COSY AND IN CONTROL
In woody trails and deep snow, the Forester clambers and manoeuvres with ease
I recently had a refresher course in all things Subaru. Just like their cars, the company does things a little differently. So, instead of driving my 2020 Forester on some dry, twisty roads, I spent the day beating it along some woody trails that would challenge a true SUV. This is what I found out.
FORESTER IS A FULL-TIME BUSH-BASHER
Unlike most of the players in this segment, the Forester’s all-wheeldrive system — officially dubbed Symmetrical Full-time AWD — is always on the job.
That’s why a Forester, unlike any other compact crossover, can traipse pretty deep into the boonies with total confidence.
In our case, it was a gentleman farmer’s back 40, and there was at least a foot of snow — maybe a footand-a-half — on the ground.
The Forester wasn’t bothered at all. Deep in the woods, traction control off and the company’s new X-mode engaged — which optimizes torque vectoring while simultaneously eliminating traction control — the Forester did a fair impression of a Jeep Wrangler.
Clambering up slippery slopes was a doddle, and scraping down the same declines was equally easy, thanks to hill-descent control. We even pulled off a hair-pinturn-then-bounce-over-a-stumpthen-scurry-up-a-hill manoeuvre, which would defeat pretty much anything directly competitive.
BUY IT FOR AWD, LOVE IT FOR THE SUSPENSION
One of the areas of improvement is in suspension compliance. Simply put, the Forester has one of the smoothest rides in the segment, sufficiently so that it was the first thing I noticed.
One need not avoid twisty roads any longer — the Forester is adequate, if not quite outright fun, when the apexes get tight.
ENGINE TELLS YOU IT REALLY IS A SUBARU
The Forester, like all Subarus past, is powered by a horizontally opposed engine. That means all four of its pistons are on an even horizontal plane, the two on the left facing off with the two on the right.
For some reason — whether it’s because the engine is up front or the exhaust tuning is unique, I don’t really know — Subaru engines have a cadence all their own.
It’s especially noticeable when the engine isn’t at full operating temperature, and to some it’s not necessarily pleasant. Cruise at a steady 100 km/h on a warm day, and you won’t notice anything.
Call for serious shot of acceleration from a cold engine on a frigid, wintry day, and you’ll swear there’s a spark plug missing. If you’re looking for a reason not to buy a Subaru, here’s you’re excuse.
MARCHES TO THE BEAT OF ITS OWN DRUMMER
Subaru loved turbochargers when they were a novelty. Back then, they’d throw a blower on pretty much anything, including the Forester. Well, now that pretty much the entire automotive world is running toward forced induction, Subaru is shying away — at least, with the Forester.
Even without a turbocharger, it’s fairly peppy. Oh, 182 horsepower won’t exactly pin you to your seat and the 10 seconds it takes to get from a stoplight to 100 km/h won’t set the world alight. But it’s torquey and passing acceleration is more than adequate. I didn’t get a reading on fuel economy — bounding over hill and dale is not conducive to optimizing internal-combustion efficiency — the Forester is rated for 8.2 L/100 kilometres overall.
STILL A BIT DOWDY, BUT ALSO COSY
Nobody is ever going to accuse Subaru of being trendy. This current Forester is still a bit dowdy, but the interior has been updated with substantially better build quality and materials.
Most of my Limited ($38,195) trim’s dashboard materials are premium soft-touch synthetics, its faux carbon trim convincing, and the infotainment screen large and easily deciphered. But the (supposedly matching) carbon trim on the doors is cheap-looking and constructed of hard plastic.
The Forester is plenty roomy, features Subaru’s excellent Eyesight suite of active safety features, and the seats are very comfortable — all the practicalities one has come to expect from a Subaru. But the key reason people gravitate to Subaru remains ever the same: practicality, durability and AWD versatility. The Forester still has all that in spades.