Symmetrical AWD, WRC roots set Crosstrek apart
Our affair with Subaru goes back to our earliest years. At about the time we started publishing magazines out of a back room at home, Subaru began selling cars from a downtown Jo’burg basement. Subaru and us clicked, right off the bat.
The rest is history. While we’ve always loved its performance cars, Subaru has also excelled at building awesome, if quite underrated all-wheel-drive crossovers. Think the base Impreza, Legacy Wagon, and Forester. Not the mad WRXs and STis. We’re talking common garden Subarus here. Ones that you may group more with galoshes and anoraks.
The XV followed a while later in 2012 and quickly established itself as a popular choice in a new small SUV segment filled with wannabe alternatives. The charismatic second edition was packed with Impreza genes. And now, XV is no more. It’s replaced by this Crosstrek. An even bigger step forward than the second XV was over the first one.
Crosstrek. From Crossover & Trekking
XV was always known as Crosstrek in some markets, but now it’s been consolidated to just Crosstrek all across the world. The new compact Subaru SUV’s name is derived from Crossover and Trekking. To evoke an impression of versatility and capability. Whatever the terrain.
Subaru describes Crosstrek as playful and adventurous. Yet light looking. It has a hexagonal 3D grille and sharper steering-responsive auto beam LED headlights. Bulging arches house crisp 18-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, and there are more pronounced C- taillight clusters at the back.
Remote keyless access through easy-access wide-opening doors lets you into a feature-rich dual climate cabin. Its dominated by a new 11.6-inch central portrait HD display. Featuring latest Subaru infotainment architecture, It has CarPlay, Auto and Bluetooth integrated EyeSight Driver Assistance and X-Mode settings to name a few.
You should manage daily interface functions
You should know our abhorrence with these new-fangled gadgets. We’re not alone on our condemnation of modern in-car entertainment ‘solutions’ that actually solve nothing. The Subaru system is big and bright. It even has a few knobs and buttons. Not quite enough, but you can get through most everyday functions without too much trouble. It’s still iffy, albeit a bit better than some quite diabolical rival systems out there these days.
The central screen also runs Crosstrek’s EyeSight assistant, which is always worthy of mention. It uses a stereo camera system to prompt pre-collision braking, lane departure, centering, change and keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, and blind spot detection.
Add adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition and an intelligent speed limiter. Infra-red Driver Monitoring meanwhile tracks driver drowsiness and diligently and clearly warns of signs of impending sleep. That system also has a facial recognition component to configure up to five individual driver profiles. And seamlessly prepare the car for each one. Smart.
Crosstrek has a tauter shell, symmetrical AWD
Other cabin enhancements include eight-way power leather pews to reduce human body movement and thereby fatigue. And a split 60:40 folding rear bench ahead of the boot with its diamond-pattern anti-slip luggage pad. Crosstrek also gets neat new variable cupholders and an improved coin holder. There’s even tyre pressure monitoring.
Built on Subaru’s 10% tauter revised Global Platform, Crosstrek has new suspension, dual-pinion electric power steering and liquid-filled engine mounts. It is engineered to be more stable, durable, better balanced, and more refined. And dynamic.
The under-stressed atmospheric quad-cam 115 kW 196 Nm 2-litre 4-cam 16-valve boxer-four fires up to that typical Subaru thrum. A quieter and more refined latest generation eight-step paddle shifter manual mode Lineartronic constantly variable transmission feeds the Subaru difference, its classic viscous coupling Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive.
All the Crosstrek bells & whistles
But it does not end there. Crosstrek also has Active Torque Vectoring and SI-Drive Snow & Dirt; Deep Snow & Mud mode management, Hill Assist and Descent Controls, a more direct WRX steering system and far quieter cabin levels. And 5-star safety that includes all the bells and whistles including nine airbags, and the rest.
Easy to live with, if not all that engaging, the Lineartronic box could be sharper.Especially in overtaking. CVTs are supposed to be more economical though, and they’re cheaper to produce than a slush box. Subaru’s splendid EyeSight safety assistant is great. It can however become intrusive to the more attentive driver. But you can dial its sensitivity back.
At the end of the day, the Subaru Crosstrek is essentially an Impreza on stilts. A pretty clever pedigree to begin with. See, even if some may consider this car’s output feeble, it still carries that typical boxer-four viscous coupling symmetrical all-wheel drive pedigree, and the rest, over all its rivals. Crosstrek.
It’s a Subaru, after all
It may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but ten-seconds to 100 km/h is in the middle of the road in this segment. But Crosstrek’s poised and planted precise Subaru road manners put this car on another planet in that department. Even versus its AWD rivals. We won’t bother about the FWD rank and file in that regard.
Crosstrek also excels in wet conditions and is surprisingly capable well off the beaten track. X-Mode, decent ground clearance and long-droop suspension to endow it with pleasing off-road agility. The more treacherous the better. Splash through a puddle, and the Subaru ejects the spray outwards to the sides of the car. Not over the windscreen. So you’re not blinded for those few critical seconds while fumbling for the wipers. But that’s a Subaru for you. Those AWD WRC roots, you see…
So, if you’re in the market for a six hundred grand ’SUV’, go check all its rivals first. Then visit a Subaru shop to take a look at this superbly sorted car. See, anything that matches Crosstrek in price is only front wheel drive. Most of the AWDs are hundreds of grand more expensive. Yes. This Subaru is that good! — Michele Lupini
Images & testing: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i ES Engine: 115 kW 196 Nm 2-litre petrol H4 Drive: CVT AWD TESTED: 0-60 km/h: 5.07 sec 0-100 km/h: 10.05 sec 0-120 km/h: 13.65 sec 0-160 km/h: 24.26 sec 400m: 17.3 sec @ 135 km/h 80-120 km/h: 6.39 sec 120-160 km/h: 11.81 sec CLAIMED: VMax: 200 km/h Fuel: 7.2 l/100 km CO2: 165 g/km Range: 875 km Warranty/Service: 5y 150K/3y 75K km LIST PRICE: R669K RATED: 9
