Topic: Test Drive: 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek

[Snowman]

The best camping I have ever experienced is in areas where there are no roads. Ear plugs are mandatory to drown out waterfalls or waves on the beach.

[Fobroader]

Ah that's pretty wimpy.  If I didn't have kids, I would be tent camping.  I have 2 Eureka tents, and plenty of backpacking gear.  But camping with tents with two kids is tough.  So the Fleetwood tent trailer it is.  But... since it's only one weekend.  I am not putting any water into it.

That was a joke right? I've camped with a 2 and 4 year old in a tent and now every time before they come back they call me and say, bring the tent as we are camping again. My buddy just spent 4 weeks in Colorado tent camping with his kids.

I don't understand how tent camping is any harder than trailer camping?

If it rains, you get wet, if its hot you cant sleep, if you have to go to the bathroom you have to go outside.....no, tents are of the suck.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[wing]

Yeah leaving soon.   Was going to leave generator at home.   But thinking A/C might be good

[Noto]

The best camping I have ever experienced is in areas where there are no roads. Ear plugs are mandatory to drown out waterfalls or waves on the beach.

Camping on the Na Pali Coast in Kauai (Kalalau trail) was the best I've ever done.  A little busy for my liking of true seclusion, but still wicked fun.

[Ex-airbalancer]

My form of camping includes room service.   Camping in a tent on gravel does not Constitute fun to me.

Honestly I have a feeling even with the trailer I will not be happy,  since my Co driver is bringing his wife and kid,  which I find very weird but whatever I'll deal with it.

It's one night,  water is full    arrive at 8pm sleep at 10 wake at 6 pack up and go home.

[dirtyjeffer]

The 2.0L and CVT were perfectly fine to me. Hitting 6.5L/100km on the highway for an AWD CUV was well worth a bit of 0-60 time.

I still think an XV XT would be great fun, but I'm not sure how big the market would be.

just noticed the car changed in your profile and you referred to the XV in the past tense here...did you get rid of it for a new Passat?

[Snowman]

The best camping I have ever experienced is in areas where there are no roads. Ear plugs are mandatory to drown out waterfalls or waves on the beach.

Camping on the Na Pali Coast in Kauai (Kalalau trail) was the best I've ever done.  A little busy for my liking of true seclusion, but still wicked fun.

I have been on 10-14 day canoe trips on several rivers feeding into the North Shore of Lake Superior where we did not see one single person. Some nights we did not even pith the tents.

[X-Traction]

The best camping I have ever experienced is in areas where there are no roads. Ear plugs are mandatory to drown out waterfalls or waves on the beach.

Camping on the Na Pali Coast in Kauai (Kalalau trail) was the best I've ever done.  A little busy for my liking of true seclusion, but still wicked fun.

I have been on 10-14 day canoe trips on several rivers feeding into the North Shore of Lake Superior where we did not see one single person. Some nights we did not even pith the tents.

I've been on a couple of 3-week self-propelled ski mountaineering trips traveling on glaciers and skiing up and down mountains along the way:  A very different world, just white snow, blue sky and a few grey rocks.  No browns or greens.  No water, you melt snow for it.  Nothing to sit on.  No toilets, you build a snow outhouse.  No sound other than wind. With still air you can hear your heart beat.  No life other than your group and an occasional bird.  Plenty of threats to safety to constantly monitor.  You don't have a lot to do, but those things take a lot of effort and time to accomplish.

After some of this, car camping even with a tent is very cushy:  Places where you turn a metal thing and cold, or, even more amazing, hot, water comes out.  Dry things to sit on.  Things to rest your back against.  Never having to carry all your stuff on your back.  Toilets.  Showers!  Green, growing plants everywhere.  Animals and insects.  Smells.  All kinds of sounds.  Any kind of food and lots of it.  Safety.  Noise and people everywhere.  "Camping" with hard-sided RV's seems like one may as well stay home.

[X-Traction]

Speaking of oddly good camping vehicles, the later Escape Hybrids have a standard 110V 3-prong outlet.  Though there isn't enough power to run a portable electric heater, they have enough output that you can use them as a camp generator.  The load is off the 12V battery, but the 12V battery is kept charged by the hybrid battery.  After the hybrid battery drains enough, the engine automatically starts and recharges the hybrid battery and then shuts off.  Apparently this uses very little gas.  And I suppose you could do the same with an inverter plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.

