Crosstrek or Forester: Which Subaru SUV Is Right For You?

The Subaru Forester is a popular small SUV offering standard all-wheel drive and active safety systems, but Subaru also has a smaller, less expensive SUV for those with limited parking and budgets: the Crosstrek. Similar in size and price, how do you decide which is right for you and your family? We broke it down for you.
How Much More Is the Forester Than the Crosstrek?
Subaru’s smallest and most affordably crossover, the Crosstrek is priced at just $23,155 to start. For that, you get a manual transmission, so to make a more fair comparison to the automatic-only Forester, the starting price would be $24,505. The Forester is the next size up and comes with more standard equipment, but only costs $1000 more to start at $25,505.

If saving fuel and the environment is a high priority, you’ll be interested to know Subaru offers a Crosstrek Hybrid, but not a Forester hybrid. A plug-in hybrid that can be driven on pure battery power, the Crosstrek Hybrid is significantly more expensive at $36,155, but it’s only offered as a fully loaded model with minimal options. A fully loaded Crosstrek Limited costs $30,800, while a fully loaded Forester Limited costs $33,800. Of course, the Crosstrek Hybrid will qualify for some local, state, and federal tax credits to help offset its higher price by potentially thousands of dollars.
Does the Crosstrek Have as Much Space as the Forester?
While Subaru engineers do a good job of making their vehicles as spacious as possible, there’s no getting around the fact the Forester is a larger vehicle. Several inches longer and taller, it’s got more room inside across the board.
In terms of passenger space, the Forester offers more total interior volume, 111.9 cubic feet (107.8 cu ft with the optional moonroof) compared to 100.9 cu ft for the Crosstrek (97.5 cu ft with the moonroof) and 100.7 cu ft for the Crosstrek Hybrid (97.4 with the moonroof). This translates to more head, leg, hip, and shoulder room in both the front and back seats of the Forester, an inch or two in every direction. This could be critical extra space for taller or larger families.

Similarly, the Forester has significantly more cargo space than the Crosstrek. With the rear seats up, the Forester has 35.4 cu ft of space (33.0 cu ft with the moonroof) to the Crosstrek’s 20.8 cu ft. Put the seats down and the Forester opens up to 76.1 cu ft (70.9 cu ft with the moonroof) and the Crosstrek to 55.3 cu ft. The Forester’s cargo floor is also 2.5 inches lower than the Crosstreks, so you won’t have to lift heavy items as high to load and unload them.
The Crosstrek Hybrid has even less cargo space (and no spare tire) as the battery pack is hidden under the cargo floor. As a result, it offers 15.9 cu ft of space with the rear seats up and 43.1 cu ft with the seats down.
Does the Crosstrek or Forester Get Better Fuel Economy?
In general, smaller, lighter cars get better fuel economy, and this is true for the Crosstrek and Forester when all things are equal. Equipped with the continuously variable automatic transmission and base 2.0-liter engine, the Crosstrek is rated at 28/33/30 mpg city/highway/combined by the EPA compared to 26/33/29 mpg for the Forester. There is an exception, though. The Crosstrek is also offered with a less-efficient manual transmission and the same engine, which is rated at 22/29/25 mpg.
For 2021, Subaru introduced a new, larger, more-powerful 2.5-liter engine. Available only with the CVT, it’s rated at 27/34/29 mpg, still better than the Forester.
The Crosstrek also has an ace up its sleeve: the Crosstrek Hybrid. A plug-in hybrid, it can be charged at home or in public and drive 17 miles on battery power before starting its gasoline engine. On gasoline, it’s rated at 35 mpg combined.

Is the Crosstrek or the Forester Safer?
Both the Crosstrek and Forester have been crash-tested by both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and both performed very well. In both tests, however, the Forester performed slightly better.
In the government test, NHTSA rated both cars five stars overall, but neither was perfect. The Forester rated four stars on the rollover test but five stars on both front and side impact tests. The Crosstrek got four stars on both the rollover and frontal crash tests and five stars on the side impact test.
IIHS rates both cars with its highest “Good” rating in nearly every category, with both struggling on the headlight test. While both cars got “Good” ratings for their optional headlights, the Forester received an “Acceptable” rating for its standard headlights and the Crosstrek’s standard headlights were rated “Poor.” Because of this, the Crosstrek only receives a Top Safety Pick award, whereas the Forester was named a Top Safety Pick+.

In either case, both the Crosstrek and Forester came close to acing their crash tests and both will protect you well in a crash. However, the Forester is equipped with Subaru’s Eyesight active safety system standard, while it’s an option on the Crosstrek.
Crosstrek Performance Versus Forester Performance
Although the Forester is more powerful than the Crosstrek, it’s also larger and heavier. As a result, the two have very similar performance when merging on the freeway. The Crosstrek takes between 8.8 and 9.8 seconds to reach 60 mph from a stop depending on how it’s configured. The Forester, meanwhile, needs between 8.3 and 9.6 seconds to do the same depending on configuration. The Crosstrek Hybrid, with the advantage of electric assistance, is tied for quickest at 8.3 seconds to 60 mph.
The Crosstrek stops from 60 mph in as little as 114 feet, while the Forester stops in as little as 117 feet. Both the Crosstrek and Forester generated as much as 0.83 g of grip in a skid pad handling test.
Should I Get a Crosstrek or a Forester?
We’re big fans of both the Crosstrek and Forester at MotorTrend, and the two are so closely matched in performance, safety, and fuel economy you can’t go wrong either way. While the savings of the Crosstrek are appealing, both in starting price and fuel saved, they could easily be offset by the Forester’s greater space for people and cargo, its slightly better safety ratings, and better standard equipment. Unless you have specific needs such as a manual transmission or a very tight budget, it’s hard not to recommend going with the Forester.

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