2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid - Second Times The Charm
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Date: 2019-05-30
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Comments and reviews: 10
Oriental Dagger
The plugin ability is 17 miles (count on about 10 miles in the winter time, on a much older design using NiMH batteries, and is 500 lbs extra. Five hundred extra pounds for 17 miles and only 5 more MPG than a regular Crosstrek Limited that costs 6k less accounting for the federal tax credit. I am not even going to do the math and figure out how many miles you need to drive a year for this to add up in your favor. That and BECAUSE they used a NiMH battery pack with much lower energy density than Lithium Ion packs and is thus larger and doesnt fit under the rear seat and you are stuck with the horrible raised cargo area. I think the saving grace is that in NYC if you buy this car you can ride the HOV lane on the LIE as all(most) plugins can regardless of how horrible they are. If I some simple math. Lets say all you drive is electric and it costs you 10 cents per KWhr to charge (which would be cheap, here where i am it is 10-20cents depending on what time of day it is and where you are. It will cost you about 1. 00 to charge up this car (chargers are only about 90% efficient. So 1 will get you 17 miles, best case. Gasoline here is a little under 3 per gallon. So for 3 of electricity will get you 17x3 = 51 miles. So effectively you are getting about 50 miles of travel for every 3 dollars you spend, which is no different than had you spent 3 on gas and gone 51 miles. Arent there plenty of non-plugin hydrids you can get that are cheaper that get you around 50mpg(later edited: I was wrong the pack is not NIMH. Alex also points out only 5. 5 out of the 8. 8kWhr is usable)
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The plugin ability is 17 miles (count on about 10 miles in the winter time, on a much older design using NiMH batteries, and is 500 lbs extra. Five hundred extra pounds for 17 miles and only 5 more MPG than a regular Crosstrek Limited that costs 6k less accounting for the federal tax credit. I am not even going to do the math and figure out how many miles you need to drive a year for this to add up in your favor. That and BECAUSE they used a NiMH battery pack with much lower energy density than Lithium Ion packs and is thus larger and doesnt fit under the rear seat and you are stuck with the horrible raised cargo area. I think the saving grace is that in NYC if you buy this car you can ride the HOV lane on the LIE as all(most) plugins can regardless of how horrible they are. If I some simple math. Lets say all you drive is electric and it costs you 10 cents per KWhr to charge (which would be cheap, here where i am it is 10-20cents depending on what time of day it is and where you are. It will cost you about 1. 00 to charge up this car (chargers are only about 90% efficient. So 1 will get you 17 miles, best case. Gasoline here is a little under 3 per gallon. So for 3 of electricity will get you 17x3 = 51 miles. So effectively you are getting about 50 miles of travel for every 3 dollars you spend, which is no different than had you spent 3 on gas and gone 51 miles. Arent there plenty of non-plugin hydrids you can get that are cheaper that get you around 50mpg(later edited: I was wrong the pack is not NIMH. Alex also points out only 5. 5 out of the 8. 8kWhr is usable)
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JBM425
There is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison going on in the minds of many people, especially comparing it to the RAV4 Hybrid. If the Crosstrek was a traditional hybrid, then yes, the MPG pales by comparison. The thing is, this is a PHEV, so the better comparison is to the Ford Fusion Energi or the Prius Prime. The Crosstrek PHEV has a 90 MPGe rating versus a 133 MPGe for the Prius Prime and 97 MPGe for the Fusion Energi. Neither of the latter offer AWD yet (although theres talk it may be coming to the Prius, and the Fusion Energi is not long for the world (but may be replaced by an Escape PHEV in 2020. For people who have short commutes and have access to a plethora of fast-charging stations at or near work or when shopping, one can go weeks without having to fill the gas tank. As a Toyota loyalist, I am disaapointed Toyota doesnt have a RAV4 PHEV (or other Toyota models with hybrid variants, so this Subaru Crosstrek PHEV is interesting. If the rumored Escape PHEV sees the light of day, that will be this Subarus truest competitor, and will appeal to people who have more need for cargo capacity or want something more like an SUV rather than a crossover.
