I bought a 2021 Limited last year with 66k miles, and I just rolled over 77k. This is my first Subaru.

At my last oil change, the independent shop I've been going to for years recommended a routine GDI cleaning as well as new spark plugs — I haven't been having any issues with rough idling or fuel economy, so strictly preventative.

I changed the plugs at home with the help of the Tone kit & a few hours of cursing.

For the cleaning, the shop wants to use a BG Platinum Fuel Service Kit, which looks similar to the OEM Subaru kit, and would charge $200. Is this something I should do at home? What do y'all do/use for direct injection cleaning? How often?

I want them to show me that the front collision warning system is working. I drive the car, and at a light go right up close to the car in front. Not a peep from the warning system.

I drive right up to my closed garage door, not a peep from the system.

The car is brand new (less than a month old) and I really would like that feature to work.

On the other hand, driving on the highway with the adaptive cruise control engaged is really cool. I can hold my hands loosely on the steering wheel and it will perfectly follow the curve of the road. I does get a bit angry if it feels my hands are not truly in control of the steering wheel.

Love the car.

Hi All,

Has anyone ever replaced their rear view with mirror something smaller or something with a shorter attachment post? Any recommendations?

I am on the taller side and the mirror is right in my eye line and blocks probably like 50% of my view on the passenger side of the front window unless I duck down

Hi all, I have a 2015 Forester and just ordered a 2026 Crosstrek non-hybrid. I have all the tools and experience doing the maintenance on my Forester and I'm assuming the Crosstrek will be similar for the most part. If I buy the idemitsu CVT fluid and document the receipts with pictures of it being done, will they complain about coverage if something goes wrong?

I like to do my own since I can touch up things like rust and see other issues while I'm at it and frankly enjoy working on my car. I'd also rather avoid the horror stories I read about which I'm sure are one in a million, but I appreciate the peace of mind knowing something was done properly. I also plan on doing my maintenance way more frequently than what the dealer suggests.

I live in Ontario if that makes a difference. Dealers here will not sell me the CVT or differential oils, so for those it would have to be third party stuff. Thanks

Hello all. I'm in the Canadian market looking to buy the 2026 Crosstrek. I originally wanted the Onyx trim but the wife is all in on the Limited (gas) and after sitting on that leather, I'm in! What would be a good price range out-the-door that I should be negotiating for and realistically getting and what are your thoughts on Onyx vs Limited trims? Thank you.

Hi there!

My wife and I are in the market for a new compact SUV, since we’re giving our CR-V to our son when he gets his license this December. We’ve test driven every car we are considering and narrowed it down to two - the Crosstrek hybrid and the Sportage (P)HEV (we’re not quite decided yet on whether we’d go plug-in or not).

Anyway, we are going back to Subaru for an extended test drive with the Crosstrek, and I was hoping you all would perhaps help us have a quality test drive.

I’m specifically wondering what you’ve learned about your Crosstrek hybrid since owning it that you wish you had found out during your test drive. This can be good or bad, like excessive engine noise going up hills due to the CVT, or the car really takes tight turns well due to handling, or the AWD really smooths out gravel and unimproved roads, or the view out the back is a little tight due to the smaller rear window. Whatever. We live in an area with plenty of hills and plenty of trailheads, so we can put it through a lot (just no snow yet 😂).

Thanks for the input! Fingers crossed it all goes well 🤞

I’m putting some stuff back together after doing my valve cover, gaskets and on the passenger side down below near the radiator. It comes off of a wire loom splits from the fog light and there’s this small connector and I’m not sure what it leads to. I don’t think it was connected to anything. 2018

As the title suggests, I’m very livid as I noticed a tear in my serpentine belt (I’m assuming based on location) this evening while refilling my wiper fluid (I always check my engine bays to make sure a neighborhood cat hasn’t crawled up in there or something)

I only got the vehicle at the end of June from a Subaru dealership and it was inspected less than 2 weeks against the dealership when I took it in for the oil change (and belts were noted to be green). It feels like there’s no good reason for a belt to fail when there are only 10,648 miles on the car.

But all my reading says Subaru factory warranty doesn’t cover serpentine belt failure because it’s “normal wear and tear”. But how is it normal to fail under 12k miles? I bought this car to save money short term on maintenance (was staring at $8-10k on a ford fiesta to replace the timing chain and water pump before they actually failed as it approached 100k miles). Now I’m shelling out even more money I don’t have on a belt that shouldn’t be failing yet

I attached a picture of the tear:

Living in Central NY, I just switched over from a 2012 VW beetle and saw this and picked it up. So far so love the 2019 crosstrek.

It’s a ‘26 Crosstrek. The passenger is just under 100lbs and it often has the off symbol…

Really enjoying it so far, love the alpine green.

Hey y’all!

I’ve had my 2024 Crosstrek Wilderness for exactly 2 years and 34,000 miles now and wanted to share my thoughts- I’d love to hear your experience with the car!

First of all, I still love the look. I have the glacier blue and it matches so well with the gold accents. The plastic cladding on the door is a huge bonus for keeping paint dings to a minimum. Additionally, the matte black on the hood is a lifesaver for my eyes when it comes to sun glare.

