A quiet complaint file, but this is the one year with no transmission warranty extension and real valve-body failures — so the gearbox is the whole inspection.

This one is specific to the Crosstrek Hybrid, the plug-in version, and it is the most striking thing in the year's file. One owner's rear differential failed at around 31,500 miles, with a clunking and metal-on-metal noise while turning slowly. Another owner's failed twice — once at roughly 12,000 miles and again at about 50,000 — both times while manoeuvring. No recall covers it and no warranty extension appears in the bulletin record. A second-generation problem review separately describes rear-differential humming and whine on 2018 to 2021 cars from abnormal gear wear, with a higher-viscosity fluid now offered by dealers as the remedy. If you are looking at a plug-in hybrid, drive it slowly in tight circles both directions with the windows down and listen for clunking, popping or grinding from the back axle.

The single recall on this model year, and it reaches only the plug-in. Recall 23V080, Subaru code WRD-23, covers 8,413 Crosstrek Hybrids across the 2019 to 2022 model years. The harness terminal carrying low-voltage power from the converter to the 12-volt battery can corrode and break; when it does the 12-volt battery stops charging, and that can mean a loss of drive power. Dealers replace the converter terminal mounting bracket free, and replace the 12-volt output harness and terminals as well if corrosion is found. Letters went out in May 2023. An owner of a later car reports the fault returning after the repair with the inverter connector corroded again and underbody wiring damaged by water, salt and sand — so on a car from a salted-road state, get the underbody looked at even if the campaign shows closed. Petrol Crosstreks are not affected. One owner also cites Subaru bulletin 09-82-23R covering a fuel-tank design issue on 2019 to 2021 Crosstrek Hybrids.

Smaller than on 2018 and 2019 but still present. An owner reports the starter failing and the battery dying completely a year after buying the car used. Another describes a stall from a blown ignition fuse with fault code P1604, a startability code, stored. A used-buyers guide gives the useful framing: sluggish operation, slow restarts and error messages from the automatic stop-start system typically appear at two to four years and are usually a weak or dying factory battery finally showing the underlying draw. On the test drive, sit through several stop-start cycles in traffic and confirm the engine catches instantly every time; ask when the battery was last replaced.

The pattern that grows through the rest of this generation starts to show here. An owner reports a six-to-eight-inch crack on the passenger side just above the defroster vents with no apparent impact and no sign it had been there before. There is no recall for Subaru windshields and, unlike the Forester and Outback, the Crosstrek's bulletin record contains no windshield warranty extension — so this is an out-of-pocket cost. It is also not a cheap one, because the EyeSight cameras (Subaru's camera-based driver-assist system) mount to the inside of the glass and have to be recalibrated after any replacement. Owners of later Crosstreks quote $1,300 and $1,600 including that recalibration. The practical advice from a mechanic source: check your comprehensive insurance before paying out of pocket, because many policies cover glass for a small deductible.

Subaru's oil-consumption powertrain warranty extension to 8 years/100,000 miles and the class-action settlement attached to it cover 2012 through 2015 cars only. Nothing in that programme comes near a 2020, and we found no oil-consumption complaints in any 2016 to 2023 Crosstrek payload we pulled. A mechanic filming an FB-engine Crosstrek at 72,000 miles says the same thing from the other direction: 'No oil consumption, the oil's right on the money. I check it every week.' The car's own owner's manual is the honest caveat here — it notes that under a wide range of conditions consumption can rise enough to need a top-up at every second fill, driven by transmission type, driving style, terrain and temperature. Check the level cold on a level surface, but do not price this car as though a factory defect programme applies.