During power outages people have run an extension cord from their Escape Hybrid to power some lights in their house.  Or at a remote worksite this could be used to recharge cordless tool batteries.

[ThePointblank]

Speaking of oddly good camping vehicles, the later Escape Hybrids have a standard 110V 3-prong outlet.  Though there isn't enough power to run a portable electric heater, they have enough output that you can use them as a camp generator.  The load is off the 12V battery, but the 12V battery is kept charged by the hybrid battery.  After the hybrid battery drains enough, the engine automatically starts and recharges the hybrid battery and then shuts off.  Apparently this uses very little gas.  And I suppose you could do the same with an inverter plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.

During power outages people have run an extension cord from their Escape Hybrid to power some lights in their house.  Or at a remote worksite this could be used to recharge cordless tool batteries.

Could also go military style and fit a solar generator on the roof of the vehicle:



It's the green box on the top of the cab. Apparently, when I was talking with some of the troops, it works for smaller vehicles, like with their jeeps as provides enough juice as a trickle charger, but it's practically useless for the big trucks because those big trucks have large battery banks and such a charger will take forever to provide enough power to charge the battery enough to turn over the engine.

[mmret]

Speaking of oddly good camping vehicles, the later Escape Hybrids have a standard 110V 3-prong outlet.  Though there isn't enough power to run a portable electric heater, they have enough output that you can use them as a camp generator.  The load is off the 12V battery, but the 12V battery is kept charged by the hybrid battery.  After the hybrid battery drains enough, the engine automatically starts and recharges the hybrid battery and then shuts off.  Apparently this uses very little gas.  And I suppose you could do the same with an inverter plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.

During power outages people have run an extension cord from their Escape Hybrid to power some lights in their house.  Or at a remote worksite this could be used to recharge cordless tool batteries.

Neat feature. What's the wattage rating on the plug? I think most 12V sockets have roughly a 100-125W maximum.

I guess you could do the same with the minivans since they have plugs...although obviously much less batter buffer.

[Koolblue2]

For the truly outdoorsy.
Read More...

My brother just purchased one of these   yesterday, he picks it up Friday. He is an outdoors type who participates in triathlons, skis and snowboards. He cross shopped   against the Mazda CX-5, Nissan Rogue, and Toyota RAV4 (taking each for a test drive). He felt the CX5 was the most enjoyable to drive, however felt that the power and handling of the crosstrek was more than adequate and came in second place as it was with a manual transmission. He says he purchased the Crosstrek  as it was smaller than the others and since he is single felt it satisfied all the requirements he needed. He had considered the Mitsu RVR for all of 5 minutes.

[Solstice2006]

Ah that's pretty wimpy.  If I didn't have kids, I would be tent camping.  I have 2 Eureka tents, and plenty of backpacking gear.  But camping with tents with two kids is tough.  So the Fleetwood tent trailer it is.  But... since it's only one weekend.  I am not putting any water into it.

That was a joke right? I've camped with a 2 and 4 year old in a tent and now every time before they come back they call me and say, bring the tent as we are camping again. My buddy just spent 4 weeks in Colorado tent camping with his kids.

I don't understand how tent camping is any harder than trailer camping?

Sorry for the delay.  Forgot about this thread.  Not sure how you want to intrepet it.  I can't stand upright  in my tent, and I have a 4 person tent, which really means 3 with very little room for anything else.  So changing diapers on my 1 year old, is much easier in a pop up trailer than a tent.  I don't want to say a camp a lot, but 3-6 times a summer.  Everything from backpacking, tent camping, car camping, pop up trailers, travel trailers.  And from my experience (when I have kids with me), the list goes from hardest to easiest. 

Try tent camping with 2 days of rain versus with a camper.  There is much more room in a tent trailer versus a tent.  Playing and eating on the table is also much easier...

[johngenx]

When we front country camp, there is usually kitchen shelters with wood stoves for those that are tenting to find a place to get out of the rain.  I love them! You get to meet the other campers and a cooking/fire/etc community forms and it's a lot of fun.

