Having genuinely considered buying a Forester back in 2015, but settling for the mid-size SUV from another blue-ovaled brand, it’s fair to say one knew what one was getting into with this review.
Since the first one arrived in 1997, the Forester has long offered buyers a solid family-moving platform with the ruggedness to get you a little deeper into the bush, further up the beach or slightly closer to the summit than the rest of the SUV crowd.
Supplied a Forester S for a week courtesy of Subaru Australia, the new version immediately felt the way it should have felt three years ago when it was on the shortlist.
Throttle input feels much smoother and less rally-ready, and the ride feels much the same way, the latter being one of the main reasons the MY15 model wasn’t as nice to drive as the other thing we bought.
Not helping the rest of the improvements-on-improvements theme of the Forester is that wretched stop/start system.
Usually with two or more shines, it’s been opined that the one creature most deserving of extinction on this planet is the blood-sucking disease-spreading mozzie.
Paint stop/start with the same brush.
Getting gripes out of the way early, the rear seatbelt load restraints can be a little grabby when you need to reach for something, refusing to let you go, but to be an optimist, it’s better than the opposite.
The rear cargo blinds in Subarus are still puzzling; can’t figure out what the piece of hanging cloth is for (separate from the main roll-up section), they’re also a bit bulky and tricky to remove without scratching things, but to be fair, this is the case with just about all cargo blinds, not just Subie.
It’s funny how subjective the human perception can be, case in point with the way Forester sounds.
The other half isn’t a fan of the vocal, eager Boxer engine (another sore point for not getting one back in 2015), whereas it does lots for enthusing the drive for yours truly.
You can definitely hear those four cylinders pumping away, resolutely, confidently, harmoniously, producing a healthy 136kW up at 5800rpm and a very usable 239Nm as high as 4400rpm – and once again, anybody who says it needs more grunt, is lacking upstairs or a terrible driver, in my opinion.
On to the good stuff, because there’s plenty of it, starting with what some may agree is Forester’s strength – the boot.
See, owning an MY18 Outback classed in the large SUV category, the “mid-size” Forester is marginally taller at 1730mm (vs 1675mm), but Outback is slightly longer at 4820mm (vs 4625mm) and wider at 1840mm (vs 1815mm), meaning the boot space is almost identical, but orientated differently.
The same baby transportation equipment used to move what, rumours say, is the heaviest seven-month old in Australia, doesn’t quite fit as perfectly into Forester as it does Outback.
It all fits, but pram base and upper stroller section have to rotate 90 degrees and sit on top of one another and the bassinet.Same, same, but different.
Before moving from the whole boot thing, and yes, this is verified using official AutoTalk telemetry, Forester’s boot takes five seconds to remotely and electronically close, two seconds faster than the Outback’s.
But the battle isn’t over, because when you have a sleeping baby in the second row arriving home, and you’re fully prepared to murder any neighbour or passer-by who awakens The Kracken, Forester’s faster-closing boot tends to thump into the latch when it locks, Outback is perfectly near-silent, and this is the ultimate attention-to-detail that wins this round.
Similar is the rear legroom and available space for the baby capsule, which again fits with room to spare in Outback, but is snug in Forester with slightly more headroom.
The difference a few millimetres makes.
More to love is Forester’s sturdier (but fixed) shopping hooks than in Outback, which are fold-out jobs; and there’s a 12-volt power socket in the boot (and second row) for charging torches or running a small air compressor or whatever camping paraphernalia you busted your elbow to reach for in the shed, but will only be used once all weekend.
Then there’s the rock-solid customer forethought which Subaru resolutely extends to its customers – a full-size spare wheel.
The easy-used Starlink infotainment screen is better, ditto the software (and processing speed), you still get a CD player (extra points), and everything is positioned exactly where it should be.
Oh, and when you’re driving alone on an empty, twisty backroad, S-mode and those paddles are your friend.
Lastly, the new version of EyeSight remains absolutely the best collision avoidance/active safety system not only for its seamless ergonomics, but its availability and affordability, not to mention how brilliantly it pulls you up when the cards are down.
Paired with the indefatigable symmetrical all-wheel drive system and the best CVT gearbox on the market, it’s unshakably the smarter blue oval buy for 2019.
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