[Sir Castic]

Since its Venetian Red Pearl we are calling it Ruby. 3 months and 6000 miles in and I'm still loving the Crosstrek. I took it to the dealer last week for the first service which cost about $75.00. Only mod so far is a trailer hitch. I'll post more about the hitch in a later post. It has made several 3-4 hour trips on interstate highways and back roads. Its also been my daily driver around town. Fuel economy on the longer trips has been 30-32 MPG. I have found I can easily achieve 32 MPG if I keep the speed down.

I do not like the Yokohama Geolandar G91 tires that came on the vehicle but they will be replaced soon enough.

Planned changes include a lift, new wheels and tires. Soon.

 

[AstroKats]

Welcome!

Is that the fuel economy on the display?

 

[Sir Castic]

Welcome!

Is that the fuel economy on the display?

Good question and I should clarify. That was indicated MPG. I have actually calculated it manually on only two occasions so far. Once with all highway miles on a road trip and 32 indicated on the average display, I calculated 30 at the next fill up. Later with a combination of city/highway driving I calculated 27 although it indicated 33 at the time. That is with resetting the trip odometer after each fill up to reset the supposed average. As others have reported it appears the MPG display is optimistic.

 

[Sir Castic]

Trailer Hitch update. I ordered everything from etrailer. This is the third vehicle I have purchased a hitch from them for.
I ordered:
Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"
Hopkins Plug-in Simple Wiring Harness With 4-pole Connector
Hopkins Fold-over Mounting Bracket For 4-way Flat Connector
Etrailer.com Rubber Hitch Cover For 2" Hitches

I selected this particular Curt based on the fact that most of it is concealed behind the bumper. Price was also a factor since I didn't want to pay for the totally concealed ones and then have to remove the center receiver part after each use. I also wanted the 2" receiver since everything I have is 2" already. I also didn't want to do any splicing or tapping into wires or running wires to the front of the vehicle for the trailer lights. This setup met all those requirements.

Their installation videos are amazing for both the hitch and wiring kit. Thats a good thing since the printed instructions (for both hitch and wiring) are not worth very much. Contrary to the instructions, I used a uni-bit to simply enlarge the holes for the bolts and reinforcement pieces that went up into the frame. A wasn't going to try to grind the round hole into a slot then beat the hardware in with a hammer. There is more than enough reinforcement from the piece that goes up inside the frame and behind the bolt to it support behind my enlarged holes. Over all the installation was very easy in my garage by myself.

The Hopkins plug-in kit it also great. It plugs right into the factory harness connector that is at the rear of the vehicle. No splicing, tapping or other nonsense on a brand new vehicle, just plug it in and route the flat plug harness out. I also got the mount for the flat plug which I attached to the underside of the bumper

Overall I'm pleased with how it looks and works. Cost $204.42 to get it all to my door.

 

[AstroKats]

Good question and I should clarify. That was indicated MPG. I have actually calculated it manually on only two occasions so far. Once with all highway miles on a road trip and 32 indicated on the average display, I calculated 30 at the next fill up. Later with a combination of city/highway driving I calculated 27 although it indicated 33 at the time. That is with resetting the trip odometer after each fill up to reset the supposed average. As others have reported it appears the MPG display is optimistic.

Yep, our '18 over reports 12-15%. I haven't done the manual calcs on the '19 but from what others have reported it doesn't seem to be something Subaru wants to "fix"... 😸

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Thanks for the update on the hitch- I've been looking at same one just haven't ordered yet. etrailer is Awesome, been ordering from them for years.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[Sir Castic]

Look what the brown truck dropped off yesterday! Still waiting on wheels to arrive but for now these 235's are sitting in my garage making it smell like a tire store. Its going to be a good Christmas for Ruby. I think she is getting more presents than anyone in the family.

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Love the description of the color as "Ruby." Never occurred to be. Here in Florida the Motor Vehicles Department has determined on my registration the color is "Turquoise." Isn't that a hoot?