2024 Subaru Crosstrek Review: Making a Great Crossover Even Better

A long list of small yet substantive updates make the new Crosstrek the best compact car for anyone with an adventurous spirit.

By Will Sabel Courtney

Published December 13, 2023

Updated December 13, 2023

Subaru has long been a bit of an off-beat carmaker. Peer into its past, and you’ll find all sorts of wacky, think-outside-the-box vehicles: the Brat, the Baja, the SVX, the B9 Tribeca. For the last few decades, though, here in America, it’s been largely defined by what might be called the Stereotypical Subaru: an all-wheel-drive, body-cladded and lifted car designed to offer much of what people like in a sport-utility vehicle (off-road /all-weather capability, specifically) without all the annoying parts (truck-like handling, poor fuel economy.)

The Outback, of course, was the first to lead this charge; then came the Forester, a half-size smaller but a bit quirkier; and then, finally, the Crosstrek, the smallest size of the Stereotypical Subaru. First introduced in 2012 as a high-riding fraternal twin of the fourth-generation Impreza, it’s now on its third generation — but still twinned with the latest Impreza. The changes have hardly been revolutionary, but then again, they don’t need to be; the Crosstrek has racked up best-in-class sales and accolades from consumers and independent experts alike over the years. Why mess with success was largely the mantra for the new 2024 model … but that didn’t stop Subaru from fiddling around at the edges.

2024 Subaru Crosstrek: What We Think

The Crosstrek has long excelled at offering what buyers want in an affordable package, and the third-generation model that’s hitting the streets for the 2024 model year only builds on that success, maintaining the charm and character that defines the brand’s best products. Thanks to an arsenal of well-thought-out evolutionary changes — everything from smoothing out the design to improving the steering to adding subtle features meant to enhance its utility, like fold-flat seats and wide opening doors with fatter sills for standing on — the Crosstrek gives Subaru’s loyal customers all the more reason to re-up when the time comes for a new car, while also serving as a more tempting alternative than ever for everyone else in the market for an affordable, adventurous family vehicle.

To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.

The Crosstrek blends SUV and car to near-perfection

Crossovers, as they were originally defined, were meant to be a cross between SUVs and cars: an intermediate point in the market, offering a mix of the qualities of both. Yet to look at most of them nowadays, you might suspect that the SUV side had the dominant genes when it came to looks. Tall, boxy flanks, slab-sided windows and elevated beltlines are all too common, even on vehicles whose skeletons are closely related to the likes of Civics and the like.

The Crosstrek, however, looks much more like what it is: a car that’s aspiring to take on some SUV traits. It sits at the same sort of height and offers a similar view of the road as other compact crossovers, but it comes across as more of the elevated hatchback it is than, say, a baby Bronco. Subaru’s design language has long operates this way — the Outback, Ascent and even Forester are much the same — and it is, at least to my eyes, refreshingly unpretentious in an era where carmakers are masquerading almost everything as an SUV of sorts.

The Crosstrek can handle all the off-roading you’ll actually do

It may be less the case nowadays than it was back in the early days of SUVs, when every model was seemingly sold on its ability to summit Mt. Rainier, but the implication of off-road ability is still part of the appeal of the sport-ute. From the humblest Ford EcoSport to the most ostentatious Lamborghini Urus, the idea that hey man, I don’t need to worry about roads, I’ve got an SUV remains inexorably tied to the appeal of the class.

Yet the Crossover’s less-ostentatious appearance hides, arguably, some of the best off-road performance in the class. 8.7 inches of ground clearance goes a long way towards hopping over many obstacles; the Crosstrek’s relatively short overhangs make it a bit easier to navigate steep slopes; and the X-Mode off-road driving assistance systems that optimize power delivery for different conditions might as well be called E-Z Off-Roading, given how they reduce the amount of skill needed to scramble through the rough stuff.

a car with a boat on top of it in a field with mountains in the background

Of course, if you’re really planning on doing serious off-roading, it might be worth climbing to the top of the lineup, where the Crosstrek Wilderness lies. It packs added ground clearance — more than the new Toyota Land Cruiser, in fact — standard all-terrain tires, revised gear ratios for better acceleration and control off-road and a few other tweaks to better help it tackle terrain. Those changes don’t come at the expense of on-road comfort or real-world usability, though.

