LIKES
- Known quantity, durable practicality
- Good CVT with 8 simulated gears
- Standard AWD
- Off-road ability
- Standard safety features
DISLIKES
- Limited trim is superfluous
- Hybrid gone for now
- Slow base engine
- Interior plastics sturdy but basic
BUYING TIP
- The stronger engine in the Crosstrek Sport makes it more enjoyable to drive, but the less expensive Premium may be “enough” Crosstrek.
The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek keeps the little SUV’s known virtues of durability, value, and off-road capability while boosting refinement without boosting price.
What kind of car is the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek? What does it compare to?
The Crosstrek is a compact five-seat crossover utility vehicle, effectively the Impreza hatchback with more ground clearance and tougher fittings. Competitors include the Honda HR-V, Hyundai Kona, and two Jeeps: the Renegade and the Compass.
Is the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek a good car?
Subaru has long fitted all-wheel drive as standard to its volume models, and the Crosstrek takes advantage by offering reliable off-road abilities competitors can’t match. Its safety ratings are consistently above average. It earns a TCC Rating of 6.0 out of 10.
What's new for the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek?
The 2024 Crosstrek is a thorough redesign, with updated styling, a larger touchscreen inside the utilitarian cabin, and considerable attention paid to reducing noise and vibration to lower driver fatique. The shape remains the same, and you’ll have to look twice to distinguish it from last year’s model, but the changes are comprehensive.
A 152-hp 2.0-liter flat-4 continues to power the two lowest Crosstrek models, the base and the Premium. These will arrive at dealerships in late spring, and we’ve test-driven the Premium. The two top models, the Sport and Limited, are powered by a beefier 2.5-liter flat-4 that will arrive a month or two later, which we haven’t driven yet. Both engines power a CVT that drives all four wheels; a manual gearbox is no longer available. The Crosstrek’s forte is off-road capability on dirt trails or rutted gravel roads, with remarkable grip and tenacity for a small car.
Four people can travel comfortably in the five-seat Crosstrek, and the load bay holds up to TK cubic feet of cargo. Seats are covered in cloth, and for the most part manually adjusted. Standard safety features on all models, beyond high ratings from IIHS and NHTSA, include automatic emergency braking and active lane control.
How much does the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek cost?
The base Crosstrek costs $26,220, including a mandatory $1,225 destination fee, which includes 17-inch wheels, the CVT, standard wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The popular Premium trim we tested, from $27,370, adds wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, roof rails for accessory storage, and the 11.6-inch touchscreen display. For the more powerful 2.5-liter engine and an added off-road mode in the Crosstrek’s X-Drive system, we’d go for the $30,220 Sport. The Limited starts at $32,120, adding luxury features that gild the Crosstrek’s utilitarian lily, and a top-of-the-range plug-in hybrid model may reappear in future.
Where is the Subaru Crosstrek made?
Gunma, Japan, and Lafayette, Indiana (depending on powertrain).
Styling
It’s entirely redesigned, but you’ll have to look twice.
Is the Subaru Crosstrek a good-looking car?
Subaru’s sold more than 1 million Crosstreks in 11 years, and the familiar shape isn’t greatly changed: a nip and tuck here, some more aggressive cladding there. The dimensions are all but identical to its predecessor. It remains a 5 on style, neither stunning nor ugly.
Changes for 2024 include a frameless grille with a bolder pattern—“more playful,” in Subaru’s words—and a “flying wing” design that extends beyond the grille edges into thinner, more wraparound headlights. The upper window line descends more at the rear, and the cabin narrows more, giving the 2024 Crosstrek more “shoulders” aft of the door. Slots in the wheel-arch molding and the rear apron are functional vents to reduce aerodynamic drag and improve fuel economy. Roof rails are standard on all but the base model.
The interior is deliberately utilitarian, with cheerful cloth upholstery with contrast stitching and bottle-holders galore. This year’s most obvious interior update is the larger 11.6-inch touchscreen display on all but the base model. The hooded instrument cluster remains, and Subaru has deliberately kept hard knobs and switches for functions like volume and seat heaters. It offers not only USB-A and USB-C ports, but kept an audio jack for traditionalist.
Performance
Legitimate off-road capability offsets the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek's slow base engine.
The Subaru Crosstrek has always excelled at the kind of off-road usage that gets owners to their outdoor pursuits. The extra point for its ability to scrabble up rough trails is offset by one point lost for the slow base engine—though this year it doesn’t feel as slow. Good?
Is the Subaru Crosstrek 4WD?
Yes: all-wheel drive, all the time, with 8.7 inches of ground clearance but a lower center of gravity than competitors due to its flat-4 engine. It’s easy to toss around mountain roads and corners well given its height. The more powerful engine, which we haven’t tested yet, may provide rally-car fantasies; the 2.0-liter is “good enough” in the 3,300-pound vehicle, but hardly a speed demon.
The Crosstrek’s steering wheel tends to wander over the road crown, but that’s helpful when it goes off-road. Deeper in the woods, the X-Mode off-road function with the CVT comes with hill descent control that manages speed so the driver can focus on obstacles. Under speeds of 18 mph, X-Mode cuts throttle response to deliver torque more evenly and lock the slipping wheel. The Sport grade adds a Deep Snow/Mud function that essentially shuts off the traction control to permit wheel slip in a lower gear ratio that modulates torque so it can grunt its way out of sticky situations.
How fast is the Subaru Crosstrek?
We’d agree with that assessment, due to the work it has put in to reduce reaching the cabin from a variety of sources. The engineers stiffened the case of the CVT, mounted seats directly to the floorpan, added carefully designed sound deadening under the roof and elsewhere, and took a variety of other steps to reduce the volume of sound under hard acceleration. The result is a Crosstrek that doesn’t feel as desperate and overstressed while accelerating not much faster than it used to.
