Subaru has recently installed a large printer into its U.S. headquarters in order to press out millions of dollar bills that will result from the sale of this: The 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid. I could go on about how ridiculous it is that Subaru has waited this long for a hybrid version of its non-Crosstreks, but what matters is that the Forester Hybrid is here, and it’s going to be everywhere very soon.
I generally don’t like the stereotype the types of owners who own certain cars, but there is a common thread among Subaru Forester owners. Typically they’re in a small family household, they care about sensible things like safety and snow performance, and they bought a Subaru wagon/crossover because a real SUV is just too thirsty. Again, it’s not always the case, but in general, I’ve always seen Subarus — especially Foresters — as cars purchased by sensible minds and not necessarily hugely enthusiastic ones.
Few things are as sensible as hybrid powertrains. They’re for folks who aren’t quite ready to take the full-EV step (for financial reasons or otherwise), but who just want a safe car that won’t beat them up at the gas pump. Anyway, all I’m trying to say is: This Subaru Forester Hybrid is going to be on every suburban street in America very soon.
Let’s get straight to the 194 horsepower mid-size SUV’s numbers:
With up to 581 miles of range on a single tank of fuel, the 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid earns an EPA-estimated rating of 35 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, 35 mpg combined, which is an improvement of 10 mpg in city fuel economy. The 2025 Forester Hybrid will arrive at retailers nationwide in spring 2025, starting at $34,995 MSRP.
Hot damn! That’s a huge improvement. And a good price!
The base 2025 Forester costs $29,810, but given that the hybrid is only available on Premium (which starts over $32,000), Sport, Limited, and Touring — it’s closer to a $3,000 delta. Subaru told me over the phone that if you factor in other standard features, the hybrid really only adds about $1,300, which would be an absolute no-brainer. In fact, let’s just look at some numbers.
Here’s the non-hybrid Forester’s fuel economy:
That $1,600 annual fuel cost for the non-hybrid is for folks driving 15,000 miles a year and paying $3.13 a gallon, assuming 55% city driving and 45% highway driving. If you were to plug the same parameters into the hybrid Forester, you’d come out to about $1,350, or a savings of roughly $250. If the delta is $3000 between hybrid and non-hybrid, that would take 12 years to pay off, but at $1,300 similarly-equipped, buying the hybrid would pay off in just over five years.
But $3.13 is cheap gas! Here in California, where gas is $4,50 a gallon, if you drove 15,000 miles a year you’d pay about $2,330 in fuel for the non-hybrid and $1,950 per year on fuel for the hybrid. That’s saving you about $380 per year getting ~35 mpg instead of 29. If we compare the two Premium spec models, the $3000 gap would go away in eight years, and if you consider the delta to be $1,300, the hybrid would pay off in 3.5 years!
That’s not even considering the drivability benefits of a hybrid or the joy of being able to drive longer without refilling. As you can see in the EPA screenshot above, the standard Forester will go 481 miles on a tank; the hybrid? 581.
This thing is going to sell like crazy.
All Images: Subaru
Good lord does that car look underwheeled.
As someone who has never been afraid of trying new technology, I am somewhat baffled by the fact that hybrid technology has been around for close to 25 years and has only in the past five years or so become popular enough that most people seriously consider buying one when they’re car shopping. Does it just take a generation or so for most people to get comfortable with new automotive technology? I still regularly see people
…refer to EVs as new, unproven technology. Do we simply need to wait another half generation or so for them to become mature enough to be widely adopted?
I’ll just leave this here, since Bend is overrun by Subarus and Sprinter Vans
https://thatoregonlife.com/2025/01/subaru-shortage-bend/#google_vignette
I bought a Forester because I wanted a small-ish, affordable, AWD SUV with at least 230hp (and a giant greenhouse). Alas, that version of the Forester is no longer available…
I acknowledge I am not the typical Forester buyer (which is why that version is no longer available).
Tires/wheels look way too small… no doubt improves the mileage, but would a bit more offset hurt?
Yeah they’ll sell all that they can build.
Does it use a planetary eCVT like a Toyota hybrid instead of the usual belt-and-pulley Subaru CVT? If so, that’s another boon toward long-term reliability and should make these a great used buy in a decade or so.
Foresters are everywhere already around here. Hell, my wife has a ’17 in the driveway. Been a great little family runaround even if the gas tank feels like it’s the size of a thimble.
This really would be a great dad car for me wouldn’t it? I’m going to need a bigger car sooner rather than later and had already talked myself into a 4Runner or the new Passport but if I want to be honest with myself (BIG if) this is probably all the capability I need and it will literally get 15 MPG better than I’m currently getting in my Kona….
I’m considering the Crosstrek Hybrid for my dad car. Perfectly capable and great on gas, justifies something small and sporty as a 2nd car
Exactly. It’ll be easier to sell a weekend car a few years down the road after we’ve paid our dues with the hybrid wagons.
The CRV hybrid is more economical. The CX-50 hybrid is prettier. Both are more compelling.
AWD for AWD, the Honda’s 40 mpg city rating is definitely going to stand out, but the combined rating of 37 is a lot closer. Personally I like that Honda does allow a FWD option, but for those set on AWD, they’re a little closer and they’re all in the shadow of the RAV4’s 41 city. The Honda is probably still a nicer vehicle overall but of course hasn’t stopped Subaru sales yet.
The Mazda is definitely nicer inside and out, but the big advantage the Forester has is space. (True of the CR-V over the Mazda too.) The Subaru has 6 more cubic feet of passenger space than the nonhybrid Mazda, and nearly 10 more than the hybrid, with more space in basically every dimension. The hybrid Mazda has a couple cu. ft. more cargo space with the seats up, but seats down max volume the Subaru has 13 more. And the Mazda is longer and wider too, so not a case of the Subaru just being bigger (it is taller).
