Subaru Forester Estate 2002-2005

The Subaru Forester is by no means a good looking car offering less presence than most other 4x4’s and isn’t overly sophisticated either. It is actually the look that makes it better to drive though with its lower centre of gravity proving to be a lot more practical than you’re average car. The interior is fairly spacious and comfortable if not state of the art as Subaru have opted more for practicality than style. The handling is surprisingly good with lovely soft suspension ironing out all the bumps in the road and the handling is sharp and accurate. The engines are also phenomenal with the 2.5-litre turbocharged engine offering blistering pace while still getting a fairly respectable fuel efficiency.

Pros and Cons:

• Surprisingly good handling
  Excellent reliability
  Good performance and efficiency

• There are no diesel engines in the range
  Not a good looking car

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Exterior and Interior

The Forester will not be winning any beauty contests with its long narrow bonnet and big square back end. A facelift in 2005 did go some way to improving the look, but not by much.

The interior is fairly spacious with a large sunroof that extends behind the back seats to help to increase the sense of space. The front passenger and driver have ample room to sit comfortably, but the same can’t be said for the back seats where it’s a tight squeeze to fit in three adults in comfortably. The boot is fairly large being able to cope with even the longest of family trips away. There is also the added option of folding down the split folding rear seats which increases the space significantly.

The exterior looks of the car are carried through to the interior with it being aimed more at being rugged and practical rather than stylish. The interior is full of practical touches coming with extra storage areas that come in the form of a large storage bin in the dash and cargo nets dotted throughout the interior. The Forester was never available with high equipment levels, but the entry level X trim does offer electric windows, CD player and climate control. The higher trim levels come with the large glass electric sunroof, CD auto-changer, heated front seats, front fog lamps, sat-nav, cruise control, alloy wheels and steering wheel mounted audio controls.

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Engines

There were only two engines available when the Forester was first released in 2002. These came in the form of two 2.0-litre engines. There was a standard version that produced 155bhp whilst a turbocharged model came with 174bhp. In 2004 a 2.5-litre turbo was introduced which produced 208bhp and replaced the smaller 2.0-litre turbo. This was then upgraded a year later to produce 225bhp. There were never any diesel engines available, but there is the choice between either a manual or automatic gearboxes.

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Performance and Economy

The original 2.0-litre engine is an excellent all rounder offering a good combination of both good fuel economy and speed. It manages to go from 0-60mpg in just over 9 seconds and achieves 30mpg, which is better than its rivals the Rav 4 and Freelander. The Turbocharged engine is just as good coming in just below the 2.0-litres on fuel efficiency with 29mpg and is over a second faster going from 0-60mph in 8 seconds. The original 208bhp 2.5-litre engine was extremely quick and returned a decent 25mpg for such a fast car. The upgrade in 2005 however made it even more fuel efficient achieving 26mpg and was quicker too going from 0-60mph in a blisteringly quick 5.8 seconds.

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What it's like to Drive

The Forester is slightly lower than the standard 4x4 which helps to lower the centre of gravity and improves the handling. It corners exceptionally well with the body roll only becoming excessive if corners are taken at speeds which they shouldn’t be. The suspension does an excellent job of ironing out all the bumps in the road providing a smooth ride. The steering wheel feels well balanced and the driving position is good offering excellent all round visibility. The low ride height does restrict it’s off road capabilities, but without low range gearing it wouldn’t have been able to handle really tough situations anyway. It does do a good job of tackling rough dirt tracks and muddy fields though.

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Faults and Repairs

Subaru perform extremely well in reliability surveys and the Forester is no exception. Owners report excellent reliability with just a few faults. However, if something does go wrong then it will prove expensive to repair with Subaru being one of the most expensive manufacturers for repairs.

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