A stiffer chassis let engineers soften the spring rates of the 2024 Crosstrek, and the ride is indeed softer—almost to the edge of too soft for a Subaru, perhaps. On certain irregular road surfaces, we experienced a bit of “jiggle” as the springs softened wheel movements and the cabin moved gently as a result. It only cropped up on certain roads, though, and overall the new Crosstrek is far more refined than its predecessors.
Final details on the larger 2.5-liter flat-4 in Sport and Limited models aren’t available quite yet, but it may be worth upgrading. Stay tuned. There may be a future plug-in hybrid version to come, but Subaru is mum on that for the moment.
Comfort & Quality
Four people and their gear fit into the Crosstrek comfortably
Despite its relatively short length, the Crosstrek can accommodate four adults. Headroom in the rear can get tight for those over 6 feet, but the tall stance and wide-opening rear doors make getting in and out convenient even for larger passengers. The versatility of a tall hatchback adds one point, as does surprising rear leg room that gives two adults comfortable rear seating. Overall, it’s a 7.
While certain features are controlled through menus in the center display—the X-Mode off-road vehicle-control software and the engine start-stop off switch, for instance—Subaru has kept large buttons for others. It also notes door-handle openings are larger, so users can more easily use them while wearing gloves. Subaru’s efforts to reduce noise and vibration reduce driver fatigue during long trips—which, Crosstrek buyers say, are an important part of their usage of the car.
Cargo volume is 19.9 cubic feet with the rear seat up, and 54.7 cu ft with it folded flat. All except the base model 2024 Crosstrek come with redesigned and sleeker roof rails, on which owners will mount a variety of racks, cargo boxes, and other accessory gear.
Safety
Crosstreks have always earned top safety ratings.
Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has yet tested the new Crosstrek for crash safety, but Subaru expects it to earn 5-star ratings from the NHTSA and a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS. The company specifically notes the 2024 Crosstrek is designed with new, tougher IIHS side-impact testing in mind. Pending those tests, the Crosstrek gets a point for standard automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and active lane control—giving it a 6 rating. If it gets those two top ratings, that would rise to an 8.
Standard active-safety equipment using Subaru’s twin-camera EyeSight system includes adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, active lane control, and headlights that change their aim as the driver turns. Optional or standard features, depending on trim level, include automatic emergency steering, blind-spot detection, and automatic braking in reverse.
Subaru has long prided itself on good outward vision, and the Crosstrek is no exception. The nose slopes down to give good visibility of the road ahead, while thin windshield pillars and door-mounted side mirrors offer exceptional front-side vision. Over-the-shoulder vision is adequate in this era of thick roof pillars, and better than numerous other small SUVs we’ve reviewed. Subaru also provides a real spare tire under the load deck; it’s not full-size, but it’s larger and beefier than the inflatable spares offered by other makes.
Features
Choose the Premium for practicality, or Sport for extra oomph.
The Crosstrek earns a 7 for value and standard features, with the base model (now with CVT standard) unchanged in price from last year despite new features. The full lineup of 2024 Subaru Crosstrek models spans four trim levels: base, Premium, Sport, and Limited.
The base trim, starting at $26,220, includes 17-inch wheels, the EyeSight system with dual cameras that enables active safety features including adaptive cruise control, steering-sensitive headlights, and active lane control. Other standard features across the range include dual-zone climate control, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay (via cable), and roof mounting points for crossbars (but no roof rails). The lower dash includes an auxiliary jack, a 2.4-amp USB-A connector, and a 3.0-amp USB-C connector, with the latter two repeated at the back of the console for use by rear-seat riders.
The Premium trim we tested, from $27,370, adds wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, roof rails for accessory storage, and the 11.6-inch touchscreen display. An optional $2,245 package bundles together a power-adjustable driver’s seat, an all-weather package with heated seats and mirrors, automatic emergency steering, blind-spot alerts, and a power moonroof, taking the total cost of our test model to $29,615.
Finally, the top Limited model, from $32,120, makes the power driver’s seat, automatic emergency steering, and blind-spot alerts standard, along with automatic braking for reverse and leather trim for the seats. Its $1,795 option package adds the power moonroof and a Harmon Kardon audio system. Navigation is a standalone $650 option available only on the Limited trim.
Which Subaru Crosstrek should I buy?
The vast majority of Crosstrek buyers go for either the Premium (just enough upgrades over the base model, but only about $1,000 more) or the top-end Limited. We like the Sport, which offers the more powerful 2.5-liter engine without a lot of luxury features that seem excessive on this overalls-and-running-shoes vehicle.
How much is a fully loaded Subaru Crosstrek?
The top-of-the-line Crosstrek Limited with all available options pushes into $35,000 territory. All models carry a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty, only average among competitors.
Fuel Economy
Despite no hybrid options and standard AWD, the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek ekes out 29 mpg.
Is the Subaru Crosstrek good on gas?
Estimated fuel economy for all versions of the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek is 29 mpg combined, with slight variations in the city and highway numbers depending whether the 2.0-liter or 2.5-liter engine is fitted. That’s about average across the small crossover segment when AWD is fitted, and gets a 4 here.
The manual gearbox is gone, so all models have CVTs now. The Crosstrek’s 16.6-gallon gas tank gives a total range of 480 to 500 miles depending on trim level, which Subaru notes is higher than that of all similarly sized SUV competitors. A plug-in hybrid model may reappear, but Subaru isn’t talking about that yet.
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