With modern consumers coalescing their desire for a traditional SUV with a more frugal and cost effective crossover, Ray Leathern wonders if the bigger, bolder Subaru Forester is the antidote to the rampant downsizing.
With the South African car market showing steady growth over the last 18 months, since our mini-recession, the ever-popular SUV has returned to the top of the wish-list as a transport solution people can once again entertain. Ironically enough, this is despite ever increasing petrol prices and a proliferation of model alternatives like family-centric MPV’s and smaller, cheaper crossovers.
One SUV model has weathered the economic and environmental storm far better than most. I’m talking about the perennial Subaru Forester, and now there is a new one that’s been launched to the press. Throughout its four previous generations, the Subaru Forester could quite rightly stake claim to being one of the steady hands when it came to sales success in the SUV segment. Thanks mostly to its loyal following from many a sensible, Subaru disciple.
Styling wise, the new Subaru Forester sports the most overt off-road SUV styling of any of the four generations that have come before. Subaru admit they wanted as masculine an SUV as possible for the facelifted Forester and depending on your stance on the environment and SUV’s in general, that may or may not be a good thing. A dominant front grille flanked by Subaru Viziv Concept styling embellishments (on the top spec XT Turbo model only), and higher ground clearance (220 mm) allows the Forester to achieve that.
Despite this butch makeover, however, the new Subaru Forester also pulls off the trick of being more aerodynamically refined thanks to sleeker lines running across the bonnet and over the A and C pillars. Even from the outset, it appears more thought went into the styling of this car than almost any Forester (or any other Subaru for that matter) before it. The clever styling belies it, but it’s also a very large SUV when you give it a second take. The Subaru Forester is in fact the SUV with the best hip room, leg room and shoulder room in its class, when you consider the Honda CR-V, Volkswagen Tiguan and Nissan X-Trail amongst its competitors.
Kudos for its interior spaciousness and comfort must undoubtedly go to Subaru’s crack squad of motivated engineers. Being taller, longer and having best in class interior space is one thing, but it also has a cabin that has an uncluttered feel and great visibility out of the front for the driver. The A-pillar is specially shaped in an upright fashion to provide a bigger glass house than before. The rear passengers and luggage capacity don’t suffer from the loss of space either in the back because the roof doesn’t taper off towards the C-pillar. The Subaru Forester is refreshingly pragmatic and self-assured in that regard.
Where the Forester has managed to pull off another cleverly engineered trick is, despite the airiness of the cabin; the driver controls, seats and centre console feel far more cosseting than you’ll find in other SUVs of this kind. Everything you operate surrounds the driver with an ergonomic efficiency. Driver and passenger arm rests and well-cushioned chairs (in both leather in the top spec cars and cloth in the cheaper offerings) make it very comfortable as well.
With that said, my initial impressions of the new car leave my feeling that Subaru could improve on the quality of its plastics and the actual switch gear you touch and interact with. The centre display (like you get on the Subaru XV) shows you how much torque and what steering angle your front wheels have, and that’s very good, but the conventional and accepted wisdom that Subaru interiors are just a little cheap and chintzy still holds true. I personally couldn’t care less about how pretty or exciting my cars interior is, but even I can identify that there is a slight lack of satisfaction or reward when maneuvering some of the Forester’s flimsy switch gear.
Performance wise, the new Subaru Forester gets five different models to choose from. The entry level, normally aspirated 2.0-litre with a six-speed manual gearbox produces 110 kW and 198 Nm. Then you get the 2.5-litre normally aspirated engine which can only be paired with Subaru’s CVT (continuously variable transmission) ‘Lineartronic’.
That drivetrain produces 126 kW and 235 Nm of torque and the car itself is offered in three grades of specification, namely: X, XS and XS Premium, with X giving you cloth seats and 17-inch wheels at the bottom and the XS Premium giving you 18-inch wheels, leather, starter buttons et al. Then finally, right at the top of the pile you get the Subaru Forester 2.0-litre XT Turbo with 177 kW and 350 Nm of torque and that can also only be had with Subaru’s CVT, two-peddle setup.
