Subaru Crosstrek

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Al

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Grandson will be finishing up his MOS in the Marines (MP) in a couple months. Looking at giving him my '16 Chev Spark and buying a new Crosstrek. I have sat in one. Sits high and has 8.5" of ground clearance. Visibility is amazing. Anyone have one?
 
No crosstrek but I have an 18 OB with 3.6 that I'm loving! Great in the snow!! Enough so I leave my F150 behing unless I have all the kids and need the space. I'm at 46k or 48k and has been issue free.
 
I like them a lot and think they are a great value. The main complaint is they are underpowered. I would also get the CVT over the manual.
 
A good friend of mine has one. His only complaint is that it needs more power. But he has got 34 MPG highway which isn't bad considering it has AWD.
 
If you're shopping Subies, an NA Forester is probably the best bang for your buck.
You don't save a whole lot by picking the Crosstrek.
If I wanted a two liter Subie, I'd probably go cheap and buy an Imprezza sedan.
Legacy sedans can also be a good buy.
 
Well I have an '18 Forester XT (technically its the wife's). Yes I realize they are slow. I love Subaru's. I checked out the Chev Trax. Foget it ..if you think the Crosstrek is slow...scheesch. I want a good snow car. Hard to beat Subaru's system.

They appear to be a good value.
 
Originally Posted by Al
Grandson will be finishing up his MOS in the Marines (MP) in a couple months. Looking at giving him my '16 Chev Spark and buying a new Crosstrek. I have sat in one. Sits high and has 8.5" of ground clearance. Visibility is amazing. Anyone have one?


They're very popular around these parts. The increased ground clearance makes them great for getting through plow berms and ice shelves the city leaves behind. I haven't heard of any major problems with them.

With the Crosstrek, it's absolutely worth going new, as Subaru seriously stepped their game up with the 18 model (despite it looking virtually identical) and it's just a much nicer overall package. Refinement is up across the board with the ride and handling much improved. There are some gripes about the power, but honestly I don't think they're THAT bad. They're not sports cars, and were never built to be, but I guess I'm old enough to remember what a REALLY slow car is like.

Also worth pointing out that Subaru's AWD is a "real" AWD system, and generally more capable than most on the market. The X mode apparently really works and the ground clearance makes it surprisingly capable even if you want to go offroad. A set of snow tires and it'd be unstoppable in snow and ice.

They're good little cars if that's what you want. They're not real big, but if you're used to a Chevy Spark the Crosstrek will feel like an aircraft carrier. I like them, but then I also loved the old Forester and thought Subaru ruined them by making them too big, so maybe I'm weird.
 
They are nice cars! I really liked them and was going to get one instead of my current Forester, but felt the back seat was too small.

The Forester seemed to work a lot better for what I need and wasn't that much more
 
Subaru seems to have really stepped up their game as of late. I think you could do a lot worse for sure. Do a review on yours (if you buy it) in a few months and tell us your thought's.
 
For most practical purposes, a Crosstrek is a lifted Impreza. If you don't need the ground clearance, then it's the better choice.

If you do need the ground clearance and don't mind driving something slightly more soccer-momish, the Forester is the better buy.
 
Originally Posted by gathermewool
For most practical purposes, a Crosstrek is a lifted Impreza. If you don't need the ground clearance, then it's the better choice.

If you do need the ground clearance and don't mind driving something slightly more soccer-momish, the Forester is the better buy.

I just like the visibility and the lines (and the ground clearance) And again I have an '18 Forester.
 
Al, I grew up and lived in NW Pa and always thought you get little snow SE of Harrisburg, not so?

Next door neighbors just got a Crosstrek recently and she really likes it with a 3 YO and baby, she was driving an Expedition. We looked at them in '14 but it felt a bit smaller than a RAV and my boss didn't like the CVT...
 
