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Hi All,
So, as some of you may know, I live in California but was in North Carolina for work for the past year. Well, the job finally ended in December and I stuck around for the holidays then headed back to Los Angeles.
I left this past Wednesday, January 2nd, from NC and arrived yesterday, January 4th, in CA, and boy what a trip it was.
This made the sixth time I have driven cross-country but definitely the hardest one yet. However, through and through the Crosstrek did amazing.
Day 1 - Usually I don't drive too much on my first day as I get tired faster (as I'm not used to driving that long) and I am just easing into the trip. However, this time, for whatever reason, I drove longer than normal on my first day, just a hair over 1,000 miles and landed on the Louisiana/Texas border for the night.
Day 2 - Woke up and hit the road, ready for another productive day, hoping I would arrive in CA on the third day earlier than normal since my first day went so well. That didn't last long. About six hours into the trip it started snowing. At first I thought "oh this is cool" as I don't see snow very often living between south-east NC and southern CA. However, as I kept driving, the snow became worse and worse and night was beginning to fall. I had never driven in snow before and so perhaps was being too cautious, but it really messed my trip up. I knew I was in good hands in the Crosstrek with Subaru's legendary AWD, but again I had never experienced this before so I was going relatively slow -- I wasn't the slowest person but I definitely wasn't the fastest. As it got darker the snow got heavier and I could barely see 15 feet in front of me driving at about 25mph. On top of this, the road was completely covered in snow and it was near impossible to tell where the road ended and the median/shoulder began.
The snow eventually died down a bit but everything was still covered. I planned on pushing through but I started noticing a problem with my steering. It felt like my wheels were just locking up and the backend of the car would kind of slide out. I pumped the brakes a bit and could feel a bunch of ice buildup on them so I rode them for a bit to melt it off. The problem with the steering still didn't go away so I slowed down quite a bit. After about three hours of driving 20-40mph, I stopped in El Paso, Texas for the night. Had it not been snowing I knew I could have gone another three hours.
When I pulled over in El Paso I found out that so much ice had packed inside my wheel wells that it was preventing the car from steering properly and every time I hit a small bump in the road it was tire-to-ice which was causing the sliding feeling. I figured since I was already stop I would clear the ice in the morning and grab a hotel for the night.
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Day 3 - I woke up and it was still snowing but I still got an early start. At this point the roads had been cleared and salted so driving wasn't too bad. After about two hours there was not even any sign of snow on the roads or surrounding grounds and it was smooth sailing. For about three more hours. Around 40 miles before Phoenix, AZ I hit a traffic jam, an accident I assumed. It was bad, but I figured it wouldn't be too terribly long and, being in the middle of the desert, there were no other side streets or exits to take. Fast forward THREE HOURS later and I had traveled almost two miles and could finally see an exit. However, ALL traffic was being diverted to this exit, both westbound and eastbound, so it didn't get any better. After another hour of sitting in the exit (we were being diverted through a small town), I said screwed it and turned around. I found an alternate route with Google Maps and hit the road. It ended up taking me about 30 minutes of side roads and small highways but I made it around the traffic jam and was back on the road heading west for CA.
Luckily from here the rest of the trip was easy and smooth. I ended up getting to my house in CA around midnight, close to six hours after I had originally expected, but I was happy to be home.
As far as how the Crosstrek did, I have to say that it preformed amazingly.
Power - I honestly don't know what some reviewers were saying about lack of passing power on the highway. I absolutely had no problem passing people (which, for me, is usually a lot) and the car didn't feel like it was straining too hard. I set the cruise control most of the time and it kept up fine. Hitting steep inclines with the cruise control set was no issue -- the Crosstrek would hold a steady speed without problem and with barely having to rev the engine. Sitting just under 80mph would keep the engine at ~2,500rpm and at just under 90mph (Texas) the Crosstrek stayed at ~3,000rpm. Not bad at all. The most I saw it hit was ~6,000rpm on a steep incline but I only witnessed that once, usually 4,000rpm was the absolute highest I saw it reach.
Fuel Economy - I actually wasn't as happy as I wanted to be with the fuel economy. Over the entirety of the trip I averaged just under 30mpg. Granted, I was in a lot of hilly areas and things like the snow storm and traffic jam slowed me down, but I still expected just a little better.
Handling - Again, no problem here. I don't have much to say except that the Crosstrek did what I wanted it to in regards to holding a straight line and handling curves when needed.
Noise - The Crosstrek is a little loud, but not that bad. I had my music sitting at just around 10 most of the trip and I could hear it fine. There is a good amount of wind noise at over 80mph, but below that it wasn't bad at all, especially under 70mph.
Comfort - Ride comfort was fine, sometimes a little bumpy but the Crosstrek does sit 8.7" up so I expected it, and it definitely wasn't "rattle your brain" bumpy by any means. The seat was very comfortable the whole trip, but sitting in anything for 13-15 hours a day can get uncomfortable. I did love using the seat heaters to help soothe my back.
I was really happy with how my Crosstrek preformed on this ~2,700 miles trip. I know I wouldn't have felt as safe driving through the snow storm had I been in a FWD/RWD car (though an Outback did pass me at a good rate at one point).
I think I covered everything. Please ask me for any specifics and I will try to answer!
