2025 Subaru Forester: Substance over style for sixth-gen Aussie favourite

Here in Australia, Subaru has been in a bit of a spot recently. It deleted its diesel engines in 2020, to coincide perfectly with a global pandemic, hoping that its range of underbaked hybrid powerplants would take up the slack. They didn’t.

It then suffered a long tail from well-publicised supply chain issues, was walloped by a subsequent cost of living crisis that meant that it couldn’t deliver the cars that Australians wanted, and the result has been a predictable sales slide over the last couple of years as its best-selling vehicle, the Forester, entered its fifth-gen dotage.

But hear that sound? It’s the cavalry arriving in the shape of the new sixth-generation Forester, and one that has a heck of an opportunity to capitalise, arriving as it does with the volume champ Toyota RAV4 on run-out.

The formula is, for the most part, straightforward. You get the trademark boxy body, symmetrical all-wheel drive system and cabin that majors on space at the expense of sexiness, but this time round the hybrid assistance has significantly more heft to it or, if you prefer, you can opt for a petrol version that uses the same 2.5-litre boxer four, but without the benefit of the electrical boost.

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The petrol versions start at $43,490 and step up through four models, base, the $46,490 Premium, the $48,490 Sport and tops out with the $50,990 Touring. All are mechanically identical aside from wheel size, so the difference between them is just how many toys you get.

Choose the ‘e-Boxer’ hybrid instead and opening book is $46,490 for the base car (+$3000 over the petrol), stepping up to $54,990 for the Hybrid Sport (+$6500) and summiting with the $55,990 Hybrid Touring (+$5000).

We’ve done the sums so you don’t have to regarding fuel consumption. The combined fuel figure for the hybrid version is 6.2L/100km and the petrol is rated at 7.9L/100km so, in theory, the fuel cost payback distance for the hybrid base car is 48,000km, for the Sport is 104,000km and for the Touring is 80,000km, assuming a price of $1.80 for petrol. Yes, that’s a crude calculation and there are clearly other financial factors to consider such as residuals, fuel price fluctuations and standard equipment differences between the two powertrains, but if you’re planning to choose the hybrid purely in terms of what it’ll save you at the bowser, it’ll give you a rough framework. It’s also worth remembering that both drive systems are quite happy on 91RON juice, which is a welcome bonus.

There are arguments to be made for both powertrains. The petrol is simple and rugged, features a superior braked towing capacity (1800kg vs 1200kg), will tie up less of your capital, and due to the fact that it’s around 100kg lighter, will be a little easier on its tyres. The hybrid offers a silky boosted throttle tip-in, a little more in the way of low-end torque fill and, given that both use the same 63-litre fuel tank, offers a better overall range. It’s also a bit punchier when you clog the right-hand pedal, with 145kW of system output versus 136kW for the petrol. The hybrid chips in with up to 88kW of boost when called upon, which is a vast improvement on the feeble 12.3kW assist from the old version. You can just about drive the hybrid version on electric power alone by forcing it into EV mode, but the battery depletes very rapidly and the internal combustion engine will re-engage at anything much over 30km/h.

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Aside from the addition of a 1.1kWh lithium-ion battery pack, the key difference between the two vehicles under the skin is the transmission. The petrol car features Subaru’s stepped eight-speed Lineartronic CVT, which now features both a lower first gear and a higher top gear for highway economy. Choose the hybrid and there’s a very Toyota planetary gearset (power split device) and dual motor-generators. One motor drives the wheels and provides regenerative braking, while the other manages engine starts and battery recharging. The engineering knowledge share between Toyota and Subaru is probably long overdue given that Toyota holds more than 20 percent of Subaru’s stock.

The 2.5-litre boxer can get a bit vocal when pushed beyond 4000rpm, which you’ll typically notice while overtaking or accelerating uphill. Subaru has worked at reducing cabin noise by fitting thicker front side glass, adding more high damping mastic materials and more insulating material between the cabin and the engine.  It claims that clarity of conversation is fully 12.5 percent clearer in the back seats and 3.4 percent clearer in front. It’s been partially successful, but switching to the bigger 19-inch alloys of the flagship Forester Sport trim does introduce a bit more low frequency road noise into the passenger cell. All models have a noticeable wind rustle around the A-pillars and door mirrors, but it’s nothing too intrusive.

Another area for improvement over the old car has been steering, and the Forester’s wheel takes a little while to get used to. The steering’s electric motor assist has been re-geared, and the dual pinion motor now works on the rack rather than the column. At first the wheel feels weirdly inert, with very little detailed feedback from the road surface filtering back. Overcome that and it’s accurate and well-weighted.

The Forester also rolls less in corners than before, and the combination of the somewhat taciturn steering and the lack of cueing that drivers will pick up from body roll at first makes it difficult to gauge the limits of the car’s handling envelope. Push harder and you begin to realise that this is an uncommonly talented medium SUV to hustle through a series of bends. That’s hardly priority one for a vehicle like this, but so few cars in this class reward the driver in any particular regard that it’s a standout when you find one that does. Greater resistance to roll helps reduce head toss in the vehicle, which makes journeys less fatiguing.

