By this time, I was knee deep in P1800’s, with my parts cars, and restoring one. My girlfriend and I had been together at the time for 6 years, and were both at the University of Arkansas. As you might recall a while back, she was having some transmission issues with her 04 RX330. Well, her dad seeing no choice but to buy her one last car, asked her what she wanted. Anna is very humble, and does not like for people to spend any money on her. She went for used cars, but honestly told her dad to get her whatever. After he insisted on her picking out a new car, she found a few that she had always liked.
Anna is not the biggest car person. Try as she might, she just sees a car, as a car like most females. She said she had always had her eye on a Subaru Crosstrek, or a Honda Crosstour. Whether or not she chose these based on their similar names or she actually liked them I don’t know, but that is what they went looking for.
Her dad, knowing I was a car guy asked me what I thought of them, and to go look at them after class, since the closest dealers were in Fayetteville where we were both going to school. After looking at both, I was more keen on the Honda. I was a little unsure about how the Subaru would hold up especially after they had just come out of oil consumption issues a few years prior. When her dad called to ask if the local dealer had any issues with the 2015’s consuming oil, they responded “what oil consumption issue” even though it had made national news. He was not fond of that answer at all. After hearing that story I thought that the Honda would be the winner for sure. I also was not able to push a Volvo onto her, because I knew that if she got one and it gave her once ounce of trouble it would be my fault.
One day while I was at work, Anna and her dad went to look at the Subarus just to see them. Well, Anna came home with one. At first I was a little annoyed because after all this work, and trying to find a non-Subaru, and the problems behind them, they went with one. I knew though it was not my car, thus not my money so I just went along with it, and hoped that it would last her long enough.
The car Anna picked was a grey metallic Crosstrek, with black leather interior. They had to order one from another dealer as they did not have the leather option in stock. The car came equipped with a 2.0 boxer engine and a CVT. When I first drove the car I could not believe how smooth it had driven. I was used to older Volvos with a bit stiffer ride. The quality seemed to be there as well. No rattles or loose plastic pieces that I thought it would have. Nothing on the inside seemed to be cheap at first glance.
Well, the honeymoon was over about a week later. I started noticing cheap everything in the car. From the interior buttons, to the lagged touchscreen, and the hard seats. I was not impressed at all. I think the only thing that the car had going for it was the AWD which Subaru is known for, and it had a warranty.
The Crosstrek was introduced in 2013, and it was based on an Impreza with a Forester suspension. The Impreza is Subaru’s entry level car that can either be a hatch or a sedan, but the Crosstrek is only available in a hatch version. At the time they all came with a 2.0 boxer engine, and could be had with either a CVT or manual transmission. Anna got the top of the line limited which basically only offered leather, not even a sunroof.
This car is one I would grow to hate. Granted it was not my car, but we often drove this car everywhere we went. Mainly because it was new and the gas mileage was great. The more I drove it the more I hated it. I hated the seats, they were hard as a rock, and I often wondered if sitting on a milk crate would be more comfortable. The engine and CVT were the most gutless machines ever made. I think if it wasn’t paired with a CVT the 2.0 could’ve been more enjoyable to drive.
As far problems go, Anna never had any issues with the car. I think she had a check engine light come on one time, and it was for a stop lamp switch, which was eventually recalled later. The car had three free oil changes, and Subaru recommended changing the oil every 10,000 miles, so that was nice not having to pay for an oil change until 30,000 miles.
The car served her all through college, and all through graduate school. About a year after we got married, I got so fed up with the car. Anna was driving 30 minutes to work every day, and most of it was freeway driving. One day I was driving the car by myself and noticed how light it became in the rain, even with good tires on it. I got home and asked her if this was common, and she said it always felt that way when it rained. The following day I was on the hunt for a new car for her.
She hated to give up that Crosstrek so much. The car was 5 years old and had 55,000 miles on it. Since it was also my car now, I wanted something more comfortable, and felt safer for her. We scoped out a Volvo that was at a Buick lot locally, but after they wouldn’t tell me what our rate was on the loan I walked out. We, or more like she, found herself going to something more familiar, and by that time it had felt familiar to me as well.
Did the Crosstrek suffer from the same headgasket woes that Outbacks did? I owned three Outbacks, and each had its merits, but all three had headgasket and catalytic converter problems like clockwork. Of course, get rid of one at 55k, and that’s not your problem.
My wife has the same “a car is just a car” attitude. She’s still happy with the ’08 Honda Civic she’s been driving for about five years. It’s starting to look like crap, but it still runs like a Swiss watch.
