jmodz, i took your seasoned advice and am not going to lift the 2019 Xtrek we bought this week. We still have mongo off-road rigs, so the Xtrek will fit into the small, high mpg, all weather, all road slot. Here are my initial impressions of the car: (find another thread if this is too much down in the weeds)
We drove away from the dealer today in a new 2019 Subaru Crosstrek. After perusing all the possibilities, we chose a Premium mostly to delete eye sight, a moon roof, navigation. I'm done with moon roofs. We use our cellphones for Nav. and the Subie factory Nav system seems to be out of date already. So those few deletes saved us thousands, and made the car somewhat lighter. I just don't like to be out of control with things trying to control me. Jeanie did not get her leather, like she's had in the last 3 of her cars. But the leather was not full leather, but patchy leather. Since the car will sit out in the weather, we opted for a weather coating on the entire car, not a cheap item, but necessary. I got what i think is a good price on an 8-year/80K mile warranty. They filled it up with gas and added in a stick-on rubber cover for the rear bumper under the hatch. Since I'm not a millennial, It has enough electronics for me and should stand the test of time with fewer gadgets to befoul. By deleting what we did, we lost 4 computers, says the salesman. We did link our 2 phones and garage door opener to the console. The back up camera is better in the Xtrek than the one in Jeanie's high bucks Grand Chero. I do miss having a programable electric driver's seat and push button start like Jeanie's '11 Jeep MK-2 has. I love the head room without the moonroof. We do have X-mode and the wanted 17 inch wheels, not 18's. If I get to a position going across the dunes where I must deflate to 15 pounds, the 17's have more sidewall for that. Yes, i have a high bucks 12v compressor for reinflating that I've used with my expo Jeeps and truck camper. The ride is pretty good: not as good as our Jeep Grand Chero. The engine, upon start up, is rather noisy. I'm not sure why that is. Possibly the 0-20 weight motor oil? The one thing I'm not really impressed with are the seats. There is scant lumbar support and they have no cush. Somehow, they remind me of an old army truck. The color is a dull gray-ish silver, since they would have to truck our first choice color, gray khaki, from a distance, which would add to the purchase price. So we can live with it. It tracks down the undulating pavement of Nevada County very well. The steering is faster than I'm used to. I'll get used to it. The price before taxes was right at $25K. I think we got what we paid for. Funny how that works. On the 40 mile drive home, the Xtrek easily pulled our steep hills, but overtaking another car was rather arduous and needed advance planning. I'm going to be getting into the paddles, big time since I'm used to driving sticks. The gas pedal is a little touchy, especially pulling away from a stop, but easily gotten used to. I even tried out hill descent mode while at the dealer. That will do well going down steep and icy hills. It's a nice package for us. I'll give a report after a few thousand miles and getting through winter here on the West Slope, the very reason we bought the car. Now, all 4 vehicles parked on our compound have power to every wheel.
jefe
