My current vehicle is a 2021…
My current vehicle is a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek Limited (Horizon Blue Pearl) with 15,000 miles. As a side note: my winter vehicle is a (one owner) 2009 Honda CR-V EX with 205,300 miles and only one repair (A/C compressor) over the life of the vehicle. This CR-V lacks a lot but has new winter rubber and all wheel drive. However it is not symetrical AWD.
The Crosstrek arrived December 18, 2021 after a three month wait. The only disappointment has been the interior and license plate lighting which I promptly replaced with whiter and brighter LED bulbs. (six bulbs from Amazon $16.99)
There is no comparison between this Crosstrek and any other vehicle we've ever driven. It is primarily driven by my wife and she couldn't be happier with it. We live in a rural and hilly area where all wheel drive is a necessity. This is our first Subaru but we will be test driving a 2024 Subaru Forester Sport next Saturday 3/9 because of the Costco Car Buying article in Torque News. There are no Costco affiliated dealerships in the State of Michigan so the test drive will be in Toledo Ohio!
When we purchased this vehicle we felt that there were missing features that had to be added on. Most importantly was an auto dimming rear view mirror. The winter floor mats were also important to us as the snow and slush can bring a lot of moisture inside. Since we are adventurous we also purchased the rubber second row seat back protector. The rear bumper guard has saved major scratches from loading into the rear hatch. The final item was the side window deflectors for our English Springer Spaniel's ventilation needs.
I was pressured by our sales person to have all of these items installed at the factory or at the dealership. We were aware that some of these items were installed at the factory but the window deflectors and floor mats were in a boxes at the closing at my request. There are several YouTube videos that are essential to watch before installing these side window deflectors. This type of installation video is something Eric The Car Guy would never have undertaken but others have done a good job with these projects. We can all appreciate a good YouTuber. I contacted Eric before he got out of the business and we discussed his frustrations and the real reasons he would not work at a "stealership" again. Mr. Boyer's efforts to bring these YouTuber's knowledge to us is much appreciated.
Back to Subaru and the latest new from carcomplaints.com. I recently received an e-mail from them that explained a new class action lawsuit over the Thermal Control Valve issue with the 2019-2021 Subaru 2.5L engines. I have been researching this matter but have not found anything on Torque News about this development. This is my one and only concern about Subaru but otherwise I am all in.
I regularly hunger for Torque News and am quickly satiated by Denis Flier's Subaru articles. I live in Michigan and follow the auto industry closely and have had discussions with Mary Conway when she was with WXYZ 7 in Detroit. I will never own another Ford, GM or Stelantis product ever again.
Daniel W. Martin