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There is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison going on in the minds of many people, especially comparing it to the RAV4 Hybrid. If the Crosstrek was a traditional hybrid, then yes, the MPG pales by comparison. The thing is, this is a PHEV, so the better comparison is to the Ford Fusion Energi or the Prius Prime. The Crosstrek PHEV has a 90 MPGe rating versus a 133 MPGe for the Prius Prime and 97 MPGe for the Fusion Energi. Neither of the latter offer AWD yet (although theres talk it may be coming to the Prius, and the Fusion Energi is not long for the world (but may be replaced by an Escape PHEV in 2020. For people who have short commutes and have access to a plethora of fast-charging stations at or near work or when shopping, one can go weeks without having to fill the gas tank. As a Toyota loyalist, I am disaapointed Toyota doesnt have a RAV4 PHEV (or other Toyota models with hybrid variants, so this Subaru Crosstrek PHEV is interesting. If the rumored Escape PHEV sees the light of day, that will be this Subarus truest competitor, and will appeal to people who have more need for cargo capacity or want something more like an SUV rather than a crossover.
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4Xprops !!!!
Hybrid carsA 2012 comprehensive life-cycle analysis in Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that almost half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially the battery. The mining of lithium, for instance, is a less than green activity. By contrast, the manufacture of a gas-powered car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. When an electric car rolls off the production line, it has already been responsible for 30, 000 pounds of carbon-dioxide emission. The amount for making a conventional car: 14, 000 pounds. While electric-car owners may cruise around feeling virtuous, they still recharge using electricity overwhelmingly produced with fossil fuels. Thus, the life-cycle analysis shows that for every mile driven, the average electric car indirectly emits about six ounces of carbon-dioxide. This is still a lot better than a similar-size conventional car, which emits about 12 ounces per mile. But remember, the production of the electric car has already resulted in sizeable emissionsthe equivalent of 80, 000 miles of travel in the vehicle.
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Hybrid carsA 2012 comprehensive life-cycle analysis in Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that almost half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially the battery. The mining of lithium, for instance, is a less than green activity. By contrast, the manufacture of a gas-powered car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. When an electric car rolls off the production line, it has already been responsible for 30, 000 pounds of carbon-dioxide emission. The amount for making a conventional car: 14, 000 pounds. While electric-car owners may cruise around feeling virtuous, they still recharge using electricity overwhelmingly produced with fossil fuels. Thus, the life-cycle analysis shows that for every mile driven, the average electric car indirectly emits about six ounces of carbon-dioxide. This is still a lot better than a similar-size conventional car, which emits about 12 ounces per mile. But remember, the production of the electric car has already resulted in sizeable emissionsthe equivalent of 80, 000 miles of travel in the vehicle.
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pete
Really disappointing. They took this long to get to market and had the benefit of Toyota tech and are still coming in with below-average range, questionable styling, and a compromised cargo area. The plug placement seems misguided for those of us that use curbside charging. This wouldve been a great effort eight years ago, but now its just pretty sad. With that little range it might not even be eligible for the California rebate or HOV sticker. This was pretty high up on my shopping list when it first started being discussed but now its clear its not going to really met any of my needs. I keep waiting for something like my first Outback wagon, when you could tell that all the R&D cash was spent on engineering something unlike anything else on the market. Now Subaru is putting out some of the most anonymous, uninteresting, and underwhelming product out there.
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Really disappointing. They took this long to get to market and had the benefit of Toyota tech and are still coming in with below-average range, questionable styling, and a compromised cargo area. The plug placement seems misguided for those of us that use curbside charging. This wouldve been a great effort eight years ago, but now its just pretty sad. With that little range it might not even be eligible for the California rebate or HOV sticker. This was pretty high up on my shopping list when it first started being discussed but now its clear its not going to really met any of my needs. I keep waiting for something like my first Outback wagon, when you could tell that all the R&D cash was spent on engineering something unlike anything else on the market. Now Subaru is putting out some of the most anonymous, uninteresting, and underwhelming product out there.
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Juan B
I really like the concept of this car, but I hope that this is just the first iteration and that it will get better over time. I like Toyota and Subaru for reliability, Toyota for their hybrids, and Subaru for their offroading and driving assistance. However, the MPG of this vehicle, the pricing, as well as the loss in cargo, make this part of my wait a bit longer bin. The interior can also be a bit better. If I had to buy right now, I would probably get a 2019 RAV4 hybrid -- an Avalon hybrid if I didnt care about offroading or ride height. Edit: Also, lumbar.
