Honest High Mileage Subaru Crosstrek Review

Here is my honest review of my high mileage Subaru Crosstrek. After putting 180,000 miles onto my 2017 Subaru Crosstrek in just five years, I guess you could say I am qualified to make a truly honest and informed review of this incredible little car.

I purchased my Subaru Crosstrek in July 2018 when my 10-year-old Subaru Outback finally conked out as it was pushing 300,000 miles. It probably could have run longer if I had been the original owner and been able to take care of it since its very first mile. Knowing this, I made sure to trea my 2017 Subaru Crosstrek with kid gloves from the beginning.

2017 Subaru Crosstrek in Hyper Blue

Well, that is not exactly true. To be honest, from day one I used my Subaru Crosstrek as an Uber and to give passengers tours of a mountain resort near my home. Lots of hill driving and frequent stop-and-goes was the norm from the get-go. But I made sure I kept up with the Subaru Crosstrek maintenance schedule, and that kept the car in tip-top form.

Three years into ownership I had put on nearly 100,000 miles. Then the pandemic hit. Most people stayed home during the first six months of the pandemic. But three months in, I lost my job and my home. So I decided to set out on a cross-country adventure. Here we are, two years and 80K miles later, and I am happy to say my Subie is still running strong.

Subaru Crosstrek adventure in Valley of the Gods Utah

My adventure took me to all corners of the United States. I set out from Virginia and darted across the middle states to Colorado, then up to Montana, across the Continental Divide, and over to Washington State. I toured around Olympic National Park, and then I took the coast south through Oregon and into Northern California.

I slept in my car the entire way. Yes, a humongous, 6 foot 1 inch, 400-pound man slept in the driver's seat of his compact mini SUV the entire way.

I slept among the Redwoods and along the Pacific Coast Highway, waking in the middle of the night to crashing Pacific waves that so loud they felt like they would swallow me up. I slept in a misty parking lot overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. And I slept in the desert mountains of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Subaru Crosstrek camping Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains

The best part of the journey in my trusty Hyper Blue Subaru was when I experienced nightfall in the darkest place in the country - just north of the Grand Canyon - and I awoke to a dazzling display of the Milky Way emblazoned across the sky. Then I turned south and slept on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande River along the US-Mexico border. I even slept along the sandy beaches of Florida and along the rocky coast of Maine.

Now that I'm getting settled once again, I have had my Subaru looked at by the dealer, and have been catching up on maintenance. By keeping the car maintained I have avoided major expenses that I might have incurred otherwise. It needs a bit of service at the moment. But overall, my Subaru Crosstrek is still running strong and I plan to keep relying on it as I plan my adventures for many years to come.