First Drive Review
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A knobby-tired niche wrapped in a green enigma.
Subaru really wanted for us (and you) to know two things about its 2014 XV Crosstrek hybrid, its first gas-electric car. One: It has 8.7 inches of ground clearance (the same as the non-hybrid XV Crosstrek, by the way). And, two: Toyota, its occasional strategic partner and the BRZ’s baby-daddy, had nothing at all to do with the development of its hybrid powertrain. No, nothing.
Feeling this to be sufficient instruction, Subaru then piled auto writers into brand-new XV Crosstrek hybrids (can we talk about that name, later?) and sent them through the inland trails and non-trails and “seriously, just don’t go theres” of Iceland. In November. Did we mention Iceland?
Here is a thing you should not do with your 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek hybrid: drive across the freaky Mars-scape of Iceland with its hard-packed volcanic dust liberally strewn with black rock shards, sulfur-stinky hot springs, river crossings of an impossibly cold slurry roughly the fording depth of one Subaru hood, and tracks bordered by snow walls tall enough to allow the braver and more idiotic of us to go glancing, like life-size Hot Wheels cars, off of walls and occasionally each other in hopes of not getting stuck. And so it is that Subaru finds itself with about 10 of these niche-within-a-niche-within-a-niche little hybrid runabouts with mangled front fascias, bashed panels, and various other ailments not immediately apparent.
After a long day of this, Subaru and its hired guides called in a snowplow to guide its poor, little cars out of the wilderness as darkness fell. The plow was an enormous tractor with six-foot-tall rear tires, a closed cabin, and snow chains. It too got stuck in the snow.
No part of this adventure made any sense whatsoever, but it did provide us the opportunity to sleep in a place called Landmannalauger, eat part of a horse, and achieve an indicated 18 mpg in a small, four-wheel-drive hybrid.
Crossbred For Micro Variegated Climates
A hybrid that is rated at 29/33 mpg on the EPA cycle (only 3-mpg better combined than its $3000-cheaper non-hybrid brother) doesn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense either. Still, we anticipate that this model, with its 13-hp, 48-lb-ft electric motor jammed into its CVT transmission and a former spare-tire well now filled with an 0.6-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery pack, will sell in places where both the atmospheric and political climates favor a hybrid-badged Subaru (we’re looking at you, Boulder, Colorado).
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
BASE PRICE: $26,820
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve 2.0-liter flat-4, 148 hp, 145 lb-ft; permanent magnet, AC synchronous electric motor, 13 hp, 48 lb-ft; combined power rating, 160 hp, 163 lb-ft; 0.6-kWh nickel-metal hydride battery pack
TRANSMISSION: continuously variable automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 103.7 in
Length: 175.2 in
Width: 70.1 in Height: 63.6 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 3500 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 8.5 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 16.9 sec
Top speed: 115 mph
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 29/33 mpg
Continued…