THE BIG UGLY BLACK BOX ON THE WINDSHIELD

[rclark]

We just sold my wife's 2018 Crosstrek to my elderly folks as their old PT Cruiser was on last legs. The Crosstrek is easy to get in and out of which they/we really liked. And will do them well in winter driving. Was/is a great little car. Anyway, was thinking about getting a 2024 Crosstrek to replace. But now... 1) Don't care for the mandatory eye-sight junk, but could 'iive' with it. 2) Don't like the on/off feature of the motor when stopped. Don't like the Starlink junk... But what really turns us off after checking it out on-line is the big honking eye-sore in the middle... The touch screen. And it looks like there is no manual controls (knobs) for the environmental settings like on the 2018. No shelf to set little things on above the screen. They have went backwards here in my opinion. I think we will be looking at a used pre-24 Crosstrek now if we run onto one... Or just do without. To bad to, as we really like the Crosstrek otherwise for winter driving and in the hills. Just go just about anywhere with it. The 'car' features are great (AWD for example). Just the unnecessary electronic infotainment stuff is such a downer.

Note we do have a new 2024 Forester, but I by-passed the stupid engine start/stop feature with an aftermarket part so default mode is off. And it has nice manual knobs for heat/ac/defrost at least. Screen stays 'blanked' as never use it, Starlink and Sirius disabled (I hope as you can't tell if they are listening in) .... Still don't like these extraneous electronic features in a car that we would never use. Should be optional.

Added thought. To bad the screen isn't like what we have in our server room at work. You pull a tray out, and lift the display to work on the system. Close the lid and push back in the cabinet. Save a lot a room in that area...

Thought I'd put in my two cents for a 1st post .

 

[Michael Hart]

I just took delivery of a 2024 fully loaded Subaru Crosstrek.. I find the huge black box attached to the top of the windshield quite obnoxious as it steals a good part of the view of the road. I assume the box contains housing for various safety features, etc. But let me ask you, what could not be more unsafe than taking up a large chunk of the the view of the windshield from the driver?!! Maybe it’s just me! Maybe I’ll get used to it! But I doubt it. Does anyone else feel the way I do?!

I just test drove a 2025 Crosstrek. I kept saying I love driving this, but, kept my eye kept looking at that black box. As I was getting out of the car, I said to myself I can't live with this. The Crosstrek's ADAS system box seems larger than most, but, they all are obnoxious. The Forester is praised for its view. I'm going to look at that.

 

[Rick23]

I just took delivery of a 2024 fully loaded Subaru Crosstrek.. I find the huge black box attached to the top of the windshield quite obnoxious as it steals a good part of the view of the road. I assume the box contains housing for various safety features, etc. But let me ask you, what could not be more unsafe than taking up a large chunk of the the view of the windshield from the driver?!! Maybe it’s just me! Maybe I’ll get used to it! But I doubt it. Does anyone else feel the way I do?!

 

[Alfred]

I just took delivery of a 2024 fully loaded Subaru Crosstrek.. I find the huge black box attached to the top of the windshield quite obnoxious as it steals a good part of the view of the road. I assume the box contains housing for various safety features, etc. But let me ask you, what could not be more unsafe than taking up a large chunk of the the view of the windshield from the driver?!! Maybe it’s just me! Maybe I’ll get used to it! But I doubt it. Does anyone else feel the way I do?!

 

[Rick23]

Three cameras for eyesight are in that box! Get over it! I did!

 

[Michael Hart]

Three cameras for eyesight are in that box! Get over it! I did!

It's true that a lot of things you fuss about at the beginning you stop seeing after a while. However, my wife and I tested a lot of 2025 compact sedans and smaller SUVs, and, Subaru, only on the Crosstrek, has done the worst of them in solving that problem of boxing in those front cameras and did it on the best car in its class (unless you want a hybrid.).

 

[piste]

In

It's true that a lot of things you fuss about at the beginning you stop seeing after a while. However, my wife and I tested a lot of 2025 compact sedans and smaller SUVs, and, Subaru, only on the Crosstrek, has done the worst of them in solving that problem of boxing in those front cameras and did it on the best car in its class (unless you want a hybrid.).

In general ...IMO auto design and features peaked in recent years and are definitely heading in a direction of overdesign and overengineering. New things just for the sake of new things. Stop with that crap and fix blatant issues like battery drain and inferior underbody metallurgy.

 

[Michael Hart]

We just sold my wife's 2018 Crosstrek to my elderly folks as their old PT Cruiser was on last legs. The Crosstrek is easy to get in and out of which they/we really liked. And will do them well in winter driving. Was/is a great little car. Anyway, was thinking about getting a 2024 Crosstrek to replace. But now... 1) Don't care for the mandatory eye-sight junk, but could 'iive' with it. 2) Don't like the on/off feature of the motor when stopped. Don't like the Starlink junk... But what really turns us off after checking it out on-line is the big honking eye-sore in the middle... The touch screen. And it looks like there is no manual controls (knobs) for the environmental settings like on the 2018. No shelf to set little things on above the screen. They have went backwards here in my opinion. I think we will be looking at a used pre-24 Crosstrek now if we run onto one... Or just do without. To bad to, as we really like the Crosstrek otherwise for winter driving and in the hills. Just go just about anywhere with it. The 'car' features are great (AWD for example). Just the unnecessary electronic infotainment stuff is such a downer.

Note we do have a new 2024 Forester, but I by-passed the stupid engine start/stop feature with an aftermarket part so default mode is off. And it has nice manual knobs for heat/ac/defrost at least. Screen stays 'blanked' as never use it, Starlink and Sirius disabled (I hope as you can't tell if they are listening in) .... Still don't like these extraneous electronic features in a car that we would never use. Should be optional.

Added thought. To bad the screen isn't like what we have in our server room at work. You pull a tray out, and lift the display to work on the system. Close the lid and push back in the cabinet. Save a lot a room in that area...

Thought I'd put in my two cents for a 1st post .

I ditto this person's general experience. My wife and I tested a lot 2025 compacts and small SUVs to replace a 2006 Civic. We come away with the question of whether we are stodgy luddites or has auto engineering focussed too much attention on the technology and forgotten the driving experience. I would have been ecstatic if I had herd that somewhere in Japan Honda had kept open the 2006 Civic assembly line. I see 2020 Crosstreks and would have bought that in a heartbeat.

 

[bmart]

Subaru lost their way on being drivers' cars quite a few years ago and instead went after Accord/Camry and Civic/Corolla. They got significant market share and if you want a drivers' car, you need to get something older, perhaps with low miles. I've done this q few times and own three of four very low mileage older models. The fourth is a high mileage older one and they're all...spectacular.

 

[bmart]

Low mile models are available, and they're much nicer to drive, but you are getting an older car without the tech...and usually not as quiet.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/8ac8b610-6877-420d-9404-c71eb69c5eec/

A lot of choices here.