Subaru Forester Diesel Confirmed

By Alborz Fallah | March 03rd, 2010

Well you’ve all asked for it and Subrau has listened, after the success of the Subaru Outback Diesel, the Japanese giant has decided to add diesel to the one of the best SUVs on the market. The Subaru Forester will soon be available with the world’s first boxer diesel engine.

The Subaru Forester diesel range will consist of two variants, Forester 2.0D and 2.0D Premium. Both variants will be available in early June.

The traditionally symmetrical all-wheel drive Forester diesel will increase the appeal of the company’s SUV range by attracting a whole new range of buyers.

“Given the level of customer enquiry so far, we anticipate substantial demand for Forester diesels. We expect supply to be quite tight and on that basis our network is now taking orders, to avoid customer disappointment. We thank customers for their patience and based on the huge response we’ve had to our Outback diesels, we’re gearing up for significant orders.” Nick Senior, Subaru Managing Director, said:

The Subaru Forester Diesel’s 2.0-litre turbocharged engine will pump out 110 Kilowatts of power at 3600 rpm and 350 Newtonmetres of torque between 1800 and 2400 rpm.

Unfortunately the Forester diesel suffers the same issue as the Outback diesel, being only available with a six-speed manual transmission.

The entry model in to the Subaru Forester diesel range will come standard with cloth trim, 16-inch alloy wheels, leather gear shift, front fog lights, climate control air conditioning, self-levelling rear suspension, a flip-out rear tray and colour-coordinated door handles.

Those going for the range-topper Forester 2.0D Premium will gain 17-inch alloy wheels, leather trim, power driver’s seat, upgraded audio, HID headlights and a sunroof.

As with the entire Subaru range, the Forester Diesel will carry a five-star crashworthiness rating for occupant safety from the independent Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Part of that safety system includes standard vehicle dynamics control, stability system plus dual front, side and curtain airbags.

Subaru Australia is yet to announce pricing but we suspect it will incur a $2,000 premium over the equivelant petrol variant.

Baddass

By leaving it so late, Subaru is getting a little left behind in the diesel market. The power figures are pretty ordinary, the economy’s nothing special, and the lack of an auto really hinders it.

Steven

And you’ve driven and compared this engine have you?

Lack of auto is disappointing for sure but that’s what you get for being late to the party.

Power means nothing, it’s the torque that counts and it has plenty.

ptwhite2003

I think Baddass is referring to the Koleos, the X-Trail and now the IX35 which already have diesels and have had for some time (with the exception of the IX35, which is new). And the power and torque figures *are* ordinary, especially when compared with the Hyundai unit.

You don’t need to have driven the cars to make simple numbers comparisons. (The last 3 new cars I have bought have been purchased without a single test drive, simply by stacking up the numbers and online reviews. I haven’t been disappointed yet).

Alex

Ignorance is bliss hey ptwhite2003…

ptwhite2003

So is smugness.

ptwhite2003

Oh, and to keep roughly to the thread, one of those was a Forester. Great car, lousy fuel figures.

Devil666

ptwhite has it, Steve. If 2.0T petrol I4′s can get 350nm, a diesel should be getting more. Benz can get 500+ nm from a 2.1 litre 4cyl turbo. Now THATS impressive!

Thats what you get for being late to the party? Christ, Subaru has had years to develop an automatic solution for so-inclined buyers, but have been sitting on their thumbs, and firing the exterior design staff they had during the years of the subtle brilliance of the previous Gen 4 Liberty and Outback.

Bitter much? Yes, extremely bitter.

Alex

Your forgetting one thing, these cars are so nice to drive. They just seem to have the right amount of engineering, in the right places, for the right cost.

If you drive all the SUVs back to back, you’ll be hard pressed to go past the Forester.

I may be biassed as my first car was a 1982 Subaru, and my current car is a 07 XT. I am still hard pressed to find a better replacement for my 07 XT, the best option so far is a new XT Premium!

Brilliant cars, nice to see a diesel, the CVT will become available very soon.

Mad Max

Forester is good but IMO, Tiguan is a better drive. Forester feels a bit cheap inside and for not much more money (yes I know, without the Tiguans expensive options list) you can have the Tiguan. You get the money back at trade in time with Tiguans brilliant resale value of up to 70% depending on model. Almost all road tests rate the Tiguans drive and feel better than Forester.

Lagoza

How far is the Impreza Diesel which has been in Ireland for 6 months or more ??? Any body know >?
jojo

Adding a diesel variant to Australias No1 SUV will broaden it’s appeal further, especially to rural buyers who actually prefer manual over auto’s.

Mad Max

As much as I like The Forester, Tiguan is rated Australia’s #1 SUV by almost all magazines and the Captiva is the # seller, not Forester.

freddy

would never take a tiguan too far from the vw dealer they get cranky and unreliable!!! read their forums you ijit!
Just and inflated golf with crap awd system

Ozedude

Spot on, not to mention VW lousy service. The Forester does have some relativley inexpensive options avail to tighten handling even further.

Given the Foresters greater off road ability (the U in SUV) and the Tigs non existent. Forester hands down.

http://Audi Robj

great, ready to place my order now..when is auto coming. Will it have low range?
Jo

Specs don’t seem impressive. The Sorento will blow this away with a beffier engine and super smooth 6 speed auto. The only saving grace for the Subbie is the badge.
Al Juraj

What is it with the Japs omitting the auto gearbox in their diesel 4x4s? Mazda had this blunder in the CX-7 oiler, and now Subaru followed suit. The Hyundai ix35 diesel can be had with a self-shifter and would greatly appeal to those who want a high rider and prefer convenience over control. They aren’t performance cars so there’s really not much point in wanting to shift by yourself.

Mad Max

Most Japanesse cars are designed for sales in their home markets and for the USA. In both markets, diesels are not that popular. I travel to the US several times per year (am here now) and diesel is hard to find in cities and in rural areas some petrol stations don’t have a diesel pump or will have one only and it will be for large trucks, usualy well away from the shop. I went into a Hyundai dealer and the IX35 does not have a diesel option here and it is not even planned for release here. I’m not sure what percentage of the market diesel passenger cars have here but I suspect it would be a fraction of 1 percent so there is not incentive for the Japanese car makers to go and design a auto to take the huge torque needed. They are better off putting their money into designing better cup holders, mood lighting, booming stereo’s and figuring out how to fit wider seats into smaller cars to suit the American market.

filippo

Further to this, in the European market – where diesels out-sell petrols – automatics are generally only bought by the elderly and disabled. For Subaru and Mazda to develop a diesel/auto combo for such a small market as Australia doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Cupid Stunt

Think you’ll find it’s torque and gearbox problem. With diesels producing sooo much more torque than a weedy petrol the poor old gear boxes cannot handle it all. Indeed when Ford shoved their crappy 1.8TDi in the Mondeo in the late nineties they produced a specific gearbox (MT75 i think) to cope with it all. Wasn’t a bad box either.

Johntkr

I’ve lived for more than 40 years in the USA. The vast majority of gas stations have diesel for anyone. Diesel offers comparable mileage as hybrids, with superior acceleration and resale value. We have an oil crises and hybrid batteries are from ruined forest soil. Once the batteries can not be recycled, they are buried somewhere and they poison not just the earth but the countless underground rivers.