Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

• 

  Pleasantly surprised with first Subaru - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By T - October 14 - 11:47 pm

  The acceleration and handling is excellent. When I drive it it feels very stable and sure around obstacles. It is also surprisingly roomy inside.

• 

  2016 Subaru Forrester - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Richard Dailey - August 28 - 2:09 am

• 

  Sharp and nimble - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Douglas Swinford - July 23 - 4:30 pm

  I have a lot of experience with driving cars, trucks, commercial vehicles. This is a find piece of machinery. In comparing with the competitors I liked the Mazda CX-5 and its snappy little motor. The Skyactive engine they have has a little more snap than the normally aspirated Touring, but I love the flat four and the balance and proven reliability of this set up. If you live in a climate where you have snow and bad roads and want all wheel drive they seem to have an edge on the comp too. Plus, when pricing its as if you dont pay extra for it (AWD) like you do on other vehicles. We liked the Hyundai Tuscon as its really sharp but I didnt want a turbo motor and all the ones we liked had their new 1.6 Turbo. I think Hondas are great but the front seats were lacking and did not have the wonderful seating position and view out of the windshield that the Forester does. Forester manages to have a nice back window you can see out of and still be nicely styled. My wife and I are both shorter drivers (under 510") and we had the best visibility out of the Forester. Now to particulars... I like the Eyesight system it works well but can be quirky occasionally and kick itself off. Its not annoying though when it mildly scolds you for getting out of your lane. Given that this is a high end model I would have thought I would have more gauges, i.e. temp / oil pressure / volts. But you get a blue light to tell you when the motor is cold, duh, and thats it. It does not have quite the ride that my 2003 Dodge Caravan does, but of course that has a longer wheelbase and it is a two wheel drive and cant handle much off the pavement. Ive only had this car off the road for a short distance once on some un even ground and she was like "lets go!" My wife really likes the tight turning radius compared to our van and she can get the power seat set so she doesnt need a pillow like with most cars. She loves to sit up hight and see out. So far the gas mileage has been very very good. My worst tank early on averaged 26 and the current one is at 30 for 100 miles. It will probably level out 27 or so. If there is road construction and you are held down in speed the mileage keeps shooting up. Driving 70-75 steady will put you at about 26 which is still good. Ive only got 1600 miles on it. Thats all I can think of for now. Im the kind of person who spends hours and hours studying and reading consumers reviews which I think is one of the best measures of a car. If you are coming down in size it will take a little adjusting but its still comfy for couple of hour trips. Happy shopping

• 

  Absolute best bang for your buck - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Kevin Spacey - July 2 - 9:04 pm

  I have spent nearly 100 hours over the past several months reading/watching everything I can about midsize suvs and trucks. I test drove a number as well. I had shyed away from Subaru mostly because I was never a fan of their appearance which is why it took me so long to start researching them and eventually test driving. I was blown away at how much you get for the price. The quality is obvious the minute you see one in person and take it for a drive. The standard AWD is unbeatable. It feels heavy yet has this velvety smooth acceleration that makes you feel one with the pavement. The outward appearance is deceiving. It doesnt look huge but when you step inside its like an entirely different vehicle. Its extremely roomy inside and the oversized windows open it up even more. I test drove a RAV4 with comparable features and it felt like a large Corolla and was way pricier. If youre even thinking about a vehicle in this class you need to test drive the Forester. Itll sell itself.

• 

  Fell below expectation and reputation - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Kiran Chedella - April 26 - 12:17 am

  This car has very cheap interior, too many rattling noise, blower noise. Most of the issues are during cold weather. Passenger seat belt warning light come up even though the passenger seat is empty. When cold it takes 10 minutes for the engine to warm up and pick up acceleration, if driving in before 10 minutes, cant drive more than 30 to 35 mph at full throttle. Drive side windshield freezing from inside even though all windows, moon roof is completely closed and it takes long time to clear and melted water dripping into dashboard. Have several fixes done nearly visited 7 times dealership and again scheduled one. Highly recommended to thoroughly check the vehicle before purchasing. The dealership from where I purchased the vehicle always say why are you worried about the plastic and noise but the other dealer identified the root cause and fixed them but new issues coming up. This vehicle is just 7 months old and has only 7000 miles on it. Not at all recommended.

• 

  Love it - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By paula - March 3 - 3:25 pm

  my scores say it all. This is a well-engineered car engineered with the driver in mind. It consistently delights me.

• 

  So far so good - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By George Chen - February 18 - 8:29 pm

  Its very difficult to find another Subaru car/suv on the road or parking lots. Since we bought the Forester in mid-March, we have counted less than 10 Subaru in the last 3 weeks (not counting the cars in the dealer lots).

• 

  Im a convert! - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Baseball Townie - January 26 - 12:43 pm

