Anyone own a 2013/2014 Subaru Crosstrek or Chevrolet Trax?

[Coasting]

Sooooo I've come to the sad realisation that I can no longer afford to pay $300-$400 a month just in gas for my beloved pickup truck on my pathetic wage and attempt to save for well... anything else
And it would be cheaper for me to purchase a brand new, or almost brand new compact SUV and finance it, and be safe with a warranty, then continue to burn my money on gas for my truck.

I think I've got it narrowed down between the Chevrolet Trax and the Subaru Crosstrek... I THINK! I had been looking at the Subaru Forrester, and Mitsubishi outlander, Hyundai santa fe sized vehicles but I want even better fuel economy then those slightly bigger ones
Does anyone have one of these vehicles?
What do you like about it? What do you hate?
How has is handled in snow?
What is your gas mileage? (as L/100k, I know what people personally get is always different then what the factory brags about)

Thanks for any input!

[intarsiabox]

I don't own a Crosstrek but I have owned a Forester and the wife had an Impreza. Having driven numerous other 4WD and AWD vehicles the snow handling is much better with the Subarus. I couldn't even do doughnuts in frozen parking lots with the kids without having to take a run and jam on the e-brake. Gas mileage was OK but nothing stellar on either vehicle, granted the Forester was a turbo and my driving wasn't really what I would call gas mileage friendly. Good solid vehicles that will last you many years.

[Coasting]

That's my concern with the subarus... Most of the customer reviews online are saying ****ty on fuel economy.
But Subaru and GM always say their own version of what you will get, which is never seems to be on par with reality.
The Crosstrek is a 2.0L 4 cyl and the website claims 8.2 city, 6.0 highway.
The Trax is a 1.4L 4cyl and the website claims 7.8 city, 5.7 highway.

I Haven't test driven the crosstrek yet, but I did try out the 2013 forrester, and the on demand fuel consumption was less then flattering driving around Nanaimo.
The trax wasn't as spectacular as it claims the vehicle will get, getting closer to 12 on my shorter drive on our highway (120km/hr) but had it down to 5 on 1 stretch after a few resets.
Its seriously frustrating... mind you anything better then my truck getting 17.5 between the city and our 120km/hr highway, 21+ in greater vancouver, but I can get it down to 13.3ish or so on highways that average 80km/hr.

[Slick Fork]

One of our vehicles is a non-turbo forester (2011) and we absolutely love it. Perfect size for two of us plus dogs. Gas mileage tends to be around that 9 or 10 l/100km on the highway for us, so not great but significantly better than our half-ton was. I'd suggest that the Crosstrek wouldn't be that much better than the Forester in terms of fuel economy.

I'd agree that the Subaru's are next to impossible to get stuck in the snow, we got some Nokian winters for it and it just goes and goes through anything.

That said, there are a few things we're not wild about that were overlooked when we purchased. Things like interior "luxuries", the Subaru's are pretty basic compared to what you get from competing brands. Coming from Chevy and Ford trucks and cars, little things like the lack of auto headlamps irritate me, and the radio and speakers are junk. The other big complaint I have is the service costs. Factory spec is synthetic oil so regular maintenance just seems to be much more expensive than domestic brands.

All told though, we'd likely buy the Subaru again as the extra cost for service is outmatched by the performance of the vehicle and my wife doesn't seem to care that much about the interior amenities and it's her ride. Plus, you see tons of Subarus out there with obscene amounts of kilometers on them so that says a lot for their reliability. With the sheer number of recalls these days; I wouldn't be in a hurry to be a chevy right now.

If your only reason for ruling the Forester out is the fuel economy, I'd suggest that you wouldn't notice a huge difference between it and the Crosstrack in the real world. Coming from a truck; the extra height and space of the Forester might feel more at home to you.

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

If your only reason for ruling the Forester out is the fuel economy, I'd suggest that you wouldn't notice a huge difference between it and the Crosstrack in the real world. Coming from a truck; the extra height and space of the Forester might feel more at home to you.

That's what I was thinking, which is why I ruled the crosstrek out and played around with the forester. However I did have a 2013 forester and crosstrek side by side and the size difference isn't all that much, the biggest difference seemed to be a slightly more rounded ceiling to the cargo area as the crosstrek has a much more curved back end then the forester. But then I played with the trax for a bit that that didn't bug me which now has me going back to the crosstrek.

But yes fuel economy is my biggest concern right now, I think I cried a little inside when gas shot up past 1.50 earlier this summer. Thankfully were back down to 1.37 but still.... 100litre tank in the truck... 1 tank a week... my bank account is crying.

I likely would keep the back seats folded down on either model, give the dogs a bit more room.
Seems the subarus come with more standard like heated seats and fog lights that the chevs don't.

But that servicing info does help. Where I live its a bit of a further drive to get the Subaru to its own dealer for warranty work, otherwise I would take it to the GM dealer for anything else.

