- Vast and flexible cargo area
- All-wheel-drive system and good ground clearance allow drivers to explore
- Big improvements in noise reduction and ride quality
- In-cabin technology is good but doesn’t move the needle in the class
- Might be worth waiting for hybrid powertrain version and Wilderness trim, in 2025
– Greenough, Montana
I opened my cabin door a little before six in the morning, mild jetlag and a lifetime of waking early propelling me out of bed and into the misty Montana dawn. The view of a small grassy valley met me as I walked onto the porch, with umber mountains forming a shadowy ring and fog rising like a prayer from bottomlands into a pink-orange sky.
On this launch event for the 2025 Subaru Forester, one enterprising journalist had gotten up with the sun and parked on the tidy gravel road leading away from our camp, framed by the aforementioned postcard scene. The new Forester – like the five generations that have come before it since 1998 – cut a tall, upright figure against the backdrop, its big, bold wheels delightfully incongruous with the squared-off wheel arches and obviously utilitarian shape of the body. Never beautiful and rarely forgettable, Subaru Foresters have always managed to look like they were born in environments like these; the new car is no exception.
When the first Forester debuted, Subaru was a quirky company making all-wheel-drive cars for hippies and penny-pinchers. Today, it is an automotive lifestyle brand that rivals Jeep for visibility in campsites, on fire roads, and in suburban centers across the U.S. After a few days driving around Montana mountainsides, I can report that the latest formulation of Forester is a bit less quirky, but every bit as crunchy (in a good way) as its forebears.
Quieter And Calmer
Subaru worked hard on overall comfort for this sixth-generation Forester, and if you’re at all familiar with one of the older models you’ll notice the differences immediately.
I’ve been thinking a lot about older Subaru models these days (check out our Project [S]Cars podcast if you’d like to hear about my third-gen WRX adventures), and it’s not so long ago that my take on the Forester was that it was supremely capable if relatively coarse. With the advantage of a few generations of development, including sound-deadening materials added to the floor, roof, and firewalls of the ’25 model, the Forester now feels near the top of the class in terms of in-cabin quiet.
I drove many miles on gravel on this test route and one of the most pleasant surprises was the lack of noise from rocks pinging off the undercarriage of the car. Wind rush and tire roar on paved roads at highway speeds (probably a more common testing environment) were really well controlled, too.
In concert (heh) with the sonic improvements, the new Forester’s ride quality has taken a step forward. The asphalt surfaces in this area of the country are far better preserved than back at home in Michigan, but on the few bad sections of highway, transitions from paved to gravel, and across washouts, mud, and snow the Subaru filtered out primary impacts and secondary harshness with real grace.
The Benefits Of Strength
Part of the magic behind the Forester’s new chill demeanor is a stronger, more rigid body structure that reduces unwanted rattles. (For what it’s worth, this effort should allow the car to feel “tighter” longer, too, making the SUV a likely star in the next decade’s secondary market.) And of course, there are dynamic handling benefits to making the car stiffer, too.
My drive route didn’t include any particularly high-speed twisty sections, but on winding back roads the car was happy to transition smoothly and predictably from corner to corner. Steering effort was light, but with good control despite a lack of road feel, and the wheel itself is chunky enough to be reassuring when you feel like stringing together a couple of quick apexes.
By now Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel-drive system is all but legendary, and on dry pavement the setup will certainly help you power out of a corner. Better, is how it behaves in low-grip situations – like a small stretch of road covered in slushy snow and mud that I encountered – where torque is usefully shuttled to front and rear wheels as slippage is detected.
I’m a big snow tire guy having lived in snowy states most of my life, but I’m pretty confident that the Forester’s sophisticated AWD system will take care of drivers on all-season rubber, even in deeper stuff. (You should still buy winter tires if you can – they let you stop better on icy roads and they look awesome. End lecture.)
Quick(ish) Where It Matters
Symmetrical AWD delivers huge benefits for Subaru performance cars in the real world and on tracks or rally stages. “Performance” is a bit subtler for the Forester where power and quickness are concerned, but the company has still made strides versus the previous generation.
The basics are familiar from the previous gen SUV: A naturally aspirated 2.5-liter flat four-cylinder engine lies under the Forester’s hood, now cranking out 180 horsepower (down 2 from last year) and 178 pound-feet of torque (up 2 from last year). A continuously variable transmission routes power to all four wheels and is a world removed from the unflattering, droning CVTs of years past. I promise this one is both smooth and painless.
