2021 Subaru Crosstrek: Lease or Buy? The Windshield Math Says Lease

The setup

You are looking at a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek and trying to decide whether to lease it or finance a purchase. The compact crossover is five years old now, the all-wheel drive is attractive, and the price seems reasonable. But the warranty clock is ticking, and what happens after 36,000 miles or three years matters a lot when you are deciding whether to own this car long-term or hand it back.

The lease vs buy decision is not about monthly payment alone. It is about who holds the bag when expensive things break outside of warranty. And the 2021 Crosstrek has a specific, repeating problem that makes this question easier to answer than usual.

What NHTSA data actually shows

NHTSA has 115 owner complaints on file for the 2021 Crosstrek and 1 safety recall. Of those complaints, 8 involved a crash, 2 involved a fire, and 6 reported injuries. The vehicle earned 5 out of 5 stars overall in crash testing, with 4 stars frontal, 5 stars side, and 4 stars rollover. Rollover probability sits at 15.6 percent, which is typical for a tall wagon.

The most-complained-about system is VISIBILITY/WIPER, with 29 complaints. That is more than the next two categories combined. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM and ENGINE each drew 16 complaints, POWER TRAIN pulled 14, and FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE also recorded 14. LANE DEPARTURE added 5 more.

The visibility complaints are not about a poorly designed A-pillar or a hard-to-reach wiper stalk. They are about windshields cracking spontaneously. One owner filed this with NHTSA: "Turned on defroster to clear window fog, window cracked along bottom of windshield about 3-4 inches from bottom along 2/3 the length of the windshield. No prior chips or scratches existed." Another wrote: "This is my 3rd Subaru. This one has now has 3 windshield cracks. 2 spontaneous, one by a tiny pebble. The photos are all from this one vehicle."

Three windshield cracks on one car. Two of them spontaneous. That is not bad luck. That is a pattern.

A third owner described window regulator failure: "On Friday evening, [XXX], while closing the rear driver-side window, I heard a loud mechanical snap, after which the window failed to operate. The window regulator has binding issues (as documented in Subaru TSB 07-189-21R). This mechanical binding disables..." The owner references a technical service bulletin, meaning Subaru knows about the binding issue but has not issued a recall.

The open recall campaign, 23V755000, targets the inhibitor switch in the automatic transmission. An inoperative switch may prevent reverse lights from illuminating and the rearview camera from displaying, increasing the risk of a crash. Dealers will replace the inhibitor switch free of charge, but you need to confirm that repair was completed before you lease or buy this vehicle.

If you are shopping a used 2021 Crosstrek right now, you are looking at a car that is already past most of its factory bumper-to-bumper coverage. The windshield complaints are not theoretical. They cluster in normal use, often triggered by temperature changes. And a windshield replacement on a modern car with a camera and sensors embedded in the glass runs between 800 and 1400 dollars depending on market and whether you need recalibration of the forward collision avoidance system.

A rain-x 600001 windshield repair kit can stop a fresh rock chip from running into a full crack, which is the exact failure owners keep reporting. Invisible glass cleaner removes the haze that makes small chips hard to spot early. Neither will fix a spontaneous crack, but both reduce your odds of turning a repairable chip into a full replacement.

The math

Assume you are deciding between a 48-month lease and a 60-month purchase loan on a used 2021 Crosstrek. You find one listed at 21,000 dollars in average condition with 32,000 miles. These are worked examples with assumptions stated, not market quotes.

If you lease, you drive the car for three years and return it. The windshield either cracks during the lease term, in which case it is wear and tear you negotiate at turn-in, or it cracks after you return it, in which case it is someone else's problem. You are not holding this vehicle between years five and eight, when the visibility complaints and electrical gremlins will cost the most.

If you finance, you own the car free and clear at month 60. You have been making payments for five years, and now you own a ten-year-old Crosstrek with 80,000 or 90,000 miles and a known tendency to crack windshields and bind window regulators. The inhibitor switch recall will have been completed, but the things that are not recalls will still be your problem. A windshield replacement at month 63 costs you 1,100 dollars. A window regulator at month 71 costs another 450. An electrical fault in the forward collision avoidance system at month 78 might cost 800 if you are lucky and 1,600 if the camera mount was damaged when the windshield cracked.

The refinance verdict page walks through when it makes sense to restructure a loan you already have, but here you do not have a loan yet. You are deciding whether to enter into one. And the NHTSA data says the risk is front-loaded into the period after typical warranty coverage expires.

What we recommend

Lease the 2021 Crosstrek if you want one at all. Keep the term short, 24 or 36 months maximum. Confirm that recall 23V755000 was completed. Budget for one windshield replacement during the lease and treat it as a known cost, not a surprise. Check the windshield every month for new chips and repair them immediately. Do not buy this car unless you are prepared to self-insure against repeated glass failures and electrical faults that Subaru has acknowledged in service bulletins but not recalled.

The market pulse page tracks when used inventory softens and negotiating pressure shifts to the buyer. If you are shopping this segment in late 2026, you have options. A 2021 Crosstrek is not your only path to all-wheel drive and good crash scores. Do not let familiarity with the brand override what the complaint data is telling you.

What would change our mind

If Subaru issued a recall or a warranty extension specifically covering windshield stress cracks and window regulator binding on the 2021 model year, the buy case would improve. A certified pre-owned program that extends comprehensive coverage to 100,000 miles would also shift the math, because it would move the risk window outside the period you are likely to own the car. But as of today, September 10, 2026, neither of those programs exists for this vehicle.

If you already own a 2021 Crosstrek and are deciding whether to keep it or trade it, the sell or keep page lays out that framework. The answer depends heavily on whether you have already experienced windshield or electrical problems and whether your insurance covers glass with a low deductible.

Bottom line

The 2021 Subaru Crosstrek earned 5 stars overall in NHTSA crash testing, and 115 complaints across five years is not a catastrophic failure rate. But 29 of those complaints target visibility and wipers, and the owner reports describe a clear pattern of spontaneous windshield cracks and window mechanism failures. You do not want to own this car outside of warranty. Lease it if the price makes sense and you need all-wheel drive now, but plan to return it before the glass problems become your financial problem. Do not finance a purchase unless you are comfortable writing four-figure checks for repairs that should not happen but absolutely will.

Safety figures on this page come from the NHTSA public complaint and recall database for the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek, retrieved 2026-09-10. Complaint counts reflect reports filed by owners and are not verified defect findings.