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I really like the concept of this car, but I hope that this is just the first iteration and that it will get better over time. I like Toyota and Subaru for reliability, Toyota for their hybrids, and Subaru for their offroading and driving assistance. However, the MPG of this vehicle, the pricing, as well as the loss in cargo, make this part of my wait a bit longer bin. The interior can also be a bit better. If I had to buy right now, I would probably get a 2019 RAV4 hybrid -- an Avalon hybrid if I didnt care about offroading or ride height. Edit: Also, lumbar.
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LT Kwok
The thing with a pure BEV and a PHEV is that in a BEV, you will not use the entire capacity of the battery. You never go to empty. If you have a 100 mile range, you would use 80 is at most, before you go recharge. In a PHEV, youll use the entire battery and then recharge. So far, this is what Ive notices among PHEV owners: 20 mile battery = getting gas once a month, 30 mile = every 2 months, 40 miles = every 4 months. I dont have data for the BMW i3 Rex (70 or 100 EV miles) - I suspect you would get gas once or twice a year.
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The thing with a pure BEV and a PHEV is that in a BEV, you will not use the entire capacity of the battery. You never go to empty. If you have a 100 mile range, you would use 80 is at most, before you go recharge. In a PHEV, youll use the entire battery and then recharge. So far, this is what Ive notices among PHEV owners: 20 mile battery = getting gas once a month, 30 mile = every 2 months, 40 miles = every 4 months. I dont have data for the BMW i3 Rex (70 or 100 EV miles) - I suspect you would get gas once or twice a year.
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teetee tee
34k-37k is too expensive even with the tax credit considered. Lots of electronics and computers plus the already more complicated boxer engine. Great review despite of being rushed. If there is a new crosstrek with pure EV and 200+miles range with the similar pricing then things may change (depending on the charger capability. The battery placement in the trunk made it apparent that Subaru did not consider EVs for its subaru global platform architecture at all when designed back in 2015.
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34k-37k is too expensive even with the tax credit considered. Lots of electronics and computers plus the already more complicated boxer engine. Great review despite of being rushed. If there is a new crosstrek with pure EV and 200+miles range with the similar pricing then things may change (depending on the charger capability. The battery placement in the trunk made it apparent that Subaru did not consider EVs for its subaru global platform architecture at all when designed back in 2015.
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rockymountainjazzfan
Any vehicle, especially an AWD or 4WD, that does not at least have a temporary spare tire is a non-starter for me. Sorry, but when youre on some backcountry road 50 miles from the nearest tow truck and you shred the sidewall of a tire, a can of stop leak and AAAs number aint gonna cut it. And, yes, there are still plenty of places in the US that are still like that--I live in one of them. Subaru should know better than to offer an AWD without a spare tire--dumb, dumb, dumb.
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Any vehicle, especially an AWD or 4WD, that does not at least have a temporary spare tire is a non-starter for me. Sorry, but when youre on some backcountry road 50 miles from the nearest tow truck and you shred the sidewall of a tire, a can of stop leak and AAAs number aint gonna cut it. And, yes, there are still plenty of places in the US that are still like that--I live in one of them. Subaru should know better than to offer an AWD without a spare tire--dumb, dumb, dumb.
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Trades46
Not bad as Subarus first effort. While there are longer ranged PHEV out there, name me another that has AWD & the ground clearance that this one has that is similarly priced. My only reservation is while the mechanical Subaru Symmetrical AWD is great, it hurts efficiency a lot. I wonder would Subaru switch over to Mitsubishis twin motor AWD system like the Outlander PHEV for future applications.
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Not bad as Subarus first effort. While there are longer ranged PHEV out there, name me another that has AWD & the ground clearance that this one has that is similarly priced. My only reservation is while the mechanical Subaru Symmetrical AWD is great, it hurts efficiency a lot. I wonder would Subaru switch over to Mitsubishis twin motor AWD system like the Outlander PHEV for future applications.
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Jesse Vanderhoff
Not a fan of the 25% reduction in cargo space. Subaru didnt even seem to make an effort to hide where the battery is. Essentially just threw it in the trunk and put a cover on it. I wish they would also offer different interior color packages. Any paint color other than the exclusive blue makes the blue stitching and blue accents look terrible.
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Not a fan of the 25% reduction in cargo space. Subaru didnt even seem to make an effort to hide where the battery is. Essentially just threw it in the trunk and put a cover on it. I wish they would also offer different interior color packages. Any paint color other than the exclusive blue makes the blue stitching and blue accents look terrible.
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