So, as some of you may know, I live in California but was in North Carolina for work for the past year. Well, the job finally ended in December and I stuck around for the holidays then headed back to Los Angeles.
I left this past Wednesday, January 2nd, from NC and arrived yesterday, January 4th, in CA, and boy what a trip it was.
This made the sixth time I have driven cross-country but definitely the hardest one yet. However, through and through the Crosstrek did amazing.
Day 1 - Usually I don't drive too much on my first day as I get tired faster (as I'm not used to driving that long) and I am just easing into the trip. However, this time, for whatever reason, I drove longer than normal on my first day, just a hair over 1,000 miles and landed on the Louisiana/Texas border for the night.
Day 2 - Woke up and hit the road, ready for another productive day, hoping I would arrive in CA on the third day earlier than normal since my first day went so well. That didn't last long. About six hours into the trip it started snowing. At first I thought "oh this is cool" as I don't see snow very often living between south-east NC and southern CA. However, as I kept driving, the snow became worse and worse and night was beginning to fall. I had never driven in snow before and so perhaps was being too cautious, but it really messed my trip up. I knew I was in good hands in the Crosstrek with Subaru's legendary AWD, but again I had never experienced this before so I was going relatively slow -- I wasn't the slowest person but I definitely wasn't the fastest. As it got darker the snow got heavier and I could barely see 15 feet in front of me driving at about 25mph. On top of this, the road was completely covered in snow and it was near impossible to tell where the road ended and the median/shoulder began.
The snow eventually died down a bit but everything was still covered. I planned on pushing through but I started noticing a problem with my steering. It felt like my wheels were just locking up and the backend of the car would kind of slide out. I pumped the brakes a bit and could feel a bunch of ice buildup on them so I rode them for a bit to melt it off. The problem with the steering still didn't go away so I slowed down quite a bit. After about three hours of driving 20-40mph, I stopped in El Paso, Texas for the night. Had it not been snowing I knew I could have gone another three hours.
When I pulled over in El Paso I found out that so much ice had packed inside my wheel wells that it was preventing the car from steering properly and every time I hit a small bump in the road it was tire-to-ice which was causing the sliding feeling. I figured since I was already stop I would clear the ice in the morning and grab a hotel for the night.
Day 3 - I woke up and it was still snowing but I still got an early start. At this point the roads had been cleared and salted so driving wasn't too bad. After about two hours there was not even any sign of snow on the roads or surrounding grounds and it was smooth sailing. For about three more hours. Around 40 miles before Phoenix, AZ I hit a traffic jam, an accident I assumed. It was bad, but I figured it wouldn't be too terribly long and, being in the middle of the desert, there were no other side streets or exits to take. Fast forward THREE HOURS later and I had traveled almost two miles and could finally see an exit. However, ALL traffic was being diverted to this exit, both westbound and eastbound, so it didn't get any better. After another hour of sitting in the exit (we were being diverted through a small town), I said screwed it and turned around. I found an alternate route with Google Maps and hit the road. It ended up taking me about 30 minutes of side roads and small highways but I made it around the traffic jam and was back on the road heading west for CA.
Luckily from here the rest of the trip was easy and smooth. I ended up getting to my house in CA around midnight, close to six hours after I had originally expected, but I was happy to be home.
As far as how the Crosstrek did, I have to say that it preformed amazingly.
Power - I honestly don't know what some reviewers were saying about lack of passing power on the highway. I absolutely had no problem passing people (which, for me, is usually a lot) and the car didn't feel like it was straining too hard. I set the cruise control most of the time and it kept up fine. Hitting steep inclines with the cruise control set was no issue -- the Crosstrek would hold a steady speed without problem and with barely having to rev the engine. Sitting just under 80mph would keep the engine at ~2,500rpm and at just under 90mph (Texas) the Crosstrek stayed at ~3,000rpm. Not bad at all. The most I saw it hit was ~6,000rpm on a steep incline but I only witnessed that once, usually 4,000rpm was the absolute highest I saw it reach.
Fuel Economy - I actually wasn't as happy as I wanted to be with the fuel economy. Over the entirety of the trip I averaged just under 30mpg. Granted, I was in a lot of hilly areas and things like the snow storm and traffic jam slowed me down, but I still expected just a little better.
Handling - Again, no problem here. I don't have much to say except that the Crosstrek did what I wanted it to in regards to holding a straight line and handling curves when needed.
Noise - The Crosstrek is a little loud, but not that bad. I had my music sitting at just around 10 most of the trip and I could hear it fine. There is a good amount of wind noise at over 80mph, but below that it wasn't bad at all, especially under 70mph.
Comfort - Ride comfort was fine, sometimes a little bumpy but the Crosstrek does sit 8.7" up so I expected it, and it definitely wasn't "rattle your brain" bumpy by any means. The seat was very comfortable the whole trip, but sitting in anything for 13-15 hours a day can get uncomfortable. I did love using the seat heaters to help soothe my back.
I was really happy with how my Crosstrek preformed on this ~2,700 miles trip. I know I wouldn't have felt as safe driving through the snow storm had I been in a FWD/RWD car (though an Outback did pass me at a good rate at one point).
I think I covered everything. Please ask me for any specifics and I will try to answer!
