Subaru Crosstrek review

Introduction

The late, great rally driver Colin McRae may have spread the word that Subarus could really cut it offroad, but that was 30 years ago. What you might not know is that the brand still avidly pushes this reputation, even in its smallest SUV, the Subaru Crosstrek.

It certainly looks rugged – with its jacked-up stance, roofrails and plastic cladding – but there’s substance with its style. The Crosstrek gets four-wheel drive as standard and 220mm of ground clearance, which is highly competitive with rival family SUVs.

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Speaking of which, our favourite family SUV is the Kia Sportage, because it’s well priced, good to drive and practical. Other popular options include the Mazda CX-5 and Nissan Qashqai. Is the Crosstrek as well rounded as those cars, or is it a one-trick pony? Read on to see how well it stacks up…

What’s new?
September 2024: new Crosstrek achieves five-star safety test rating
January 2025: new Crosstrek announced as replacement for old Subaru XV model, with permanent four-wheel drive, a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine and a CVT automatic gearbox

Overview

The Subaru Crosstrek is worth considering if you spend more time off road than on it. However, it is indeed a bit of a one-trick pony and, for the vast majority of people, makes little sense over its family SUV rivals. It's expensive, noisy (especially on the motorway) and comparatively impractical. Stick to entry-level Limited trim if you are to buy one.

Pros

• High driving position
• Lots of standard safety equipment
• Great all-weather, all-terrain ability

Cons

• Strained, relatively inefficient engine
• Expensive to buy
• Sub-par practicality

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Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

Every Subaru Crosstrek comes with a 134bhp 2.0-litre petrol mild-hybrid engine. Acceleration is fine around town but can feel sluggish at higher speeds. The engine also demands plenty of revs to really get going and, even when you oblige, the Crosstrek still feels pretty slow.

The 0-62mph sprint is officially dealt with in 10.8sec, which is slower than an entry-level Kia Sportage (9.7sec) and Nissan Qashqai (10.2sec). It’s also worth mentioning that those cars (and indeed most rivals) have turbochargers, helping them feel punchier at low revs.

The Crosstrek’s CVT automatic gearbox adds to the engine feeling rather strained. It has simulated gears, but the CVT still keeps the revs very high during hard acceleration, resulting in a lot of noise – and we don’t mean in a good way, like with a tuneful sports car.

If you’re disappointed about that all sounding a bit poor (it is), you’ll be glad to hear that the overall driving experience is a bit better. When cornering, the Crosstrek resists body lean well and feels pretty agile. There’s plenty of grip and the steering is well-weighted, too. As a result, it's more enjoyable to drive than the Qashqai, although the Seat Ateca is even sharper and more agile.

The ride is pretty well cushioned and largely comfortable. However, it’s not especially controlled or settled, bobbing about on country roads. It also feels quite fidgety on country roads and motorways. Speaking of the motorway, the Crosstrek whips up a noticeable amount of wind noise at higher speeds, too.

But of course, as we mentioned, the Crosstrek's party piece is its off-road ability. It has a generous 220mm of ground clearance – for context, the equally-rugged Dacia Bigster Extreme 4x4 has 219mm – and a driving setting called X-Mode, which optimises the standard four-wheel-drive system over tricky surfaces at low speeds, and includes hill descent control. Even on normal road tyres, it can take pretty hostile terrain in its stride.

“On the road, I never really noticed the four-wheel-drive system. It’s more for tackling rough terrain than aiding agility in the corners.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

In the Subaru Crosstrek, you sit higher up than you would in a regular family car or in a lot of smaller SUVs. The Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai position you even higher, though.

It’s really easy to get comfortable, thanks to plenty of steering wheel and seat adjustment. If you go for the top-spec Touring trim, that seat adjustment is done electronically and includes adjustable lumbar support.

The high driving position means you have a really good view out of the front of the car at junctions and over the bonnet. The same can be said for rear visibility, with large rear windows and cut-outs in the rear pillars increasing the view over your shoulder. That makes parking pretty easy – something that’s aided further by the standard-fit rear-view camera.

The camera feed is displayed on a large, 11.6in portrait-oriented infotainment touchscreen that sits in the centre console and includes Bluetooth and DAB radio. You also get wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto smartphone mirroring, which is handy for running sat-nav apps through the touchscreen (only the range-topping Crosstrek Touring gets built-in sat-nav).

