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Review of MODIFIED 2022 Subaru Crosstrek Sport! This is a clean build!
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Sep 27, 2023
The 2022 Subaru Crosstrek was a great year for the vehicle! The all-new Sport trim level gave it the best engine (the 2.5L) without having to pay the price of the premium Limited trim. This specific Crosstrek has been built up as an off-road vehicle, and is quite impressive! Thank you to SMS Auto and Marine for letting me borrow this for review! If you want to take a look at their business, you can find it here: https://www.smsautomarine.com/ LEARN MORE at READY SET REV! https://readysetrev.com/
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0:00
Back in 2013, in an attempt to capitalize on the growing SUV and crossover trend
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Subaru announced and released the Subaru XV Cross Trek. However, today we are reviewing a 2022 crosstrack
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This one in particular is the sport model with a 2.5 liter engine
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And in this video, I'm going to be telling you everything that you need to know about it. And I'm going to go in depth on what I believe to be one of the cleanest modified Subaru Crosstrack
0:27
But before we get too far into the video, I do want to be. thank SMS Auto and Marine and specifically the owner of the business who loan this to me
0:34
SMS Auto and Marine is an electronics and aftermarket component shop. They can help you out with
0:40
all of your electronic needs and tons of accessory. So if you're interested, I did link down in
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the description or the top comment if you want to check them out. All right, so really quick
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let's talk a little bit about what a Subaru cross trek is and that is essentially a suspension lifted
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Subaru Impreza. The Impraza has been around for a really, really, really
0:59
long time. However, as sedans and cars in generals are starting to die out, manufacturers are wanting
1:06
to find ways to better capitalize on those cars, and so Subaru did a fantastic job in basically
1:11
creating a lifted Impraza. As you can see, they do have plastic body cladig, which is a general
1:16
hallmark of an SUV, of course. And outside of that, really, there isn't much of a difference
1:21
However, sales have spoken for themselves, and this is now one of the most popular vehicles they
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sell right up there with Outback and Forrester while the Impraza quickly is losing sales
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So that said, that was a good choice on Subaru's part. Now let's talk a little bit about the trim level of this
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So this is a Subaru Cross Trek sport. So the sport model is actually new for the 2022 model year, and it basically made it so that you
1:46
could get this engine right here, which is the 2.5-liter boxer engine
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While they used to have issues like things like head gaskets with these newer vehicles
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they don't have problems whatsoever. Now that they utilize timing chains, really, these are fantastic engines
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and the 2.5 liter is the one to get. With this engine right here, you get 182 horsepower
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which, while may not seem like much, it actually is about 30 more horsepower
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than the 2.0 liter that is the alternative for lower trims than this
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And with the sport trim, you get it as standard instead of having to go all the way up to the limited
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which is considerably more expensive. The only downside to this is the fact
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that you can't get a manual train, transmission, which this one has a CVT, which is a continuously variable transmission
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which is essentially kind of two cones that work together with a belt system. And so which means it doesn't actually have gears like most automatic transmissions
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What a lot of people do is they actually opt for the lower trim levels on this just so they can have that
2:40
manual transmission just because it's a more engaging experience. However, they miss out on about 30 horsepower, which when you're talking in these kind of levels is quite a bit
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All of that said, even though it does have the higher horsepower, this still does only have a zero to 60 of 8.2
2:54
seconds and again like I said I had a chance to drive this around and honestly I think it's just fine
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and I didn't have much issue with accelerations all right so let's talk a little bit about styling and outside of
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the aftermarket components this thing actually looks pretty cool as you can see like we talked about
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earlier it does have the plastic cladding and this lifted style so if you do want something that has a
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little bit higher seated position but don't want to look like just every other car on the road this is a
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great way to do that do now want to get a little bit more into the model modifications on this vehicle is I really do think that is what makes this work
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So let's go ahead and do that right now. First up are these method racing MR 502 15 inch wheels
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I really like these bronze wheels. I think they look really, really cool and do a fantastic job on this vehicle
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And then of course wrapping those wheels are BF Goodrich K-O-2s. Here you actually see a fifth wheel that is carried by a rigid armor tire carrier And then right here is a rigid armor high line front bumper And then if you really really want to have an awesome roof rack
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this is probably one of my favorite roof racks I've ever seen, and this one's made by CBI off road
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It has fully adjustable roof rails and just looks incredible. And then is even already set up for a light bar
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And then you may not know it, but these are actually aftermarket headlights off of a 2018 JDM Subaru Cross Trek
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And while you may not notice it because the tires fill it out so well
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this does have a 1.5-inch ADF lift kit with subframe spacers. Let's be honest, most off-road vehicles that are built up like this can't actually perform
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However, that is just not the case here, and that comes down to protection. So this actually has an ADF skid plate underneath of the engine, as well as the transmission
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Along the side, it has LP Adventure's skid rails, and even an LP Adventure's rear differential protect
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So you really can take this off road. So one thing that SMS Auto and Marine does a lot of is lighting and, well, their demo vehicle obviously is going to have that as well
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So let's go over some of the lighting that they have. Most of the lighting is made by diode dynamics
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And here you're going to see one of their yellow fog lights. You of course have some of their light bars
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You have some of their driving lights. Then you have this really cool A pillar mounted light right here
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So these are actually mounted right here and they go up with the hood
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However, this one is fixed right here, which I think, thing is actually a really cool idea. You of course also have side mounted lighting, which these are
