![\"2024](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/5-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When we started our yearlong test of the\u00a02024 Subaru Crosstrek\u00a0Wilderness,\u00a0our arrival story\u00a0noted automakers\u2019 propensity for appealing to emotion to sell products. The Crosstrek in general and Wilderness trim in particular, we suggested, put forth a strong appeal toward fantasies of exploration, those moments of longing in between the monotony of everyday life. After living with it for a year, however, our conclusion isn\u2019t based on emotion. Rather, we\u2019re left with a thought born of cold rationality: This is a phenomenal little SUV.<\/p>\n
The Crosstrek isn\u2019t going to be for everyone. It\u2019s not particularly sporty. It\u2019s not luxurious, either. Other vehicles offer more everyday utility or off-road capability, simply by being bigger, more expensive, and more purpose-built. But if you\u2019re looking for a small, mainstream do-it-all-within-reason SUV and have about $35,000 to spend, you could do much worse than this.<\/p>\n
If a sporty ride or luxury trappings are what you\u2019re after and you want a subcompact SUV, there are quicker and fancier alternatives.\u00a0A Mazda CX-30 will get you to 60 mph a couple seconds quicker, and it\u2019ll look good doing it, all for about the same cash. If you can stretch your budget by a few thousand, you might even find what you\u2019re looking for on\u00a0a few luxury dealer lots. The Crosstrek Wilderness isn\u2019t exactly\u00a0slow<\/em>, but its 7.9-second 0\u201360 time won\u2019t be winning many races. It isn\u2019t necessarily what most would call conventionally attractive, either; on at least two occasions, its black plastic body armor and copper accents drew unsolicited criticism while I was just going about my business.<\/p>\n For those who can accept losing an occasional stoplight drag race and who don\u2019t much care if everyone thinks you look pretty all the time, there\u2019s a whole lot else to love here.<\/p>\n As a daily driver, the Crosstrek simply does what it\u2019s supposed to do with no fuss. Virtually every time I went out on an errand, I opened the door, sunk into the driver\u2019s seat, and had a brief feeling of \u2026 you know that feeling when you walk into your bedroom and flip the light switch, only to notice for the millionth time that the guy who installed it put it in just\u00a0slightly<\/em>\u00a0crooked? It\u2019s not bad enough that you ever get it fixed, but it\u2019s enough that you\u2019re often annoyed. Getting into the Crosstrek always felt like the complete absence of that. It didn\u2019t spark joy for me. It didn\u2019t make me excited to drive. If I was already in a joyous mood or already excited about where I was about to go, the Crosstrek let that feeling stand unadulterated. And if I was in a bad mood or really just wanted to go back inside and get in bed, it at least didn\u2019t give me yet another reason to feel that way.\u00a0Long drives didn\u2019t dampen the mood, either.<\/p>\n Many factors played a part there. The seats (save for the middle rear one) are comfortable and feel relatively spacious for a subcompact SUV. You have physical buttons for the things you want physical buttons for but a big touchscreen for a modern feel. It feels safe (and\u00a0in fact it is). The optional 10-speaker Harman Kardon stereo sounds good, at least to the ear of someone whose ability to speak on audio quality ends at \u201cit sounds good.\u201d There\u2019s plenty of space for you to put your everyday stuff. The list of competent interior qualities is long. The list of interior complaints, meanwhile, is tiny: the aforementioned middle rear seat, which is mediocre at best, and a piece of raised rubber that started coming unattached on the front passenger-side floormat. (This would maybe rise to the \u201ccrooked lightswitch\u201d level of annoyance if that mat were by my feet every day when I drove, but new floormats provide a simple fix.)<\/p>\n But the Crosstrek Wilderness\u2019 positives don\u2019t end at \u201cthis car did not add passive annoyance to my life.\u201d It also offers moments of brilliance. If you\u2019re shopping for subcompact crossovers, something like off-road competence probably shouldn\u2019t be the top priority for the vast majority of consumers, because for the vast majority of us, that simply isn\u2019t a thing we\u2019re going to do very often. Yet when presented with challenging terrain, this little Subaru can absolutely hold its own and then some. For many, just a veneer of off-road cred is probably sufficient; they just want something that\u2019ll\u00a0look cool with dirt under the tires and won\u2019t get them stuck\u00a0while driving down a gravel road. The Crosstrek will do that, yes, but it\u2019ll also do a surprising amount more,\u00a0which it proved to us on a trip to Southwest Colorado. The traits that enable off-road competence also made it a safe partner when faced with unexpected deep snow. If you want to conquer all trails, the Crosstrek Wilderness\u2019 inherent limitations probably make it a poor choice, though if that\u2019s your goal, you probably aren\u2019t in the market for a $35,000 subcompact SUV anyway.