SUBARU FORESTER SPORT
Does the addition of gunmetal wheels make an SUV ‘sporty’? Er, no. Luckily this variant has plenty more going for it
SUBARU HAS lit the wick on its perennially popular all-wheel-drive Forester, adding some sporting flair in an apparent attempt to tackle Toyota’s runaway RAV4 Edge mid-size SUV.
Bridging the model gap between the mid-range 2.5i Premium and range-topping 2.5i-S spec, this more sporty-looking Forester brings embellishments such as dark metallic 18-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, electric sunroof and orange highlights inside and out that set it apart from the otherwise similar Premium spec.
The well-equipped Sport therefore includes Subaru’s Driver Monitoring System, which uses facial recognition to detect if you’re drowsy or distracted and also personally greets you when you get in the car, setting the seat and door mirrors to your preferred positions and the climate control to where you had it last. Other features include sat-nav, powered tailgate, eight-way powered front seats, front seat heaters, a tilting passenger-side door mirror, 8.0-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto phone pairing, DAB-plus radio, a CD player, auxiliary and USB inputs, dual-zone air-conditioning and automatic wipers.
The Forester has a comfortable, roomy cabin with quality fit and finish. The Sport’s durable cloth seats are very comfortable and offer great back and hip support; I actually prefer them to the leather-appointed ones in the range-topping Forester 2.5i S. The driving position feels very natural, and there’s excellent all-round vision.
Rear-seat legroom is plentiful even with the front seats pushed back, and there’s plenty of headroom down back as well. The seats are ergonomically well finished, though putting someone other than a child in the middle seat might be asking a bit much on extended trips. Rear-seat occupants get their own air vents and two USB outlets.
The 136kW/239Nm 2.5-litre flat-four engine is mated to a CVT automatic transmission and is in its happy place when cruising. It feels smooth and is reasonably responsive but can struggle a little when fully loaded with cargo and passengers.
It has an official combined fuel economy rating of 7.4L/100km, which is quite frugal for a non-turbocharged mid-sized SUV.
Also worth noting is that consumption is just 0.7L/100km more
than the lesser-powered 2.0-litre Hybrid Foresters, which in my opinion aren’t worth the additional outlay.
Performance is enhanced by ‘Subaru Intelligent Drive’, which offers two driving modes, including Sport that changes the gearbox settings to upshift at higher revs for quicker take-off acceleration. Even then, the CVT isn’t as revvy as other such units because it uses synthesised steps to feel more like a conventional torqueconverter auto.
With the reduced centre of gravity of the boxer engine, along with excellent steering and chassis compliance, the Forester achieves an excellent balance between ride comfort and handling without having to stiffen the suspension. The result is an incredibly smooth ride on most road surfaces.
The Forester’s all-wheel-drive system and 220mm ground clearance provide better off-road capability than most SUVs. It is excellent on gravel roads and handles sand well, and you can negotiate very steep and slippery terrain with the help of the X-Mode traction system.
The Forester has one of the better active safety systems in its price range, thanks to Subaru’s ‘EyeSight’ package that relies on stereo cameras. It brings AEB, pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, brake light recognition (which provides an additional sign that the car in front is stopping) and lane-drift assistance – alerting you if you start to drift out of your lane on the highway, perhaps from distraction, and gently attempting to steer the car out of trouble.
Other active safety features include blind-spot monitoring and rear-cross traffic alert, which the Forester takes a step further with reverse automatic braking to prevent collisions while parking or when backing out of a driveway. The passenger-side mirror that dips to allow you to see the kerb or hidden obstacles is also a great help when reversing in tight spots (especially as you don’t want to scuff those black alloy wheels), and likewise the reversing camera with guidelines and front-view monitor.
The new kid on the Forester block offers excellent value. At just under $42,000 before on-roads, you get plenty of medium SUV for the price, and it compares very well against similarly powered AWD medium-SUV rivals like the Mazda CX-5 Touring, Nissan X-Trail ST-L and the pricier RAV4 Edge.
Until now, we considered the Forester 2.5i Premium to be the sweet spot of the range, coming with most of the important features available in the pricier 2.5i-S, but the 2.5i Sport comes with all the Premium’s features and then some for just $1500 extra, which certainly gives it bragging rights as the new pick of the Forester bunch.