Why don’t they just call it a 2026? 😛
Probably late enough to start the 2026 model year anyway…
Jan 1 it can be called a 2026 in America.
It doesn’t have the stupid raised cargo floor of the Hybrid Crosstrek! Credit where credit is due Subaru!
I would struggle to get 15,000miles (25,000km) in a year in my car.
I’m averaging somewhere around 5,000miles (8,000km).
I’m probably a solid case for an EV based on my daily driving habits, but I’d never be able to get it to pay off. I could easily justify horrendously bad vehicle guzzling premium fuel and still be, financially, well ahead of a decent EV – but I’m just too cheap for that.
A Toyota Sienna Hybrid AWD somehow also gets 35mpg combined. I get that this Forrester Hybrid gets better MPGs than the gas version, but it’s not very impressive when you consider what else is out there.
I think it’s a decent compromise due to the symmetrical all wheel drive. All of the non iForce Max Toyota hybrids have an eAWD system that’s literally just a small electric motor over the rear axle that has no physical connection to the drivetrain. It’s enough to get you out of a pickle but if you need actual all wheel drive for whatever reason it isn’t going to cut it.
Subaru’s engines are quite thirsty for their size, and the AWD doesn’t help, either.
They can’t achieve 30 mpg without a CVT, for example.
35 mpg is actually excellent for a big SUV with AWD as capable as the Forester
It’s about the same as the hybrid Highlander gets which is a similar package
As many of you know I have a weird appreciation for perfectly executed appliance cars. In a way they’re not that different from great sports cars in that there’s a ton of extra engineering and thought that goes into them. A truly bad appliance car is a dreadful experience that can make your days worse. A truly good one fades into the background completely, and in that way it’s almost a luxury good, especially if your commute sucks ass or you don’t enjoy driving.
Anyway, on paper this is pretty much a perfect appliance car. It has tons of space, is usable in all seasons (the actual all wheel drive is a really nice feature, especially considering the eAWD systems in a lot of the competition are not very good), is highly efficient, can go a long way without gas, and I’m sure this will be a nice upgrade from a refinement perspective because those naturally aspirated Subaru boxers are um…quite a sensory experience, and not in the good way.
And as everyone is saying I can’t imagine there are very many members of Subaru’s usual demographic that would say “no thanks” to a hybrid. Anyway if you want one of these or the Crosstrek hybrid get a hold of your local Subaru dealership now and get your name on the list because you will not be able to buy one off the lot for the first year at least.
I would think a hybrid falls solidly into their traditional buyers. It’ll sell, even if it’s unreliable for the first year/two.
(if only we could imagine a hatchback WRX w 6MT as a performance hybrid)
Out of all the outlandish enthusiast dreams I’ve come across lately a hatchback manual hybrid WRX is one of the most enthusiast-ey
You’re welcome.
Saw the headline and assumed Matt wrote this.
For me, the draw with hybrid powertrains is more about–as you mentioned–a premium driving experience versus the non-hybrid models. Drive a gas-only RAV4 (whose displacement and characteristics are alarmingly similar to those of an old GM Iron Duke, in my opinion) and then a RAV4 Hybrid, and tell me which you would rather have, fuel-economy benefits aside. No wonder Toyota is considering going hybrid-only for the next RAV4, as it did with the ’25+ Camry.
That said, short-lived or low-volume hybrids make me nervous, especially when it comes to future battery support. The prior Crosstrek Hybrid is one such example. So I hope that this is an initiative to get this powertrain into other Subarus, like the Outback and Ascent.
It’s the same equipment that’s in the new Crosstrek hybrid as well, for what it’s worth
To elaborate on the features – seems like the hybrid versions include the respective option package available on Premium, Sport, and Limited trims. Which I suspect Subaru builds most of them with it anyway.
I don’t know that they’ll follow the exact same structure for the Crosstrek hybrid, but does seem like pricing of that may end up very close to the Forester.
According to Matt, I thought the only Forester I should consider is No Forester.
It would be nice to see a base model hybrid for only $1300 more. It’ll still sell like hot cakes though.
I suspect they’ll have fairly limited availability for the first year or two relative to demand, heck even Toyota can’t seem to build Rav4 Hybrids fast enough, so if you can only make so many, do it on higher trim cars. Sucks for the consumer but makes plenty of business sense.
481 mile range without the hybrid? How big is that gas tank?
My wife’s Outback has a 17 gallon tank which as a Fiesta guy with an 11 gallon tank always seems massive to me. In the city the range is about 400 miles and that bumps to 500 on the highway. That wild swing in range drives me nuts.
My old van had a 33-gallon tank, and got roughly 11 city and 17 highway. (~363-561 miles, albeit I never actually got much over 500 in practice)
Username checks out. I’ve always owned 4 cylinder hatchbacks so anything getting less than 30mpg pains me.
Totally fair. Until the day the right conversion van shows up affordably and near me (which might never happen), I’ll be using far more efficient vehicles, like my Prius v. Or at least a Camry, Corolla, etc.
I wonder how hard these and the Crosstrek Hybrid will be to find once they start hitting dealer lots. The average Subaru buyer is the perfect demographic for these hybrids and the hp bump is a welcome feature to boot
Yea I doubt you can find either of these at MSRP. They probably aren’t going to make enough to meet demand.
It’s a competitive segment. If I missed out on one of these the CR-V, RAV-4 and CX-50 hybrids would all be solid fall back options.
Aren’t those also hard to find?
I’ve been in contact w/my Subaru salesman at a local dealership. Today he sent me the SOA webpage link with the announcement of trims, specs and pricing and asked which one I wanted. Yeah, they’re gonna’ move a lot of these.