What is the point of the Subaru Crosstrek?

[desura]

AFAIKT it's just an Impreza with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels. Is there any reason to get it over an impreza?

 

[who?]

Claustrophobia?

 

[NutBucket]

To sell more cars?

Basically if you want some extra ground clearance and like the looks. Otherwise, as you said, no real reason to pay extra over an Impreza.

 

[Kaido]

Yup, ground clearance. The Impreza feels like a Civic, like it's an inch off the ground.

My buddy got one, the racing-style seats are neat but it's too snug for my tastes.

 

[deathBOB]

AFAIKT it's just an Impreza with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels. Is there any reason to get it over an impreza?

Higher hip point makes it easier to get in an out of. This is important to a lot of people.

I've test driven one. It's nice little crossover. Ride and handling is impressive, but power is underwhelming.

 

[Harrod]

I've got a friend who has one, and it's nice, but with a base cost being similar to the base Outback price, I went with the Outback. There is an old thread on here that has a little more discussion on the car.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2297626

 

[Jumpem]

The higher ground clearance is the entire point.

 

[hans007]

people like being up higher and "crossovers" are all the rage.

i mean whats the point of a GLA, or a X1, etc.

also since technically its a crossover it might count as a truck so the manufacturers can get worse gas milage on it than a car for the idiotic EPA

 

[Kaido]

The higher ground clearance is the entire point.

It's basically a lifted Civic wagon. I don't care for the looks personally, but it's a nice car.

 

[996GT2]

AFAIKT it's just an Impreza with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels. Is there any reason to get it over an impreza?

What is the point of the Honda CR-V? It's just a Civic with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels.

What is the point of the Toyota RAV4? It's just a Corolla with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels.

What is the point of the Mazda CX-5? It's just a Mazda 3 with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels.

What is the point of the Ford Escape? It's just a Focus with a slightly higher suspension and bigger wheels.

 

[theeedude]

Crossovers sell.
To the point that even the name has to indicate that the car is a crossover, just to make sure no one forgets.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/whats-in-a-name-infiniti-changes-q30-name-before-car-even-goes-on-sale/

 

[Zorba]

Higher hip point makes it easier to get in an out of. This is important to a lot of people.

I've test driven one. It's nice little crossover. Ride and handling is impressive, but power is underwhelming.

Power was my problem with it. But it would be great for someone like my mom that needs the higher seat to get in/out but doesn't need or want a bigger car.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I own the Crosstrek when I'm in the states. I go offroad a lot (lots of BLM and NFS lands) but I still want the gas mileage and size of a normal car, so the Crosstrek was the (semi) perfect companion. The Impreza is pointless for me because rocks would just tear it up. I didn't want a CRV or RAV4 because their AWD implementation is not as good as a Subaru's. Getting stuck in the middle of BLM territory is not ideal.

The #1 thing that I want from the Subaru is the ability to turn off AWD. I want to be able to disengage the center diff entirely and go 100% FWD when I'm driving on pavement to save fuel. Subaru says full-time AWD is superior because it's safer and there's no "reaction time" needed for the AWD system to kick in during an emergency situation, but I honestly would rather just have the ability to select when I want AWD and when I want FWD.

 

[Zorba]

FYI, there should be a fuse in the engine compartment that you can pull to turn off awd. If you really wanted to be adventurous I am you could install an online switch after the fuse.

 

[NutBucket]

That hasn't been the case for a few years...and definitely not with the CVT.

I doubt you would see any MPG improvement since the wheels would still be spinning the diff, etc. Now, if someone made manual hubs then you might have a chance to save a bit of gas.

 

[Pocatello]

The U.S of A love crossovers. Everybody is making them. I really like the high road clearance of the crossovers, especially with all the poorly maintenance roads in America.

 

[thomsbrain]

I'm anti-crossover in general, although we have an old CRV because we got the proverbial "old lady family member selling for a steal" deal on it and the timing was right. But I will say that the extra suspension travel allows for very cushy spring rates, so it rides surprisingly nice (not too far off the RX450h I recently rode in for 7 hours). And Honda knows how to tune a shock and sway bar, so it still tackles switchbacks with confidence. A Civic footprint and the ability to climb into the backseat on the move make it pretty darn practical.

