Subaru's New Compact Crossover Makes its Appearance

Subaru's New Compact Crossover Makes its Appearance 

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While Subaru remains under the radar in South Africa, it's selling cars at a brisk pace. Their top seller, the Forester, shares the limelight with the smaller yet well-loved XV, soon to be superseded by the all-new Subaru Crosstrek. Despite its uncanny resemblance to the XV, the Crosstrek breathes new life into the crowded compact SUV arena. It promises buyers a tech-forward, secure, and impressively competent SUV with a smooth ride quality and a sturdy, appealing exterior design.

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The Crosstrek comes with the traditional 4-cylinder boxer engine pumping out 115 kW and 195 Nm of torque paired to the Subaru CVT transmission. Although CVTs are not our gearbox of choice, Subaru has impressed us in the past with its CVT units. The Crosstreck also comes with X-Mode allowing you to take it nearly anywhere with its surface selection of snow/dirt and deep snow/mud. These preset off-road settings will provide impressive off-road capability that works alongside the loved Subaru Symmetrical AWD. 

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The new Crosstrek looks sharp, with a more aggressive, detailed rear end and a sleek modern front. The overall shape still holds the XV's characteristics, and is a great-looking car. The plastic shrouding around the wheel arches, skirts and bumpers allows you to hit the off-road trails without worrying too much about slightly nicking the car's edges. 

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Eyesight is a feature that Subaru is proud of, and rightly so. Their past models, fitted with this Eyesight, provided a fantastic driver assist system with features like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, collision avoidance braking, lane departure warning, and even a driver attention warning system. The Crosstrek comes standard with the complete package. 

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Initially introduced in the WRX, the driver-assist feature utilises infrared and a camera to monitor the driver's behaviour. It can detect signs of drowsiness and lack of focus and will alert the driver through visual and audible warnings. Additionally, this feature allows up to five selected drivers to be recognised through facial recognition technology, providing a more personalised experience in the Crosstrek. Upon entry, the system can greet the driver and automatically select their preferred audio and vehicle settings.

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Like many of Subaru's latest vehicles, such as the WRX, the Crosstrek comes with an 11.6" infotainment display, which runs your Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, along with your expected audio and media options. Unlike previous models, X-Mode can also be controlled via the infotainment screen. 

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The Crosstrek launches today, the first of June, in South Africa at a starting price of R579,000 for the mid-speck Crosstrek iL and R669,000 for the iS. These are the only variants available in SA at this time. The iS spec includes leather seats, power front seats, a high beam assist, a 360-degree camera, and a sunroof. Whereas the iL loses those features and gives you cloth seats.

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