A larger, beautified Forester
THE SUBARU Forester has been made in Japan since 1997.
It has been on sale in the United States, Australia and other parts of the world since 1998. Its sales remain strong worldwide because Fuji Heavy Industries truly understands the art of the deal: Give people what they want at a price that makes them happy.
That is what Subaru has done and is doing with the Forester, a crossover-utility vehicle that has been enlarged a bit, beautified at a slight cost to utility, and kept sensible and competitive in its class for 2017.
There is another twist. Because it is a globally consumed product, the Forester can be made where it is cheapest for Fuji Heavy Industries to make it, which happens to be Japan, at the moment.
The Forester used for this column was the 2.5i Touring, equipped with a 2.5-litre, horizontally opposed fourcylinder gasoline engine. It has all of the latest advanced electronic safety equipment, such as blind- side monitoring and forward- collision mitigation. It comes with a reasonable price.
Ride, acceleration and handling: It is no speedster, but it will satisfy most of us. Torque vectoring - braking the inside front wheel in turns - greatly improves handling.
Body style/ layout: It is a compact, all-wheel- drive, frontengine crossover-utility with a rear chassis derived from the Subaru Impreza compact wagon. Trim lines include the Forester 2.5i, 2.5i Premium, 2.5i Limited and 2.5i Touring.
Capacities: Seating is for five people. Cargo capacity is 31.5 cubic feet with all seats in place. The fuel tank holds 15.9 gallons ( 60 litres) of petrol. Regular grade is acceptable. Premium grade is recommended for “best performance.”
Mileage: Using 89- octane fuel and carrying an estimated 225 pounds of cargo, I averaged 31 miles per gallon (13 km per litre) in highway driving.
Pricing: Starts at US$ 34,000 ( RM150,000). — Washington Post