{"id":26026,"date":"2020-09-25T11:50:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T15:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=26026"},"modified":"2020-09-25T11:50:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T15:50:26","slug":"payne-subaru-crosstrek-spices-it-up-with-muscular-sport-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/payne-subaru-crosstrek-spices-it-up-with-muscular-sport-model","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Subaru Crosstrek spices it up with muscular Sport model"},"content":{"rendered":"

Subaru designers modeled a hiking boot when they sat down to shape the latest Outback SUV. Rugged front end. Blocky, black side-cladding.<\/p>\n

So it only makes sense that the Outback\u2019s little brother, the 2021 Crosstrek, looks like a trail-running shoe.<\/p>\n

The new Subaru\u00a0has beefier black cladding all around. The front grille lattice is right off a New Balance shoe. The chunky, charcoal fenders mimic a running sole. Even the 17-inch wheels are wrapped in a higher-profile\u00a0tire.<\/p>\n

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All that is deliberate because, like\u00a0sporty footwear, the Crosstrek itches to be taken off-road. I obliged, lacing up the Crosstrek and flogging it over the gravel and valleys of middle Ohio. Yes, Ohio. Turn south from the pancake flat terrain of Great Lakes Detroit and Toledo, and Buckeye country gets more hillier\u00a0as it approaches the Appalachians.<\/p>\n

This is familiar country to your hillbilly West Virginia-born reviewer who spent much of his youth trekking back and forth from Charleston to middle Ohio to autocrosses, race tracks and hill climbs in the right seat of my father\u2019s sports car. Hurtling through the country, the road trip could be as thrilling as the race event.<\/p>\n

For 2021, the Crosstrek offers a Sport trim for the first time, following the Impreza Sport hatchback and the Outback Sport (now called Onyx). The Sport comes after Crosstrek has spent the last eight years crushing it,\u00a0selling over 750,000 units as America switched from sedans to utes. Crosstrek sales are now more than double that of stablemate Impreza hatchback.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s about time Crosstrek got a Sport option.<\/p>\n

The idea behind the Sport\/Onyx trims is to accentuate signature model features. The Impreza Sport amplifies the hatch\u2019s sporty flavor with low-profile, sports car-like wheels, blacked-out grille\u00a0and tightened suspension. It\u2019s a hot-hatch wannabe.<\/p>\n

The Crosstrek Sport (like the Outback Onyx) is a different animal. That shoe-like cladding tells the tale.<\/p>\n

Barreling along between cornfields on gravel-strewn,\u00a0pothole-pocked county roads, the Crosstrek Sport is a blast. Its standard all-wheel drive claws for grip, while the Global Platform architecture that underpins the Impreza and Crosstrek continues to impress. I became a convert in 2017 when I whipped the Impreza hatch over the challenging twisties of San Diego\u2019s Cuyamaca Mountains.<\/p>\n

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The Crosstrek is no less impressive despite hiking up its skirts to 3.5\u00a0inches higher off the ground. At 8.7 inches the Crosstrek Sport isn\u2019t quite a Jeep Wrangler (10.7-inch ground clearance) but it is the best in class \u2014 two inches higher than my other subcompact ute all-star, the Mazda CX-30. Which looks nothing like a trail-running shoe.<\/p>\n

The sleek Mazda would be just as happy if it never saw a gravel road. Its athletic stance is more suited for asphalt where it devours every other small SUV on the planet.<\/p>\n

Still, the CX-30 got Subaru\u2019s attention. The Mazda boasts a best-in-class 186-horse 2.5-liter 4-banger. Subaru looked in its toolbox and realized it had one of those, too. Its 182-horse, 2.5-liter has been a mainstay as the Outback\u2019s standard engine. True to Subaru DNA, it\u2019s also a compact Boxer engine (like that found in a Porsche Cayman) that helps lower the high-riding SUV\u2019s center of gravity.<\/p>\n

Stuff it in the Crosstrek \u2014 and voila! \u2014 more spring in the trail-running shoe\u2019s step.<\/p>\n

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Subaru says this should satisfy its growing \u201coverlander\u201d customer base \u2014 folks who want to hit the trails but are looking for something more affordable (and more comfortable) than a Jeep Wrangler. The Crosstrek Sport still can\u2019t match the Wrangler\u2019s\u2019 270-horse turbo-4, but the 182 horses is a nice step up from the standard Crosstrek\u2019s 152.<\/p>\n

The Crosstrek\u2019s improved looks and power are icing on the cake, because the base ute is so dang generous.<\/p>\n

Crosstreks get a lot of love from consumers, which translates into the segment\u2019s highest resale value. It\u2019s easy to see why. This thing is loaded with standard goodies. The standard-features war is intense these days with rivals like Honda and Toyota offering pre-collision brake-assist and blind-spot assist standard. Subaru takes a slightly differ tack with its \u201cEyesight system\u201d that includes daily essentials like pre-collision braking and then adds keyless ignition, adaptive cruise-control\u00a0and lane-keep assists for 2021.<\/p>\n

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Readers of this space know I think adaptive cruise-control\u00a0a must (and glaringly missing on some cars like the $78,000 Chevy Suburban I recently drove).<\/p>\n

Managed with two cameras on either side of the mirror (no radar brick in the grille), the system is the best self-driver this side of a Tesla or Mercedes. I\u2019m not making this up. In low-speed traffic or at cruise on the interstate, the $27,000\u00a0Subie self-drives with minimal input from the driver. Boosting its off-road cred, the Sport model adds X-mode which enabled me to concentrate on steering over steep terrain without touching the pedals \u2014 the car managing speed by itself.<\/p>\n