The 2025 Subaru Forester is now here, and it looks….moderately different than the old one. The engine is possibly even less different, as it’s basically the same 2.5-liter Boxer mated to a — you guessed it — Continuously Variable Transmission. But there is a new interior. Here, let’s just take a look at this new machine:
OK, let’s start by looking at the outgoing Forester:
And here’s the new one, whose front end I personally thinks looks…possibly less modern than the outgoing one but whose side profile I think looks great:
Maybe the press images will change my mind, since it’s comparing apples to apples:
Ah OK, that front press picture is a bit better; I’m not sure if it’s an improvement (maybe the rear end is), but the new interior is — with its 11.6-inch touchscreen — plus it gets Wireless CarPlay, which is a big deal for Subaru owners.
Subaru says a hybrid variant is coming next year; Autopian Publisher Matt Hardigree, who owns a 2.5-liter CVT Forester, has told me to write a headline that says “You should wait for the hybrid” because he’s tired of filling up his Forester all the time with expensive New York gasoline. He has a point. A hybrid Forester will print money. You might want to wait for that.
This is breaking news, so this article is still being updated.
Subaru is building 2001 Ford Escape resto-mods? Neat!
Did they put fake vents behind the front wheels? Please tell me they are actual holes
They’re are real vents on the new 2024 Crosstrek so no reason to think they wouldn’t follow through on the Forester.
I saw one of these in an amazing color of green at my local Walmart parking lot. I had no idea a new model was coming and I wasn’t exactly sure what it was and asked myself if it was a Forester. I think it looks a lot better, personally. I wonder how I managed to see one of these so early out in the wild?
For those of you that spend so much time knocking the Forester. I agree that the CVT is not a good transmission, however, I currently own one. I am a row-your-own proponent, forced to automatic by circumstance. I long for the track days and the chance to unwind a car, but, I currently commute 100 miles a day. The Forester fits my need. All of it is highway and it is in Minnesota. Currently I am getting 35 mpg and have a toy to play with. (garaged for the winter). So as you knock the engine, transmission, and size, try to remember that, perhaps, there is a good fit for the specs offered in this vehicle.
I own a Crosstrek with a CVT connected to a 2.5 and I have to say that in my experience it’s been an actual good transmission. I’ve flogged it down plenty of rutted dirt West Virginia roads and it’s never been a problem. Subaru has these things figured out at this point.
I’d second that. We have the current generation as our family vehicle and it does everything we need it to.
We have a 2019 Forester in the family and it has the best visibility from the driver’s seat I’ve experienced in a modern car. Every time I get in it I’m so happily surprised by the view I forgive the flinty feeling materials and the crappy gas mileage. Seriously, the Subaru execs should go sit in a Mazda, be suitably embarrassed, and go find some better plastic. Extremely glad to see they’ve kept the generous greenhouse on the redesign.
If ever a manufacturers moniker for a model should have been laid to rest many years ago, it’s name is Forester.
If they keep calling what was once a simple wagon, now a bloated whatchamacallit by the same name?…
I have lost all faith in reality.
That bloated blobule is not a Forester.
It’s just another… I dunno, vehicle on the road.
Shame! Shame! Shame!
It’s a lumberjack and it’s ok
i was a diehead subaru fans, and my first one was a 1999 2.5RS. but the last subaru i have bought new was a 2004 forester XT. by the time i replaced it 10 years later, it was trouble free and i had a blast. but i can’t bring myself to get an other subaru.
the big third window makes this look HUGE. i really like this hopefully more glass becomes a trend.
Gee…its not much of a design revolution there is it? More like evolution.
Mind you, the Forester gets sold all over the world so they are not about to mess with their ‘world car’.
I think Subaru has been off the rails a bit lately following idiotic trends that lead to highly impractical design, but this is more like it. Mechanically it might not be a revolution, but look at the radically improved visibility.
With the 2025 Forester, Subaru is seriously close to attaining its ultimate goal of achieving the ugly singularity.
Ugh.
I say this with all the Subaru fangirl in my I can muster: Just Ugh.
ooh! a Hondaru!
In my efforts to say something nice about everything I come across today, here goes: I’m glad they ditched the chintzy ziggurat head and tail light shapes.
Um, that’s all I got, sorry.
Dozens of them will be seen around here. Everyone is convinced they must have AWD because we occasionally get lots of frozen water that piles up on the ground. Oh, and because there may be a watery pothole on the access road to a rural park. Or they play hockey. No, those folks drive Suburbans.
God, Subaru are just awful.
They’ve once again made a generic vehicle that could be badge swapped with half the marques out there and no one would blink twice. The only reason anyone would is to try and not fall asleep looking at it.
There’s nothing about this thing that I care about.
God,
SubaruSUVs are just awful.They’ve once again made a generic vehicle that could be badge swapped with half the marques out there and no one would blink twice. The only reason anyone would is to try and not fall asleep looking at it.
This looks like all compact SUVs, and all compact SUVs look like this.
Partial disagree. Compact SUVs that come to mind: RAV4, Sportage, Tucson, Kona, Soul, CX-3/5. I think these are all pretty distinctive models. The luxury segment also has a lot of diversity in styling.
OTOH: Ford, GM, Honda, and Stellantis (minus Jeep) do seem to crank out the most interchangeable, boring-ass SUVs imaginable. And to me, Subaru has moved to their ranks with this Forester. It is generic as fuck.
There’s a couple trends in design, but yes, its very derivative of many many many SUVs.
