When you’re in search of the additional head room, raised vantage level and enlarged boot of a extra typical mid-sized SUV, or the glossy digital know-how or premium cabin high quality of so many European-market rivals for that matter, you’re barking up the mistaken tree with the Subaru Crosstrek.

Whereas its experience peak grants no less than some boosted visibility, this automobile doesn’t really feel correctly SUV-like from behind the wheel – however it’s pretty straightforward to slip into. It gives loads of leg room for each entrance seat travellers and again, however no further head room than some other household hatchback would possibly and solely a little bit over 300 litres of boot area beneath the tonneau cowl (so you’ll be able to neglect about your previous Legacy’s canine field).

Subaru has aimed to imitate the fabric feel and look of higher-end climbing and exercise ‘attire’ with the automobile’s grey-on-black inside and seat upholstery, though it’s a barely half-hearted try. Mock carbonfibre seems right here and there in any case – and there’s numerous bodily switchgear dotted barely haphazardly across the cabin, not all of it trying or feeling very inviting.

That is very a lot a useful cabin, not an aesthetic assertion, and that’s wonderful, given it is pretty straightforward to work together with. Besides, the place it appears to be like and feels arduous and cheaply completed (across the centre console storage cubbies and decrease door consoles particularly, and on the sprint prime), it’s clearly fairly plain and unappealing.

Seat consolation within the automobile is sweet, although, Subaru having taken the time to revamp the entrance chairs, that are extensively adjustable and supportive. And the new 11.6in infotainment system is pretty navigable and effectively featured, with wi-fi cellphone mirroring as commonplace, and gives pretty quick access to driver help features.