Subaru Blue Turd Loaner: the Oppo Review

"BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind" (briangriffinsprius)
06/21/2016 at 08:06 • Filed to: None

So my 2008 Leggy was at the dealer yesterday to replace the passenger airbag-o-death, and the wonderful folks there were gracious enough to give me a courtesy car for the day. “Take the CrossTrek”, the pretty girl behind the counter said. “Customers love the CrossTrek”.

Let me back up. I’ve owned Subarus since I started driving a decade and a half (gulp) ago. They were quirky, but honest. Yeah, the interior materials were cheap (but durable), they were slow (but predictable), and of course, kinda weird looking on the outside. This was forgivable because a Subie would last forever and take you anywhere. Plus AWD goodness and handling.

BUT THIS...this CrossTrek was not those things. My loaner had a mere 1700 miles on it. Yes, I understand the life of a rental or courtesy car is much tougher than your average driveway queen, however this CrossTrek was already experiencing parts of the silver trim flaking off, the webbing of the seat material getting gunky and loose, and the threads of the steering wheel “wrap” (I use this term loosely, cause it wasn’t leather though it was made to look like leather) coming undone. Coupled with the UGLIEST stereo user interface ever, I was sad. The Subaru’s HU is so simplistic, it took me five minutes of searching through the settings to try to find car information (like mpgs, MTE, etc), only to discover those were toggled by a tiny little stalk hidden on the guage cluster; a stalk that could only be reached by sticking your hand THROUGH the steering wheel.

It was slow. I expected that, for a underpowered CVT equipped box on wheels. BUT THE SUBARU LIES. It *feels* quick off the line. No throttle lag, pressing the pedal give a quick fake downshift, the car scoots forward like getting stung by a bee, and you think “awesome, time to fly”...then you get smushed by a truck. Because there is no actual acceleration after that first five seconds, just some noise while the CVT whirs at 5000 RPMs. At least with my 2.5i Leggy, it doesn’t try to hide the fact that it’s slow.

It felt like a FWD car in its handling (it mostly is).I could get it to skid out on a gravel parking lot. The AC still sucked.

It’s tall for the sake of being tall, but that’s more of a style thing so I’ll let that slide. I have no idea why the CrossTrek exists; isn’t a tall Impreza just a Forester? Whatever. It was harder to get in and out of than my F150 and the flat part of the back hatch came up to my belly button. The shiny silver front cladding under the headlights made me think it had LEDs (it didn’t). No BLIS. The back-up camera turned off immediately after shifting away from reverse, which is annoying when you try to fit into a tight spot (cause there’s a delay in it turning back on).

All of this resulted in me being very happy to turn the keys in and get my now safer Legacy back. I think I may start hoarding them.

DISCUSSION (15)

Nauraushaun > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 08:16

We call those the XV.

It sounds truly awful.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 08:35

I don’t get the Crosstrek love either. I will say that our 2013 Outback is pretty true to the Subarus of the past that you describe, although the CVT feeling is similar - it jumps off of the line, but once you get to about 30-40 MPH you realize that is it pretty slow... the “manual” mode helps a bit with this, because left to its own devices the CVT prioritizes MPG. Steering wheel leather, seats (besides stains from kids) and switchgear are holding up very well at 48,000 miles.

My Forester does have some cheapness to it, but it is a cheaper car than the Legacy/Outback. But it seems to be doing OK besides some fraying of the seat fabric. The AC sucks. Truth be told, I’ve always thought the Impreza (and its platform mates) seemed a bit cheap.

I can’t imaging actually dealing with the slowness of a Crosstrek daily. A CVT Crosstrek weighs just 100 lbs. less than my manual Forester, but is down 22 hp/30 lb-ft - and the Forester isn’t exactly quick.

One last thing - I had a rental Mazda3 recently with 8,000 miles on it and chrome flaking off of the shifter-surround, so that isn’t an exclusively-Subaru issue.

Ash78, voting early and often > Nauraushaun
06/21/2016 at 09:05

Yeah, it's the XV Crosstrek here, but most people just drop the "XV" part. And by "most people," I mean the total of one person in real life, and maybe three people online, who I've ever heard just mention the weird thing.

random001 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 09:08

We have a 2014 Crosstrek Limited and quite like it. I agree, it's slower than I'd like, but adequate. I wanted an Outback, but it was for my wife. She tends to get speeding tickets if the car is too fast, and needs to load the kid(s) in. The height REALLY helps out with that, even for me, but I'm like 6'5", so yeah. I do miss my Legacy GT, though...

valsidalv, reminding you that infiniti is an option > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 09:14

I was excited when I picked up a rental Impreza wagon a while ago... but then I saw the PZEV badge on the back. The lack of power is what got to me the most. The interior was, as you mentioned, bland and utilitarian. Wasn’t the CrossTek featured on Jalopnik or Oppo as an decent alternative to the typical off-roaders?

Boxer_4 > Ash78, voting early and often
06/21/2016 at 09:29

No so anymore. Subaru dropped “XV” from the name starting with the 2016 model year. It is officially just the Crosstrek now.

Stapleface > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 09:29

I owned a Crosstrek for a little under two years before trading it in on a Civic. I actually quite liked the Crosstrek, except for the fuel economy.

The ride height was just about perfect IMHO. It was high enough that you could see in traffic, but low enough that you didn’t have to climb into it. In the 24k I had mine, the materials on the inside didn’t suffer from the issues you described. The most glaring deficiency was the aforementioned acceleration. I could have dealt with that, if I was getting stellar MPG numbers. But, I could barely get 28 MPG, so it just wasn't worth it. I will say that with snow tires that thing was an absolute tank in the snow. I couldn't get it stuck, no matter how hard I tried.

Ash78, voting early and often > Boxer_4
06/21/2016 at 09:43

Well, I'm still happy with my Camry Solara, my Pathfinder Armada, my Accord Crosstour, and my Passat CC. (I'm sure there are plenty more like that)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 09:48

The interior of the effectively identical base Impreza hatch is plastic fantastic out the gills. So many unfinished sharp edges...

Boxer_4 > Ash78, voting early and often
06/21/2016 at 10:02

B9 Tribeca...

Ash78, voting early and often > Boxer_4
06/21/2016 at 10:09

Legacy Outback? (first couple years?)

DynamicWeight > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 13:00

I hate my crosstrek. I have a manual and it is the worst manual I have ever had the displeasure of operating in my life. I think the main culprit is the total lack of power, but beyond that, not having a throttle cable I think is the real killer. The engine just not respond like it should. At all. Also, the seating position is all wrong for operating a clutch, way too tall and I have to have the seat way too forward.

For all that the four wheel drive system is great in the slippery stuff, but the lack of power means any sort of hill is an angry exercise in frustration. I feel like I’m beating the shit out of the car everytime I do any light offroading in it. I have to think this would actually be better in an automatic because I wouldn’t have to rev the shit out of the engine to get it moving.

Lucky for me it had really kept it’s value somehow. So I’m planning on trading it in for a Tacoma. After wanting a Subaru all my life, I feel really let down by the Crosstrek.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > DynamicWeight
06/21/2016 at 13:05

My only advice: turbo Forester. I had a 2010 and it was awesome. Auto only, though.

DynamicWeight > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/21/2016 at 13:14

Yeah, the forester starts getting closer to Tacoma money though. I liked the crosstrek because it was cheap. Honestly if I was going to get another crossover/hatch I’d probably go to Mazda. They are killing it with nice interiors lately.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
07/19/2016 at 14:13

You are hereby banned for one week from Oppo for using “turd” and “Subaru” in the same heading. See you next Tuesday.