A Review of the 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek

In 1996, Subaru of America introduced the Subaru Legacy Outback to the United States. Named after a vast and arid part of Australia, the Legacy Outback was a lifted Subaru Legacy marketed for its “off road drivability.” That same year Subaru brought in the Impreza Outback Sport using a similar recipe: one part plastic cladding, one part two-tone paint, and five parts hoping consumers wouldn’t notice the difference. Oddly enough, it was a huge success. In fact, so successful that Subaru has continued this long tradition with the Subaru XV Crosstrek. Subaru popularized the production-ready XV Crosstrek in 2013, and it has proven to be a cash cow for the company.

At first glance the Subaru Crosstrek seems to pay homage to the World Rally Championship successes that Subaru has seen over the past 15 years with aggressive styling and a higher ride height. This almost suggests that the Crosstrek is an out-of-the-box rally car that its owners can hoon around a Rally America Stage. However, when you turn the key you see that it’s all smoke, mirrors, and a lot of plastic cladding. The styling simply promises the performance that the 2 Liter Boxer Engine (producing a… modest 148 HP) will never be able to provide.

What the Crosstrek really is then is a Subaru Impreza that decided it wanted to get bigger and stronger like its friends but couldn’t be bothered with all of the physical exercise that is involved. Having taken steroids, it now deals with the side effect of losing some of its manhood. Its disdain for cardio shows when you push the accelerator; the 2.0 Liter 4 Cylinder Boxer Engine paired with a vague Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) wails like that one fat kid from fifth grade gym class. His attempt to get goin’ was admirable, but in the end he always finished the shuttle runs last.

Of course all of these negative opinions of the Crosstrek can be formed within the first 45 seconds of driving the car. It has taken me nearly two years and 15,000 miles to understand that I have been looking at this car all wrong. These days it is very hard to appreciate cars that aren’t capable of lapping the Nurburgring in less than six minutes, or doing zero to sixty in less than 4 seconds. In the case of the Crosstrek these figures simply don’t do the car justice, nor is the Crosstrek built to satisfy the consumer who is looking to have a their insides catapulted into their spine during rapid acceleration. The person who is looking for that kind of performance in this price bracket should shell out a few extra grand and buy a WRX.

On paved roads the Crosstrek handles like a tall Impreza as one might expect. In the tight bends there is a noticeable amount of body roll due to the raised suspension, but it does a fairly good job of maintaining its composure. On the highway the Crosstrek suffers from multiple personality disorder. On a flat highway you can expect the Crosstrek to get around 33–34 mpg and be quite lovely to drive. In the hills at highway speed, prepare for the Crosstrek to scream louder than a possessed child and be thirstier than a college freshman’s sexual appetite.

The Crosstrek comes into its own when you take it off road. Now let’s make one thing clear, this car will not replace your Wrangler, or FJ Cruiser. The Crosstrek has 8.7” of ground clearance, giving it ample room to clear most moderately sized rocks, logs, and water crossings. Sure you won’t be able to take it to Moab and cross the “Golden Crack,” but having driven this car on properly hard trails with street tires, the Crosstrek is downright impressive for being based on a road car. The CVT, although a complete slushbox, paired with Subaru’s Symmetrical All Wheel Drive does an incredible job of keeping the Crosstrek moving on the trails. Providing copious amounts of low-end torque and rapidly responding to situations where there is low grip. The one thing that is particularly interesting about the Crosstrek is it has begun to garner the support of offroad enthusiasts who have broken out their tool sets and have begun modifying their cars. Off road necessities such as lift kits, metal bumpers, and even skids plates have started to surface throughout the Crosstrek owner community. The results are simply mind boggling, and the resulting offroad performance damn near rivals SUVs that are designed for off road abuse.

The 2015 Crosstrek comes in the five trim levels: 2.0i, 2.0i Premium, 2.0i Limited, Hybrid, and Hybrid Touring. The car I have been driving is the 2.0i Premium which came with a lot of great options such as a 7" touch screen display, back up camera, and Subaru’s “Driver Assist Technology” reffered to as Eyesight. Eyesight is composed of two windshield mounted cameras that monitor the driving environment ahead of the car. Eyesight has very useful features such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Pre-Collision Warning, and most importantly Pre-Collision Braking. This feature has saved my life a number of times on the back roads of Utah where the “deer and the antelope play.” Subaru’s Eyesight feature is really in a class of its own. While Subaru’s competitors such as Honda, Mazda, and Volvo have comparable systems, they don’t have the IIHS “Superior” Rating on every one of their vehicles equipped with these systems. Unfortunately, Eyesight is an optional extra only on models with the CVT.

The interior of this vehicle is sumptuously wrapped in only the finest plastic, and vinyl. Subarus are notorious for developing the loathsome trait of developing mysterious rattles that slowly drive their owners insane. Having been in and out of Subarus all my life I expected this Crosstrek to follow suit in the interior quality department, but that is not the case. The Crosstrek is very well put together on the inside. There is a sense that the Japanese workers that put the car together took pride in their work. The seats in the Crosstrek are surprisingly comfortable providing a lot of support and there is ample legroom for rear seat passengers. This model, equipped with the Cold Weather Package came with heated seats for the driver and front passenger; especially nice on those cold winter mornings. Being a hatchback the Crosstrek’s rear door opens to a large storage compartment where you can fit all of the gear, goods, and groceries you need for your weekend camping trip, or quick run to town.

All in all, the XV Crosstrek is a great car. Apart from the mild niggles in performance, the Crosstrek is a car that will shatter your expectations for a compact crossover. Its on road performance will get you from Point A to Point B reliably and comfortably, its off road capability will surprise you, and its safety features will keep you from plowing into the back of someone’s car when you aren’t paying attention. I am very impressed with the Crosstrek’s performance and Subaru’s dedication to the model. So much so that I believe it is the perfect car to test on a wild Alaskan Adventure. Next year, the DriveLyfe crew will show you just how capable the Crosstrek is on a 5000 mile journey through the Canadian and Alaskan Wilderness. Of course a stock Crosstrek might struggle to complete the journey we have in mind but we think with some minor modifications, the Crosstrek will take to the challenge with ease. Over the course of the next year we will not only continue to present intriguing and engaging reviews of cars spanning from luxury sports cars to sub-compacts, we will also show the process of modifying the Crosstrek in order to prepare it for an epic automotive torture test.