The Crosstrek has a 2 liter “FB” engine, which have been fine. The headgasket issues were on the 2.5 liter EJ25. My EJ25 currently has 204k miles… and is on it’s 3rd set. Luckily Subaru specialists can do them in their sleep now.
A lack of interest in cars by our wonderful spouses is an advantage. My lovely wife is almost completely disinterested in cars, and is undemanding accordingly. This makes for a more peaceful (and cheaper) domestic situation.
These cars are absolutely everywhere in Utah. I swear that if you leave two of them parked next to each other you will come back and find they’ve spawned three more. I’ve never driven one, but on paper I certainly don’t get the appeal for a number of reasons. But they’ve seemed to clinch a buyer demographic here that skews younger and “outdoorsy”.
I don’t blame you for wanting something different, but I’m reading between the lines here and not quite buying the safety argument. Disposing of a free new car after only five trouble-free years because of irreconcilable personality differences is a nice gig, if you can get it.
“I certainly don’t get the appeal for a number of reasons”
It’s a compact hatch, with the capabilities of a crossover, without the negative stigma of either. For people without kids, who like being active on the weekends and have to park in the city during the week, it’s perfect.
I looked at one to replace my Outback, since the new ones are enormous, but my only real complaint with the Crosstrek is, as Connor mentioned, it’s slooooooooow. Subaru just announced the Crosstrek will be offered with the 2.5 next year, so I’m hopeful that’ll fix that problem.
From my view, they have the stigma of both–it’s clearly a compact hatchback crossover. They have a decent ground clearance, but struggling to find anything else redeeming in comparison to the VW wagon I owned when these launched.
I can be active every weekend and park in the city in many vehicles 🙂
Nah, they definitely play as much “cooler” than a base Impreza hatch. This is not just my 2 cents, hatches have had an image problem in the US for ages. I don’t necessarily endorse it, but it exists.
And as for most CUVs, well, I don’t think you need to be in PR to see why a Crosstrek might appeal to some people more than a CRV/Rogue.
You can not like marketing and image, but it’s a real thing. Or else we’d all be driving Yaris hatchbacks & minivans.
And yes, something a size smaller like a Crosstrek is easier to park than an Outback. Different classes of vehicles exist for a reason. Some people prioritize needs differently than you.
“Some people prioritize needs differently than you”
Something to consider the next time you hear someone else say they don’t like the Crosstrek. I don’t prioritize image and marketing, which is probably why I’m not recognizing the apparent sole attribute of this car.
But why do you think that this and the Outback are the only two vehicles in existence? Can I not have an active lifestyle with a Golf, or Mazda3 or Civic hatch or whatever Hyundai and Kia are offering here?
It can also go further down a trail than those cars. It’s better in inclement weather. And on and on. That’s not just marketing. It’s a different class of car. You said you don’t get the appeal. You do. For other people. Perhaps what you meant to say was that it doesn’t appeal to you.
I can make a motorcycle work for 99% of my driving needs. Or a school bus. But neither is good at it. And the next statement of “you don’t need X-vehicle to do some activity, I do that with Y-vehicle every day” has been done to death.
This internet commenter insistence that whatever someone else drives must be wrong for them is overplayed. If you must just share that you don’t like it, fine, end it there.
I don’t prioritize image and marketing, which is probably why I’m not recognizing the apparent sole attribute of this car.
The Crosstrek’s AWD and 8.7″ of ground clearance are obviously not attributes in your mind.
I know you love to argue and have the last word, but you’ve rather painted yourself into a corner here. The reality is that the Crosstrek is pretty much the only vehicle in its class, a lifted AWD hatchback. And guess what, some folks want those. Have all the the active lifestyle you want in a Golf or 323, but when the snow gets really thick on the way to the ski resort, or that back country road suddenly gets steep and rocky, good luck with those. I’ve taken my xB and Promaster van on some pretty rough roads, but I’ve also had to stop and back out in each of them. A Crosstrek wouldn’t have.
Having three FWD vehicles in the driveway, I ask myself sometimes how that happened. I’m regretting more and more that we didn’t get a Forester or Crosstrek instead of the TSX.
The next new addition to the fleet will be AWD, as there’s places I want to go that the other can’t.
“This internet commenter insistence that whatever someone else drives must be wrong for them”
That’s a fallacy, I never insisted it was wrong for others. This conversation would have gone better if the image and marketing aspect were left out–I simply don’t agree that this is a virtue even if the market proves otherwise. As it is now, we’re just talking past each other. We don’t agree and that’s fine, I have no hard feelings about that.
“I know you love to argue and have the last word”
It’s a personal failing of mine. But one that we share.
