daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Behold, a photo of my clean Subaru Crosstrek! It’s a rare picture because I don’t wash my cars often. In fact, I think I only washed my Honda Odyssey (which I owned for ~14 years) maybe a dozen times. And my motorcycle has only been washed by the rain.
What’s the reason why my Crosstrek is clean? The body shop that replaced the windshield and fixed dent in the hood washed it. 😆
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today’s weather was a huge change from yesterday – a 40° F drop from 84° to the 40s! How crazy is that? So, we spent most of the day indoors staying warm. As you can see from the first photo, Yuzu is keeping me company on my desk as I blog away. 😺
However, I did make a short trip to the store to buy some margarita fixings. Tequila, Cointreau, and limes were in order, and I also picked up some whiskey. Gotta stock up just in case, right? On the way back home I filled up the tank and was pleasantly surprised that I set a record for my fuel efficiency:
My Subaru Crosstrek has about 5,500 miles on it and the MPG is getting a little better after its break-in period. The car has a built-in fuel calculator, but it’s usually about 3 MPG on the optimistic side, which is normal across most cars, so to get an accurate measurement, I’ve been using Fuelly to keep track of how much gas I put into the car and the mileage. I also enter in how much the cost is per gallon so I can get the total amount I’ve spent on fuel over the life of the car. It’s very interesting (to me) and it makes me more mindful of trying to drive more efficiently. The Crosstrek has a real-time gauge to show the efficiency so I can kind of adjust how heavy my foot is on the gas pedal as I drive. 😄 My Subaru isn’t nearly as efficient as our Prius, but the ~30 MPG average is much better than the 19 MPG I was getting with the Honda Odyssey. I’m happy about that!
またね～
I added some stickers to my Crosstrek the other day. I am kind of nuts for the game Splatoon, and I love the fake brands they have in the game, so I added the “Zink” logo to the bumper. And of course, I had to represent my Dodgers! FYI, I bought the stickers from RedBubble, then trimmed them a bit with scissors, and put clear plastic over the top for a little more protection from the elements.
I really love my new car. It’s kind of fun and unique, so why not have even more fun with it? 😝
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
As you can see from the photos, I’ve mounted the rooftop cargo basket onto our 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. As expected, it was an easy one-person job to get it onto the crossbars, position, and secure. Obviously, it would have been faster with two people, but it’s certainly not necessary. The basket is light enough that I could lift it safely and place it on the crossbars, then slide it across to center it. I made sure to measure and match the distance between the crossbars with the mounting points on the basket beforehand.
It’s so nice that the Crosstrek is not as tall as a regular SUV or minivan, especially since I am only 5′ 5″ tall. That being said, I did use a footstool to get up higher to the tighten the clamps. It’s just more comfortable to turn the wingnut-type screws without angling your wrist awkwardly.
In addition to the stock basket hardware, I added some washers to make the tightening surface a little more beefy, and then bought some some rubber end-caps for the bolt-ends since they stick up a bit into the basket. Apart from that, it’s a nice basket, at a good price! (~$75 US)
I also unpacked the waterproof cargo bag which we’ll put our gear into, and put it in the basket to make sure the size was ok. The footstool was a big help with this part and so for our camping trip, I ordered a portable version. It seems like it’s a decent item to have around, and it folds down flat. It arrives on Friday so we’ll see if it will really do the job.
Driving with the cargo basket up top feels the same as without, but the wind noise is noticeable from about 50 MPH on up. I’m sure the mileage also takes a hit with the basket on, but I’ll update this post later on when I get more drive time data. I’m not planning on keeping the crossbars and basket on the Crosstrek full-time, however. It’s pretty much just for camping. I think it looks pretty cool, though!
FYI, here are the items mentioned in this post:
I’m really enjoying the new Crosstrek!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today Koa and I went for a little drive up to a little gazebo that overlooks the Hill Country. Part of the drive is along a dirt road, which was a lot of fun to drive with the Crosstrek. I actually wanted to get the car a bit dirty just to get it over with. I like to keep cars clean on the inside, but I think SUVs and trucks (and ADV bikes) look better with a little dirt on the tires. It was a shame that it was too dry for any mud, but the dusty dirt will have to do for now. 😆
Really loving the new car!