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s anything significant to complain about, it might be the cost to keep it running. Over 14,000 miles, we took it in for just one service visit (it was due for another had we kept it). That single service, which consisted of the typical oil change, new filters, and tire rotation, cost nearly $360. For comparison, another mainstream subcompact in our recent fleet, the 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross,\u00a0cost nothing for routine maintenance. A few years earlier,\u00a0a 2020 Mazda CX-30 cost us $375 in routine maintenance, but that covered two service visits over 19,000 miles, not one. And a 2018 Crosstrek\u00a0set us back about $280 for three services. (That $280 in 2018 dollars is almost exactly the same as $360 today, but again, three services versus one.) At least our Crosstrek was reasonably efficient, landing right on top of its 27-mpg EPA combined rating; its 26.5 mpg over the course of our loan fell short of that Corolla Cross (29.0) but beat the older CX-30 (25.8) and previous-gen Crosstrek (25.9). It cost us about $0.18 per mile to keep fueled, though drivers living anywhere but California (or Hawaii) could expect to pay slightly less.<\/p>\n My only other complaint: It\u2019s, well,\u00a0subcompact<\/em>. Cargo space simply isn\u2019t a Crosstrek strong suit, and given the limitations of the segment, that\u2019s somewhat understandable. Yet our Corolla Cross long-termer, a subcompact we praised for practicality, has another 5.2 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats up (25.2 for the Toyota versus the Crosstrek Wilderness\u2019 20.0). Would I trade a less spacious interior for more cargo space? Or sacrifice its off-road-enabling short overhangs for an extended cargo area? For most of my time with the Crosstrek, my answer would\u2019ve been a resounding no. That\u2019s a compromise I would have been willing to make.<\/p>\n As luck would have it, though, I found myself at a Subaru dealership the day after the Crosstrek returned to Subaru HQ. My wife and I were overdue for an upgrade from her 2008 Honda CR-V, which had finally passed the point where putting more money into it to keep it running seemed like a poor investment. I kept looking at the Crosstreks on the lot while the dealer showed off the newest Outbacks and Foresters; our long-termer had been gone not 24 hours, yet I missed it already. \u201cSure, its lack of cargo space might pose a rare problem to solve, but that\u2019s nothing two people can\u2019t work around,\u201d I found myself thinking, perhaps still in denial, because that rear seat will soon be in more frequent use, that tight cargo space more important than before.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a single person or a young couple who desires a true jack of all trades, it\u2019s hard to beat the Crosstrek. It\u2019ll handle just about everything you might realistically need it to handle and then some. You\u2019ll be content with it every time you slide behind the wheel, whether it\u2019s a quick trip to the store or a days-long trip to a faraway destination. It\u2019ll competently transport you through snow and ice and rain. It\u2019ll climb mountains. But if and when you need space for another, its few flaws might prove too much to overcome.<\/p>\n MotorTrend\u2019s 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness<\/p>\n \u00a0SERVICE LIFE<\/p>\n 12 months\/14,396 miles<\/p>\n BASE\/AS-TESTED PRICE<\/p>\n $33,290\/$35,560<\/p>\n OPTIONS<\/p>\n Option package 23 ($2,270: premium audio, power moonroof, power driver\u2019s seat)<\/p>\n EPA CITY\/HWY\/COMB FUEL ECON; COMB RANGE<\/p>\n 25\/29\/27 mpg; 448 miles<\/p>\n AVERAGE FUEL ECON<\/p>\n 26.5 mpg<\/p>\n ENERGY COST PER MILE<\/p>\n $0.18<\/p>\n MAINTENANCE AND WEAR<\/p>\n $357.10 (7\/24: oil and filter change, tire rotation, cabin air filter, engine air filter, inspection)<\/p>\n DAMAGES<\/p>\n $0<\/p>\n DAYS OUT OF SERVICE\/WITHOUT LOANER<\/p>\n 0\/0<\/p>\n DELIGHTS<\/p>\n Everything where you want it, nothing where you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n ANNOYANCES<\/p>\n Showing signs of wear after only a year.<\/p>\n RECALLS<\/p>\n None<\/p>\n Welcome to the vibrant streets of New York City, a destination where world-famous landmarks merge seamlessly with luxury experiences tailored\u2026 <\/p>\n Welcome to the dazzling world of New York City, a destination where iconic landmarks meet luxury experiences designed for women\u2026 <\/p>\n New York City, famously known as \u201cThe Big Apple,\u201d is a vibrant metropolis filled with history, culture, and world-renowned landmarks\u2026 <\/p>\n New York City\u2019s Museum Mile, located along Fifth Avenue on the eastern edge of Central Park, is a cultural oasis\u2026 <\/p>\n New York City is synonymous with luxury, and nowhere is this more evident than in its world-class shopping scene. From\u2026 <\/p>\n New York City is often described as a collection of unique villages rather than a single metropolis, with each neighborhood\u2026 <\/p>\n End of content<\/p>\n No more pages to load<\/p>\n Next page<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we started our yearlong test of the\u00a02024 Subaru Crosstrek\u00a0Wilderness,\u00a0our arrival story\u00a0noted automakers\u2019 propensity for appealing to emotion to sell products. The Crosstrek in general and Wilderness trim in particular, we suggested,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}