My sister has had her SX4 Crossover AWD for almost 2 years now and I can say that it is, to a degree, underpowered. Its especially evident in town with the automatic. The manual trans we test drove felt like a totally different car, hills the auto would have to downshift for were no problem for the stick in 5th gear. Indicated mileage was also as much as 15% better in the stick than what her automatic has done so far.
The car feels plenty peppy, but it really lacks passing power, especially with the automatic.