2019 Subaru Forester Sport Review

Long before there was a crossover boom, Subaru was churning out the practical, four-square Forester. The chunky, all new 5^th generation capitalizes on market forces and doubles down on its immediate predecessor’s boxy style while injecting newfound levels of refinement and comfort.

By Isaac Bouchard

The Forester exterior and interior are defined by angles and chamfered shapes, picked out with high contrast black and orange on the Sport. Seating fabric is funky fun; the chairs themselves upright and supportive, both front and rear. Visibility is superb, unobstructed by the kind of blindspots that competitors suffer. Material quality is improved over the last Forester

The tech Subaru has imbued it with is by and large useful and well executed. The optional 8in touch screen has bright graphics and is intuitive and fast in operation. Actual buttons and knobs still surround it for often-accessed function. The driving aids (adaptive cruise, autonomous braking and lane assist) works harmoniously—as long as you remember to turn off some of the audible warnings. There are a few things missing in this new Subaru though, such as levers to fold the second row down from the back of the vehicle. Past Forester have rated as amongst the safest vehicles made, and the enhancements made to the EyeSight system driving aids—and the fitment of standard LED lighting—should only enhance this new one’s abilities to protect occupants.

Built on the company’s incredibly flexible Subaru Global Architecture, the Forester is more resistant to road and wind noise than the outgoing model; however, this makes the machinations of the powertrain somewhat more evident. This is the one area where the company has made a retrograde step: eliminating the optional XT model and its turbocharged engine. While the new 2.5-liter “boxer” is fairly refined in normal use, when one is in a hurry it struggles, despite competitive ratings of 182hp and 176lb-ft. Though the CVT-style transmission does its level best to wring the most out of this mill (even creating faux “gears” in Sport mode) there is no disguising that the Forester is amongst the slowest vehicles in its segment. While there are many folks who drive sedately, it is a real shame that lead footers who’d love the Forester’s load lugging and offroading capacities can’t get the wonderful new 2.4-liter turbocharged engine from the Ascent (which is built on the same platform); this would give some credence to the Sport name as well.

A big area of improvement is driving dynamics: this latest Forester maneuvers with less roll in corners and less dive and squat under braking and acceleration. The Subaru rides serenely too, with little of the “hobby horse” motions of other tall and short crossovers. Taken as a whole, it is a very well-wrought entrant into the segment it helped create, and is one optional engine away from being an excellent Rocky Mountain ride.

EPA Ratings: 26/33/29mpg
0-60mph: 9.6sec (indep test)
Price as tested: $31,815
Here is what Subaru has to say
★★★★☆

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