There are a total of 37 Top Safety Picks. 20 are SUVs, but only two other small SUVs — the Honda CR-V and Honda Element — rank that high. Cars.com’s Kelsey Mays recently reviewed the new Forester and came away impressed.
Usually when end-of-month incentives sales are announced, they come with some pretty inflated rhetoric: The Year-End Event, The Tent Sale to End All Others, The Event of a Lifetime (that’s our favorite), and so on. The hyperbole can get a little tiring.
Kudos to Subaru for avoiding that, calling its modest, 10-day incentives boost what it really is: kind of small or at least short. The Small Tent Big Event begins today, and until March 31 Subaru will offers customers 0.0% financing plus $1,500 cash back on the 2008 Outback, or 0.0% and $2,000 back on the outgoing 2008 Forester. Customers can also get 0.0% financing on a lease deal ($179 a month for 36 months) on the 2008 Impreza. The financing teamed with cash back is impressive, especially on these two models. The Forester is a Cars.com Best Bet and the Outback was our 2008 pick as Best Car for Weekend Athletes.
Subaru Small Tent Event (Subaru.com)
Last week Kelsey Mays delivered his first thoughts on the all-new 2009 Subaru Forester. For the most part, he was impressed. Today he’s put together a photo gallery from the test-drive event he attended. We’ll bring you his full review later this week. Until then, check out the 50-plus photos below. If you have any questions for Kelsey, leave them in the comments.
Despite being 6 years old, the outgoing Subaru Forester is still a Cars.com Best Bet. Naturally, we had high hopes for the redesigned model that debuted at January’s Detroit auto show. Subaru invited journalists to Southern California to put the SUV through its paces on- and off-road, and I can attest that the updates keep it as competitive as ever.
The engines — a regular or turbocharged four-cylinder — carry over with few changes. What’s improved is the highway experience: Efforts to quiet the cabin have paid off, and at 65 mph the Forester seems on par with most small SUVs for road and wind noise. That isn’t something I could say about the previous model.
Subaru says the vast majority of Forester buyers will get the non-turbo engine, and I can see why. Its 170 hp moves the SUV to highway speeds with acceptable oomph, especially with the smooth-shifting manual transmission. I actually preferred that engine’s gradual whine to the turbo’s choppy roar. The turbo engine’s extra grunt (224 hp worth) moves the Forester with authority, but its power comes and goes in patches. Prod the gas on the highway enough to prompt the automatic to downshift, and the SUV surges forward. Putter around town with anything short of concerted acceleration, and the extra power never feels apparent.
We first saw the all-new 2009 Subaru Forester last month at the Detroit auto show. Subaru has just released pricing for the new Forester, and the base model comes in $1,200 under the 2008 Forester’s base price.
Starting at $19,995 — not including a $665 destination charge — the 2009 Forester is larger than the outgoing model and has ditched its station wagon appearance for a more traditional crossover SUV look.
There are additional standard features on the 2009, including side curtain airbags and an electronic stability system. Sticking around are all-wheel drive and the turbocharged XT model. The base 2.5X ($19,995) comes with a manual transmission, while an automatic 2.5X starts at $21,195. Low-emission versions with Partial Zero Emission Vehicle status add $200 across the lineup.
The new Forester is expected to show up at dealerships in April. Keep reading for a full pricing breakdown.
Cars.com managing editor — and KickingTires’ own Suburban Dad — Patrick Olsen takes a close look at the completely redesigned Subaru Forester. There’s no longer any question the Forester is an SUV, not a wagon, but is that a good thing? Check out the video to find out.
Our Suburban Dad has already taken a gander at the 2009 Subaru Forester and decided the new design gives it a distinctly small-SUV feel, rather than its old large-station-wagon aura. Be sure to check out all the coverage over on the main Cars.com site, including the photo gallery with new live shots of the Forester.
It's gotten taller, a little fatter (at least to my eye) and a little roomier. Subaru's new version of the Forester shakes off the station wagon feel that it had and becomes more of a small SUV or crossover.
The all-new Subaru Forester is definitely a new look for the company. Out is the completely boxy – some would even say frumpy – look of the current model and in is a sleeker front end attached to an otherwise generic SUV body. Before, when looking at the Forester the term SUV didn’t always come to mind. This new look should correct that problem.