I don’t understand the insult, honestly, since nearly all of my comments to the writers on this site are complimentary. The author “hates” this car, so I felt it appropriate to express my negative opinion of it, which I wouldn’t have done if he liked it. True, the back and forth in response to my comment took a bit more negative tone than I intended, but both you and LTD are demonstrating a love of a good argument here. So why are my comments the only ones drawing your ire?
8.7 inches + AWD and trendy marketing is not enough to overcome a poor powertrain, mediocre fuel ecomomy, a poor approach angle, poor seats, and a tight cargo hold. Doesn’t seem like an extreme position to me.
I hated the seats, they were hard as a rock
Can anyone tell me if the non-leather seats in this series Crosstrek are more comfortable? And are the different seats than in the Impreza?
I can’t tell you absolutely for sure, but I can’t imagine the seats are any different regardless of the fabric covering them. And I would bet they’re the same basic seat as the Impreza, which this is, fundamentally.
I know that mediocre cars can be very popular, for a variety of reasons, but after owning a Forester for a while, and having many friends with a Subaru’s of all kinds, including Crosstreks, I think they’re pretty good cars. My Forester’s interior looked pretty much the same after ten years of fairly hard use, with kids and lots of camping trips and even as an occasional dump hauler, as it did brand new … hardly “cheap”, though I suspect there’s been some downgrading over the time between my ‘04 and this one. I imagine coming from Lexus RX or Volvo to this car may affect your standards, and I’ll admit when I drove an Impreza back to back with a Golf when we bought our last car, the Golf won by a mile.
Don’t get me wrong I think Subaru is great. I just was not impressed with this generation Crosstrek. I think the newer ones might be better, however I have never really driven/looked at them.
My wife had a 2014 Crosstrek, and it was a competent if rather dull car. The seats are pretty sad in them as well. That cvt really ruins the driving experience. She had a 2000 Impreza Outback Sport with a manual trans, it was a vastly better car from a comfort and driveabilty perspective.
The Crosstrek is the Official Car of My Mom. She’s leased three of them in a row, or maybe it’s 4… honestly, I’ve lost track. I think what attracts her to the Crosstrek is that she thinks it projects a youthful image (she’s in her late 70s, and ‘funky’ is the term she uses to describe her car), but at the same time it’s very practical and easy for her to drive.
She likes them enough that she recommends Crosstreks to virtually everyone. So far, my aunt (also in her 70s) and sister (in her 50s) have bought them as well, on Mom’s recommendation. I’ve never driven any of them, but I’ve found riding in them to be rather unmemorable. But I do understand the appeal.
Incidentally, Mom has written to Subaru letting them know that she loves Crosstreks and asking them to keep them in production and to continue offering Orange as a color. I think they did sent her a polite reply.
It sounds like you hated that car really for not a lot of good and valid reasons and got rid of a perfectly fine, if dull car. But I get it. When I got married I hated my wife’s purple Grand Am , which had about the same mileage and no service issues. She is not a car person. Off it went 4 months after our wedding.
I personally like them because I love the utility of hatchback’s. A good buddy of mine who is a complete muscle car fanboy and multiple Mustang owner, sold his 2004 Jeep Wrangler and bought one of these. A Ford guy generally. It was a a huge departure for him. He loves it especially it’s his first car that gives good economy. It’s a great car for a 4 season area with the AWD. I’d be a bit leery about the CVT, since I keep cars a long time and that’s a very expensive repair. A manual for me then.
The CVT is a let down in my opinion. This was actually my biggest fear with the car. She was out of warranty, and if something were to go wrong with the CVT it would be costly.
We got rid of the car for valid reasons in our opinion. A lot of highway driving lead me to want to get her something bigger with more driver assistance features.
Light in the rain–what was up with that? You said it had good tires, so I assume it wasn’t hydroplaning.
I wondered about that too. Odd. Never driven a modern car that “felt light in the rain”. Especially not a Subaru.
There are lots of tires that aren’t that great in the rain, even with full tread depth and minimal water on the road.
“Light in the rain–what was up with that? You said it had good tires, so I assume it wasn’t hydroplaning.”
You have to remember that I am coming from driving a Volvo, which are heavier than this car. I think the XC90 is over 4,000 pounds, and the Subaru is a little over 3,000 wet. If it was raining enough to get the roads wet, it would get a little “floaty” on the roads. This was also putting on new tires just like what it had on when new.
Wait a minute, you forced your wife to get rid of the car she purchase for herself before you got married? Um, somethings not right there. If it was hers and she liked it then what business was it of yours? Am I missing something here? Odd.
I don’t recall that I used the word “forced” in the post….Maybe we should just keep assumptions elsewhere.
