Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  Great Forester Fun to Drive - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By uncle Milty - October 5 - 9:07 pm

  Great car to drive, very user friendly. Simple, all wheel drive is second to none. I purchased a car from East Hills Subaru my salesman name was James Hoppe, very helpful and understanding. Took the time to show me the car.

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  Forester XT Premium - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By jon - August 25 - 9:50 pm

  Great highway car. Here in CO, the altitude ranges from 5000 feet in the city to more than 10000 in the mountains, but this car handles all highways the same--80 mph. On straight-flats it gets about 26 mpg, and about 21 mpg in the city. Notice that these figures are about 2 mpg lower than EPA estimate. This is not an error, but I will get back to that in a minute. The vehicles appearance is plain, which can be charming, but it lacks some standard features, which make it feel cheap. Which it is, unless you upgrade to Touring. In that case the plain appearances and functionality mesh a little better. In my opinion, the car looks best when lowered 2.5", but then you lose "off-road" capability. Which brings me to the cars performance. As I said earlier, the car is a great for highway-driving. Its also pretty fun to drive in the city, too. It easily gets from 0-35 mph in about 4 seconds, and from 60 to 80 in about the same, If power-braking and/or flooring it, it can shave those times significantly. This accounts for the 1 to 2 seconds of turbo lag, which this car has a lot of, at lower speeds especially. The traction control is only okay. It cannot be completely turned off (doesnt really turn off at all), and is slow to react and sometimes over-reactive. The interior is decent with HQ LEATHER or leather/fabric seats, but once again lacking features: better dome lighting, electric passenger seat, push-button start, backseat charger ports, etc. The entertainment system is even COMPLETELY LACKING A FEATURE which has a grayed-out button. Its called MirrorLink, which allows you to connect your phones display to the head units display. This feature works on my phone when I plug it into the cars USB (rendering my phone useless), but does not light up the ML button. Turns out that feature is disabled in the U.S. This one bums me out. Remember how I said the vehicles mpg is lower than EPA estimates? Well, let me tell more about the cars technology. I have completely filled the tank 23 times since I purchased in Dec 15. Every time I filled up I divided miles driven by gallons filled, and every time I got a significantly lower than the EPA estimates of 23/25/28. For the 20 fill-ups that I calculated: miles since last fill-up divided by gallons filled, I got a range of deviation from -1.4 to -2.1 with an average of 23.3 mpg. This is a 7% average difference from 25 mpg, a somewhat significant value. And I know what this sounds like, but its not the effects of altitude, because there is a twist. The vehicle calculates and displays values fairly close to EPAs from virtually the same numbers... The altitude would have no effect on the vehicles calculation of mpg. Thats right the MPG CALCULATOR in your Forester is probably incorrect. Check it out. Overall, the car is really GOOD FOR SOMEBODY WHO LIVES AT ALTITUDE, that wants a reliable sport-SUV to get them from point A to B. However, it would be a much better vehicle with: an accurate fuel economy gauge, better UI on infotainment system, a way to completely disable TC and other safety features (such as roll-over airbags that can go off even when the is just on a steep incline). I would trade my car in a second for Forester that has these features plus a six-speed transmission. Add a slightly lower stance, and other STi traits, and I would pay anything.

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  Great Value for $$ - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Readzalot - July 28 - 8:23 pm

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  Safe but uncomfortable rear leg room. - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Amthony - March 30 - 9:26 pm

  This is a great vehicle, great pick up for a 4cyl. and a great design. The rear seats are uncomfortable as far as the foot placement. Front seat floor racks impede the rear passengers feet rest.

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  Great SUV - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Stacie - March 10 - 8:20 am

  I think this is a great smaller SUV. Plenty of room in the cargo area for various activities. I have enough room for groceries, packing up for long camping trips and even moving wood and materials for home projects. Seats and ride are extremely comfortable even with the sport tuned suspension. Great power and I love the option for S#/S/I modes. Itd be nice to have a digital speed readout like on my husbands WRX but you can read the speedometer just fine. The steering is responsive and hugs the road well around corners. I wish it had a higher tow rating but 1500lbs is enough to tow a trailer with a atv and few dirt bikes so it fits my needs. Im happy with the gas mileage. I really enjoy the upgraded infotainment system, Bluetooth connection is great and the touch screen is really responsive. I love the look of this vehicle, its aggressive looking with a very comfortable ride. I actually got my mother in law to buy one as well. I would recommend the forester to anyone looking for a smaller SUV with a good amount of power, comfortable ride and reliability and reputation of Subaru.