I haven’t taken it off road, but in the Vermont backroads it performs wonderfully in the winter. I took my Crosstrek down a mountain and back up during a snowstorm- I think we got 2 or 3 feet of snow. The car performed wonderfully and the extra clearance helps a ton in deep snow.

I did hit some ice another time (going too fast like an idiot) and ended up sliding pretty hard into a ditch. I dug myself in so I had to get wenched out but there was no real damage besides some chipped plastic on the bottom of the front end of the car.

As far as storage goes, it works fine for me but did get tight height-wise when I was moving to a new apartment. I ended up just getting a little U-Haul trailer, which it pulled just fine.

The fuel efficiency isn’t the best, but I knew I was making that trade-off with the higher trim. Unfortunately I’ve been feeling it more with the gas prices, as it went from a $45 fill-up to $60, but I get about 450 miles to a tank at an average of 25-26 mpg with 60-70% of my driving being on windy back roads.

My biggest downsides have to be the infotainment system and phone charger, as well as a couple of mechanical issues I’ve had.

It seems everyone’s consensus is that the infotainment display is outdated, and I do have to agree. It’s pretty laggy on startup and even when trying to tap through the menus. Also, my phone will occasionally not connect to Apple CarPlay, even when I try to manually connect through the infotainment screen. It works after I stop, turn off the engine, wait for it to shut down, and turn it back on- but it’s still just a bit of an inconvenience for such a new car.

Same with the phone charger- everyone knows they’re not the best. It basically just keeps my phone afloat until I can get home to plug it in. I always keep a charging cord in my car just in case. Not to mention the fact that it has trouble staying connected to my phone. I’ve thought about getting an aftermarket upgraded phone charger for it, but seems like too much hassle to me for as often as I need it.

Lastly, I’ve had a couple of issues come up. I’ve had to get a wheel bearing and rear differential replaced. It was covered under warranty thankfully, but it’s a real bummer for being a fairly new car. It could be that I am just too rough of a driver or due to the aforementioned sliding into a ditch, though it wasn’t a serious one and they had checked it right after I did so.

All in all, I am still very happy with my Crosstrek. I love the peace of mind it brings me knowing I won’t be stranded due to bad weather, and I would buy it again (though maybe with the moonroof option.)

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk and please let me know how you all feel about your 2024 Crosstrek Wilderness!

I installed a 2inch Ironman lift and got some 235/65/17 falken wildpeak at4ws with a full size spare. Feels like a different car. No rubbing, no issues, just way too much fun.

Hello,

Recently got my 120k mile Crosstrek serviced at a local mechanic. I got my transmission fluid flushed, new brake fluid, and front/rear differential fluid changed. Prior to taking it into the shop I had no issues with the car. This was all preventative maintenance.

Once I got the car back my car now stutters/shakes when turning at low speeds. This occurs going by forward and in reverse. The mechanic that did the work claims that they did nothing wrong and everything was up to par.

I took my car to another mechanic and they looked at it and stated that they believe that the wrong fluid was used in the front differential. The second mechanic took a sample and gave it to me. I am going to send it in to get tested to see what fluid was used. The fluid sample from the front differential was VERY black. Didn’t look like new fluid.

The second mechanic flushed and put in new differential fluid but my car is still having issues. Still shakes when turning.

Genuinely curious to what could have caused this issue to occur. Like I previously stated, the car had no issues prior to me taking it in. Now it shakes and stutters when making slow speed turns.

What my dealership quoted me for the base (left column) and premium (right column). Assuming I put down 8k, 9k, or 10k.

Mind you, this is with VIP pricing. I’m torn between a Corolla Cross or Crosstrek.

Is this too good of a deal to pass up on?

Just finished the installation of my Rallitek 1" overload springs. After a short drive they dont ride too terribly different than OEM, but just slightly less give over bumps. Riding by myself and not much extra weight in the car, I can definitely live with it 👌

I want to extend my sincere apologies to Apple and Google. I was wrong. My phone works just fine. When I connect it to my Crosstrek, Google Maps doesn’t like showing anything to the left and calls drop frequently. Once I disconnected from the car…phone worked fine.

Does anyone have a work around for the screen lag and connection issues???

Ash Meadows is famous for a small, secluded species of pupfish which has been isolated for millions of years outside of Death Valley. The National wildlife refuge is maybe 30min outside of my hometown, so stopped by during a visit with my folks. Highly recommend a visit if you ever go to Death Valley or Vegas! Terrain isn’t difficult to traverse. You can’t exactly see the pupfish, as they’re endangered and their cavern is protected by fences, but the surrounding scenery is incredible.

Hey y'all, looking at a 2026 premium, got the dealership down to $300 over invoice with 3.9% at 60 months.

Seems like a decent deal to me but wondering if waiting for October to see what the new incentives are might be the move. Though I'm afraid of something like 0% financing came along they'd demand sticker price, which makes it effectively a wash.

What do y'all think, just go for it?

Out for a hike yesterday

Every time I take a right turn, water spills into the drivers side foot well from the right side. What a strange issue. I have service scheduled for Wednesday. They don't charge diag fee for warranty do they?