We lived in Little Rock for eight years and bought our 2013 Outback from the dealer in Fayetteville. Thus when I read that your dealer – which I know is the same one – swapped with another dealer to get the Crosstrek with leather, my reaction was: which other dealer? There are only two Subaru dealers in the entire state!!
As for the oil consumption, we just got the short block repair at 90K miles. Apparently Subaru largely fixed the problem by the 2015 models.
I had to take a look at the window sticker from hers, but they swapped with a dealer in Oklahoma City. I have always wondered how inventory swapping works. I think I am making it more complicated in my head.
Wow, a lot of commenters here are making assumptions and painting this narrative as if this guy sold this car out from under his wife. I see no reason to jump to that conclusion.
When it’s dark, foggy, and rainy, and my wife is returning from the late shift at work, I get utterly terrified. She’s a good driver, and I do all the maintenance on her car, but it still terrifies me. If I drove her car and felt like I couldn’t rely on it in the rain (in spite of good tires), I’d be lobbying for her to get something else too.
And so what if the author and his wife moved on from it after only five years? Plenty of folks here change cars like the wind. If they can afford to buy a new car after 5 years, good for them.
I’d assume that he talked it over with his wife and made the case for replacing the Crosstour–he didn’t just say, “The Crosstour goes because I, the lord and master, say so!”
I’d also assume that he and his wife discussed what the next car would be.
Sometimes people just read what they want to. Trust me I can’t force my wife to do anything. She has the biggest handle on our finances. Despite how negative I was about the Crosstrek we ended up with another Subaru, so it is not as if I hate the brand.
If it weren’t for sentences, pictures, and articles like this, one could easily be forgiven for thinking the Crosstrek has always only ever been available in orange.
“Well, her dad seeing no choice but to buy her one last car, . . . ”
Sadly, my father had more imagination. 🙂
I had the opposite experience – my future Mrs had a car I was not that crazy about (88 Honda Accord) but that I came to really appreciate by the time it left us. Taking a car that the Mrs. really likes and replacing it has many possibilities for going wrong. I hope this one turned out OK for you.
Yeah you really don’t want to hear “I don’t like this as much as my old car.”
These are hugely popular around here as well, young to old, and seem plenty quick enough for most owners to hang on to them for a while, even with the reduced power at 5000 minimum feet, the CVT probably helps with that by keeping the engine at the torque peak when needed. Modern Subarus are generally solid cars and do well in accidents, important when the weather suddenly changes and others are sliding all over the place. These seem to come in interesting colors too, first that orange, then sort of a khaki and now a powdery blue/gray seems very popular. I’m not sure how it is in Arkansas, but out here the resale values on them are excellent as well, far better than any Volvo or even a Lexus.
My biggest question once again is what is taking every other manufacturer so long to see a niche that Subaru is just walking away with. Why is there no CrossCorollaHatch or CrossFit or CrossWhateverElse or especially another VW Golf Country?
Jim, I was surprised when the Golf Alltrack or Buick Regal wagon both failed to dent Subaru. Ford is supposed to be coming out with a raised Fusion-based sport wagon – let’s see if it happens and if it gains traction (nyuk nyuk).
The Subaru cult is hard to define. When I bought my 2013 Outback, it was the result of the most research I had ever done in a personal car quest; 2.5 years and 25 test drives. It’s not a “handler”, but it’s not sloppy. It’s got the 2.5, but I have yet to desire more power. The CVT took 5 minutes to get use to before it became second nature. It’s not perfect of course; it’s needed more maintenance than my previous Japanese cars…at 150k it’s needed a transmission (Subaru fully covered), pads and rotors (the aftermarket have lasted much longer than OEM at half the price), lower control arm bushings, and this week I need to get a rear wheel bearing replaced.
But it’s a very solid driving vehicle (reminds me of our old Volvo S70), at 6’3” very comfortable seats, and it comes alive when the weather turns poor. It’s only seen one dusting of snow, but it’s an absolute sure-footed little beast in our torrential downpours and surface road flooding. And it loves itself some off-road trails. It’s not a Jeep Wrangler of course…
For the first time in my car buying history I am considering a repeat brand down the road now that Subaru offers ventilated seats and a low-tire monitor that tells you which tire needs attention (one of my car’s minor annoyances). I heard a hybrid is in the works and that would seal the deal for me.
My mother-in-law bought a new Crosstrek while we still owned this one. It now has 30k on it. It suffers from much of the same issues that her car had. Bad interior pieces, uncomfortable seats etc. I think that Subaru is a great brand, but this particular model just did not do it for me. They do really hold their resell. I think it stickered at $25k, and we got trade in of $15k so not bad at all in my mind.
