  2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Jacob Black
First, the good bits. Subaru makes an excellent all-wheel-drive system. It is brilliant. I have used it to accelerate up steep inclines in a perfectly straight line from a dead stop halfway up the hill. I have used it to muck about in snow-covered parking lots, and I have experienced the system kicking in when I was a klutz during a snap snow-flurry that left half an on-ramp dry and a thick drift about half-way down.
That last one was really my fault. I had not paid enough attention as I entered the on-ramp at my usual speed and was totally caught out by the snow drift ahead – the XV Crosstrek Hybrid was sideways for a moment and scrambling toward the outside kerb. With barely a correction on the wheel and the slightest of lift-offs, the Subaru’s system kicked in, flashed a message to me on the dash and then picked up the car and returned it to its proper trajectory. I was impressed, I was pleased, I posted a melodramatic tweet about it.
So that bit was good.
Also, this one was lime green, and green is my favourite colour, so that bit was good too. In fact, that shade of green is exclusive to the hybrid trim. All in all, the XV Crosstrek Hybrid is a damn good looking car, with stunning rims, a cool jacked-up wagon profile and sharp lines. Even the roof racks look good, contributing to the action-adventure attitude of the car and increasing utility. So they’re a win.
Subaru makes a pretty great CVT, too, all things considered. So good that in a regular XV Crosstrek with the CVT and the same 148 hp/145 lb-ft 2.0L four-cylinder boxer we’ve seen fuel economy as good as 9.0 L/100 km, so naturally we were keen to see what this hybrid edition would be able to achieve. Our expectations were high.
Oh, dear.
Yes, it’s winter – but it was winter in the test mentioned above, too. Okay, granted, this has been an Epic Winter. And yes, this one only has 1,600 km on the clock – but we had to break in our long-term tester last year, too. All of those things mean that our final reading of 10.4 L/100 km is a truly dreadful reading and throws into question the entire purpose of buying a hybrid version of this car – especially when other rigs like the Honda Accord record as much as 50 percent better economy than their conventional engine counterparts in our tests.
  2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
Sure, for the extra $3,500 ($29,995 base MSRP for the Hybrid vs $26,495 for the Crosstrek Sport) you get an extra 13.4 hp and 48 lb-ft of torque, but you also gain 150 kg for the hybrid system, batteries etc. That results in a small reduction in the power-to-weight ratio – so the weight-to-horsepower trade-off is not worthwhile. The Hybrid comes with a CVT as the only available transmission, and it’s a $1,300 option on the Sport, eating into that $3,500 price difference considerably. You also get 58 L less cargo volume with the seats folded flat – but the same with the seats all in place.
That’s fine, of course, because hybrids are all about fuel economy, not power or cargo space. Except I’ve already pointed out that our real-world experience of fuel economy wasn’t positive.
 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
For what it’s worth, the EPA gives the two identical figures on the highway (7.1 L/100 km) but gives the hybrid a 1.3 L/100 km edge in the city where 8.1 L/100 km plays 9.4. Combined, the EPA says the Crosstrek is good for 7.6 L/100 km and the non-hybrid 8.4. So technically, there should be an advantage.
Our former colleague Mike Schlee had this exact same car after me and averaged 9.8 L/100 km during his week – coincidentally, that was also worse than he achieved in the non-hybrid version we had for a long-term test last year. On this occasion the EPA figures haven’t proven accurate. Maybe it’s the winter? I did try turning off the heater and relying on my jacket for a few days to see if it helped, but it didn’t. And try as I might, I couldn’t get the Crosstrek to stay in EV mode for any more than a few seconds at a time – that was not my experience in the Accord Hybrid or Jetta Hybrid also tested this winter.
There is more weight in the engine bay of the hybrid, too, which I think contributed to some of the washed-out feeling in the front and might also have contributed to the crashing ride over rough roads. [Nope, the regular XV is a bit crashy, too… –Ed.]
The XV Crosstrek Hybrid crashed violently over Toronto’s winter-induced potholes and the effect in the cabin was noisy and uncomfortable.
    2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
The cloth seats lacked support or comfort, but the door openings were extremely wide. There was a lot of space inside the cabin too and a large greenhouse. The sunroof added to the feeling of airiness and space inside. Generally, the interior was a pleasant space. The finishings are not exactly premium, but the layout is easy to understand, ergonomically sound and has enough different trims and splashes of colour to be interesting. The blue hashing in the instrument gauges is fun, too.
   2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
The info menu above the centre stack is controlled by buttons on the bottom spoke of the steering wheel, and I found that system cumbersome and unintuitive. Getting used to it made me enjoy it more, but it wasn’t as good as other systems.
Once again I suffered my issues pairing to the Subaru Bluetooth. I’ve now had it on every Subaru I’ve driven, using two different Android phones, and the internet supports my assertion this is a Subaru issue (the internet is always right, right?). Subaru’s product guy spent some time trying to help me get it sorted, but it didn’t work. There is an update coming, but it is long overdue.
The radio in this screamed “1998”. It is simple and easy to use and that is charming in itself, but this one doesn’t even have satellite access. Not sure I’d be happy with such a basic system after having to pay more than $30K.
You do get seat warmers for your money, which are fast to kick in and get extremely hot on the backs, but I never really felt anything in the seat bottom.
The steering in the XV Crosstrek is sharp and responsive but lacks weight. The accelerator pedal is the same. The CVT lets the engine rev freely when you want to get going, but there is a lot of engine and transmission noise for the level of acceleration.
The brake pedal packs plenty of power but feels grabby at the top and then soggy at the bottom. So even though you find yourself pulling up plenty quickly, the overall impression is disconcerting.
There is an engine auto start/stop feature too, but its operation is abrasive. It takes a couple of seconds to respond and starts the engine with a hard vibration that can be felt right through the cabin. Despite claims that the car would accelerate initially on the electric engine alone with power from its nickel-metal hydride battery, I never experienced it. Instead the engine did the bulk of the work with the electric motor only joining the fun at light acceleration and cruising – at least, that’s what the sexy graphic in the info screen was telling me.
Realistically, the XV Crosstrek just feels underdone in hybrid form. That Subaru makes a capable and versatile all-wheel-drive powertrain is not in question – and it’s clear that their money has been spent making sure all four wheels have the technical support to deliver maximum traction at all times. That is commendable, but now it’s time for Subaru to start focusing on some of the other areas where consumers are focused and bring their cars back up to a competitive spec in terms of ride quality and cabin harshness.
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Pricing 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid
Base Price (XV Crosstrek): $24,495
Base Price (Hybrid): $29,995
Options: $0
A/C Tax: $100
Freight and PDI: $1,650
Price as Tested: $31,745
Competitors:
Chevrolet Trax
Kia Sportage
Nissan Juke
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
