Seven subcompact SUVs, one grown-up decision: the Crosstrek shows why “fine” isn’t always enough
At 70 mph, the 2025 Subaru Crosstrek makes its presence known—not with wind noise or tire roar, but with a steady engine drone that never really clocks out, even when you’re just idling at a light.
That’s the subcompact-SUV game in a nutshell: these are the cars you buy when your life is getting bigger but your budget isn’t. They’re affordable, reasonably roomy, and easy to live with—exactly the sort of “adulting” transportation that replaces whatever you drove when Mom and Dad’s safety net was still within towing distance. Car and Driver assembled seven of the usual suspects—some freshly updated, one newly introduced—and ran them through Detroit and the magazine’s 10Best evaluation loop to see which ones actually rise above the baseline.
From the slice of the test we can see, the Crosstrek lands in a familiar place for Subaru: competent, sensible, and curiously resistant to delight.
What a Crosstrek does well—and why it still finishes midpack
There’s a reason the Crosstrek has a loyal following. In this group, it brings a powertrain combo you don’t typically find in the subcompact-crossover aisle: a continuously variable automatic transmission paired with a 182-hp 2.5-liter flat-four. In normal driving, that CVT’s low-speed response earns some praise here—important in a segment where laggy calibrations can make an otherwise light vehicle feel half-asleep.
It also posts a 0–60 mph run of 7.8 seconds, which tells you everything about its performance: it’s not slow, it’s not quick, it’s simply… there. Same goes for its overall road manners. The Crosstrek sits “squarely midpack” in on-road dynamics, and the supporting data points follow that same bell-curve pattern: cargo space, quarter-mile time, braking performance—again, all midpack.
The ride comfort and forward visibility are real strengths, though, and they matter more than most enthusiasts want to admit. This class is full of vehicles that can feel busy, bouncy, or nervously damped. A comfortable ride is the sort of quality you appreciate on day 200 of ownership, not on day two of a press loan.
But the Crosstrek’s problem—at least in this comparison—is that it doesn’t give you a defining advantage to compensate for its drawbacks. It’s not the segment’s most spacious, most efficient, most enjoyable, or most premium-feeling. It’s simply the student sitting in the center of the classroom: never in trouble, rarely raising its hand.
The downside: noise, flimsy vibes, and an infotainment system stuck in another decade
Let’s talk about that sound. Even with simulated gearchanges, the CVT still tends to produce what the source calls “gnarly engine drone.” And the most damning detail isn’t that it’s loud under load—plenty of small engines get coarse when worked hard—it’s that “there’s no escaping that noise.” The Crosstrek is described as the loudest vehicle of the seven even at idle. That’s a tough pill in a segment where refinement is often the easiest way for a manufacturer to make a “cheap” vehicle feel less cheap.
Then there’s the cabin, where the Crosstrek takes some pointed hits. The doors are said to feel like “more plastic than metal,” and the material-quality complaints don’t stop there: an “unnecessarily large and obvious empty space around the shifter” and a steering wheel described as “Temu-grade plastic.” That’s colorful language, sure—but the underlying critique is serious. This class lives and dies on perceived quality, because nobody expects true luxury at this price point; they expect effort. If controls feel flimsy and surfaces feel bargain-bin, the whole vehicle starts to feel like a compromise you’ll remember every day.
The infotainment story is similarly mixed. The Crosstrek’s vertical screen is singled out as unique in the group, but the system’s “glacial boot-up and response times” are among the worst here—summed up perfectly as “2011 infotainment speeds.” In a 2025 daily driver, that’s not a minor gripe; it’s the interface you’ll use for navigation, audio, and basic settings every single trip.
Even the pricing lands exactly where you’d expect for a vehicle that defines the mean. At $31,645 as tested, the Crosstrek’s window sticker is described as sitting “on the tallest part of the bell curve.” In other words: not a bargain, not a splurge, just the going rate.
The bigger picture: the Crosstrek’s appeal is sameness—and that’s both good and bad
In this kind of comparison, some vehicles win by being great at one thing: quickest, quietest, roomiest, most engaging, best tech. The Crosstrek, at least in the excerpted results, doesn’t really do that. It’s an all-rounder that stays out of trouble.
If you’re the kind of buyer who wants a no-fuss, appliance-adjacent experience—something that’s comfortable, easy to see out of, and reasonably responsive around town—this Subaru makes a steady case for itself. But if you’re shopping this segment because you want the best value, the most polish, or something that feels a notch above “acceptable,” the Crosstrek’s loud powertrain character, cheap-touch surfaces, and slow infotainment system are hard to un-know once you’ve noticed them.
That’s why it lands in 7th place in this seven-vehicle test. Not because it’s bad. Because “does everything well but nothing exceptionally” is a tough strategy when the competition is gunning for standout strengths.
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Verdict
Pros
- Low-speed CVT response
- Good forward visibility
- Comfortable ride
Cons
- Coarse engine note and prominent drone
- Flimsy-feeling materials throughout
- Slow boot-up and response from the infotainment system
Bottom Line
The 2025 Subaru Crosstrek is broadly competent and easy to live with, but its noise, cabin feel, and sluggish tech keep it from standing out in a crowded class.