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  Better Than Expected - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Ed Walker - January 3 - 10:12 am

  After reading the reviews and then driving several makes of small SUV (We also have a Honda Fit), we found the Subaru Forester to be a great fit for our needs. We tried and drove the Chevrolet Equinox, the Hyundai Tuscon, the Toyota RAV 4, The Honda CR-V, and looked but did not Drive the Ford Escape, Jeep Wrangler, Mazda CX-5, Honda Odyssey, Chrysler Town and Country, and maybe a couple more that I forgot. The Subaru and CR-?V were the top two choices, but the roomier cabin in the Forester won us over. The two things that bother me a little in the Subaru is the lack of room for my large feet. The wide console hits the heel of my foot when driving but I get used to it after a few miles. One the passenger side, I twist a little to the outside to avoid hitting it with my foot which makes it uncomfortable. I think that there is too much travel in the brake pedal, but my wife says its fine. We now have had it for 5 weeks and have averaged 30.3 MPG over 1400 miles, which is at the high end of my expectations. We got 32.5 on a recent 600 mile trip. We do get better milage than many drivers simply because its a fairly long drive at 45-55 mph when we travel into town to go shopping. That raises our average quite a bit.

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  What a grrrreat CAR!!!!! - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By steve - December 8 - 1:33 pm

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  Exciting time in the Premium - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Kenneth L. Weaver - November 7 - 10:59 pm

  I came from a 2007 Honda Civic LX, I looked, and test drove most of the main players. I tried the CRV, Rogue, Tiguan, CX-5, and the Outlander. I had it narrowed down to these. I had previously owned Ford, KIA, and Hyundai products..never down that road again. They all had their strong points, but after you take all those and combine them, you end up with the Forester. I love the styling, and the ride. The only downside is the poor OEM tires. The Yokohama Geolanders, well they just suck. Besides the tires, I love the layout and the functionality inside. I find the seats are comfortable (Ive had back surgery). No excess noises or rattles. The stereo is nice with the bluetooth connectivity, and the USB ports inside the center console. If you are looking for a comfortable CUV with a can do attitude, check out the Forester.

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  2nd forester better than first! - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Elizabeth Clarke - October 24 - 6:15 am

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  A Lot to Like -- Other Things, Not So Much - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Frank Colligan - October 23 - 12:42 pm

  Things I like best: Overall visibility from inside is just awesome, appearance and styling, high riding position. Things I hate: Front drivers seat very uncomfortable. The seat cushion is very stiff and the seat width is not sized for large American butts ... feels like left cheek is hanging off the side. Compounded by the entire seat being jammed right up against the center console, which makes it difficult to sit squarely in the center of the seat. When driving it feels like I am not centered to the accelerator and brake pedals. Right now I am sitting on an excellent truck drivers seat cushion, which is helping, but this could get old real fast if the seats do not break in. Things I like: Paddle controls, adjustable steering wheel has good range, cargo space, auto-dimming mirrors, heated seats. Acceleration of the turbo is better than expected, though a little jumpy when starting from a stop. The 18" wheels are nice. Things I dont like: Other reviewers have mentioned these as well. Leg room for driver could be better (but is better than most other options in a small SUV). Analog speedometer is hard to read. During the day it is impossible to see where the climate control dials are set ... easier at night because of backlighting. Center console too far back to be of any real use. Entertainment system OK, but cannot figure out how (if possible with USB drive) to play all the songs in one genre ... I have to select one specific artist and album that fits the genre. Things I could do without: The panoramic moon roof. From past moon roofs Ive had, I can count on one hand how many times Ive used them. Too windy ... too noisy, and sunburned head ... need I say more? Id rather have the cost of that back to put into other options. Bottom Line? Jury is still out, but hoping I will adjust and find other ways to make life better. Biggest concern is seat comfort and how that will translate into a long trip. Hoping for the best with MPG, but that will take more time.