Live Out Your Baja Dreams With This 'Overland' Subaru XV/Crosstrek

Beyond its name, the bonkers 2019 Crosstrek Desert Racer (below) has the square root of naff all to do with the crossover you can wander into a Subaru showroom and purchase. Happily, though, Crawford Performance - the Ontario-based company behind the buggy’s 300bhp N/A boxer engine - has released a whole bunch of ‘Overland’ parts that bring the Crosstrek (known as the XV outside North America) closer to its roughty-toughty namesake.

First up, there’s a lift kit, which raises the suspension by two inches at the front and 1.5 at the back. Although not listed on Crawford’s site, the car you see here wears new 15-inch Method wheels shod in chunky all-terrain tyres, lifting the Crosstrek even further off the floor. If that’s still not enough to clear the obstacle you’re smashing over, there’s an aluminium transmission protector plate to prevent anything expensive happening under the vehicle.

There’s not a whole lot Crawford can do with the Crosstrek’s humble N/A 2.0-litre boxer (sorry, no 300bhp race engine transplants here), but there is at least a useful 10bhp bump thanks to some intake spacers and an air/oil separator. It’ll also be doing its best WRX STI impression via Crawford’s muffler delete.

The final item on the menu is a tubular rear bumper, which protects the rear bodywork while looking rather brilliant at the same time. The elements of the overland Crosstrek you’re no doubt really interested in - the front bullbar/spotlights combo plus the iconic blue and yellow Subaru competition livery - aren’t listed on the website, but hopefully, these will be available soon.

As for the rest of the stuff you can buy now, you’re looking at around $2100 for the whole shebang.

Source: Crawford Performance via TopGear.com