Still, I'd rather have a Civic wagon for handling and MPG.

 

[BurnItDwn]

http://www.planetsubaru.com/crosstrek-vs--impreza.htm
Its more or less the ground clearance & ride height.

Cost difference between Base Impreza and Crosstrek is 1500
Outback base is 2K more than crosstrek.

That said, I think Outback is the MUCH better car.

I currently drive an 08 forester, its been good to me thus far, but still kinda new with only 115k miles.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

FYI, there should be a fuse in the engine compartment that you can pull to turn off awd. If you really wanted to be adventurous I am you could install an online switch after the fuse.

There is a fuse to disengage traction control. I've pulled it before and the car started acting weird, like you press on the throttle and nothing happens.

That hasn't been the case for a few years...and definitely not with the CVT.

I doubt you would see any MPG improvement since the wheels would still be spinning the diff, etc. Now, if someone made manual hubs then you might have a chance to save a bit of gas.

The CVTs use an electronically controlled clutch to transfer torque from the engine to the rear wheels. Disengage the clutch and no power goes to the rear wheels. Subaru simply programs their cars to always have that clutch engaged at varying degrees and doesn't let the user control it, hence "full-time AWD." Honda and Toyota's part-time AWD has their center clutch programmed to disengage completely for most driving and only engage (somewhat) when wheel slippage is detected. Like Subie, they don't allow user control. To make matters worse, even with wheel slippage the Toyota and Honda lighter-duty clutch will engage less than the Subaru to prevent damage to itself, which is why they can't keep up with Subies in more "extreme" off-road conditions.

The only crossover that I know that allows users to select between FWD and (part-time) AWD mode is the Nissan Juke. And that's a tiny, tiny crossover, not to mention being able to select between FWD and part-time AWD (where torque is normally 100:0 anyway) is kinda retarded.

Should be a MPG increase, but the rear wheels have more 'stuff' attached to them, compared to free-spinning rear wheels on a FWD car, so dragging them along would eat away at MPG a bit.

 

[NutBucket]

Right, but you can't pull a fuse to disable the center diff. That was in the old 4EAT days...and even then not all versions were capable of that given there were a number of center diffs used depending on application.

Like I said, unless you could disconnect the wheels from the diff with manual hubs you'd likely see minimal gains at best.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Right, but you can't pull a fuse to disable the center diff. That was in the old 4EAT days...and even then not all versions were capable of that given there were a number of center diffs used depending on application.

Like I said, unless you could disconnect the wheels from the diff with manual hubs you'd likely see minimal gains at best.

Hmmm... I just realized that even with locking hubs it might not work out so well. With locking hubs disengaged on the rear wheels the system would think that the rear wheels are slipping since no torque would be reaching the rear wheels. The system might then try to "regain traction" by doing weird things such as applying brakes to the rear wheels.

*sigh*

Would there by a way to "hack" into the electronics, like people do with other cars to change tuning on the fly?

 

[Zorba]

That hasn't been the case for a few years...and definitely not with the CVT.

I doubt you would see any MPG improvement since the wheels would still be spinning the diff, etc. Now, if someone made manual hubs then you might have a chance to save a bit of gas.

I thought I saw it my spare for my '14, but can't find it in the manual, so I must have been thinking of my '06.

 

[NutBucket]

Hmmm... I just realized that even with locking hubs it might not work out so well. With locking hubs disengaged on the rear wheels the system would think that the rear wheels are slipping since no torque would be reaching the rear wheels. The system might then try to "regain traction" by doing weird things such as applying brakes to the rear wheels.

*sigh*

Would there by a way to "hack" into the electronics, like people do with other cars to change tuning on the fly?

LOL. I doubt anyone cares enough to try. If you wanted selectable 4WD you should have bought a 4Runner or maybe an old Sidekick/Samurai/Tracker.

EDIT: I'm not sure if this is true in the back but the ABS sensor is mounted to the hub/bearing assembly and not the half-shaft so theoretically the ECU would still think everything is spinning at the same speed.

 

[Vdubchaos]

The point is to sell it to somebody and profit.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Subaru needs something to compete with all the subcompact SUVs out there (Juke, Renegade, 500X, HR-V) but Toyota won't let them build a true subcompact car/chassis.