Subaru Forester 2010 Review

and really shows when you drive it because it's one of the best handling SUVs on the market.

You can go from beacherman to an unsealed road and basically it's no problem, right?

Absolutely. It's no problem at all and I think additionally, with the last generation of Forester they've actually improved, for me, the four wheel drive system or the all wheel drive system, and it handles better now off road than it did before.

It 's still not the most powerful car you can get. The 2.5 liter naturally aspirated engines are not too bad I think if you buy menu. However, the four speed automatic which is unfortunately the only one on offer isn't the best in its class, but a lot of people do still pick it, because everything else about the Forester is good.

So they've just recently added a diesel, and that will be my pick if you can drive a manual buying a diesel would be the one to go for. It's the world's first horizontally opposed diesel engine. The only problem with the Forester diesel at the moment is that it only comes with a manual gearbox, so you cannot get an automatic.

How do you rate RAV4 versus Forester?

Look, I'm not a big fan of the RAV4 just because I think getting in it and it doesn't feel as nimble, as easy to drive, as the Forester. The Forester to me is an SUV but feels like driving a normal car.

A lot of people get out of a car and get into an SUV. But it's a bit of a different driving experience, isn't it?

You get used to it. Parking it is a little bit more difficult because it's a bigger car, but if you get parking sensors, it makes it easier. Most people coming out of a normal, smaller, medium size sedan going into a compact SUV wouldn't have too many issues.

So what don't you like about the Forester?

Look, I think apart from the four speed automatic, which people tend to ignore, the interior has got just a little bit too much plastic for me, and even if you go up to the high prestige models or the XT, you get a bit of fake, wood grain look alike things around the interior, which just, I think it kind of undermines the car.

Just a little bit less plastic and a little bit less shiny chrome stuff would really help.

The access point of view is something that compact SUVs are particularly good at.

Yeah, absolutely, I think especially the Forester, just being able toand add of it is very simple.

Mums with young kids too, its not a matter of lifting a kid down or way up, you know a big high four wheel drive straight across.

Yeah that's it, and you know speaking of the interior the rear seats, for me have been a big improvement over the last Forester. I think now, when you get into the back seat, you can actually fit three adults comfortably. All Subaru's safety is standard across the range, so you get your complement of air bags and all of the electronic stability controls that you can think of.

So that's five star end cap riding controls.

Absolutely, yeah.

Thanks, Alborz. A safe, practical compact SUV. You can read the full Subaru Forester Review, download the specifications, add your comments and even get a quote from a Subaru Dealer.

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