The kitchen shelter at the Columbia Icefields Campground (the front country campground) is an amazing place on a rainy day - climbers and tourists all convene in the kitchen shelters and the social aspect is fantastic.  It's one of the most "worldly" campgrounds I've been in as people come from around the globe to visit the area or to climb.

[Noto]

When we front country camp, there is usually kitchen shelters with wood stoves for those that are tenting to find a place to get out of the rain.  I love them! You get to meet the other campers and a cooking/fire/etc community forms and it's a lot of fun.

The kitchen shelter at the Columbia Icefields Campground (the front country campground) is an amazing place on a rainy day - climbers and tourists all convene in the kitchen shelters and the social aspect is fantastic.  It's one of the most "worldly" campgrounds I've been in as people come from around the globe to visit the area or to climb.

I'm excited to be there in 11 days!!

[johngenx]

I'm excited to be there in 11 days!!

I believe you're driving the Parkway from Jasper to Lake Louise - prepare to have your mind blown - especially at the Columbia Icefields area.  When you stand there and look at the surrounding giants (many of the Rockie's largest peaks are in the area) think "yo, John's climbed all these!"   

DO:

Stop there.  It's a fantastic area.  Take your time on the Parkway - it's a jewel of a road that deserves time.

If you want a cool glacier experience, there is a guided "walk on the glacier" tour where you wear crampons and a guide takes you to look in crevasses and other cool stuff.  It's a small independent business and they are awesome. Otherwise, do the Toe of the Glacier" hike and take some pics.  Don't put so much as a toe of your foot on the toe of the glacier on your own - it's damned dangerous.

DO NOT:

Spend $30 on the STUPID "Glacier Skywalk."  Horrendous waste of your time and money.  It's a clear walkway over rubble.

Get gas at the Saskatchewan River Crossing (150km south of Jasper and 75km north of Lake Louise) - it's usually FIFTY TO EIGHTY CENTS PER LITER more than Jasper or Lake Louise.  Not five.  FIFTY.

[Solstice2006]

Get gas at the Saskatchewan River Crossing (150km south of Jasper and 75km north of Lake Louise) - it's usually FIFTY TO EIGHTY CENTS PER LITER more than Jasper or Lake Louise.  Not five.  FIFTY.

I think you mean its less than Jasper, and not more.

We didn't do that walk over the rumble, it was clearly a waste of money.  Not sure how much the temperature changes in August.  But it changes dramatically in September and October.  Somedays I was in shorts, others I had a parka on..

[johngenx]

I think you mean its less than Jasper, and not more.

Last time I bothered to check the price at The Crossing, Jasper was $1.10 and the crossing was $1.60.

[Solstice2006]

I think you mean its less than Jasper, and not more.

Last time I bothered to check the price at The Crossing, Jasper was $1.10 and the crossing was $1.60.

Sorry, your probably right.  I just thought Jasper, being such a tourist location, would be really high...

[Noto]

I'm excited to be there in 11 days!!

I believe you're driving the Parkway from Jasper to Lake Louise - prepare to have your mind blown - especially at the Columbia Icefields area.  When you stand there and look at the surrounding giants (many of the Rockie's largest peaks are in the area) think "yo, John's climbed all these!"   

DO:

Stop there.  It's a fantastic area.  Take your time on the Parkway - it's a jewel of a road that deserves time.

If you want a cool glacier experience, there is a guided "walk on the glacier" tour where you wear crampons and a guide takes you to look in crevasses and other cool stuff.  It's a small independent business and they are awesome. Otherwise, do the Toe of the Glacier" hike and take some pics.  Don't put so much as a toe of your foot on the toe of the glacier on your own - it's damned dangerous.

DO NOT:

Spend $30 on the STUPID "Glacier Skywalk."  Horrendous waste of your time and money.  It's a clear walkway over rubble.

Get gas at the Saskatchewan River Crossing (150km south of Jasper and 75km north of Lake Louise) - it's usually FIFTY TO EIGHTY CENTS PER LITER more than Jasper or Lake Louise.  Not five.  FIFTY.

Thanks for the great ideas!  We're already booked to do the Glacier Hike thing (crampons) and I'm really excited.  My buddy wanted to do the hike on the glacier on his own and I told him he's a tool and if he wants to do it, it'll be alone and I get to keep the car keys, his wallet, and all other valuables.