[bbeekley]

To give an example, the Subaru Crosstrek is a lifted Subaru Impreza hatchback. They share nearly all parts, and have the same interior and cargo space. The differences are:

1. Crosstrek costs more ($22,145 vs $18,695)

2. Crosstrek is less efficient (33/27 mpg vs 36/28 mpg)

3. Crosstrek is taller (64" vs 59")

4. Crosstrek outsells the Impreza in the US (131k vs 66k)

Americans love feeling tall and are willing to pay for the extra few inches.

[verhey]

3.6 extra inches of clearance for the Crosstrek vs. the Impreza is a lot more than the 1 here though. I think that's part of the complaint.

The Crosstrek also gets a beefier rear diff, stiffer suspension, and larger brakes too.

They're the same platform, and share a lot of bodywork, but that's not uncommon among manufacturers now. The Golf and Atlas are both on VW's MQB platform now but that's about where the comparisons end.

[doublerebel]

Beefer rear diff, stiffer suspension, larger brakes all say "towing" to me.

"The Crosstrek also has a beefed up locking center differential for towing and a standard six-speed manual transmission,The Impreza’s manual only has five gears..."

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/impreza-vs-crosstrek

That certainly accounts for the price difference. Those higher end parts have real costs. And, Americans have plenty of stuff to tow around. (I am an American car guy.)

[vinay427]

The actual hatchback/liftback trunk design is far more practical, however, and is part of why wagons/estate cars and hatchbacks are more popular in Europe where a car's footprint is more of a concern (and particularly hatchbacks in many Asian cities where the footprint is even more constrained). I think expanding vertically is still better than expanding horizontally, within reason.

As you probably know, it's beneficial both for the wide opening to insert larger objects into the trunk as well as the folding of seats (less common in sedans/saloon cars) to provide much more space when rear seats aren't needed.

[stagger87]

Do you have any data that shows Americans are buying the Crosstrek because they "love to feel tall" and not because of all the differentiating factors between it and the Impreza?

[bydo]

It may be more that that's what the dealerships stock and push, but there really are very few other differentiators.

The Crosstrek comes stock with a 6-speed manual instead of the Impreza's 5-speed (though 90% of them are sold with the execrable CVT instead); the Crosstrek only comes as a hatchback while the base Impreza is a sedan; the Crosstrek has intermittently been available with a hybrid system.

[bbeekley]

No, that's editorializing based on the few differentiating factors I found.

Though I think the idea that the more expensive model is pushed by dealers makes sense too.