The new Forester has a longer wheelbase, all-new sheetmetal, 8.9 inches of ground clearance and a revised version of the current 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. Subaru hasn’t said how much horsepower it produces but promises more power throughout the engine’s range. There will also be a Forester XT right from the start with a turbocharged version of the same engine. Details on horsepower will emerge closer to the Detroit auto show next month.
What we do know is that all trims of the 2009 will have a new interior, standard all-wheel drive, stability control, four-wheel disc brakes, ABS and side-curtain airbags.
No prices have been announced, but when the 2009 Forester arrives this spring we’d expect prices to remain close to the current range of $21,195 to $27,895. More photos below.
The Detroit auto show begins its media preview Jan. 13, 2008 — that’s a full 47 days from now. One redesigned model that will be on hand is the new Subaru Forester. Today, various automotive blogs discovered an official Japanese minisite for the new small SUV/wagon that indeed confirms the Forester will be unveiled soon.
Actually, the minisite says it will be coming in 26 days, not 47. Perhaps there will be an earlier revelation in Japan before we spy it ourselves in Detroit. The image to the left is taken from the minisite and reveals the silhouette of the new Forester’s hatch. Fans of the current boxy shape should be pleased.
The reviewers at Motherproof have had plenty on their minds this week, ranging from clandestine affairs with British SUVs to turbocharged engines reminiscent of household chores to the much more prosaic problem of keeping your car clean. Just for good measure, there’s also a mom’s take on the Toyota Prius and some tire-safety tips straight from the Indy 500. Check it all out at Motherproof.com.
This week we get some new blood into the reporting, namely our multimedia producer, Eric Rossi, who drove a Subaru Forester XT up to Wisconsin loaded with gear and some of our staff. He probably wanted to drive the new Nissan 350Z a bit more, but he still gives some interesting insight on the Forester’s long-haul attributes. The rest of us weigh in on the Volvo C70 and Jeep Patriot.
2007 Volvo C70
The C70 has impressed us before (we named it our Play Car of the Year for 2007), and I was thrilled to get the chance to drive it on a long-distance trip. I was a little worried about what it might cost at the pump, because the heavy car moved spiritedly, but those fears were not realized. Driving at highway speeds for more than three hours, I was able to get 29 mpg in the C70.
The C70 had great acceleration, handled the road well and was very comfortable. Perhaps the best thing about it, considering it’s a convertible, was the lack of wind noise with the top up — way better than I expected. Also better than expected was the visibility in the car, especially considering the low, arcing top, I expected to find blind spots on the sides and limited visibility out the back, but I never felt like it was difficult to see. On the downside, the doors are a little heavy, and getting into the backseat was a challenge for the kids. Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to put this on my list of possible next cars.
We recently had the 2007 Subaru Forester XT in the Cars.com test fleet, and we all noted how little has changed in the vehicle over the past five years. Of course, no one knows that more than a Forester owner, like our own Brian Neale, director of consumer publishing. He's been living with a 2003 Forester day-in and day-out for almost four years. Here's his report on the 2007.
"I felt a small pang of regret in October 2003 as I was signing the paperwork for a barely used Subaru Forester. The 2004 model was around the corner, promising a new XT trim with a previously unavailable turbocharged engine. But my cheap side had won out, and I settled for a "pre-depreciated" 2003 Forester XS model — the top-of-line trim at the time — with just 2,300 miles.
I'm still driving it today, and probably will until the wheels fall off. Still, in the 40,000 trouble- and ticket-free miles since purchase, my inner speed-demon has always wondered what tire-chirping pleasures I passed up by forgoing the new turbo and sticking with my 2003 and its pedestrian 165-hp engine.
So naturally I jumped at the chance to drive a new 2007 Forester XT Limited, which boasts a 224-hp turbocharged version of the venerable Subaru 2.5-liter boxer 4 that powers my '03.
Subaru used this year’s SEMA show to debut two new Sport trims of its popular Forester SUV. We think of it as more of a wagon, but that’s not stopping Subaru from giving the boxy hauler a sleeker appearance via a new grille, larger 17-inch wheels and other slight body modifications.
The Sport X comes with the same 173-hp four-cylinder as the standard Forester, and the Sport XT comes with a turbocharged 224-hp four-cylinder that hits 60 mph in less than six seconds. We’ll update you when pricing and availability are announced.
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