Oddly enough my wife really wanted a Buick wagon when we traded this in. It was a used one with 3,000 miles. We seriously thought about it, but it did lack some of the features she wanted. So if we are paying up, why not get everything you wanted? It was a cool little wagon though.
My ex had an Infiniti m35 which had absolutely miserable, rock hard seats. After 5 minutes you were squirming around trying to get comfortable or tolerate the seats. I know the days of button tufted pillow top all day comfort seats are gone but there are plenty of happy mediums.
Like the little girl of longfellow’s poem, when a cvt is good, it’s. . . Well, tolerable, and when it’s bad, it’s horrid. The last time I looked at a Subaru in 2011 the car was fine, reasonably priced, not too many buttons, met all the demands, but the cvt was awful. The caliber earned its wretched reputation in no small part due to the cvt although the rest of the car was terrible.
Suprise to read such negative writing about one of American favorite vehicles, a very popular band, and highly recommended by Consumers Report. Cross track is a modern version of 1984 Civic Wagon. It is very practical and relatively economical vehicle for daily driving with bad weather capability and even lighter duty off-road. For this price range, you can not ask too much. As for the seat comfort you will find seat from most vehicles is about the same, they all are designed for American with very large bottom and manufactured by few suppliers. I did own a 1997 Outback wagon for about two years about 12 years ago, I found its leather seat was very comfortable for my body shape and size. Then I sit on 2003 Accord, 2011 Venza and 2015 Odyssey, they are all for big ass drivers with tiring legs and back after 200 mile driving. But I have my 2003 Mercedes ML350, a deadly sin car, has very decent seats
My impression on my 1997 Subaru then was its built quality was not match with other Honda products I had own. As we witness in last two decades, Subaru has made big headway in the expanse of Saab, VW and Volvo, sometimes even Japanese big three. It is labeled as a well engineered product despite its recent quality issues in manufacturing plants.
To me, Subaru has become the Ultimate MM Machine.
Sorry, Paul, I know you’ve had good luck with yours, but the attitude I received from the mechanic at a prominent Pittsburgh Subaru store upon learning our 2005 Outback was going to need a SECOND head gasket replacement, at 178,000 miles, was the camel that broke my straw back.
When we’d left the Outback with the dealership, my wife received a then-new 2013 Crosstrek to drive. She was alright with it, as it was a new car, but not thrilled.
Then I drove it.
What a POS. The lack of throttle response, which I figure like Connor is probably the CVT, made it a PIA to drive.
I’ve written elsewhere on Curbside that there’ve been three Subies in our family from 2006-13. The ’92 Legacy wagon (my favorite in retrospect) was an oil leaker but fun to drive as long as you kept the fluids topped off. The ’98 Outback that we bought for my wife still had enough of the ’92’s DNA carried onto that design and when the head gaskets failed, they were replaced with Fel-Pro, which meant problem solved. The ’05 Outback was the nicest of all but I could never get comfortable riding with my wife, the passenger seat just didn’t go back far enough and I’m only 5′-11.”
The GM at the dealer at the time, husband of a BFF of my wife, swore the head gasket problems were fixed starting with the 2003 models.
They were “fixed” alright: Instead of leaking INSIDE the engine, they now leaked OUTSIDE the engine. And the dealer mechanics replaced them with the factory part which meant they were doomed to fail again.
By the time of our discovery that the new set was leaking too, the tech acted like this was just part of the ownership experience.
And then to learn…FROM CURBSIDE, NOT SUBARU…that there IS a factory-prescribed regimen to prevent those head gasket failures.
Finally, the AWD.
Great in snow but USELESS to try to stop on ice. And isn’t that the biggest winter issue of all, stopping on glare ice? That ISN’T a Subaru issue, it’s just the nature of winter driving. That said, the Equinox we own today is better than the ’05 Outback was in those conditions, although the best cure of all for winter driving is a good set of tires.
Then it seems FWD and traction control is really all you need. Although it helps to have an old 4WD Tahoe in the driveway for the worst days, LOL.
Lesson I learned long ago continues with my Outback – I never use OEM parts unless no one else makes it. But that’s been my philosophy with all my cars.
My wife isn’t very technical but she has some definite ideas about cars she likes and dislikes. Keeping the Mazda CX-5 when it went off lease took a bit of persuading and paradoxically she likes driving our F-150 more.
Subaru Crosstreks are all over central Oregon frequently accessorized as “overlanders” with racks, LED light bars and root tents. Head gasket issues and lackluster driving experience notwithstanding Oregonians love Subarus and they command a Honda like price premium.