Yes, not having any diesels, smaller capacity turbo engines, dual-clutch transmissions or even a conventional automatic does hamstring the Subaru Forester offering in my eyes. Even though the normally aspirated petrol offerings do provide evenly matched performance in both the power and torque departments, they just aren’t at the cutting edge of efficiency these days, and that would bother me as an engineering-savvy Subaru consumer.
I drove each transmission on offer at the launch of the new Forester and my pick would undoubtedly have to be the 2.0-litre with the manual transmission. It is a little underpowered, and I didn’t manage to do the 4×4-ing circuit in it, but as an everyday prospect it was the best to drive simply because it avoided the CVT gearbox. The 2.0-litre boxer engine sounded quite good and provided fun, peaky power and torque delivery at 6 200 r/min and 4 200 r/min respectively. The 2.5-litre gives a fair old whack of heavy-footed, revy power, and it’s by no means the worst CVT out there, but the fuel consumption isn’t going to be comparable with some of its smaller capacity turbo or diesel competition. This is why you won’t want to ‘hyper-mile’ test them.
The 2.5-litre Forester claimed/combined consumption figure is 8.1 L/100 km. The 2.0-litre Forester claims a figure of 7.2 L/100 km and the 2.0-litre Turbo XT returns a claimed 8.5 L/100 km. The addition of auto stop/start technology does improve these figures over the traditionally thirsty Subaru boxer engines. Although all the engines performed perfectly adequately on the open road and in and around city traffic, it was the 2.0-litre that felt slightly more involving thanks to the manual gearbox, and the turbo, while providing plenty of punch, didn’t quite deliver on the thrilling promises it makes on paper.
Dynamics wise, the more secure stability and road holding of the Forester can undoubtedly be attributed to its more aerodynamic stance and improved engineering. Whilst the Forester still has more of a slab like design and taller stance than other cars in this class, it still feels secure enough with body roll well-contained on a solid base of grip. As is traditional, Subaru have permanent, symmetrical all-wheel drive and they refer to the added traction system available on the Lineartronic CVT as ‘X-mode’. This is the clever 4×4 gubbins that we put to the test on a less then ambivalent obstacle course. The system will activate if it senses any excessive slippage. It really is a case of press the button and let the Forester take care of the rest. The brilliant wheel travel and adequate approach and departure angles made the 4×4 driving course a synch as well.
My final verdict after my first drive of the new Subaru Forester is that your decision on styling will be purely subjective, but I for one think it looks masculine, pragmatic and well-focussed for an all-wheel drive SUV. What we also know for sure is the Forester is a bigger car, more comfortable car, and with more practicality and off-road capability than before. The proliferation of CVT transmissions through four of the five models is frustrating, but the addition of the more frugal auto stop/start system isn’t. The Turbo model doesn’t seem totally justifiable for the price and the entry-level 2.0-litre manual still gets all-wheel drive but it doesn’t include the clever X-mode traction system for the price.
Despite these little hiccups, in my opinion, it still seems as though the Subaru Forester leads the way in the SUV segment. I’d personally go for the 2.0-litre manual, but if you drive the 2.5-litre Lineartronic with a reserved right foot, it could get close to the claimed fuel consumption figures Subaru claim.
Pricing:
Subaru Forester 2.0 X M/T – R329 000
Subaru Forester 2.5 X CVT – R359 000
Subaru Forester 2.5 XS CVT – R389 000
Subaru Forester 2.5 XT CVT – R429 000
Subaru Forester 2.0 Turbo XT CVT – R529 000
All models coming standard with a 3-year/ 75 000 km maintenance plan, a 3-year/ 100 000 km warranty and Subaru Assist. Various maintenance plan extension packages are optionally available at extra cost.