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One example of the marginal gains Subaru has extracted in terms of making the driver feel connected is that the front seat mechanisms are now body mounted rather than to a bracket. This allows a lower hip point in the car and reduces flex through a bracket. Overall torsional rigidity of the body has increased by 10 percent, helped by the adoption of a full inner frame construction to beef up the old chassis.

With 220mm of ground clearance (about the same as a Toyota Prado) and that rapid response symmetrical all-wheel drive system, it’s also fairly respectable off road. The X-mode software helps sniff out any grip, and electronics are doing a fair bit of the traction help. With no mechanical limited slip differential, the Forester relies on brake torque vectoring to stop an unladen wheel spinning.

The cabin isn’t going to win any prizes for sleek styling, but it’s admirably functional. There are few areas for genuine complaint. The door pockets could be a little more capacious, there’s no head-up display fitted to any model and mobile phone storage could be better, especially as there’s just two wired connections up front, one USB-A and a USB-C. On the whole, the cabin is extremely practical.

There’s a stack of headroom, although it should be noted that the passenger seat height is fairly elevated in the base model. All round visibility is very good, the minor controls are sensibly located, with physical buttons for temperature control. I actually preferred the cloth seats of the base car, as they offer more lateral grip than a shinier material and the seat heaters activated quicker.

Move round to the back and there’s acres of legroom, helped by the fact that rear passengers can get an entire foot under the front seats. There’s a set of low-level air vents and a USB-A and USB-C connection for the back seats, which are fairly flat and fold 60/40, with top tethers on all three positions and ISOFIX fittings on the outer seats. The seats can be folded by pressing a button in the luggage bay and because the cabin is so spacious, you won’t need to drop the headrests to get them to drop flat.

The luggage bay opens to reveal a very low and flat loading floor, with a 12v power outlet and some limited underfloor storage. There’s 498 litres of space available in five-seat format and 1719 litres with the second row folded. In five-seat configuration, that’s not quite as much as the 542 litres afforded in the back of a Toyota RAV4 hybrid, the 543 litres that you’d get in a Kia Sportage or the 546 litres in a Hyundai Tucson, so if it looks as if you’re going to be really squeezed for space in a car in this class, the Forester could rule itself out of contention with its slightly smaller boot. It’s also worth remembering that while the petrol models come with a space-saver spare, the hybrid has to make do with a mobility kit.

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Equipment decisions are interesting. Subaru always hate me for pointing this out, but the Forester is one of the very few cars in its class where the base model is something you would actually buy. All of the incredibly comprehensive safety suite is included, as is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the wireless phone charger, dusk-sensing LED headlights, the big central touchscreen, dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, heated and power folding door mirrors, and a leather-trimmed steering wheel.

Stepping up to other models in the range just adds features such as different seat materials, body-coloured exterior bits, a Harmon Kardon branded stereo, memory functions for the seats and so on. The key material changes between the trim levels comes with the addition of native satnav from the petrol premium and the hybrid Sport, and the big 12.3-inch LCD screen replacing the traditional  dial pack from hybrid Sport and up. Other than that, it’s largely just tinsel, but the fact remains that the sweet spot in terms of value definitely seems to be with the entry-level hybrid.

The EyeSight safety suite fitted to all versions is incredibly comprehensive and includes everything you’d expect, including adaptive cruise control, speed sign recognition, an intelligent speed limiter, lane keep assist and brake light recognition. New for this year is Emergency Driving Stop System, which will respond if it thinks a driver is incapacitated, first by sounding an audible warning, then by shaking the wheel and finally by engaging the hazard lights and then pulling the vehicle safely to a stop at the side of the road.

Subaru VisionAssist includes all of the sensor-related safety gear such as parking sensors and a front-side radar, while there’s also a Driver Monitoring System inside the car that can be a little over-zealous. In one of the cars on test, it was constantly reminding me to stay alert every couple of minutes, and the nag screen to keep your eyes on the road is also a little too keen for my liking.

This sixth-gen Forester emerges as a very likeable and well engineered medium SUV. You’ll buy it if you want a car that feels rugged and airy inside and you like the idea of good value and decent equipment provision without a big options spend. The new hybrid system is a welcome improvement, finally offering Subaru customers a modicum of muscle without crucifying them at the fuel bowsers as a consequence.

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There’s a charming blend of appealingly old-school and considerately modern about the Forester that’s both endearing and practical. The doors lock with a reassuring thunk. There’s a refreshing lack of tedious gimmickry that afflicts many new entrant medium SUVs attempting to establish a USP. It’s good to drive, easy to live with and packed to the gunwales with safety gear, even at the very base of the range.

Its downsides are that the boot is far from the biggest in class, towing capacity is modest, and that even with its undoubted improvements in refinement, it’s not always the quietest. It’s also far from a sexy shape and some might find its driver monitoring system a bit overzealous. But now we’re reaching a bit. For the most part, the new Forester gets so much right that it’s easy to overlook a few of its foibles. It’s a significantly better car than its predecessor and introduces a welcome measure of rugged capability to a class that can sometimes tend towards the superficial.

What’s more it introduces this all-weather, extended-terrain utility without exacting a marked penalty in terms of how it drives on the blacktop. Not too many car manufacturers have managed to square that particular circle, but Subaru has worked the Forester’s compromises very smartly. For less than fifty grand the entry-level hybrid might just be the one-size-fits-all vehicle you never knew you needed.

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