Okay, yes, but it’s not just this, the Impreza is horrid, the WRX is a hot mess, the Liberty/XV/Outback are actually actively ugly and the other ones are just tarted up Toyotas and that’s not a compliment in any form.
Subaru really knows how to make an ugly, uninspiring car, from the inside out this thing looks mediocre at best. Unlike many car enthusiasts, I don’t usually mind the tacked-on touch screen; however, this screen is comically large and makes the interior look disjointed. Also, try and imagine how they can make this thing look worse in wilderness form.
Completely agree. I especially dislike the interior and get tired of Subaru’s plastic cladding on the exterior. Never cared for the buzzy 4-cyl or the CVT. But the Subie faithful in CO and VT will love it and the cult will remain intact.
Yeah, frankly garbage drivetrains don’t help either, I feel bad for anyone who buys one thinking it is a capable off-road vehicle
Even in situations where they kind of are, they look so unhappy doing it. I’ve seen so many Subaru “offroad” videos where the CVT overheats, and/or the driver has their foot to the floor with zero torque actually getting to the wheels. I think every current Subaru owner who “offroads” is a future Tacoma owner. That seems to be the natural progression.
It looks ok I guess. Kind of getting back to the looks of the original forester. Most people that buy the forester probably don’t care much. Subaru could probably still be producing the 1998 forester and it would sell the same.
“…plus it gets Wireless CarPlay, which is a big deal for Subaru owners.”
A politic way of saying “people who are interested in buying this aren’t really interested in it as a car so much as an appliance”.
We’ve had our 2014 Forester for about 6 years, just a daily driver, road trip every couple years, still has less than 70k miles on it, yet somehow the rear bearings, front control arms/bushings, and speakers(?) failed on it. My ’86 Chevrolet lasted longer than that for suspension stuff. Yes it’s comfy/roomy, yes visibility is amazing, yes the rest of the entire family(on both sides) love them, but it’s buzzy and not really quick, and I’m wondering what other lightly used component is going to fail.
Gonna have to pass on getting another one, like probably ever. Which is sad cause I had a Brat and thought that thing was awesome, rust like crazy on it but still awesome.
Friend’s 2016 (I think?) has similar weird issues at 100k. I think the center diff might be starting to bind in addition to something weird with shifting into reverse. I also had a 2013 forester with the oil consumption issue at much under 100k miles. Friend’s Impreza has needed cam seals and new valve springs (if I recall correctly) at 60k.
Maybe my friends and I are just unlucky.
I feel like every friend I have with a Subie has both undying devotion to their car and a long list of weird things that have failed on it
I have a 2017 forester with around 65k. AC has gone out twice (once covered under warranty/tsb/recall, once not). I have an Outback that I’ve put about 60k on over 9 years. Clutch and throw-out bearing went quickly. The second throw-out bearing went about 30k later. Subaru Throw-out bearings are made of chewing gum and foil. Then head gaskets and wheel bearings that require immortal intervention to remove if you live where it snows. Manifold / cat failed twice (warranty, but still) because they insist on their flat motor that requires flex joints in the headers.
Had a BRZ that blew a motor at ~40k miles and then had a failed throw-out bearing at ~60k… totaled it at ~62k.
I’ve been sorta loyal because it was the only brand with decent options with AWD and a manual transmission. They really don’t have much to offer me anymore. If I have to give up the third pedal, I can go with a Toyota and at least know the wheel bearings may live past 50k miles.
I have a ’13 4Runner with 163K miles. None of those issues, it’s still incredibly tight and quiet. I don’t especially like Toyota, or even the 4Runner very much, but it’s definitely living up to its reputation.
I kind of like the current Forester Wilderness package, I think for the majority of the things I do with the 4R it would be great, but I just can’t bring myself to own one.
Also the Wilderness model is waiting a year, so the Wilderness Hybrid is probably the ticket.
Of all the new SUV(CUV?)’s that I have seen, that is certainly one of them.
Is it just me or does that look like a 2013ish Ford Edge grill/headlight shape?
I kind of see some late model 200 Series Land Cruiser in the grill/headlight shape. The headlights are more elongated, but the thin horizontal bars with the thicker bar bisecting them looks similar to the 200, along with the over shape of the grille.
I had a Forester back in the day, most tanks were 25mpg. My son told me he got 33 once; I never figured out how.
I loved the Forester when it was working, but of all the vehicles I’ve owned in the last 30 years, it stranded my family more than any other. I want to love Subaru but I’m so gun-shy from all those bad experiences that I just can’t make myself do it.
Calling this thing “all new” sounds like a stretch.
I have a buddy who has a 15 Forester lifted and modified for off-roading. He told me he gets 16-ish with it, which is about 25% less than I get with my 4Runner that even in stock form is much more capable than the Subie.
The only way I’m thinking “all new” with subaru is if they ditch the 2.5l and the CVT. Otherwise, they are all old in my book. The 1-year stint I had in one back in 2013 was enough to cure me of the thinking that Subaru was making good, quirky cars. Boring to the point of rage.
Same. I kind of like the Wilderness models, but the fact that they’re still using the same drivetrain kills it for me. They ought to contract with Toyota and just use RAV4 prime engines/transmissions. How many of their buyers ACTUALLY care about the longitudinal engine placement for “symmetrical AWD”? I like to offroad, and even I don’t care either way about that.
Are these blanked out exhaust pipe openings a public shaming of those who a bought the base model?