2 inch lift on your 2nd generation Subaru Crosstrek?

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
It's finally time for Jeanie and I, a pair of septuagenarians to downsize our all weather, all season, all road traveling vehicle. We've had a parade of 4WD's over the past 1.7 million miles that fit the bill for that time. The one currently in my cross hairs (is that a pun?) is a 2019 Subaru Crosstrek. Why? Answer: small/ bulletproof drivetrain/ clearance/3000 pounds/ great miles per gallon of lower octane petrol/enough but NOT an abundance of horsepower. How can that last item be of any value? In the dim dark past, I've watched underpowered 4WD's stay on top of the terra by not digging in and not breaking traction simply because they did not have the power to do so. I'm reminded of the 1942 WWII Willys Jeep staying on top of the sand in N. Africa with those puny 600/16 tires at full pressure. While we will keep Jeanie's WK-2, and I'll keep my Cummins/Lance XTC and last generation XJ for work around the rancho, we need a small, light, two person rig for travel and some medium duty off-road characteristics, especially on snow and sand.
While looking at the newest Crosstrek, the dealer's 'show car' had a 2 inch suspension lift that looked very well thought out.
To the point: Does anyone in the Crossover camp have experience with the Subie 2 inch suspension lift?
jefe
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
With no replies, it looks like we are in Terra Incognita for this idea. We still have a well prepped truck camper, the XTC, an XJ and WK-2, so that's not the goal, but need a small, trouble free AWD for touring and (not-real-fond-of-the-term), "overlanding" (not camping) in any season, over any sketchy path, come sand, rain or snow. I'm reminded of a famous ABC news reporter, upon retiring from the gig, who took his wife on a world tour about 1975 in his little MB, AWD car pulling a very small and sleek matching trailer completely around the globe, yes, through the middle East, Afghanistan, China, and Mongolia, and wrote a book of his travels. Being a recovering hard core rock crawler I was struck by his completely outside the box concept of traveling small; kind of like small food.
jefe
 
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Jo_Duval

Observer
I would definitely check with Subaru Lachute performance, most likely far from you (they are near me in Lachute, Québec. But they are the most knowledgeable people I know for subies and they do phenomenal work. Do know and might even build lift kits..
 

Smileyshaun

Observer
if you haven't test driven one yet go check out all the Subaru models , my fiance was going to get a crosstrek for her dd but after test driving a forester it just felt like so much more of a solid comfortable vehicle, little more room and nearly the same mpg as the crosstrek she ended up with the forester .
 

rnArmy

Adventurer
Here are two companies I know of that have lifts for 2019 Subaru Crosstreks. My wife has a 2017 Crosstrek and loves it. Maybe someday she'll let me lift it, but I doubt it'll be anytime soon. It would be nice to lift it just to make it easier for me to get in-and-out of it. I've got a lifted & locked 46 Willys 2A, lifted & locked 98 Jeep TJ, and a lifted 96 Ram 1500 4x4 so I can't complain.

https://lpaventure.com/collections/crosstrek/products/lp-aventure-lift-kit-subaru-crosstrek-2018

http://get-primitive.com/find/2019-Subaru-Crosstrek

Here's another company:

http://www.subtle-solutions.com/index.php?cPath=21_157_1230_1231
 
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Jo_Duval

Observer
Here are two companies I know of that have lifts for 2019 Subaru Crosstreks. My wife has a 2017 Crosstrek and loves it. Maybe someday she'll let me lift it, but I doubt it'll be anytime soon. It would be nice to lift it just to make it easier for me to get in-and-out of it. I've got a lifted & locked 46 Willys 2A, lifted & locked 98 Jeep TJ, and a lifted 96 Ram 1500 4x4 so I can't complain.

https://lpaventure.com/collections/crosstrek/products/lp-aventure-lift-kit-subaru-crosstrek-2018

http://get-primitive.com/find/2019-Subaru-Crosstrek

LPaventure is Lachute performance. Can’t say enough good from them.
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
on youtube describes a 1.5 inch lift by ADR that looks very good. There is a w-i-d-e variety of price and quality lift kits for subies. I joined a forum with the unlikely name of, Club CrossTrek. This could get interesting with a lift and a very small and light matching fiberglass trailer, more like a roof storage pod on wheels. There are a few somewhat interesting comparos on the internet between an old Jeep XJ and a new Xtrek and an in-depth explanation of the Xmode operation. This is still a whole new weird area for me. This is what we used to do:


jefe
 

jmodz

Active member
I own a 2018 Crosstrek and in my opinion it doesn't seem worth it to lift it. The point of the Crosstrek is to be a comfortable daily driver that gets excellent gas mileage and can still take you down a dirt track or handle snow. Lifting it does get you more clearance, but really doesn't gain you anymore off-road capability other than that. And the trade off is a hit to the mpg and driving characteristics. There is a guy on instagram who has decked out his Crosstrek with a 2 inch lift, slightly larger tires, and a host of other goodies and he gets 22 mpg. I am averaging 31 mpg stock. Likely with just a 2 inch lift you won't see that large of a hit to mpg but it will be substantial.

I bought my Crosstrek for really similar reasons to you, but if I start wanting to lift it and am having some clearance issues with the snow or trails I am on then I probably purchased the wrong car. You have a couple of other more capable vehicles at your disposal, so I would just keep the Crosstrek stock and use those other vehicles if you really think it is necessary for that trip. I love the look of the lifted Crosstrek's with rally wheels and larger tires but if I really wanted to do that I would sell it and buy myself a more capable vehicle like a Toyota truck or a Wangler. I have found X-mode to be quite handy in a couple of situations, specifically the hill descent feature.

More to the OP's question, yes LP Adventure is a great option but they seem to be on the pricier end. I have read great things about ADF, Subtle Solutions, and Subie Lift Oz as well.
 

rnArmy

Adventurer
I would like to put a 1.5" lift and 215/75/15" tires on my wife's 2017 Crosstrek if for no other reason just to make it easier for me to get in-and-out.
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
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
 

jmodz

Active member
Great write up! I agree with all your impressions of the Crosstrek. The seats are a glaring issue with the car, I feel they could have done way better even in just a $25k car. For the money though the Crosstrek delivers superb performance in my opinion. I did opt for the eyesight on mine since I liked the idea of the added safety features. So far it has worked flawlessly, however the land departure warning is very annoying so I have that turned off for daily driving. I am interested to hear how the Crosstrek does in the winter for you! I am in San Diego, so mine won't regularly see snow, however I was up in Oregon just 2 weeks ago and got to drive through a couple of snow storms with it and it felt very secure. I have been very impressed with Subaru's AWD system as it has handled snow, desert washes, and forest roads with ease. I had a RAV4 with AWD and was very disappointed by its performance as it took way to much slippage to ever kick in. The V6 in the RAV4 though was amazing. I really want to drive a 3.6R Outback sometime but it is a shame they only offer the engine on the top trim levels as it makes the price very high for that type of vehicle. It is a shame that Subaru is axing the diesel engine globally, it would have been really nice to see that come to the US like they were planning before VW screwed it all up.
 

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