Crossovers fit a wide variety of lifestyles, making it a strong winner across the entire automotive marketplace. Every marque consistently scrambles to design and redesign each of their crossovers to win the hearts of their varied users. Even though the Subaru Crosstrek has received tons of love over the years, it had one serious downside; a serious lack of power. With the 2021 Crosstrek, Subaru gave it a new, larger motor making more power. Even with this new motor, the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek is still slow but does that actually matter?

As far as crossovers go, the Subaru Crosstrek clearly lands deep in the car side of the car/SUV mashup. A big part of what makes the Crosstrek such a fan favorite is that it feels and handles more closely to a car while having the stance, ground clearance, and space of an SUV. With all those qualities considered, one might see speed and power not really needing to be a dominant factor in achieving owner satisfaction. 

The 2021 Subaru Crosstrek update

Even though the Crosstrek doesn’t need tons of power, many owners felt it was annoyingly underpowered with its previous 152-hp 2.0-liter flat-four engine. Subaru listened to the cries of Crosstrek owners and gave it a new-and-improved 2.5-liter flat-four making 182 hp. While this update was well received and much appreciated by Crosstrek fans, Car and Driver reports that the 2021 Crosstrek Sport is still slow. 

What else changed for the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek?

There’s a new motor to choose from in the two upper-tier models, the Sport and Limited, but the base model still comes with the old 2.0-liter motor. There is one very cool benefit to getting the super-slow base-model Crosstrek; a six-speed manual transmission. The Sport and Limited models will, however, not include the manual option. Subaru giveth and Subaru taketh away.

Though if future owners of the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek choose to pass on the fun transmission, they get the cooler motor and better fuel efficiency at 34 mpg versus the 2.0-liter version’s 33 mpg. 

New, sportier aesthetics

Subaru wanted to reflect on the new power boost in the design of the exterior. The Crosstrek Sport rocks a new, more aggressive grille and wheel arch moldings.

The updates make the new Crosstrek stand out from the older ones and reflect the step toward a sportier mindset for the model. Now, that is not to say that Subaru has made a sports car here; it surely hasn’t. Other touches Subaru added to increase the sporty appeal are a series of dark accents on the wheels and tough-looking, plastic cladding. 

The interior has also been updated. Subaru splattered neon-yellow stitching across the interior of the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek Sport. Along with comfortable and spacious seating, the Crosstrek’s interior is beautifully updated, receiving no real complaints from the test conducted by Car and Driver. Then again, the older models didn’t have many complaints about them either.

The Subaru Crosstrek is still slow but that’s fine

The Crosstrek is a success. The Subaru Crosstrek is easy to drive, maneuverable, comfortable, well-equipped, good off-road, versatile, spacious, and frankly, the list could go on. The only thing the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek isn’t is fast. But, who cares? It doesn’t need to be fast.

We are talking about a family-friendly adventure crossover that is most commonly used to daily drive and occasionally haul some mountain bikes or canoes out into the woods. So why give it more power if it has enough to do what it was made to do?

The 2021 Subaru Crosstrek spits in the face of our current car climate of everything needing to have massive, in-your-face power figures that most people don’t actually want and almost no one needs. Good for you, slow little Crosstrek. Do your thing and do it slowly. Haters gonna hate.