German Car Zone

"We are proud and honored to receive this award for the Subaru
Forester," said Thomas J. Doll, executive vice president, Subaru of
America. "The previous Forester had become a byword for practicality and
durability and we knew the 2009 Forester had a tough act to follow. So, we
made the new Forester bigger, more powerful and more economical than
ever-while retaining its legendary reliability and safety, only in a more
complete package. The improvements to the new Forester are also being
reflected in consumer demand, with sales up 32% over the previous year."

Priced from $19,995 the all-new Subaru Forester represents a $1,200
reduction over the entry price of the previous model. It is available with
either a 170-hp 2.5-liter boxer engine or a 224-hp turbocharged engine.
Blending utility with performance and comfort, the 2009 Forester is built
on an all-new platform featuring a 3.6-inch longer wheelbase (now 103.0
inches) that improves ride and interior space, especially rear seat
legroom. The 2009 Forester also features increased hip and shoulder room.

Living up to Subaru's legendary safety record, the Forester and offers
cutting-edge safety technology, including Subaru's ring reinforcement
safety system, front, seat-mounted side, and three-row side-curtain airbags
and ABS. Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) system, which incorporates
stability and traction control systems with a roll-over sensor, is also
standard equipment.

The Subaru Forester recently received the highest possible ratings in
frontal and side impact crash tests by the governments' National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In addition to a five-star frontal
and side impact crash-test rating, the 2009 Forester received a four-star
rollover resistance rating.

To judge contenders for the award, MOTOR TREND's editorial staff
conducted exhaustive off-road, street and track testing, and carefully
considered essentials such as driving performance, safety and features.
MOTOR TREND'S Sport/Utility of the Year is not a comparison test. Each
contender was evaluated against three simple criteria: superiority
(engineering, design, utilization of resources); significance (its impact
on the market), and value (what buyers get for their money versus the
competition).

http://www.prnewswire.com/

I used to like the old one - a lot in fact, but the new one just looks crap.

Despite the crappy new look and poor interior quality, the new Forester is selling like hot cakes in Australia. There must be something about it that we don't see.

Subaru South Africa lent my wife and I a new Forester XT to evaluate for a couple of days. Now, considering we've already had two Forries, the fact of the matter is this: we've ordered one.

For those that are interested here's my low-down on the difference between the two:

The new car is far easier on the eye than the old model in the metal too!

Congratulations, Martin! When are you due to receive the car?

Thanks mate... we're hoping to get the car around end-November! Looking forward to it. If all goes according to plan, one of its first tasks will be to go on a dive trip to Mozambique with the whole family. That extra 25 mm worth of ground clearance is going to come in handy.

Very nice review and congrats on the order, too!
One question though. Isn't the execive use of hard plastics in the interior very annoying?

^ Thanks Giannis and great question.

In truth, the answer is a mixed yes and no... For me, hard plastics aren't the end of the world. Of course - I like a good prod of soft, quality dashboard polyurethane like any other but I place build solidity and a rattle-free ride much more highly. I hate rattles. So because the new dashboard is at least solidly constructed, once on the move, the fact that the IP surface doesn't depress .25 of a millimetre becomes a secondary consideration.

That said... my comment to Subaru would be, if you're going to go el-cheapo, hard plastics at least have the good grace to match those el-cheapo, hard plastics in the various cabin surfaces. The sad fact is that the door cap material is different to the dash-top is different to the underside of the IP and so on. It's this lack of consistency in the texture and sheen of the plastics that completely destroys any impression of quality surfaces. Subaru are darned lucky that they have such a strong product in just about every other area in order to get away with this. On any other vehicle it would be a deal-breaker; on a Forester it's simply a case of same-old, same-old.

It's just over one month to go then!

That trip sure sounds like an adventure to me!

Congrats Martin

And the Safari is gonna be loads of fun