Please note these ARE my videos. The transmission failed at 2400 miles. While it may have been infant mortality, there are a large number of Crosstrek CVT's failing. What caused the failure was a highway run up a long steep hill. I had the adaptive cruise control on and traffic was holding me up. When traffic moved right the engine RPM went up as the car tried to accelerate. RPM went up to 4000, then 5200, at which point the thing started making noise. We did make it to the top of the hill at about 30MPH or so, but it shut itself down while making a racket. Restarted it and limped it to the exit down the hill.

CVT's seem to be "luck of the draw" and some have good results, some do not. The Crosstrek has a 14% CVT failure rate. Far above the normal automatic average.
 
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They are the coolest looking of the Subaru CUV lineup is about their best attribute IMO. I owned a 2014 with a 5spd manual for 2yrs and 36k miles. I hated it because of that awful 5spd, but overall it was a fine car.

Like said above, a Forester is a lot more Subaru in about every way, for about the same money.
 
Hey Cujet, Not questioning your 14% failure rate (obviously it has a 100% failure rate for you) but just wondering where this info was from. I'd like to see other Subaru CVT data since I have so many Subaru products in my family. (4)

To the OP I have not owned or driven a Crosstrek, but my son has an Impreza with the 2.0. If ground clearance isn't an issue the Impreza is great. Gas mileage is awesome for an AWD vehicle. Wife has a 17 Forester with the 2.5, to me it isn't as peppy as the Impreza; I assume because of weight. Had plenty of Legacy cars with the 2.5 both the old EJ and FB engines. No oil usage on any of our Subarus. No CVT issues on any of them except for a 2010 that was underfilled with fluid from the factory and had to be topped off with no further drama.

We are very loyal Subaru customers!
 
I drove one and they are really nice with good ground clearance. They are not as good driving 80 mph on the interstate as a car would be due to the clearance. For the most part they are pretty cool and have some nice colors. I like the Orange ones.
 
Originally Posted by Al
Grandson will be finishing up his MOS in the Marines (MP) in a couple months. Looking at giving him my '16 Chev Spark and buying a new Crosstrek. I have sat in one. Sits high and has 8.5" of ground clearance. Visibility is amazing. Anyone have one?


We have one that I drive sometimes, wife drives mostly. Its fun to drive, more so than Forester. As for power, its certainly got enough power but if you want to burn rubber at every stoplight it might not be the car for you. Being AWD its fine for the snow we get in upstate NY. Would be better even if it had snows.

I would like the hood to stay raised without a support rod. The Forester has a normal hood where you lift and it stays. The Crosstrek needs it support rod.

We have the alert system for a car in blind spot or something behind you. I would say both are good to have. Although nothing takes the place of the mirrors I have on the F250.

Oil change is easiest I have ever owned.

CVT vehicle with 100K mile warranty on CVT. It might feel a little odd at first but honestly I do not think about it while driving. Might be more noticeable if you drove a CVT for 10 years and switched to a 6 speed automatic.
 
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Originally Posted by Cujet
Please note these ARE my videos. The transmission failed at 2400 miles. While it may have been infant mortality, there are a large number of Crosstrek CVT's failing. What caused the failure was a highway run up a long steep hill. I had the adaptive cruise control on and traffic was holding me up. When traffic moved right the engine RPM went up as the car tried to accelerate. RPM went up to 4000, then 5200, at which point the thing started making noise. We did make it to the top of the hill at about 30MPH or so, but it shut itself down while making a racket. Restarted it and limped it to the exit down the hill.

CVT's seem to be "luck of the draw" and some have good results, some do not. The Crosstrek has a 14% CVT failure rate. Far above the normal automatic average.


I know you had mentioned that before. Subaru warrants their CVT for 10 years. So to me its not an issue. I honestly find that 14% difficult to believe. Subaru had problems in the past bc there was a torque converter issue. That was 100% corrected and today Subaru's CVT are among the best. They use a steel belt. Do you have a reliable source for that 14%?

Originally Posted by JTK
a Forester is a lot more Subaru in about every way, for about the same money.

Price difference is about $8+K for comparably equipped Forester vs Crosstrek.

My middle of the road (not touring) Forester listed at $31162
 
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