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Anyone also own a Subaru Crosstrek?

Goin2drt

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Looking to buy a Crosstrek. 19 or 20. Looking at the Limited to get all the creature comforts. Is MPG holding true to the 27/33? How is it on a long road trip? Winter performance? Any issue in the model happening? Any other comments would be helpful.
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JurassicJeep12

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My wife bought a '16. At the time, it felt nice. Once we got the JL, it was hard to go back and not feel cramped in it. We don't even want to drive it, and prefer to carpool in the Jeep.
 

viper88

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I have a lot of experience with Subaru. I own a '16 BRZ and '16 WRX now and have had several in the past. I also volunteer in the community and assist with car purchases for people who are new car buyers. A lot buy Subaru. I probably help buy 15-20 Subarus a year on average. Subaru's are very reliable. If it were not for routine service and recalls, they would never be at the dealer.

Definitely only use factory Subaru oil filters if you plan on doing your own oil changes. Subaru engines have higher oil pressure then most engines. The pressure relief valves in some aftermarket oil filters might not be high enough. As a result the pressure valves stay open and bypass filtering in some instances.

Subaru is pretty good about customer service and taking care of QC issues. They recalled and actually voluntarily bought back a bunch of early production Ascent's due to defective welds that were hidden in the frame of the A-pillar. The defective welds were not visible because they were inside the A=pillar. This was the saw time FCA was having frame problems with the JL. The frame welds were visibly defective and FCA claimed some were still within their QC perimeters. FCA handled it the complete opposite by denying there was a issue. NHTASA finally forced a recall after complaints.

Recently there were a few recalls on 2015-2019 Crosstreks. Not sure about 2020? The 2015 had bad brake pedal switches that would cause the ABS to lock up. Defective part was made by Nissan. It's a $15 part that takes 5 mites to replace. Some 2016-2018 Subaru's have bad A/C components where the A/C does no get cold enough. It's not unique to the Crosstrek. I know it happened on a friends's Forrester also. The repairs were covered under the warranty.

2018-2019s very recently had 4 recalls if I remember correctly? All of the recalls are really non-issues. The dealer will put you in a loaner and take care of them.

Overall I find Subaru to be very reliable. I have never had a warranty issue with the exception of a bad radio. Subaru has factory extended warranties also if you plan on keeping it longer. The prices for the Subaru extended warranties are a lot cheaper then the Mopar extended warranties. You can buy the extended warranties up until just before the regular warranty expires at a discount. So no need to buy it when you buy car.

I found the mpg on the highway are actually better then the EPA estimates. I have seen as high as 38mpg all highway on road trips. The seats are a little too firm for me but I had no issues. Cabin space is not as roomy as the Wrangler. Cargo space is very good. Cabin is quiet for a hatchback SUV. Good road feel but as good as VW or Mazda at the same price point. Ride clearance is good but not like a Wrangler. It's a good city vehicle because it has plastic fender covers that can be replace.

Longest I drove a friend's 2018 Crosstrek was 1200 miles round trip in the winter to Toronto from Chicago. The Subaru all wheel drive system is EXCELLENT. Great in wet and snow. The stock Crosstrek tires are fine for Chicago winters. The ultimate set up for winters is installing a set of dedicated snow tires. I have snow tires on my WRX and it is a freaking snowmobile.

Let me know if you have any other questions?
 
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viper88

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My wife bought a '16. At the time, it felt nice. Once we got the JL, it was hard to go back and not feel cramped in it. We don't even want to drive it, and prefer to carpool in the Jeep.
Subaru's are excellent cars. I have a couple also. They get great mpg for what they are. My brother has 2018 Crosstrek and it feels kind of gutless compared to my JLR 2.0T. I also prefer the added ride height of the JLR. I find myself wanting to drive my JLR all the time. More then all my other cars. Even in the summer when I usually will drive a sports car. I actually go for the Wrangler keys over my 911 keys. I hardly drive any of my other cars anymore. lol.
 

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viper88

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Good: Drives really great on snowy roads.

Terrible: I had oil issues with manual transmissions. Impressa them a Crosstrek. https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t71506_ds922748 . Dealer was worthless. Settlement didn't address the the issues.
I never experienced any issues with manual transmissions in all of the Subaru's i personally know of. Only a few were manual. I forgot, I should mentioned some early CVT transmissions must have had potential issues? Subaru voluntarily extended the warranty on some CVT transmissions to 100K at some point. I think 2015-2018?

I read your link. I am surprised to read about your oil consumption problem. Saying that I thought I read some earlier Subaru's had piston rings installed incorrectly at the factory? Not sure how many engines ? Not sure when that was?

I help people buy a lot of cars. Many buy Subaru. None out of maybe 30 Subaru's in the 2015-2018 range cars helped buy consumed oil as far as I know? Or maybe some did and owners did not realize it? Not sure?

Sorry you had that experience and did not get a better settlement.

Thanks for the feedback.
 

viper88

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I know some earlier 2.5 Subaru engines should be avoided. Bad head gaskets, castings, rings.

I have not seen recent 2014-2019 engines that are bad. Personally none of my Subaru's used oil between oil changes after the break-in period. I do not know if any of the Subaru's I help purchase used oil? It's possible they did not know? Overall I would not hesitate buying a new Subaru.

