The 2025 Subaru Forester Is Perfect for Subaru Buyers

The Baader-Meinhof impact is skilled when somebody learns about one thing new, then begins seeing that new factor in all places. Hilariously, the time period is called for a German terrorist group from the Seventies. Based on Psychology Immediately, a man named Terry Mullen discovered concerning the Baader-Meinhof group in the future, and noticed its title pop up once more the subsequent day, having gone his entire life unaware of the militant ultra-left group. He wrote concerning the phenomenon in a letter to his native newspaper, and the Baader-Meinhof impact was named.

One thing comparable occurs every time I drive a Subaru—I begin seeing them in all places. They’re, after all, at all times in all places. However until you’re on the lookout for them, they merely mix into the background. 

In my tony Brooklyn neighborhood, stuffed with outdoorsy sorts who love to flee town on weekends, Subarus mix into the surroundings, filling the cracks between these outdated brownstones and their cast-iron fences. I’ll depend at the least 4 Subarus street-parked on any given block, and quite a lot of them are Foresters. Subaru appears to grasp my neighbors—its prospects—nicely.

For 2025, the Subaru Forester is new, although not fairly all-new. The bones are the identical because the earlier than, albeit up to date for added refinement and with new bodywork overtop. The engine is a carryover from the earlier two generations of Forester, a 2.5-liter flat-four now making 180 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque. It’s paired with a repeatedly variable transmission and Subaru’s signature Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. Inside, there’s a radical transforming, although the brand new Forester’s cabin feels principally equivalent to all different Subaru fashions.

Execs: Snug Trip, Normal Full-Time All-Wheel Drive, Normal Subaru-Ness

Subaru didn’t really want to do a lot with the Forester. It offered 152,566 of them in America final 12 months, a remarkably excessive determine for a automotive about to be refreshed. Folks clearly love this stuff, so there’s no sense in messing with the method. Simply tweak what you might have and let the gross sales roll in.

So, the 2025 Forester isn’t all that thrilling. It simply type of works. Dynamically, one of the best factor I can say is that its smooth trip eats up the worst roads you may throw at it. There are some cobbled streets in Brooklyn, and in so many vehicles, it’s important to crawl alongside them, in order to not ship shudders by the automotive. In a Forester, you simply barrel on by just like the highway floor hasn’t modified in any respect. You’ll be able to clearly see the way it’s aimed toward individuals who spend vital time on filth roads. Because the paved roads throughout a lot of America are deteriorating, this plush trip isn’t any unhealthy factor to have.

Apart from that, there’s not a lot to notice. The engine feels a bit gutless on this tktk-pound SUV, however the CVT is surprisingly refined, with not an excessive amount of of the rubber-band feeling typical of this stuff. Nonetheless, the approaching hybrid mannequin will hopefully deliver some much-needed oomph. Subaru made one thing of a deal of the truth that the Forester has the identical steering rack because the WRX, however you’d hardly have the ability to inform. This automotive isn’t sporty within the slightest. Competent, sure, and well-refined, however not enjoyable.

Which is ok! For a similar cash, you would get a Mazda CX-5, which is lots nicer to drive. However if you happen to’re the kind inclined to purchase a Forester, this Subaru is greater than ok. Nonetheless, I feel there is likely to be a greater choice in a Subaru showroom—the Outback. For not way more cash than a Forester, you will get an Outback with a turbocharged 2.5-liter flat-four, and that further grunt is welcome. Their kind elements look totally different, however in actuality, there are solely minimal variations in dimension between the 2. 

Cons: Boring To Drive, Boring To Sit In, Underpowered

Contained in the Forester, I feel Subaru is giving up fairly a bit to rivals like Mazda, Honda, Kia, and Hyundai. Even on this absolutely loaded Touring trim, with its $41,390 base worth, the Forester simply doesn’t really feel that good. And whereas the massive portrait-style touchscreen works effective, the graphics are dated and the built-in local weather controls are sometimes annoying. There’s nothing dysfunctional with the Forester’s cabin, however a bit bit extra verve isn’t an excessive amount of to ask for. And for a brand new mannequin, it doesn’t really feel meaningfully totally different inside from an Outback I drove over 4 years in the past. 

The Forester is new, however it’s the identical outdated story for Subaru. This automotive sells the appropriate picture. Subaru was intelligent to construct a model on a perceived ruggedness, security, and all-wheel drive again within the Nineties and it is a technique that’s nonetheless bearing fruit, if my neighbor’s automotive selections are proof. 

I kind of didn’t get the enchantment. In my thoughts, there are higher vehicles on the market. A Mazda CX-5 is nicer in each manner, and even one thing like a RAV4 affords Toyota’s ultra-efficient and very well-proven hybrid system for about the identical cash. However a dialog with InsideEVs Deputy Editor Mack Hogan helped put issues into perspective. In quite a lot of methods, he’s the best Subaru buyer—an outdoorsy urbanite—and he’s additionally a really perceptive automotive reviewer. To him, Subarus do supply that little bit extra off-road means and ruggedness than most of their rivals—a Forester goes to really feel higher outfitted for miles of filth highway driving than, say, a Honda CR-V. 

So there’s substance right here. Even when somebody like myself who doesn’t personal a paddle board or a pair of ugly mountain climbing boots would reasonably spring for the excellent driving dynamics and beauty of a Mazda. Nonetheless, you perceive why this stuff appear to be in all places. But a humorous factor occurred after I gave the Forster again to Subaru. I finished counting them.