Subaru Crosstrek. Any good?

Shopping cars for my 22 year old Daughter, and a small suv has been decided on, but which one? It started as looking at used CR-V and narrowed down to a 2019, EXL, AWD with 54k miles. Can be bought for $22,500 at a local Honda dealer. Nice car, one owner, etc. 

A commercial for the Subaru Crosstek popped up and showed them under $30k, and that seemed like a lot of car for the $ so we looked at those. 2025, AWD with heated seats and sunroof. The only difference is cloth interior vs leather, and she doesn't care either way. That can be bought for $30,400. 
 

This will be driven @6k miles a year and plans to keep for years. What do you buy?

We really like our Crosstrek. It's at about 60k  miles without a lick of trouble. Even after I drive my C63 AMG, getting into the Subaru doesn't feel like a penalty box. It's more carlike than the Honda. Basically a wagon. Definitely recommend the 2.5 over the 2.0. It feels a lot torquier.

In simplified terms, the Subaru Crosstek is a Subaru Impreza 5 door "car" given an SUV like lift.  Said another way, the Impreza rides at "car height" and the Crosstek rides at "SUV height".  The point I'm getting at is that if you go for the lower ride height, it saves you at least $2k across the trim levels.  

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

The one for $30,400 is the premium with the 2.5. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Good to know, I'll get her to drive both Tomorrow. 

I drove my cousin's 2016 Crosstrek w/ manual transmission a bunch of times. Pretty slow, but was a nice place to spend time. Good ride and handling.

In that same vein of low ride height wagon which is offered also in a higher ride height, presented as an SUV...

Mazda offers the Mazda3 5door hatchback (low height) and the Mazda CX-3 (higher height) but generally the same car.  I suggest you look at the Mazda offerings as they much compare to the Subarus.  

Originally you start off with a Rav4 or Crosstek comparison.  I just want to point out they are not the same size class of vehicle.  

Toyota has the Corolla and Corolla Cross which are the size comparo to Subaru Impreza/Crosstek and Mazda3/CX-3

Toyota Rav4 would compare with Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5

It's a car, not an SUV. And that's a good thing.

They sell like crazy around here. I talk to a lot of owners, and no one has been anything but happy with theirs.

We didn't drive a Crosstrek last year, but did drive cars in the same year '23-24 range, and I know these are a little larger as well but she figured if she was going to go to a small SUV it might as well have the room. Forester, Outback, CR-V, CX-5, and something else now I don't remember. I did not drive any of these cars nor did I provide feedback beyond objectives like mileage/condition/price as I did not want to influence my fiance's decision. I merely went with her and along for the side so to speak. After spending an entire day driving used cars, she decided on Mazda. 

So we ended up paying $24k for a 2023 30k mile Carbon Edition CX-5, the next week. It probably wasn't the best deal to be had, but we also needed to get her a car NOW. As State Farm had already picked up the Mazda 3 that was totaled from hail.

The Carbon Edition is a unique color, not really sure how to describe it, but comes with AWD, black leather, 10 speaker BOSE that is quite good, and a sunroof. And it knocks down better gas mileage on 87 than my BRZ on premium.

For subjective stuff, I didn't care for the interior design of the Subaru's, the Honda was fine. However, I felt all 3 were overpriced for their condition/options. 

John Welsh said:

In simplified terms, the Subaru Crosstek is a Subaru Impreza 5 door "car" given an SUV like lift.  Said another way, the Impreza rides at "car height" and the Crosstek rides at "SUV height".  The point I'm getting at is that if you go for the lower ride height, it saves you at least $2k across the trim levels.  

Yes, and not only that, it's FAR less likely to roll over in case of a collision.  Those cute utes can be like cow tipping or fainting goats.

John Welsh said:

In that same vein of low ride height wagon which is offered also in a higher ride height, presented as an SUV...

Mazda offers the Mazda3 5door hatchback (low height) and the Mazda CX-3 (higher height) but generally the same car.  I suggest you look at the Mazda offerings as they much compare to the Subarus.  

 

 

Originally you start off with a Rav4 or Crosstek comparison.  I just want to point out they are not the same size class of vehicle.  

Toyota has the Corolla and Corolla Cross which are the size comparo to Subaru Impreza/Crosstek and Mazda3/CX-3

Toyota Rav4 would compare with Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5

Her Sister has a RAV4, Brother has a CX-5, Grandmother has a CX-30, lol. She likes the smaller sized ones, but the blind spots in the CX-30 didn't work for her, they just happened to be bad for a 5 ft tall person. She's in a Mini now, so the car feel of an Impreza might be the way. 

In reply to z31maniac :

The Carbon CX-5 is a great one, Her Brother has one with the red interior. 

We have the Crosstek's slightly larger cousin, a '15 Forester for our teenage drivers, and Subaru presents a lot of value for the money.  Definitely agree on the 2.5 vs. the 2.0, but the CVT works well (I'd recommend more regular fluid changes than Subaru's maintenance schedule), and it returns surprisingly good MPG.  My parents have had a '15 Forester from new and have also had a good experience with theirs.  Not sure on the Crosstek, but the Forester has exceptional visibility.