I found this..

https://www.subaru.com/owners/vehicle-care-tips/the-truth-about-engine-oil-consumption.html
 
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Goin2drt

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@viper88 Thanks so much for this. I as well had an 05 Still in my younger days and loved it. I am currently driving my Wrangler for work as a traveling sales guy if you will (my own business).

Wrangler is great but 1) we want to keep it forever and eventually use it as our TOAD when we get back on the road RVing so trying to keep the miles down and 2) I am getting 13.8 MPG and it is killing me.

My wife's car is a 17 Jeep GC that we use for all our road trips and the miles are climbing on that as well. We would like to hang on to that one as it is her favorite car ever owned.

Thought is the Crosstrek would take on the heavy lifting. Use it as my daily work car, seats folded down fits all my product. Then this could be are weekend trip vehicle and then we can keep miles down on both Jeeps and keep them for a long time.
 

viper88

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@viper88 Thanks so much for this. I as well had an 05 Still in my younger days and loved it. I am currently driving my Wrangler for work as a traveling sales guy if you will (my own business).

Wrangler is great but 1) we want to keep it forever and eventually use it as our TOAD when we get back on the road RVing so trying to keep the miles down and 2) I am getting 13.8 MPG and it is killing me.

My wife's car is a 17 Jeep GC that we use for all our road trips and the miles are climbing on that as well. We would like to hang on to that one as it is her favorite car ever owned.

Thought is the Crosstrek would take on the heavy lifting. Use it as my daily work car, seats folded down fits all my product. Then this could be are weekend trip vehicle and then we can keep miles down on both Jeeps and keep them for a long time.
I'd go back into the shop and talk to a few Subaru techs. They know better then anyone if there are problems. Most were very frank about what to look out for.

A friend owns a cab company an he has me help him buy cars for his fleet. The highest milage cars I know of are by far is the Toyota Prius. I know of many with over 300K miles and are still running with very few issues. In my opinion the Prius, as complex as it it with all the hybrid equipment, is the most reliable car you can buy. It must be way over engineered.

Another is the Toyota Corolla and Camry. I have seen them drive well into the 200K-300K range.

Same with most heavy pick ups of all brands. Domestic and foreign, all seem to run forever. Ford engines run forever but I am not so sure of the transmissions? A friend drives 100K miles a year in his ford work van. Mostly highway all over the country. It need a new trans every 90K-100K like clockwork. Even with religious fluid change and heavy duty cooling. He's on #5 now. The first 3 were under a lifetime warranty but they stopped repairing them for free after the third one. He's had to pay for the last 2.

The highest milage Crosstrek I have seen belongs to a friend. He delivers organ parts for hospitals. He is on his second Crosstrek. The last one went to 260K without any major issues. He has a 2017 now. I just called him, He's close to 220K with the current one. He has done routine maintenance, recalls, 4 sets of brakes and rotors, alternator, struts, and a wheel bearing. He changes the oil every 6K. No oil consumption until around 200K. He adds a 1/4 qt every 6K now. He said he will probably buy another this year. He would save more money with a Prius but he needs all-wheel drive. I think Prius has a all wheel drive now? Maybe he will check it out?
 

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viper88

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I like that. Prius no thanks :). I need a little cool factor plus AWD as well. Plus I think the interior and tech is nicer in the Subaru.
I owned a 2012 Prius briefly. Had it for about a year. Just not very exciting to drive. I sold it for not too much of a loss to a friend who owns a cab company. It cost me around $2500 to drive it for around 12K miles. Exceptional for cabs and anyone who needs a super reliable, utilitarian vehicle with great gas milage.

I MUCH rather roll around in my JLR even though it only gets 19-20mpg average. I have seen 26mpg highway a few times! That's really impressive to me considering my old '97 TJ with a extremely weak 2.5L only got 14-15mpg. lol.
 
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Goin2drt

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I owned a 2012 Prius briefly. Had it for about a year. Just not very exciting to drive. I sold it for not too much of a loss to a friend who owns a cab company. It cost me around $2500 to drive it for around 12K miles. Exceptional for cabs and anyone who needs a super reliable, utilitarian vehicle with great gas milage.

I MUCH rather roll around in my JLR even though it only gets 19-20mpg average. I have seen 26mpg highway a few times! That's really impressive to me considering my old '97 TJ with a extremely weak 2.5L only got 14-15mpg. lol.
Lucky my JL may get 14 on a good tank.
 

viper88

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Don't know if you need the ground clearance of the Crosstrek but a base Legacy is a excellent buy. Has the larger 2.5 engine and MPG are close. It's also huge. You can buy one for around $20K-$21K before taxes. Another really great value is the base Impreza. Last one I helped someone buy was $20,400 out the door with new plates and tax at 9.75%. Great for a sedan with great all-wheel drive.
 

cosmokenney

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Heed my words. I have experience with the 2.5 turbo engine. Subaru knows they have issues and will do noting about it. Sound familiar?
I had a 2011 Forester and everything on the interior was cheap plastic that just wanted to have the finish wear off. And all the little plastic bits inside started breaking. Even functional things that should never break, like latches that fold the seats down and so on. The rear view mirror would never stay where you set it. I had to fix that myself. That and getting stranded in the middle of nowhere several times after the engine decided it wanted to overheat, or the transmission decided it didn't want to fully engage or the brakes got road debris in them and would work right...
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