Crosswind landings catch a lot of pilots out at all levels, ive sat by some horendous attempts in large aircraft, I can only say thank God for strong U/Cs!
For my money the easiest method on any aircraft is cross controls after the threshold, its also what all the autoland systems use on the large aircraft Ive flown.
You need to also get a decent crosswind to practice and that can be difficult. I spent an hour once in a 35 knot crosswind in a Cessna 150 practicing landings and that was one of the most useful Ive ever spent on any training exercise and the methios that I eventually perefected that day was the method that also worked many years later on the Airbus etc..
Teaching removing the drift(not kicking, a phrase and instructor should never use) before touchdown is far too hit and miss for the average PPL student and if he gets it wrong will loose tbe centreline immeadiately.
Also, at the end of a light aircraft certification programme the most experienced test pilot on type maybe has 200 hours on type? Give it a few years and there will be working pilots with 1000+ on type, and who fly nothing else. So, it would be a bit worrying if there weren't, eventually, pilots who can fly it better than the test pilot did.
Umh not sure if I agree with that. A test pilot is already an exceptional pilot. Many pilots with many 1000s of hours are not exceptional pilots at all and never will be, in fact some have very mediocre skills and some also have deterioating judgement skills as they get older. Ive sat by young first officers with hundreds of hours who are far more skilled that older pilots with thousands of hours on type.
Trying to achieve performance better that the manufacturers test pilot is foolhardy and unnecessary. A demonstrated figure however is not limiting, as the limit is only reached when full contol deflection is reached. What you do need to consider though that the manufactures test pilot has not tested the stability of the aircraft at the point of full control deflection during a crosswind landing.