2025 Subaru Forester Limited - A Very Nice Tall Wagon

The 2025 Subaru Forester is a Subaru without bling. That's not to say it doesn't have good stuff, it does, but that it looks the part of a Subaru, ready to tackle whatever comes its way.

Subaru calls the Forester a SUV. They can call it whatever they want; it's a tall wagon as far as I'm concerned. The extra height gives more cubic feet of storage. There is between 69.1 and 74.4 cubic feet of storage with the rear seats folded flat, and 27.5 and 29.6 behind the rear seat depending on the trim. 

Under the hood is Subaru's 2.5-liter, DOHC, flat (opposed) four-cylinder. In the Forester it is rated at 180 hp, and 178 lb-ft. The only transmission is a CVT. Although you can put it in "manual" mode and play race driver running it through its eight "gears," I just left it in Drive - no fuss, n muss.

The 2025 Forester Limited and some other trim packages are rated at 33-mpg highway, and 26-mpg in the city. 

The Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is available in every Forester but there are three modes depending on trim. Active Torque Split All-Wheel Drive is the base set up. Then in the Premium is the Driver-selectable X-MODE, and on the Sport, Limited (as tested), and Touring versions you get a dual function X-MODE. It's all good stuff to help your Forester conquer all kinds of roads and weather.

Subaru says the 2025 Forester has a "Sleek, new, contemporary interior and exterior design." It looks like a Subaru to me, and that's reassuring, at least to me. 

Even with the Limited trim the interior looks easy to keep clean as befits a vehicle intended to be driven anywhere.

Yes there is tech stuff, and plenty of buttons to push. Although I'd prefer not having finger prints all over the screen the buttons had a positive feel when pushed. The adaptive cruise control was one of the smoothest I've used. 

No the Forester is not the fastest car out there. Zero to 60 comes up at around 8.3 seconds (if you remember the malaise era that would be a good time). But crawling through deep snow, or a muddy back road, does not need rocket acceleration. 

Subaru is one of those cars that makes you like AWD. It doesn't intrude. You will never know it's there until you need it, and maybe not even then. Every auto maker builds AWD models but Subaru has been doing it forever. 

If you're looking for Wowie-Zowie looks and scorching acceleration take a look at a Subaru WRX, but if you want a Subie that will get you there and back safe and sound the 2025 Forester is a car/wagon/SUV you should check out.

2025 Forester price starts at $29,995 (subaru.com), a Limited like the test version starts at $36,410; it is a very well equipped vehicle.