Subaru Crosstrek Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

If you are that rare buyer who lives at the end of a soggy, mushy track and wants/needs a car that's not a Land Rover Defender, Subaru is probably already on your mud-spattered radar. The Subaru Crosstrek will cope with far more rugged road use than most of its rivals, while the roomy cabin is ideal for kids and haylage.

There is also a certain classless-ness to a Subaru that appeals, but we'd look more to the Forester or Outback to get our fix.

There's only one engine option with the Subari Crosstrek and it's a 2.0-litre 'boxer' four-cylinder engine where the cylinders lie in pairs opposite each other. It gives the Crosstrek some character and is helped by a mild hybrid system, but a mere 134bhp output is really not much to write home about. All have four-wheel drive, too, and a CVT (continuously variable transmission) automatic gearbox.

You can choose between entry-point Limited Trim or the upper Touring spec for £2000 more. The Touring justifies its extra cost with plenty of extra kit such as leather upholstery, electric seat adjust, and a sunroof. However, we'd plump for the Limited and save the cash.

Skoda's Karoq comes close to the same qualities as the Subaru Crosstrek, as does the Volkswagen Tiguan, SEAT Ateca, and Kia Sportage.

If you're in the compact SUV market, you should also be looking at the Nissan Qashqai, Mazda CX-30, and Hyundai Tuscon. It's also conceivable you might look to Subaru's own Forester as an alternative, while the Suzuki Vitara is closet in concept to the Crosstrek with its rugged ability. Or, you could spend more on the a Land Rover Discovery Sport for something much more upmarket but with similar go-anywhere talents.

In many ways, the Subaru Corsstrek is up there with the best in this class for its fit and finish. We know from HonestJohn satisfaction surveys that Subaru owners are a very contented bunch, and that's easy to understand as all of the cabin materials are well put together. They are also substantial and hard wearing.

However, it does leave us confused why Subaru then spoils the ship for a ha'porth o' tar with the shiny, scratchy finishes of so many plastic surfaces. Even the leather on the Touring trim's seats feels like it synthetic, which does a lot to undermine any sense of an upmarket SUV in the cabin.

An 11.6-inch touchscreen is much more ably incorporated into the Crosstrek's cabin design than previous efforts by Subaru that often felt like they had been installed as an afterthought.

The screen is clear and mounted in the portrait orientation, similar to a Volvo XC40, which some will like more than others. Us, we're in favour of this set-up in the Croostrek and the screen is generally quick to respond and well ordered.

It's not quite as cutting edge in its appearance as the latest from Volkswagen or Kia, but we can live with that in exchange for the Crosstrek's physical heater control buttons. However, if you want in-built sat-nav, you need to spend the extra on the Touring model.

All Crosstreks come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can access navigations apps this way, which are usually better than built-in ones in our experience. You also get voice recognition to remotely operate infotainment functions.

If you need plenty of headroom in the back seats to carry lankier teenagers, friends, or aged relatives (or even less aged ones), you should avoid the Touring trim version of the Subaru Crosstrek. Its sunroof robs vital millimetres of ceiling height and means those in the back can find their heads coming into contact with the roof lining all too frequently. Younger kids will be fine and there are two Isofix child seat mounts back here.

There's decent room for legs and shoulders, so three kids will fit across the rear bench, but best to keep to a pair of adults for the sake of comfort.

Unusually for a car of this price and in this class, there is no powered tailgate even on the upper Touring model. It's not a massive gripe but does mean dirty hands when opening the boot during the winter months.

With the boot raised up, there's good access to the load space, but 315-litres of capacity is well below par for the class. A Kia Sportage musters 562-litres, so the Crosstrek makes a big sacrifice here for its hybrid system's battery that resides under the boot floor.

Drop the 60-40 split rear seat and you can free up as much as 1314-litres of luggage space and the seats tip down almost completely flat.

In common with most Subarus, the Crosstrek uses the company's trademark 'boxer' engine layout. This design has pairs of cylinders lying opposite each other and gives the engine a much lower, flatter design than most petrol motors. The idea is this type of engine offers a smoother drive and keeps the weight low in the car.

