FORESTER THAT SAVES TREES
Subaru’s award-winning SUV is now available with petrol-electric hybrid power. Is a greener Forester better?
Ten years ago, the world was a very different place. Corona was still just a beer and the only car you’d associate “hybrid” with was a Toyota Prius.
Fast-forward to this decade: almost every manufacturer now offers some sort of hybrid or electric vehicle and questioning the longevity of fossil fuels is a common discussion.
Subaru has taken its time with petrol-electric technology, choosing not to release a hybrid version of the iconic boxer engine until it could make it with the “full Subaru DNA”. In standard form, the 2020 Forester is offered with a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated engine that makes 136kW/239Nm.
Thanks to the countless awards that this car has won locally and internationally, there’s no doubting the quality of the package. Subaru claims that the combined fuel economy of this SUV is 7.4l/100km.
Moving over to the Forester hybrid, the first thing to note is the smaller 2.0-litre engine that benefits from Subaru’s “Motor Assist” petrol-electric system. This makes for a confusing comparison, considering that this electrified engine is significantly smaller than the petrol-only version and, naturally, makes less power with
110kW and 196Nm. The electric motor adds 12kW and 66Nm of its own.
Like almost all hybrids, efficiency is the bottom line. Subaru claims that a combined figure of
6.7l/100km is possible, making for a nine per cent gain over the petrol-only variant and 19 per cent in urban driving. But what does this mean in the real world?
When commuting with the Forester e-Boxer, there’s no question about it being a hybrid, with the electric motor picking up the slack in heavy traffic and when coasting around 60km/h.
Staying exclusively electric takes a heap of concentration, as the slightest over-acceleration will kick the engine into life. Without watching the centre console graphic, you’d struggle to tell when the e-Boxer switches between power sources, with its