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independent lights so you can actually choose to either shine them down here or over on the other side of the
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vehicle or both at the same time. And then of course you have this massive light bar up here. And of course you can't go wrong with rear mounted lights as well
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I do want to mention this actually one of my favorite mods on this vehicle. This is actually an STI wing. It's a little bit larger than your stock wing and I think it looks really cool. What do you guys think
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So leave your thoughts down in the comments. I'd love to hear what you guys think about this one. Is this not one of the
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as builds you've ever seen for a cross track? Or would you do something a little bit different
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The interior of this vehicle is honestly extremely nice for the price. This particular trim
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in the sport trim which gets you that bigger engine only starts at a little over $27,000. So I'm
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surprised to see how really nice this is. Did opt for one package that went with this vehicle
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which got you this 8 inch infotainment center. And that same package also got you this sunroof right here
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There's a lot of really nice soft touch materials. There's leather where you would expect it. Of course
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there are some hard plastics here and there. One of my favorite things is this carbon fiber weave panel right here on the door
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And of course, this review would not be finished if I didn't talk about the paddle shifters
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The paddle shifters in this are interesting. Manufacturers add paddle shifters to make their car sporty
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However, it doesn't make a ridiculous amount of sense in this vehicle as this is a CVT
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And why that matters is a CVT doesn't have gears. like I talked about a little bit earlier, but why do I have paddle shifters and something that doesn't have gears
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And that is because it actually has simulated gears. So I actually tried this out
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I had never used one of these simulated gears with a CVT transmission before. So I played around with a little bit
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And I'll be honest, I was kind of impressed. It actually was kind of fun to drive and kind of engaging
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It doesn't make sense because it literally isn't a gear. They literally are just simulating it
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But however, it was kind of fun to drive. And I'll be honest, it. felt like an automatic transmission. I hate to say it, guys. Like, CVTs have actually gotten pretty good
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Some other things worth mentioning right here in the driver's seat is things like the infotainment center
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As I mentioned a little bit earlier, this is the 8-inch infotainment center. The owner tells me he really, really likes it. He was tempted to switch it out for an aftermarket
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However he seems to really like it I did poke around in a little bit and it is easy to use You of course also do have your radio control buttons which are physical buttons which is really nice especially nowadays And then you do have all your own hard buttons down here for the HVAC controls which is really nice that is not implemented into the infotainment center because then you can use it without looking away from the road
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This car also does have buttons down here for turning off your blind spot monitor
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And then, of course, things like turning off your traction control. Now, on the steering wheel, you actually are presented with quite a few buttons, probably more than I would do
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If I were building a car, however, you are able to control your stereo completely
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You're able to do hands-free calling. You do have all of your cruise control buttons, which is really nice to be able to turn those on and off without looking away from your steering wheel
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And then down here, of course, you do have some buttons to be able to work your way through your dash
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which has a small display on the center. I do wish it was a full center display
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And then up here, you do have a display on the right-hand side so that you don't have to look away
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which does present some information for you when you're on the go. As for down in your center console down here, you do of course have a few different things, including your shifter
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which has parrarch, reverse, neutral, and drive. And if you tilt it to the left, you can put this into a manual, which again, simulates moving through gears that don't exist
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And then you do also have your heated seat buttons, which, yes, this does have heated seats
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You can, of course, have it in high or you can have it in low. And then this right here is the X mode, which is what I was talking about earlier
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It's kind of your dirt and snow mode, which is something that's unique to this trim level
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And then moving over to this door panel, you do have a couple other buttons as well
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which gives you easy access to things like the windows in the front and in the back, and then mirror controls
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As for your passenger seat over here, there really isn't much to speak about
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It is nice. You have cup holders, your own control for windows
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And honestly, that's about it. There isn't much going on over there. Of course, you do have access to the screen
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This is not a driver-focused vehicle, so you can utilize things like the infotainment center as the passenger
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And then finally, I want to talk about these seats. These are actually really comfortable seats, and I really do like them
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They're comfortable, they do hold you in place really well, and give you a nice seating position
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They don't have a ton of padding, however, this is what's attempt to be kind of a little bit more sporty of a car
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so that's not too big of an issue for me. Now, before we jump into the back seats, I do want to talk about the modifications that have been done to the interior
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One of my favorite is the weather tech floor mats. I would go for floor mats all day long
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I have some really nice husky ones in my Tahoe, and they are fantastic, and of course the owner was gushing
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him about his floor mats in here, which are the WeatherTech brand, and both are fantastic brands
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And I highly recommend them. Another modification is Wireless Apple CarPlay. This does not standard
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come with Wireless Apple CarPlay, where you basically instead have to plug your phone in. However