[sphelps]

To me compact SUVs are just trendy overpriced sedans. They offer little advantage in terms or room or towing capacity. A 4 door hatch will offer very similar interior space, higher fuel efficiency and come at lower price. Most compact SUVs operate on sedan frames and even have the same drivetrain. My suggestion is if you want or need a truck but want to save on gas because you drive long distance is get a diesel. Same for SUVs, my Jeep GC with a 3L diesel does 9.9L/100km with 17' foot boat behind it. If you're not towing or hauling I suggest you look at a car and stop pretending you need a truck like 90% of the truck owners out there, cars will ultimately do pretty much everything better when it comes to actual driving.

If you're looking for AWD there are plenty of options in the car world, for more cargo consider an Audi A3 or A4 wagon. the Quattro system is superior to Subaru in every way. We had a Subaru Outback before and found it very unstable on hi-ways that offered changing road conditions, my wife refused to even drive it on gravel roads as it would pull to the side if you hit a soft spot on the road. When we upgraded to the Audi it was night and day, we just had the A3 and it was an unstoppable monster in the snow and we would drive it in the worst hi-way conditions imaginable.

The trax is just a FWD hatchback, not sure I'd call it an SUV or compact. It's the same a kia soul, small, tall and under powered. Plus anything turbo charged will not reach it's EPA by a long shot. The outlander and the sante fe are bigger but still just cars at heart. You'll find them under powered and they won't offer much more space than an average sedan besides a little more cargo in the back.

I'd suggest you look in the used market, I have a hard time understanding the numbers when saying financing a new vehicle will save you money on gas and maintenance compared to your truck. $30K over 5 years is close to $600 per month and you still have gas and maintenance on top of that. Realistically if you get something really efficient you might save $150 a month in gas.

[FishyFishy!]

I just bought a 2014 Toyota Rav4 LE AWD, and I can't say anything bad about it yet. Power is great from a 4 cyl. Fuel economy is awesome. Interior space is fantastic. The sport mode actually feels like you're in sport mode (stiffens the steering, suspension and changes shift points in the tranny). Handles great. And it's cheap as well. I pay $300/month. And all my maintenance is free until 60,000 kms.

I haven't winter driven it yet, but i'm sure it will be awesome.

I would never even think if getting a chevy or domestic. After owning a few... I can say they just don't age well. My 1990 Honda Accord Wagon still dosn't rattle when I slam the door. My 2013 Ford F150 FX4 rattles like a mother and it only has 40,000 kms. Feels like the doors are going to fall off.

I too, like subaru's (no offence steve... I know you like bimmers and audi's). My buddy has an impreza and it's amazing in the winter. Never felt anything more solid on snow covered and icey roads. If you can afford an audi, then go for it, as their quattro is second to none, but for the average guy, there is a lot of good stuff out there from the japanese markets.

[Coasting]

Side by side the crosstrek only seemed 2 or so inches shorter.
Ive got a little 50lb pitty and occasionallu have a 50lb husky.
No kids (never...) so the back seats would stay down to give them more room.
Plenty enough room in the back for my pitty with thr seats up. She always lies down while we drive. I could probably fit 4 of her in the back of a Trax with how small she curls up.

I just prefer the height of a smaller Suv over a traditional wagon. At least the crosstrek is inbeteeen.
That is why i wanted the forester at first until i took a closer look at the Trax.

Honestly would prefer the slight fuel economy difference between the forester and crosstrek vs the slight size difference.

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by Coasting

I just prefer the height of a smaller Suv over a traditional wagon. At least the crosstrek is in between.

We probably will never own another car for this reason. The extra height makes it so much easier to get in and out of the vehicle and extra ground clearance helps in deep snow. Another plus of the extra height is that people (at least here in Alberta) tend to really love cutting cars off and trying to run them off the road, doesn't happen very often with a taller more visible vehicle. My wife traded in her 10 year old Impreza for a Highlander this spring and went from coming home mad as hell every day to having no more driving issues.

[sphelps]

I don't know of any new vehicles you can get for $250/month without a good trade in or down payment. If you lease sure, but financing.. The numbers don't add up which is why I suggested going used. The Crosstrek starts at $25K and even the cheap Rav4 starts at $24K so tack on some options and gst and you're back to $500+ plus a month, paying $250-300 a month means you're paying it over 8+ years which, no offence to anyone, is just bad financial advice as the depreciation will exceed your payments. If you can't pay for a car over 5 years then IMO you can't afford it, talk to any financial adviser if you disagree.

Also not to be defensive but I only suggested Audi as it sounded like the OP wanted AWD some something with a hatch. I don't like Subaru so not much else to suggest plus we owned one which we loved. For the record it only cost us just over $20K, bought it used and it was a solid car with basically zero problems unlike our previous Subaru plus when we sold it, it held it's value better than any other car we had so despite the assumption I only like BMW and Audi it's actually not the case. The Audi was solid advice and I rarely recommend BMWs, plus I own a Jeep which is not BMW or Audi. Ultimately I'm into cars, I know what's good and what's not but it's still my opinion so take with a grain of salt.