Just did a quick comparison, a '15 Forester with 195k is worth about $4800 (private party), and a '15 RAV is about $7800.  Toyota/Honda resale value is better, so it may not be meaningful in the end.  For us, the lower buy-in point was helpful.

I believe the Crosstrek has a better AWD system compared to a regular Impreza. Probably not worth it for the average driver tho.
 

I would not recommend a Subaru when Mazdas exist. They are better in every way I care about. But if the CX-30 didn't work for her I get it. Just budget for blown head gaskets.

I'm sure you know there's the CX-50 and 5.  And you can get an AWD Mazda 3 now. My guess is it will be a nicer driving car than an Impreza. More reliable too. No CVT, no blown head gaskets.

2019 Crosstrek here that was bought with 9 miles on it in Feb 2019.  Currently about 68K and so far only scheduled maintenance and rear brakes the last visit.  I've let a few people drive it and they always say they liked it.  If I were to pay off the GR Corolla I'd consider a new Wilderness model.

In January we bought a 2025 CX-50 "S preferred " with the 2.5 NA engine.  We are at 11k trouble free miles.   Which isn't a lot I know.  We liked the actual 6 speed auto vs the CVT of the Subaru.  It is a little bigger than a Crosstrek and is a bit more comparable to a Outback/Forester which was what we looked at.  

We got ours somehow for just under $30k.   It returns about 33 mpg on highway trips.  It's got heated seats radar cruise wireless android but no sunroof and some neat hybrid cloth synthetic seats.  We really like it.  

CyberEric said:

Just budget for blown head gaskets.

Actually, the newer models (i.e. FB25) *seem* to have fixed the HG issue (finally).  Now they require valve cover gaskets (with spark plug seals) and o-ring replacements on the coolant crossover pipe that runs under the intake.  But both are preferable to replacing HGs, and in all fairness, both were needed on a car with 190k on it.

I know the FB is pretty good, but has Subaru figured out how to make CVTs live? 

buzzboy said:

I know the FB is pretty good, but has Subaru figured out how to make CVTs live? 

I think Subaru has been part of the problem, there's no maintenance schedule on the fluid.  They extended the warranty on the CVT for the Forester, for example to 10 years / 100k, so the advice is to keep the factory fill until you hit 100k if you're under that warranty.  On the Forester, at least, what I've heard/seen is that a replacement of the valve body/fresh fluid/transmission relearn should resolve most CVT issues.  I bought our Forester last fall with 190k on it, it had just had a valve body replacement/fluid/relearn.   The CarFax is perfect, oil changes and maintenance at the same dealer throughout it's entire life, but no mention of a transmission service thanks to "lifetime fluid."   I'll probably do the fluid again in the next year or so just do the re-learn myself and ensure fresh Subaru fluid.  I'm a big believer in frequent fluid changes for a transmission.

My parent's car is a '15, and they have about 80k I believe on it with no issues with the CVT.  They have Subaru's warranty extension on theirs, once that expires I'll recommend they have a dealer change the fluid.  

If it were my car bought from new, I'd do a fluid change at 30k, then every 30k after that.  For me, it's cheap insurance.

With all that said, I still think a regular auto is simpler and will provide better longevity.  But even those will need regular fluid changes in order to last.

dj06482 (Forum Supporter) said:

CyberEric said:

Just budget for blown head gaskets.

Actually, the newer models (i.e. FB25) *seem* to have fixed the HG issue (finally).  Now they require valve cover gaskets (with spark plug seals) and o-ring replacements on the coolant crossover pipe that runs under the intake.  But both are preferable to replacing HGs, and in all fairness, both were needed on a car with 190k on it.

FBs never had head gasket issues, as far as I've ever seen.  It was the old EJ253 that would drool oil onto everything and then catch fire if you ignored it.

John Welsh said:

In simplified terms, the Subaru Crosstek is a Subaru Impreza 5 door "car" given an SUV like lift.  Said another way, the Impreza rides at "car height" and the Crosstek rides at "SUV height".  The point I'm getting at is that if you go for the lower ride height, it saves you at least $2k across the trim levels.  

The interesting thing is that, unless the NEW New ones are different, the Impreza went to a totally different front suspension starting in 2017ish, so they are different.  It has aluminum knuckles and Toyota-like bolt in ball joints.  Very similar to what you find in a Prius since forever.  This allowed them to make the cars sit lower than before.

Just the regular Imprezas.  The STI still had hydraulic power steering and the pinch bolt ball joints up to the end of production.  I am pretty sure the Crosstrek still uses those knuckles that are more or less the same dimensionally as a 1990 Legacy.

The new Crosstreks do, however, have probably THE most obnoxious headlights on new vehicles...

Owners of Subarus tend to really like them.
 

It seems like strapping a turbo or heavy trailer to them is generally a bad idea though.