  First, please understand I was driving a 2008 KIA Sportage manual shift and was very happy with it, when my wife told me it was time to get a new vehicle. Hey, I dont have to be told twice. I did a lot of research, and a lot of looking, and the new KIAs did not suit my purposes. I do a lot of kayaking and other outdoor activities. The new KIAs roof rack design was not conducive to carrying sea kayaks, plus they havent been highly rated. I also looked at the Toyota RAV-4s, and have experience with the Honda CRV since my wife has one- none seems to be the package I was looking for. The more I read, the more I thought the Forester was just what I needed. Not the sportiest vehicle out there, but reputed to be reliable, good gas mileage, good traction, and roomy without being overly big. The Forester turns out to be beyond my expectations. The kayaks fit easily, and I havent noticed any decrease in the MPG with them on top. I have been averaging about 29 MPG on non-highway driving. I love the moon-roof, and the entertainment system is great. All the usual driving controls are very intuitive. Ive heard complaints about acceleration, but I find it peppier than my old Kia- not a problem merging onto the interstate. The car handles nicely on our winding back country roads, and the high clearance was perfect for the dirt "roads" in the Adirondacks that I frequent. It is quieter than my Kia, and the CVT seems to work much smoother than a traditional auto transmission. There is good visibility while driving. I also read extensively about the oil burning problem reported on older models- this gave me some pause, but after grilling the sales person and service manager, I was assured the problem had been fixed. And so far I havent used a drop of oil in over 2500 miles. Ill keep an eye on it, all the same. There are only a few things I would like to see improved. The dashboard material is very hard to keep clean- the pollen and dust stick readily to it. The instrument panel display (speedometer, etc.) are the nice red backlighting (protects your night vision) when the lights are on, but the sound system is an LED screen, which I find excessively bright at night. Unfortunately there is only one dimmer switch, and when I decrease the brightness to suitable level, I can barely see the speedometer panel. Another minor annoyance is the design of the door trim. I have long legs, and tend to sit splay legged when I drive, therefore my knee rests against this protruding trim. After an 8 hour drive across the state, I found I had pressure marks.Another adjustment Ive had to make is the delay when moving from reverse to drive. Seems to lag a little. It may just be my transition to an automatic from a manual, but I do have to be aware of the change in timing for when I back out onto the road- I need more lead time to keep others from getting perturbed. The "all weather" mats that come as part of the "upgrade" package are quite cheap and ineffective. Subaru should be embarrassed. They would be better off contracting with Weather Tech to make some decent mats- particularly at the sticker price they put on these crappy things. The only other "regret" I have is the interior color. I got the blue exterior, which is really snazzy, but I didnt pay much attention to the seat color, which is a very light shade. I can see that down the road these are going to get grimed up. I guess you can argue the light color seats will be cooler in the summer- but living in the north, that is not a great benefit. I cant fault Subaru for my choice- just be aware. Overall, I am very happy with my new Forester, and I expect to be driving it for years to come.

• 

  Five Star Car! - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Nikki R. - September 29 - 7:18 am

  I absolutely love my new Subaru Forester. I will be driving this car until I just cant drive it anymore. Ive been shopping for a crossover SUV for about a month now. I bought my Forester two days ago after much hesitancy. EVERYONE in the state of Oregon drives a Subaru and I didnt want to be just another Subaru driver. Sometimes its fun to stand out! But now that Ive owned one, I totally get the hype. The car handles well, its fun to drive and so far it has been good on gas. Ive done mainly city driving and its been between 25 - 30 mpg. There are a lot of choices in the world of crossover SUVs, and I feel as though I drove most of them. This one (for me) had the best driving experience and the best value by far. The mid-trim level (Premium) gets you a lot (heated seats, a beautiful moonroof) and Im happy that I stepped up to it. If youre in the throes of crossover suv car selection like I was for a month, give the Forester a try. Some like it, some dont but the quality, value and driving experience are really top notch.

• 

  2016 Subaru Forester a Disappointment - 2016 Subaru Forester
  By Vicki S. - July 24 - 4:47 am

  The new Subaru Forester is not an improvement over previous year models. I had this as a courtesy car for 3 days, so it went on my 45 mile each way work commute which takes me across small neighborhood roads as well as the majors and the turnpike, so all kinds of driving. I noticed right away that the interior has some line of sight problems. The side windows are junked up with fake little triangle windows near the front corners, so that the reflection of the interior is plainly visible in the window when you are trying to look at the side rear view mirrors. When trying to adjust the rear view mirror to see out the back and sides of the vehicle I accidently hit the on-star emergency button and was promptly given a call. These small 911 butons turned out to be right above where I put my hand to bring the RW mirror to my height, so rotating the mirror down brought my knuckles into contact witthe call buttons. Behind me, in the way of seeing to traffic, were the seat belt line from the back cargo area to the center back seat, and all 3 headrests also blocked my view. The back of the car supplies large corner blind spots so that there is no adjustment that lets you see cars coming from behind you right or left. I never achieved a position that alieviated the sight problems, and could not find the knob to adjust the outside view mirrors. The seats are made of a shiny cover material so I was unsteady and sliding off them, these are "cloth" seats, I think, that also had a heated feature with controls front and down on the center console. The seats are supposed to be buckets, but are so uncomfortable, stiff and slippery that it was more like a personal bench seat. The dials and knobs on the radio and heat are cheap shiny silver plastic that really feel and look rather low class. The dashboard is still the sticky soft fake leather that I had in my 2008 Outback and already sported a layer of fuzz and dust that I know from experience cannot be removed. The feel of the ride, compared to my old Outback that needs struts, was just as bouncy and all over the road as my 08, so maybe I dont need that strut job afterall. The Forester has LOTS of headroom, and a moonroof, but the front dash seemed all wrong, nothing was near enough for me to be able to use it easily or without stretching and craning. Acceleration was awful in that it jerked around, although I am willing to say that maybe that was me not being able to find a comfortable seating position. In slow and go traffic I had trouble keeping it completely straight on, and there was a little audio buzzer on the dash to tell me each time I strayed close to my lane line and yet nothing to tell me when other people were coming into my lane. Climate controls were hard to figure out -- remember this coming from an Outback owner. Maybe a larger person than myself would appreciate the shape of this car, but for someone 5 feet 5" this car was too big and uncomfortable. When it comes time to replace my 08 Outback I will be looking at something that does not put me in a 4 wheel skyscraper. I thought it was good on gas, maybe because it has a larger tank than my Outback. But it would also be too tall for me to load my kayak as I am used to doing.