Smallest Subaru enters third era with updates to 4x4 chassis and mild-hybrid engine
MATT SAUNDERS @thedarkstormy1
TESTED 1.2.24, OXFORDSHIRE ON SALE NOW
Niche model engineering continues to play rather well for determinedly left-field Subaru. Last year, the third-generation Crosstrek, which has just made it to Europe, was within a whisker of becoming the biggest-seller in the Japanese company’s North American range.
Many Brits will see it as precisely the wrong kind of crossover: jacked-up ride height and permanent four-wheel drive underneath and not enough space and convenience up top. However, where there is a demand for cars like this, there are customers who like the way the Crosstrek goes about meeting it – and it’s not that hard to see why.
What we used to know as the XV remains basically the Impreza hatchback on stilts. Subaru has stiffened and reinforced the chassis this time, though, concentrating its efforts particularly on improving comfort and refinement, with stronger chassis joins and a better seat design, among other things.
While other engines are on offer globally, the only one we get in Europe (and the only one ever likely to pass Euro 7 emissions homologation) is Subaru’s mild-hybrid 2.0-litre petrol boxer.
This atmospheric flat four makes a modest 134bhp and 134lb ft of torque (down a little on that in the old XV), with the gearbox-mounted electric motor capable of chipping in some 17bhp and 49lb ft.
CVT calibration changes keep key performance claims for the car in line with its predecessor, but they’re not exactly a selling point: 0-62mph takes 10.8sec. Neither, really, is its official economy, at 36.8mpg. Nope, if you’re attracted to the Crosstrek, it will be due to its any-surface, any-weather, can-do attitude.
An electronically controlled wet clutch, partially engaged as a default, gives the car permanent mechanical four-wheel drive, split 60:40 front to rear, whereas rival crossovers are only part-time 4x4s.
There are special low-speed traction-boosting, electric torque-vectoring X-Modes for mud and deep snow, too. Falken M+S tyres are fitted as standard and 220mm of ground clearance, plus better approach and departure angles than the old XV had, makes it ready to tackle fields and rutted tracks.
It’s a bit of a missed trick for Subaru not to have added an EV driving mode so that you could shut down the ICE when creeping through water, though, because the Crosstrek will indeed run solely on electric power for short di