Read our full review of the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness here.

The Crosstrek Sport is the sweet spot of the lineup

The 2024 Crosstrek line consists of five trim levels: base model, Premium, Sport, Limited and Wilderness.

My time was spent driving the Sport and Limited trims, which differentiate themselves from the lower-priced pair not just through surface-level features, but through powertrain; while the base and Premium use a 2.0-liter boxer-four that makes 152 horsepower and 148 lb-ft, the upper trims pack a 2.5-liter four that adds 30 horses and 37 lb-ft to that. If that doesn’t seem like much, think of it as a percentage; the bigger engine makes about 20 percent more horses and 25 percent more torque. It makes a noticeable difference, at least versus previous lesser Crosstreks I’ve driven. (Also, for you Buy American types: the 2.5-liter models are made in Indiana, while the 2.0-liter ones hail from Japan.)

As for deciding between the two big-engine models, it effectively comes down to which you’d rather have: a sunroof or leather seats.

Equip the Sport with the cleverly named “Optional Package,” which adds rear cross traffic alert and blind spot assist, a power driver’s seat and a moonroof, and it’s effectively the same price as the Limited’s MSRP. To get a moonroof in the Limited, you have to fork over $1,795–$2,445 for another option package, and the other pieces of it — a Harmon Kardon stereo and navigation — aren’t worth it; the regular stereo is fine for this sort of car, nd there’s no real need for a navigation system when you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard.

On top of all that, while the leather seats of the Limited are fine, the Sport’s cloth upholstery feels a little more in tune with the overall vibe of the car. (You don’t buy leather hiking boots, do you?) So if you’re trying to maximize your value, the Sport offers a little more bang for your buck … and a bolder color palette, to boot.

The Crosstrek avoids the annoyances found in some other Subarus

Subarus, by and large, are among the easier cars to live with in the day-to-day grind. They don’t ask you to relearn how to, say, shift the transmission or use your blinkers or open the doors or read the gauges; if you’ve ever driven a car before, be it from 1950 or 2023, you can probably figure out a new Subaru.

Inside, all but the base Crosstrek uses the 11.6-inch portrait-style infotainment screen found in many of the other Subie models — but software tweaks have made it better For example: There’s a constantly-accessible button on the infotainment screen to turn off the automatic stop-start function — unlike Legacys and Outbacks, which force you to dive several layers deep into the menus to find it.

There are other aspects where this Subie outdoes its siblings. The Crosstrek doesn’t come with the Driver Monitoring System found on many Subarus, a camera-based system with which the road to hell is paved that beeps at you when you glance away from the road or scratch your face and block its view. And the seat heaters, blessedly, are still good old-fashioned physical switches — much like the many buttons on the steering wheel, the shift lever, the volume and tuning knobs, the most vital climate control functions and the trip odometer. (Pay attention, VW.)

From the driver’s perspective, many modern Subies suffer from two slight irritants: the steering wheel and the gearbox. The new Crosstrek, blessedly, resolves both of them.

The dual-pinion steering may not pack Porsche-like feel, but it’s accurate and direct, with no dead spot on center; in my experience, it makes the car genuinely more pleasant to drive than some of its Subie siblings, be it on the rough dirt roads of the Catskills or the pavement of New York City. And the Crosstrek’s CVT suffers from little of the sponginess or rubberiness found in many examples of the breed, responding in most cases much like a traditional automatic that just has a lot of cogs to choose from. (That said, using the paddles to shift it as a de facto Tiptronic is a better way to exploit the engine’s power band during spirited driving.)

Indeed, it’s in the driving experience where the biggest differences between this generation and its predecessor show. Not only is it more fun to drive, but it’s quieter — thanks to improved aerodynamics and added sound deadening — and rides wonderfully, soaking up potholes and even speed bumps without compromising handling.

2024 Subaru Crosstrek: Alternatives

Be it ones from mainstream nameplates or luxury brands, the compact crossover class is hardly hurting for entries these days. The Crosstrek stacks up most directly against the likes of the Honda HR-V, Volkswagen Taos, Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and Kia Seltos — all of which start between $22K–$24K and tap out in the mid-$30K range fully loaded.