Forester wraps a tougher edge over its urban abilities
Subaru’s mid-sized SUV, the Forester, has come a long way from its origins.
As it should. Now in its fifth generation and carrying a refresh into the new year, the Forester has long been a favourite for Kiwi families. The new 2022 model blends Subaru’s outdoorsy image with the practicality of an urban wagon and adds a tougher edge to a quite sophisticated SUV.
The Forester receives a styling makeover that gives it a practical ‘truckish’ exterior while inside the cabin remains as comfortable and practical as ever. It’s been a while since I last drove a Forester, in fact the last one was in 1997 – a first-generation version, complete with that gruff boxer soundtrack.
These days there are layers of good manners applied over the top of that brash beginning. It’s not as easy to get that boxer growl going. The 136 kW 2.5-litre four cylinder engine’s maximum torque (239 Nm) is at a relatively high 4,400 rpm, which still works well for open road overtaking. It’s at those rpm that the growl still shows up.
The new Forester’s gearbox is again a CVT with seven steps or gears. Under acceleration (when the driver switches into panic kickdown mode as a milk tanker bears down on the car’s rear) it occasionally revs harder than a regular auto without all that much change in forward momentum. This is less pronounced not when using the paddle-shifters.
Like every Subaru sold in New Zealand, Forester is all-wheel drive.
So what’s it like then? Quiet, capable, unfussed. It’s hard to avoid that dreadful cliché: ‘car-like’, but that’s where the new Forester’s appeal rests. A late-Friday dash to west Auckland revealed the Forester’s impeccable on-road manners, and then a cruise out to the east (Hunua) gave us a chance to try it on ‘B-roads’ and then on gravel. This vehicle is of course built lower to the road than the most gnarly serious off-roaders but it still has 220 mm ground clearance. There is a pronounced ‘rake’ to the design when viewed from the side: the front angles down and the rear sits high – though without creating luggage-loading grumbles.
The Forester comes alive on flowing B-roads thanks to its AWD transmission, the retuned front end and its interaction with the chassis. It grips and doesn’t let go, pleasingly unfussed over potholes and corrugations where it never juddered offline.
The front end has been refreshed with revised headlights, fog lights, front bumper and grille treatment. The bonnet is unusually sculpted, with a central bonnet bulge that declines sideways down to a pair of gullies then rises back up at the sides.
Down the flanks there are handy and practical ‘eyebrows’ over the wheel-arches that will minimise brush scratches in mild off-roading. The doors, unusually, cut right down into the sills or rocker panels.
Rear seat passengers enjoy an extra 30mm of room these days, while luggage space with the seats up is an impressive 498 litres.
Other changes are detail-based, evolution rather than revolution. A simpler instrument panel design is introduced in Forester X Sport and Forester Premium. An eight-inch touchscreen is now standard across the range.
There are new alloy wheel designs; our test vehicle arriving with what may be a developing trend in wheel styling: a gloss black wheel finish is highlighted by a polished aluminium face – practical, easy to keep clean and much less liable to scratch up than a pure painted face. The wheel/tyre set is 17X7 with 225/60X17 Bridgestones.
New colours are Autumn Green, Brilliant Bronze and Cascade Green.
Underneath, Subaru says there are retuned front coil springs and dampers that improve ride comfort, steering responsiveness and handling, while a new aluminium engine cross-member reduces vibration and noise.
The company now offers a five model Forester line-up, which includes the X Sport, Premium, e-Boxer Hybrid and Premium e-Boxer Hybrid variants and the naturally aspirated Forester we tested, which is available as a range-starter and also in Premium spec.