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this is a little modification that goes up inside of your center console and allows you to
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wirelessly connect your phone to the car, which is a nice thing. The next thing is this Rough Crunchry
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Control Panel. I will actually show you under the hood right here. This basically is something where you can
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connect all of your different aftermarket components and it gives it an easy to use switchboard on
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the interior of your vehicle you just push these little buttons to turn things on the owner has not
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quite finished up setting up his car so he has the permanent button plates on there but when this is done
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it will show icons for every single little thing that you have and just makes it easy to use and then finally
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the interior of this vehicle the only other modification really comes down to something you can't see and that is sound deadening
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he has installed something sound skin sound dampening which is essentially like a kind of a weird rubbery
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that goes behind the door panel here. And what it does is basically just soaks up extra sound
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So when you're driving down the road, especially with these giant BF Goodrich tires, and the roof rack, it's nice to cut down a little bit on that road noise
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And so he added that sound deadening into the door panels. And then some other upgrades he added is a CompuStar Remote Start
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which actually this does already come with Remote Start. However, he tells me he added in his own as well
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because there's a couple features that each don't have. And then he also added in a Momento dash cam system which is just a little bit better than factory and he feels is better than what he could get otherwise Finally let talk a little bit about these back seats and I impressed
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As you can see, I have a ton of knee room, and that's really impressive because this isn't
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exactly a huge car, so it's really nice to see that you're able to get so much room in this car
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As for head room, I have a little bit of head room here
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I wouldn't say a ton. I'm 6 foot, 6 foot 1, and I am able to sit completely upright in this car, and it's not uncomfortable for me whatsoever
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As for features, there really aren't a ton for this vehicle other than cup holders
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You have your own window controls. And then, of course, a pouch that's only behind the passenger seat
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Driver's seat doesn't get one of those. As for rear cargo in this car, it's actually pretty reasonable, and I really do actually appreciate for considering how small this vehicle is, how much room you have in the back
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This one in particular does have factory rear mats. And it actually has the rear rubber mats that fit on the back of the rear seats, which basically
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makes it so you don't tear up the rear of the seats if you have things like lumber, which can
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tear fabric. But outside of that and maybe just a little light here and there, there isn't much to speak of
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in the rear, but it is really nice. All right, so I want to touch on driving impressions a little bit on this car after having a
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chance to drive it a little bit. And I'll say I'm impressed. Okay, so this is a 2022
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It is considerably newer and nicer than the cars that I'm used to driving, like my Tahoe
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and our 2013 Ford Explorer. However, this drives really nice. I think I actually do like that it is a
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little bit lower than I'm used to. It is still based off the Impraza, so I think your seating position
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is a little more car-like than most SUVs out there, and I think it really comes across in this
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car, and it works really well. Of course, this does have all-wheel drive, which you really
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won't notice unless you're going off-road or driving in the snow or that kind of stuff. However
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the symmetrical all-wheel drive system in these Subaru's are fantastic. They're right up there with
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car companies, Audi with their quattro, and that kind of stuff. As for the height off the road, I really like how high it is off the road
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Obviously, they are trying to go more for the SUV crowd and crossover crowd
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And I think they've done a really good job of that. You definitely aren't sitting super close to the road, like the Tesla Roadster I was driving
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somewhat recently. It's a whole different feel on that end. However, I just really like it
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And then also the seating position and just dash and all that kind of stuff just really works in this car
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I was really impressed and honestly kind of blown away at how nice it is in here
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So I'll be honest with you. I really didn't super ever consider a Subaru in my buying decisions
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And I'll be honest, today has kind of changed my opinion. This cross track is an amazing vehicle
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And after having a chance to drive it around and really get to experience this vehicle, I'm impressed
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I really like all the modifications that were added on to this. And I think for an off-road build, this is fantastic
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I didn't realize how capable a small vehicle like this can be if you modify it in the right way
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I think that SMS Auto and Marine has done a fantastic job of it. I think this looks amazing and everything is extremely functional
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As for the vehicle itself, the cross track is pretty good. It is probably the one I would buy in their lineup
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Subaru has had a fantastic name for themselves. They are great in the snow, they are great off-road, they're extremely reliable
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And especially now that they've fixed issues like the head gasket and their timing belt snapping, it really is a compelling vehicle, especially for
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for the price. As for downsides for what it is, I'll be honest, I can't think of too many
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Other than the fact that they have fake gears, but even those fake gears are actually pretty
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cool. So what do you think? Do you like the Subaru Cross Track? And do you like all the modifications
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that were added to this? And thank you so much again for SMS, Auto, and Marine for letting me
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borrow this car for the day so that I can tell you guys all about it. And as always, if you have
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a prayer request, leave it down in the comments. I would love to hear it
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