[CJBROWN]

Hey guys, joining the 'club' here with a new XV. Looking forward to reading up on all your car adventures!

I traded in a '11 Mercedes GLK350. Really nice car but I can't tow it with my RV so the 5pd manual Crosstrek is the ticket. Plus it's a lot cheaper to buy and run than the little benzo - it got 18.5mpg over 20K miles on premium fuel. OUCH!!

What a cool little car. This will be the third Subaru I have owned in my lifetime. The first one was my very first 'new' car, a DL Coupe in 1977. I think that car was about $6200 and that was quite a bit of money. Uh oh...now I'm dating myself. I also had a Forester, about 2001. I grew tired of the boxy, kinda homely little Forester. This new XV actually has some style!!

For all the pro and amateaur reviewers that say the car is underpowered - hogwash! It goes just fine and I'm having to keep it under 4 grand 'till we get some miles on it. And it's not that much noiser over the road than my benzo. So for here too, I think they are nitpicking.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get a roof and leather with a stick. Oh well, just getting the car was more important than what accessories it had. Even the base is pretty nicely equipped. I guess I got 'package 1' with bumper cover, splash guards, and cross rails for the rack.

Love it love it love it!!

 

[CrossTrekFan]

Congrats. I definitely agree about the unreasonable focus on power in many of the reviews. The Crosstrek gets along just fine. I think part of the problem is that it looks like it is much more powerful than it really is.

 

[chasem]

Congratulations! It certainly is a fun car!

Did you go with the 5MT for any particular reason or simply because it was what was on the lot?

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

Welcome! Thank you for signing up and congrats on the new Crosstrek.

The initial reviews focused entirely too much on what they called a lack of power, but it seems the new reviews coming out (now that the car is actually in the US market) have been much better.

 

[RallyeBourne]

Congratulations! It certainly is a fun car!

Did you go with the 5MT for any particular reason or simply because it was what was on the lot?

Can't flat tow a cvt, has to be towed on a trailer with all fours off the street. Manual can be flat towed, meaning all four wheels on the ground in neutral.

Welcome. Enjoy the XV. Can't wait to get mine.

 

[chasem]

ah I misread that in the op. all makes sense now

 

[CJBROWN]

Wow, thanks folks. Pretty active forum here.

I see the admin is in the LA area...and there were posts in the west section about a rally in SD. There are some pretty cool tracks out east of the 15 near Ramona, Harrison Grade is one that's really great, and lots of touring between there and Anza Borrego. Might be fun to do a mini-day rally meet-up thing.

And yes, I got the 5spd so we could flat-tow it. It's fun shifting for a change. Fortunately I don't have a commute in heavy traffic so it's a non-issue for me. They are quite rare, must be 20:1 CVT to MT. The dealers have anywhere from 16 to 36 in stock with maybe one or two with a stick. The desert khaki with stick I got was the only one I could find from San Diego to north LA.

 

[Xtrekr]

Welcome to the forum! Seems like everyone here (including me) is VERY HAPPY with the XV. Hope you enjoy it as much as we all do!


I can't believe your area has that many!!! They can't even hit the lot without being sold here for the most part.

Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

 

[tmorgan66030]

Welcome fellow Desert Khaki owner Enjoy your crosstrek! We LOVE ours!

 

[spyder720]

Hey guys, joining the 'club' here with a new XV. Looking forward to reading up on all your car adventures!



For all the pro and amateaur reviewers that say the car is underpowered - hogwash! It goes just fine and I'm having to keep it under 4 grand 'till we get some miles on it. And it's not that much noiser over the road than my benzo. So for here too, I think they are nitpicking.


Love it love it love it!!

I hate it when people bash the power. Subaru makes the WRX and sti, for those seeking power but it seems that people will find any reason to complain. I had a WRX and yes I miss the power but I also rarely used it. The XV offers plenty of power to do what I need to do.

 

[CJBROWN]

I hate it when people bash the power. Subaru makes the WRX and sti, for those seeking power but it seems that people will find any reason to complain. I had a WRX and yes I miss the power but I also rarely used it. The XV offers plenty of power to do what I need to do.

It is what it is, as I like to say. They gave it all-wheel drive and great fuel economy instead.

The GLK was 268hp with a 7spd auto, the later ones are 305hp. The car is always in the right gear and gets up and screams if you floor it. But I never drove it that way, always trying to coax some fuel economy out of it. So for 90% of my driving the XV has plenty. If you need more you rev the piss out of it.

Some have complained about the shifter too. And while it's certainly not a race shifter, it's easy and efficient. I haven't found any really bad quirks with it. The motor is so torquey just a half-hearted stab of the throttle and let the clutch out and it's going. Slow corners and rolling stops are easy with 2nd. Again, great torque and drivability. It's remarkably smooth, even compared to the fancy Benz.

I had considered a new diesel GLK250 cdi but they are all-wheel drive only and will start in the mid-40's and go up from there. Ouch again. My gas one was rear wheel drive and handling was excellent. Ride quality wasn't a whole lot better, what with 19" 50 series tires. Speaking of which, the stock tires lasted 25K and cost a grand to replace. Ouch again.

 

[orpip]

Came from a 330 hp. Grand Cherokee hemi. Was concerned about going to 148 hp.
But find the cvt works great and the car has adequate power for what I need so far.
Plus the quality of the plastic is better than the Jeep, not to mention the mpg!

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

Welcome to the forum! Seems like everyone here (including me) is VERY HAPPY with the XV. Hope you enjoy it as much as we all do!


I can't believe your area has that many!!! They can't even hit the lot without being sold here for the most part.

Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

I was thinking the same thing. The dealers I've seen in SoCal seem to have a ton of Crosstreks usually, but when I purchased mine in North Carolina I bought the only one on the lot/second one in town.

Came from a 330 hp. Grand Cherokee hemi. Was concerned about going to 148 hp.
But find the cvt works great and the car has adequate power for what I need so far.
Plus the quality of the plastic is better than the Jeep, not to mention the mpg!

Just drove LA-Vegas-LA this weekend and was still impressed with how the 148hp preformed.

 

[CJBROWN]

Just drove LA-Vegas-LA this weekend and was still impressed with how the 148hp preformed.

Cool!
The only issue I see is 3200-3500rpms for freeway cruising, at least for the 75-85mph I like to run. Oh well, it still gets decent mileage and it's reasonably quiet, so I guess it's okay. You sure don't have to shift down for any grades. LOL

Leaving out a sixth gear was a dumb move on Subaru's part IMHO. The cheaped out on us with the stick. Otherwise it's a good evenly spaced gearbox.