Subaru needs a plug in for California's ZEV program, and they are partially owned by Toyota. Subaru actually contributed a lot. The drive train is not Toyota, except that Subaru uses the M/Gs that are in the Prius/Prime. It is their own hybrid transaxle that drives their current AWD system in the car. The inverter and charger are likely Toyota.
too bad they couldn't have lowered the battery, but i suppose the sub underpinnings are even more cumbersome than prime.
I understand they used exactly the same battery- probably the same "take it or leave it" terms Toyota had for their plugger.
Was wondering why the overall mpg was low. Here's from a pretty good review - "For one motor—the one making 118 hp and 149 lb-ft of torque—forward thrust is the primary task. It supplements the gas engine, moves the vehicle in its all-electric plug-in mode, or sends power back to the battery during regenerative braking. The other motor functions mostly as a generator (and as the starter motor), helping store away charge in the battery. This unit is used to its greatest capacity when you press and hold the HV/EV button to access Charge mode. That runs the generator as much as possible, pushing 20 kw at times, depending on driving style, to build back up the battery’s “plug-in” charge." 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid: First drive of 17-mile, 35-mpg plug-in crossover
Tough to say. Since the battery was designed independently from either the Prius or the Crosstrek, I think it's unlikely to have been a space-efficient pairing for either car. So I don't know if the Crosstrek has the same "smugglers' hold" as the prime, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. I don't know, but I'm happy to speculate that the Crosstrek can't match any Prius for aerodynamics, plus it has the added penalty of dragging around a traditional Subaru mechanical all-wheel-drive system. As a long-time Subaru driver, I think the numbers posted are quite impressive compared to anything else they've shipped, even if they aren't anything for a Prius owner to get excited about.
It's low because the non-hybrid it is based on is low; 29mpg combined by the EPA. Meaning the PHEV is a 20% improvement. Very likely. Though Subaru may have changed the pan sheet metal so the dead space is now outside. Some details on the car from presentation slides here; 2019 Subaru Crosstrek PHEV! | Page 2 | CleanMPG
I've seen at least four of the regular, gasser version of the crosstrek show up in my work's parking lot. However, as the PHEV version adds about $13,000 (!) to the base MSRP, haven't seen a PHEV version yet. A quick search shows about 80+ in the North Jersey/NYC area, but selling at or above MSRP. The car looks great, but the pricing differential between the gasser and PHEV versions is pretty atrocious. Even after the federal tax credit ($4500 like the Prime), you're still talking like an $8500 premium to get the PHEV.
Well there was never any danger of me buying a new one, next car replacement is scheduled for 2021-22 and the budget is locked well south of where those are hitting, at least for new units. Now… a 2019 in 2022? that could work…
