is the better option overall.
Upper-trim Crosstreks have gotten really close to the Forester in price, but last year was its best sales year last year and the Forester was still strong, so something is still working for now. It feels like they’re more throwing some hybrids toward the Crosstrek to gauge interest and see where demand shakes out.
The price is crazy – not at all competitive.
The MPG gain is unimpressive, and again not competitive.
The performance seems to be an improvement only because the base car can’t get out of it’s own way.
And I’m sure Subaru will sell tons of them
Something, something, love, dogs, something.
Completely agree.
What always baffles me in Subaru sales in non-snow states. Like sure a Crossy with snow tires is going to wildly outperform a Prius AWDe on the same rubber. So ok, I can’t understand why folks will pay the premium in Seattle or Spokane.
But why do they sell so well in SoCal?!
I’m in central Florida, and several of my coworkers have new Subarus. I don’t understand at all.
SoCal is full of people who need to convince themselves they’re living it up, and convincing yourself that you’re going off-roading any day now is easier than accepting that you want/need a Prius.
Not just Cali, the whole country seems to be entranced by the idea of pretending they’re “outdoorsy”.
You’re right, I really didn’t need to address CA directly, it’s just part of the whole. “Active lifestyle” has been the ultimate branded image for a while now.
All brands now, not just Subaru.
When I call it a branded image, I mean more so that it’s festooned with brands. You can enjoy your all-natural outdoor hobbies in your (insert plastic-clad car) while wearing your ultra-breathable Goretex (insert boots, jacket, pants), your ultralight (insert backpack, fanny pack, hammock, wallet) and super-rugged (insert cup, bottle, cooler) with a lifetime warranty.
Of course, everything you get and use has a brand, but I find that the logo on my thermos is far more pronounced than the one on my computer’s monitor. In fact, I would say that most outdoorsing equipment has a logo-to-surface-area ratio higher than a standard m&m.
They’re everywhere in Philadelphia, a place that gets AWD-worthy weather around one-to-zero times a year.
Cars with inadequate performance sell by the boatload, because most people would rather get features and design for their money. I can’t defend Subaru with that logic, though, because their current interiors are atrocious and their designs have always been anonymous at best. They make Hondas and Toyotas look luxurious and beautiful by comparison. I think reliability and the perception thereof are the main selling point, and doomsday paranoia is great at selling rugged AWD systems.
Wow, do all Subarus get such lousy MPG? I mean, 36 was pretty good… during the Clinton administration.
They’ve started to get decent MPG out of the non-hybrids – not great, but no longer a huge penalty for full time AWD. But making all their vehicles a slow, wheezy crossover to get there means there isn’t a huge benefit when you then turn it into a slow, wheezy, hybrid crossover.
Here’s what I don’t get…..while better than the first Crosstrek hybrid (which got like 1 mpg better…laughably bad), this still isn’t that much of a difference, especially when compared to what the base 2.0 liter was doing.
If I’m driving smart and not only doing city stints, I can get about 35 in mine….pushed that all the way to 36 in my previous gen Impreza. And no, that wasn’t going 10 under the limit. I get the hybrid numbers are better than the 2.5, but still….you need to be pushing 40 with these.
The 2.0 was rated for virtually the same mileage as the 2.5, so it wasn’t really getting any better mileage for the lower powered motor. The hybrid against the regular 2.5 is likely not meaningfully quicker, but if the 2.0 were still on the order books, the hybrid would likely be both quicker and more efficient.
Yeah, always have!
It’s a sort of double hit of the flat four configuration and pushing mechanical AWD all the time.
Competing the Forester to RAV4, the RAV will drive around with the rear wheels totally disconnected until they are needed. In the hybrid model they aren’t even linked, the rear wheels are driven by a small electric motor. Both of these solutions are more efficient but provide less predictable and less effective forward grunt on ice and snow.
well I can say a Basic older NA 2.5 boxer legacy barely gets over 25 most of the time. considering the CVT and claims of benefits, I guess the AWD part just sucks up a lot of those benefits?
My old 3800 beat 25 MPG every day, and while hauling around a big-assed LeSabre.
I got a 39 mpg tank once in my old LeSabre and could routinely get 33-34 mpg without trying too hard. And it still had more power at 205 hp than this Subaru.
All that full time AWD mass that has to be spun needs energy to spin. No such thing as a free lunch. Someone’s gotta pay.
That was my thought, 36 highway is seriously good for a car this size without hybridization.
36mpg in a CUV isn’t lousy. The average CUV combined MPG in the US for 2025 models is 28mpg, and the median is 30mpg.
Sure, plenty of hybrids and PHEVs can do better, but 36mpg is still competitive in the overall segment.
Subarus have never had class-leading fuel economy though. My 2003 WRX got around 27mpg, and my H6 Outback got 20mpg. I just chalked it up to full-time AWD.
