New cars are Funda houses. Large screens, walls and floors in the warm tones of an ice-cold living program, but above all no coziness: freezer chests with mood lighting. In that lemming desert, the Subaru Crosstrek stands like an old, gnarled but healthy tree, proudly marginally itself. It is one of the few SUVs with standard all-wheel drive and off-road capabilities, from one of the few brands that still puts function above form. Because of that, and not because it’s not electric, no one buys it. With the Crosstrek, a down-to-earth past that was considered retarded by the trend junkie washes up in the present. You can be beautiful at Subaru’s house. On the road, safety, space and usability count. It has always been that way with this brand and it remains that way. I have not seen such a spacious rear window in a long time, which means that as a driver you once again catch something of what is happening around you, unthinkable in the design palaces surrounded by swollen B- and C-pillars for which conformists pay the price. Love the generous exterior mirrors and the excellent forward view. The trunk is not spacious, but the space in the back is remarkably good. And you glow a little with pride at the humbling improvements. The rear window wiper is 4.5 centimeters longer than on the replaced Quasimodo that preceded the Crosstrek, the XV. Even more visibility! On the right track.
Why the glass protrusion in the headlights, the photographer asks. I don’t know, but there must be a reason, it’s a Subaru. In the cabin, an inexorably boring-solid non-aesthetic grows unsystematically in all directions like an old city. The level of amenities is contemporary with Android Auto and the latest safety systems, but the dashboard looks as if it was put together around 1990 and the multimedia screen was later temporarily glued to that old cake. There should be a department at Subaru to prevent pointless beauty. The modern carbon paneling is a brilliantly failed attempt to make direct contact with the spirit of the times. The clocks are analogue, the buttons are washed-up antiques from a better, calmer century. They still had the rotary knobs for volume control and channel tuning from 1985. Windshield demisting? Rear window heating? Temperature control left and right? Push buttons! There are also a lot of buttons on the steering wheel, a bit too many for my liking, but they are also a balm for the soul after a series of labyrinthine Chinese touchscreens.
The best thing about the Crosstrek’s features is how they show you THAT they function. After switching on the seat heating – the toggle switches can easily be found in the Rijksmuseum – a light comes on to show that the heating is ACTIVE. The graphics of the infotainment screen seem to be copied from a historic computer game, as if it were aftermarket, while Subaru actually came up with it itself, and that also shows. If you switch on the air conditioning via the touchscreen, a soothing light will come on again. It says: ON!
Well-behaved and familiar
The Crosstrek isn’t fast. Don’t give him up on his failure, the machine won’t like that. The engine sound is gentle and familiar, remarkably soft for a four-cylinder boxer block, another fine specialty of the house. At 100, the speed fluctuates civilly between 1,500 and 2,000, neat.
This brand always plays so differently from the lemming companies that I fall for it again and again, whatever the negative aspects of this concept may be from an ecological point of view. A mild-hybrid powertrain with a CO2emissions of 174 grams per kilometer will not save the Netherlands from drowning. On the other hand, there is also no CO2-consuming battery production that is only compensated after years of plug-in driving. Furthermore, Subarus last a long time, an underestimated form of sustainability. And whatever aesthetic flaws you have to accept, you leave happy. It is comfortable and quite soft for a contemporary Japanese person. The chairs are not oversized – the backrest is sufficiently long, the seat is a little too short – but they are better than they look.
Photo Merlijn Doomernik
And Subaru makes it easy for you. The Crosstrek straightforwardly comes in three variants. The only option is metallic paint for 750 euros. If you buy the most expensive model, which according to Subaru is cheaper than a comparable model of the predecessor XV, you get a complete car for a solid but well spent 56 grand, including Subaru’s obligatory sliding roof. And that does work electrically. But his most important asset: he is useful to you. In all weather conditions.