Critically, engineers have pretty aggressively lowered the engine’s torque peak for the new car. Full torque now comes on at 3,700 rpm, down from 5,400 last year, making the car feel quicker in the sorts of low-key acceleration we all experience every day. When pulling away from a red light or passing a slow truck on the highway, the flatter torque curve significantly improves what we reviewers love to call “driveability.”
Still, on the numbers alone 180 hp is a low figure for a SUV in this segment – Toyota’s 2.5-liter RAV4 makes 203 hp, and the Honda CR-V is good for 190 from its turbocharged 1.5-liter. And comparison shoppers interested in more lively acceleration will want to check out some of the gas-electric hybrids or plug-in hybrids in this space, from Honda, Hyundai, Kia, or Toyota (albeit at higher price points).
Captain Number Crunch
I can’t review a compact SUV/crossover anymore without a spreadsheet. A few years ago, when writing the first review coverage of the then-new Honda CR-V, I was lost for hours in an avalanche of specifications. Small SUVs are some of the most popular – and most competitive – automotive products on the planet. So naturally, automakers are trying to find real and marketable advantages whenever they launch a new car into these chum-filled waters. To make sense of “what’s good” I had to start comparing apples to apples.
My read on this vehicle segment is that buyers care about price, room for people, room for stuff, and fuel economy (though not necessarily in that order). So, I maintain a spreadsheet that collects those numbers for every vehicle in the segment, tells me where each model ranks against the rest, and then averages the rankings into a composite score. I am a nerd, and I’m not sorry about it.
To get a bead on the Forester, I adapted my list of cars so that it accounted for the specs of AWD trims only (most of these SUVs have front-drive variants). Then I added in a ranking for ground clearance which, whether they shop for it or not, allows drivers more robust use of those AWD systems.
Subaru has clearly done its homework as it scores first overall – just a hair ahead of the Hyundai Tucson – in a massive class of 13 SUVs. The new Subie is mid-pack in terms of overall passenger space according to the numbers (though I can tell you, as a 6-foot-5, 235-pound guy, both front and rear seats are a good fit for me), and near the top with 74.4 cubic feet of total cargo space. (If you’re wondering, the Hyundai Tucson and Honda CR-V are 1-2 for cargo, though I’m not positive that all of Hyundai’s claimed 80.3 cubes are usable without blocking some windows).
In a change from its boxer-engined past, the fuel economy of the Forester is one of the elements that nudges it to the top of the class overall. The base models are good for 33 miles per gallon on the highway, with 26 city and 29 combined; higher trims drop a bit to 32 highway, 25 city, and 28 combined, but even those numbers (I key my rating from the combined figures) are very strong in the non-hybrid powered compact SUVs.
On the clearance front, the Subaru offers 8.7 inches, which leads the way. A few models are just a tenth of an inch behind, while some like the Volkswagen Tiguan and Ford Escape, are more than an inch down. No problem for suburban driving, but less than adventurous.
Glamping On A Budget
Let’s be honest, no new SUV has a sticker price that screams “cheap” in 2024, even if MSRPs are typically rising at a rate slower than inflation. The base Forester starts at $31,090 when you add the $1,395 in destination fees, while the top-end Touring trim hits $41,785 before options. On average that puts Subaru right in the middle of the pack in terms of average price – with the difference often being less than a grand from one brand to the next.
But the fit, finish, and feature set of the Forester cabin make the price easier to swallow. All but the base car gets a large and responsive 11.6-inch infotainment screen – a new addition for the Forester but familiar from everywhere else in the Subaru lineup. I love the look of the brown leather available on Forester Touring, and neat touches like the diamond pattern on the dash and microsuede inserts in the door cards are quantum leaps from the hard black plastics the company used in the not-distant past. Every Forester might look at home in a woodsy vista, but that doesn’t mean you want to commute in a campsite.
Like the Jeep Wrangler before it, I think the Subaru Forester (and Outback, if I’m being thorough) have transcended their roots as workaday vehicles into a “lifestyle” space that combines real utility with a vibe of how we love to live when we’re not at home. From my driveway back in Michigan to scrambling across a creek in Montana, the Forester has loads to offer the American driver.
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Subaru/Michael Shaffer
Base Price: $29,695 + $1,395
As-Tested Price: $41,785 (est)
Engine: 2.5-Liter Flat-4
Output: 180 Horsepower / 178 Pound Feet
Transmission: Continuously Variable
Drive: All-Wheel
EPA Fuel Economy: 26 City / 33 Highway / 29 Combined
Weight: 3,656 Pounds
Seating: 5
Cargo Capacity: 12.3 Cubic Feet
Max Towing: 3,000 Pounds
Ground Clearance: 8.7 Inches