An agricultural-sounding motor that gets middling-to-bad MPG, has a totally undeserved reputation for reliability, and is not what anybody would call fast. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru, I guess.
I mean, my 2012 Prius v gets 40-41 mpg in good weather and can drop below 36 in the worst of winter, and that’s just FWD. So I think getting 36 with AWD and modern safety stuff is an achievement.
I’m not interested, but at face value, that seems fine to me.
Oh they’re STILL mad about the skid plate thing huh? While it may be rated/estimated at 36mpg combined, I saw the Drive say they only averaged 33. So not only can Subaru not design a skid plate that does what it claims to do, they cant do Hybrids either!
Subaru continues to fail to meet my already low expectations. Seriously, my 2.5L Turbo in my CX-30 can get about 34 on the highway, and it makes loads more power and torque, and it was cheaper than this, and it looks/feels better inside and out.
I’d have to double check with my brother but I think 33mpg is about what he gets with his 3 row Highlander hybrid. Even if the Crosstrek gets 36 that would still be mediocre for a small hybrid crossover.
I bet this is it. I just asked why the Autopian didn’t get an early drive and forget the stupid skid plate thing.
This and Mercedes with the RVs…this is what happens when auto press aren’t a bunch of sycophants OR haven’t been around 50 years. Or both.
“wow this is bland”
“this seems expensive for what it is”
“how did I find myself in an LL bean store?”
How long would a 3 mpg boost in fuel economy take to offset the price jump?
Commented in the wrong place, deleted it.
I just did some math. If you drive 10,000 miles per year, you’ll save 139 gallons. At the current national average of 3.15/gal, that’s $438/yr. The price difference is $7,000, so it will take you about 50 years (and half a million miles) to pay off that hybrid system.
That was my point. There is also the cost of financing $7,000 over 5 years (or more).
The price difference is $7,000…comparing the cheapest possible model. The equivalent spec (2025 Sport w/ option package) of the hybrid’s starting point is about $34k. The hybrid basically replaced that trim.
The Premium trim of the Crosstrek is now in the low $30s for 2026 and throw in the option package with popular features like heated seats and blind-spot monitor and that’s about $32k. Slimmer premium there.
That said, the original premise comparing the highway number for the hybrid is a bit unfair since it’s a 7 mpg combined increase.
I doubt it would be a wise choice if you were a highway driver. The biggest boost is that city number becoming achievable. Having driven lots of EJ25, and FB20 & FB25 engined Subarus around Portland and Seattle proper. Even see in the EPA city numbers is a tough sell with the stop and go nature of city driving.
So maybe, maybe, it makes sense for some city drivers but I doubt it. As they just don’t do enough miles in a year to see the payback at 7mpg more.
At 12000 mi a year the extra 3mpg is only about $200 is savings at $5/gl. So yeah it doesn’t pencil out
We have a 2020 Crosstrek plug-in hybrid & I tell you the plug-in makes all the difference in the world. Although there’s only 15 miles of “pure” battery range, that’s often enough to do what we need to do around town.
The loss of cargo space hasn’t been a big deal for us (except for when we moved across the country or when the missus decides “we should take that old chair in for reupholstering”) and I still get a small thrill when I see the “99.99+” MPGe reading on the dash as I’m pulling into the gas station.
How has your maintenance and reliability experience been on your car? I see the plug ins pop up every now and then and think it might be a good used purchase.
Is it just me, or is only getting mid 30s mpg seem rather poor for a hybrid?
Compared to the aggregate 18 MPG I got in my bugeye WRX, 36 sounds pretty good. Except for the “Driving a Crosstrek” part.
My wife, current older Crosstrek owner, would be interested in this until she sees the price. Mileage is not that big of an improvement. She gets 29-30mpg consistently around town with the 2.0 non-hybrid. 34-ish on interstate.
We just came back from UK and had a Renault Clio hybrid as our rental for the week. It got real world 50+ mpg driving over the 800 miles we drove….lots of starting/stopping at a gazillion traffic circles. It had 1.0l gas engine, but ran on electric quite a bit. You could tell when the engine kicked in, it was a bit course.
If you are basing those economy figures on what the car was reporting, don’t forget that UK gallons are bigger than US gallons by about 20%.
But certainly any car with a 1.0l engine is going to use less fuel than one with a 2.5L engine, regardless of whether it has added electron boost and recovery or not. I’m a little surprised that Subaru didn’t pair the smaller 2.0L with the hybrid system, unless the 2.5 is enough more advanced to make up for the added displacement.
I did not know UK gallons were different! Either way, we only topped it off 3 times (fuel stations were very sparse) around 8-12 liters each.
Yes, my first thought was why did they not pair it with the 2.0L? My wife’s 2.0 is fine and having the extra low end electric torque would be an improvement. The hybrid Clio’s takeoff torque was sufficient to get you into traffic without butt puckering that a non-hybrid 1.0L would induce.