The Crosstrek is essentially a lifted hatchback, so it is smaller inside than an Outback or a Forester. That is the tradeoff: better mileage on the long drive out, easier to park, nimble enough for tight campsites and rough forest roads. With the rear seats folded you get a sleeping area that is comfortable for one person, or two who do not mind close quarters. If you are near six feet or taller, you will want the front seats forward to buy back length.
It works. It just takes more planning than a bigger vehicle, and there is one specific problem you have to solve first.
The seat hump, and how to level it
Every Crosstrek owner finds this within one night. Fold the rear seats and the floor is not flat. There is a step between the folded seat backs and the cargo floor, and it lands right around your hips or lower back. Piling blankets on it does not work, because blankets compress. The step is still there at 2am.
The cheapest fix that actually works is interlocking foam exercise mats, the puzzle-piece kind sold at any sporting goods store. Cut and layer them to fill the low section until the whole floor sits level, trimming around the wheel wells. Expect about an hour of fitting and under $40 in materials. They are light, they come out in seconds, and you can stack extra pieces over the folded seat area to extend usable bed length.
This is genuinely the best low-cost answer for the Crosstrek, and if it solves your problem you do not need to read any further.
No-build sleeping platform options
If foam alone is not enough support, there are middle-ground options that need no tools:
- An SUV-shaped air mattress. Some inflatable mattresses are cut for SUV cargo areas rather than beds, with sections that fill the footwell drop. Check that the listing names small SUVs or the Crosstrek specifically, because a mattress sized for a mid-size SUV will not sit right.
- Plywood over storage bins. Lay a sheet across the cargo area supported by sturdy totes in the footwells, then pad it. Cut it in two pieces rather than one, so it is manageable to lift and store.
- Your gear as the frame. Stack coolers or hard bins in the footwell gap to carry one end of the sleeping surface. Your luggage becomes part of the bed structure, which in a vehicle this size is not a compromise so much as good sense.
A built platform, if you want it solved permanently
Foam and plywood both mean setup and teardown every trip, and neither gives you storage underneath. If you camp often enough that the routine gets old, a purpose-built platform is the step up.
We make two for this vehicle. The Crosstrek camper bed platform is the simpler one, about 6 inches tall with roughly 6 feet of bed length: a balance between keeping headroom and gaining storage underneath. The Crosstrek camper conversion kit adds drawer storage on top of the sleeping platform.
Both are contoured from physical measurements of an actual Crosstrek, so the platform lands level over the folded seats instead of fighting the hump. Both install with no tools and no drilling, anchoring to factory points, and both come out completely when you want your back seats. Nothing about your Crosstrek changes permanently.
Packing a small cargo area
In a Crosstrek, organization is the whole game. Soft bags beat hard-sided luggage because they squeeze into gaps. At night, move your duffels into the front seats to free the entire back for sleeping.
A plastic bin as a dedicated kitchen box works well: stove, fuel, pot, and non-perishables all in one container that pulls out onto a picnic table and slides back when you are done. Bedding on one side of the cargo area, kitchen box on the other.
A roof basket or small cargo box is worth considering for light but bulky items like chairs and sleeping mats. It costs you some wind noise and a little fuel economy, and it buys back interior space you will feel every night.
Staying comfortable overnight
A small interior changes temperature and humidity faster than a large one, so ventilation matters more than you would expect. Crack the windows, use stick-on rain deflectors so you can leave them open in weather, and add mesh screens to keep insects out. Condensation builds fast in a sealed car with one or two people breathing in it.
You are also sleeping closer to the roof, so you will feel cold and heat sooner. Bring a bag rated below the night's forecast rather than at it.
For privacy, cut reflective shades or even cardboard to fit the windows. In a space this small a single lantern lights the entire interior, so covered windows help you stay unnoticed and let you sleep past sunrise.
Small SUV, real trips
Camping in a Crosstrek is an exercise in minimalism, and most people who do it come to prefer it. You can leave work Friday afternoon and be asleep at a trailhead that night, with setup measured in minutes. The vehicle you already own is usually enough.
If you would rather skip the trial and error, see the Crosstrek camper kits we build in Bend, Oregon.