![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/b83814c495bc6da49f86cf1262703e6826627b9c\/c=73-0-3749-2764&r=x513&c=680x510\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/09\/11\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/635775674938816788-1-Subaru-XV-Crosstrek-10.jpg\")
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One of my favorite Detroit restaurants is\u00a0Mike\u2019s Famous Ham Place<\/a>. A tiny, ten-seat pillbox on Michigan Avenue. Its menu is just as compact.<\/p>\n Mike\u2019s does one thing exceptionally well: Ham. And they do it over and over and over. Ham and eggs for breakfast. Ham sandwich for lunch. Ham and pickles sandwich. Ham and cheese sandwich. Ham and Navy bean soup. Ham and split pea soup (which I would walk across hot coals for). When I enter Mike\u2019s I feel like I\u2019m in a Monty Python skit (substitute \u201cham\u201d for \u201cspam\u201d). I\u2019d like ham, ham, ham, ham, ham, and split pea and ham, please.<\/p>\n Subaru is the Mike\u2019s of autos. The all-wheel-drive Impreza its ham.<\/p>\n You can have the AWD Subaru Impreza sedan. The AWD Impreza Wagon. The AWD Impreza WRX. The AWD Impreza WRX STI.\u00a0The AWD, Impreza-based Forester<\/a>. Or this week\u2019s review: The AWD, Impreza-based XV Crosstrek.<\/p>\n It\u2019s delicious. Affordable. And essentially the same meat as everything else on the menu (including the AWD Legacy sedan and Outback crossover which are oversized Imprezas). What about the racy, rear-wheel-drive BRZ sport car, you ask? Um. I don\u2019t know why that\u2019s on the menu. It\u2019s like Mike\u2019s Ham started serving hot fudge sundaes.<\/p>\n But I digress. You know\u00a0the XV Crosstrek<\/a>\u00a0is a crossover because it sits four inches higher than the Impreza, gains body cladding, and has an X in its name. Everybody\u2019s doing it. BMW X5. Cadillac SRX. Mazda CX-3. Lincoln MKX. Acura MDX. And so on.<\/p>\n Otherwise\u00a0the Crosstrek\u2019s an Impreza<\/a>. Insert my Impreza review from December, 2013HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Same console. Same all-wheel-drive system. Same instruments, seats, 2.0-liter, boxer engine, continuously variable transmission, special sauce, cheese, lettuce, on a sesame seed bun (OK, got carried away there).<\/p>\n In short \u2018Trek is\u00a0a crossover for \u2018Ru fans who think Impreza station wagons are uncool<\/a>. That cool factor is reinforced by blinged-out, daisy wheels and hip colors like Tangerine Orange Pearl. Dude, DUB did an Impreza!<\/p>\n Reserved Impreza owners would never be caught dead in Tangerine Orange Pearl \u2014 owners like my wife who prefers a proper Deep Sea Blue Pearl. Deep Sea Blue Pearl, by the way, is also why Mrs. Payne opted for the Impreza over the Lightning Red Subaru WRX. That and the WRX\u2019s hood scoop and blaring exhaust.<\/p>\n Sitting high in the saddle does not appeal to Mrs. Payne, either. Indeed, the Crosstrek\u2019s added height and softer \u201coff-road\u201d suspension setup is noticeable under hard cornering, making this a hammier sandwich than the Impreza despite their similar dimensions.<\/p>\n But if you do have a taste for sitting up high. . . but not in Tangerine Orange Peal. . . but with more room. . . . Well, then the boxier Subaru Forester would be your thing with a whopping 17 more cubic feet in cargo space over the Crosstrek\/Impreza.<\/p>\n Not that that the \u2018Trek\u2019s 52 cubes is anything to sneeze at. The affordable Crosstrek is priced with youthful, subcompact crossovers like the Chevy Trax and Mazda CX-3 while offering more room. Meanwhile, the frumpier Forester is a $5,000-savings bargain compared to comparably-sized compact SUVs like the Chevy Equinox and Mazda CX-5.<\/p>\n Ham is still ham, though, and the Crosstrek \u2014 like Impreza \u2014 is pretty bland in the power department. With only 148 horses paired to a molasses-like CVT tranny, I got out-dragged by milk trucks. Subaru saves the mustard and onions for the Forester (optional, 250-horse turbo) and the tongue-scorching STI (305 turbocharged ponies).<\/p>\n Subaru repackages these options with stepped price hikes. The Impreza Hatchback Premium trim starts at $22,345, the Crosstrek at $23,145, and the Forester at $26,645. The winged, howl-at-the-moon, track-ready STI will set you back $35,490.<\/p>\n Throw in the hot fudge sundae \u2013 er, sporty BR-Z \u2013 for motor-heads like me and Subaru has a staggering menu of affordable small cars. The bargains don\u2019t stop when you sign the check. The number crunchers over at Kelly Blue Book rank Subaru #2 \u2013 behind Mazda \u2013 in lowest cost of ownership over five years based on seven categories including depreciation, fuel costs, and insurance premiums. My wife keeps the family books and she\u2019s been all smiles.<\/p>\n With such rave reviews the new AWD Impreza menu items aren\u2019t pirating sales from one another \u2013 just bringing more customers to the counter. Introduced in late 2012, the \u2018Trek sold 71,000 units last year while\u00a0Forester ballooned<\/a>\u00a0from 76,000 in 2012 to 159,000 to become the brand\u2019s best-selling vehicle. In a challenging market for sedansImpreza still gained<\/a>\u00a0nearly 2,000 in annual sales.<\/p>\n All this talk has made me hungry. I\u2019m thinking ham and pea soup . . . and a tangerine<\/p>\n 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek<\/p>\n Vehicle type:\u00a0Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger sport ute<\/p>\n Price:\u00a0$22,445 ($25,440 2.0i Premium as tested)<\/p>\n Power plant:\u00a02.0-liter, Boxer 4-cylinder; Gas-electric hybrid 2.0-liter Boxer-4 with AC electric motor driven and nickel-metal hydride battery pack<\/p>\n Power:\u00a0148 horsepower, 145 pound-feet of torque (4-cyl)<\/p>\n Transmission:\u00a0Five-speed manual transmission; Continuously Variable Transmission (as tested)<\/p>\n Performance:\u00a00-60 mph, 10.2 seconds (Motor Trend estimate, CVT)<\/p>\n Weight:\u00a03,186 pounds<\/p>\n Fuel economy:\u00a0EPA 26 mpg city\/34 mpg highway\/29 mpg combined<\/p>\n Report card<\/p>\n Highs:\u00a0A head-turning Subaru; Bargain buy<\/p>\n Lows:\u00a0Molasses-like CVT tranny; Softer handling is only a benefit if taken off-road<\/p>\n Overall:\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of my favorite Detroit restaurants is\u00a0Mike\u2019s Famous Ham Place. A tiny, ten-seat pillbox on Michigan Avenue. Its menu is just as compact. Mike\u2019s does one thing exceptionally well: Ham. And they do it over and over and over. Ham and eggs for breakfast. Ham sandwich for lunch. Ham and pickles sandwich. Ham and cheese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17176,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175\/revisions\/17176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}