The infotainment system is easy enough to navigate, thanks to its logically laid-out menus and big icons. However, the graphics could be sharper and it isn’t the fastest to respond to inputs. Aside from a volume knob and a couple of buttons to increase or decrease the interior temperature, everything is controlled through the touchscreen. A lot of rivals are no different, though, and a fair few family SUVs (like the Volvo XC40) are even more reliant on their touchscreens.

The biggest negative when it comes to the Crosstrek’s interior is the quality. You see, while everything feels strong and sturdy, the materials all feel rather cheap.

Even if you go for the Touring version, which gets a leather-trimmed steering wheel and leather seats, nearly everything else is made of scratchy plastics. It falls some way short of providing the kind of perceived quality you’ll experience in the Sportage and Qashqai.

“Our test car featured the entry-level Limited trim, but still, it doesn’t come cheap, hence I was surprised by the amount of scratchy plastic the Crosstrek features.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

Front-seat passengers are unlikely to complain about the amount of space on offer in the Subaru Crosstrek: head room is good and the seat goes back far enough to accommodate taller drivers.

There’s a useful cubby with USB and 12V sockets in front of the gearlever, another cubby under the armrest and two cupholders. The door bins aren’t particularly big but will hold a few bits and pieces and a small bottle of water.

Those in the back won’t be quite so happy. Our sunroof-equipped test car had just enough head room for a six-footer, but even shorter occupants will find the area a little claustrophobic. That's a shame because leg room is excellent – better than in many rivals – and shoulder room is adequate for three people to sit side by side.

The Crosstrek has 315 litres of boot space, which is pretty disappointing against the Kia Sportage (562 litres), the Nissan Qashqai (504 litres) and even the Seat Ateca small SUV (510 litres). Indeed, you’ll be hard pressed to find a family SUV with less boot space, largely because the Crosstrek doesn’t get a height-adjustable boot floor. We suspect that’s due to the four-wheel-drive system.

Still, the Crosstrek’s boot is a good square shape and there isn’t a sizeable drop down to the boot floor, making loading heavy objects easy enough. You can increase the space by dropping the rear seats, which split 60/40 and fold flat with the boot floor.

“I can name small hatchbacks that have bigger boots than the Crosstrek. The VW Polo is one of them.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

As a cash purchase, the Subaru Crosstrek will cost you more than the Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and Nissan Qashqai. Granted, those rivals lack four-wheel drive as standard, so long as you don’t plan on driving through mud and snow often, they'll be better all round.

The Crosstrek will, at least, hold its value fairly well: it's predicted to depreciate slightly faster than the Sportage but slower than all the other models. That’s good news because it should help to keep monthly PCP finance payments competitive and ensure it’s worth more if you decide to sell in three years. Even so, it's worth checking for the latest offers on our New Car Deals pages.

While the Crosstrek is a mild hybrid, it's not all that efficient. Indeed, the official WLTP figures suggest just 36.8mpg combined, while you can expect around 44mpg from the Sportage 1.6 T-GDi and Qashqai DIG-T 140 Mild Hybrid. Both those rivals promise lower CO2 emissions too, making them better choices as company cars if you want to keep your benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax down.

In fact, those with an eye on efficiency, might actually want to spend very slightly more and go for the full hybrid Sportage 1.6 T-GDi ISG HEV, which boosts the combined economy to 51.4mpg and drops the CO2 emissions even more.

There are two trim levels to choose from – entry-level Limited and top-spec Touring. We’d stick with Limited because it gets more than enough equipment, including 17in alloy wheels, LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, rear privacy glass, dual-zone climate control, touchscreen infotainment and parking aids.

Touring comes with 18in wheels, high-beam assist, an electric sunroof, built-in sat-nav and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.

The Crosstrek was absent from our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey and so was Subaru as a brand. In a previous survey (2023), Subaru came a disappointing 27th out of 32 car makers – way below Kia in eighth, Skoda in 16th and Seat in 18th.

You get a three-year/60,000-mile standard warranty, with the hybrid battery getting a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. That matches what Nissan, Seat and Skoda offer, but is nowhere near as good as Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile warranty.

When it comes to safety, the Crosstrek did well when it was tested by the experts at Euro NCAP and was given the full five stars out of five. It did particularly well in the Child Occupant section, scoring 90%.

Every version comes with lots of standard safety equipment, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning and prevention, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, reverse automatic braking and a driver attention monitoring system.

“Aside from its off-road ability, I’m afraid there’s little else to justify the premium over rivals.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Buy it if...

- You venture off the beaten track on a regular basis

- You appreciate lots of standard kit

Don’t buy it if…

- You have a long motorway commute

- You need a big boot

- You’re expecting above-average fuel economy

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