It's impossible to tell if this is the case as there's no Subaru Crosstrek with a different engine to compare it to. What we can say is it doesn't offer any tangible benefits compared to its rivals. Nor does the mild hybrid system that, combined with the petrol engine, manages to make a very modest 134PS. As a result, the Crosstrek offers 0-62mph in a leisurely 10.8 seconds.

There's no obvious point where the hybrid set-up comes into play and there's no EV-only driving, so it's more in the background. It would be handy to have a bit more oomph from the engine for overtaking or when joining motorways, but there is one other thing we'd wish for even more - a different gearbox.

Subaru only fits the Crosstrek with its Lineartronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) and it's dreadful. It truly spoils the car as it makes the engine rev hard and long when trying to gain speed, blunts acceleration, is jerky when you have to come on and off the throttle in city driving.

There are simulated gears that can be worked using the steering wheel paddles, but this does nothing to alleviate the gearbox's underlying poor manners. We strongly suspect the Crosstrek would transformed with a normal auto gearbox or, better still, a manual.

Another area where the CVT gearbox hampers the Subaru Crosstrek is its refinement. Too much of the time, the gearbox requires the engine to rev high and hard, which is heard in the cabin every time. Even when the car is at a cruise and the gearbox is less of a nuisance, the engine is still there as a not-so distant whirr.

There is also a fair degree of road noise kicked up by the tyres and transmitted into the cabin. It makes the Crosstrek a less able car all-round than most of its competitors.

Subaru equips the Crosstrek with an impressive array of safety kit, which was more than enough to earn it a five-star rating when it was tested by Euro NCAP.

The Crosstrek comes with twin front, side, curtain and driver's knee airbags, tyre pressure monitoring, Isofix seat mounts in the rear bench, and reversing camera. You also get Subaru's novel EyeSight Version 4.0, which brings automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, pre- and post collision braking, lane departure assist and lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, intelligent speed limit aid, and a manual speed limiter.

On top of that lot, you also get in every Crosstrek blind spot monitoring, lane change assist, rear cross traffic alert, and automatic reverse braking. Plus, both trims have hill descent control for off-road driving.

Subaru provides a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty for the Crosstrek, while the hybrid system's lithium-ion battery is further protected by a 100,000-mile, eight-year policy.

Reliability has been a selling point for Subaru over many years with good reason. It made it into the top 10 of car manufacturers in the latest HonestJohn Satisfaction Survey, keeping good company ahead of Honda, BMW and Skoda in the rankings.

Whichever version of the Subaru Crosstrek you opt for, both the Limited and Touring sit in group 20 for insurance. That makes it pleasingly easy when it comes to paying your premium and is neatly in the middle ground for this class of SUV.

Subaru's devotion to the 'boxer' engine is admirable, but it has never been a low emissions star performer. So it is with the Crosstrek, with both trims of this car emitting a hefty 174g/km. That means you pay a substantial £2190 for the first year's Vehicle Excise Duty, or road tax.

In subsequent years, that drops back to a much less daunting £195 per years. And fortunately, because the Crosstrek doesn't bust the £40,000 threshold with its prices, you are not penalised with the expensive car supplement of £410 per year until the car gets past its fifth birthday.

Your starting point in the Subari Crosstrek range is the Limited model, which comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights with washers, rear privacy glass, roof rails, and the chunky body kit that tells the world this is an SUV.

The Limited also brings with it cloth upholstery and heated front seats, electric windows all-round, keyless entry and ignition, dual zone climate control, the 11.6-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice recognition, and six speakers for the stereo.

Move up to the Touring model for an extra £2000 and you gain 18-inch alloys, high beam assist, gloss black door mirror caps, and a sunroof. It also comes with leather upholstery, electric front seat adjustment, and illuminated vanity mirrors that seem an odd omission from the Limited model.

Touring buyers also benefit from sat-nav as part of the infotainment system and an extra set of USB-A and USC-C chargers for rear seat passengers. There are also paddle shifters for the simulated gear changes with the CVT gearbox, and two levels of X-Mode for off-road driving compared to the one level with the Limited.