Originally Posted By: skyactiv
One of my best friends bought a new Crosstrek with a CVT and he likes everything about it but the power. Says it's slow as molasses. He traded a 2007 CRV in for it which he said felt faster, even though on paper I doubt it. Subaru played with the electronic throttle to give it more tip in power which is artificial. Makes the vehicle feel faster than it is which is what Subaru wants you to think during a test drive.
The 2.0l in my daughter's Impreza has less than 150HP, think they may have upgraded the engine family from PFI to DI but it's still pretty weak. We didn't want her to have a car with a lot of power for her first drive, that's a good way for an inexperienced driver to get in trouble. The Crosstrek is bound to be a little heavier than the Impreza and feel even slower. I'm sure even a CRV feels pretty quick compared to a Crosstrek.
The "high torque" CVT in my 2014 FXT had a major repair around 80kmiles, luckily Subaru had extended the warranty on many, if not all, of their CVTs and it was covered. I learned afterwards that that particular CVT had been redesigned during the '15 model year to add a filter and make it more robust. One of the downsides of being an early adopter...the filter cannot be retrofitted (is that a word?) into older transmissions.
Haven't heard anything about the standard Subaru CVTs, hopefully the one in my daughter's car will last a long time without issues.