Steroid boost lets Forester play out its name

Tag : bottle holders
That was my one and only experience of the vehicle dynamics controlsystem lighting up on Subaru's latest iteration of the Forestersoft-roader.
I don't know if the VDC saved us an excursion into the trees, orwhether the new car handled the mid-corner mess any better than theVDC-less previous model. After all, both sport grippy, constantall-wheel drive. But like ABS and other electronic driving aids,it's nice to know the VDC is there.
Besides scoring the safety software across the range, the newForester is the heftiest upgrade to the model since Subaru launchedthe first Forester back in 1997. That car helped define thesoft-roader class of vehicle which now infests Australia's suburbsand is rapidly replacing Ford and Holden big sixes in the role ofall-purpose family station wagon.
This time around Subaru has inflated the Forester to better competewith the burgeoning body of rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 andMitsubishi Outlander, which packed on more pork and more interiorroom in their most recent upgrades.
Gone is the old Forester's distinctive, boxy profile to be replacedby a more rounded, generic Japanese SUV shape. Also gone is theForester's compact, wieldy feel, especially while manoeuveringaround shopping mall parking lots and dense urban traffic.
The upside of the resize is a wider boot, more leg and shoulderroom in the front and ample rear occupant space.
The new car sits higher (215mm ground clearance versus 200mm) andhas better approach and departure angles, giving it a bit moreoffroad credibility even though the limited-slip diff standard onthe previous model has slipped off the feature list.
Also missing, mercifully, are the old model's Yokohama"Geo-squealer" tyres which had poor wet-weather grip,howled on rough bitumen and made hoons out of suburban mums byscreeching loudly under anything but the gentlest cornering forces.Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain rubber now does a better and quieterjob of propping up the Forester's corners. A new, wider, track anddouble-wishbone rear suspension has done wonders for the ride.Where the former Forester let you know about every slightmalformation in the road surface, the new one has a supple,relaxing ride.
Build quality has also taken a step forward, if the run-outForester I bought six months ago is any guide. That car has beenback to the dealer many times to try to fix a rich assortment ofrattles and buzzes, whereas the test car was tight and quiet, bar asingle rattle over bumps from the vicinity of the tailgate.
We drove the poverty pack of the range, a manual Forester X, whichlists for $30,490 before on-roads and comes standard with VDC, ABS,cruise, six airbags, manual air, and a single-slot CD with an iPodjack. The X manual has just one cup holder up front and none in therear, although there are bottle-holders built into the door pocketsall round.
Locomotion comes by way of a 2.5-litre flat-four cylinder mated toeither a five-speed manual or an auto with just four speeds. Themanual packs a low range lever, but to be truly useful thereduction needs to be lower.
The latest boxer engine is a little greener and tad more powerful,but more weight cancels out the advantage. The Forester has auseful, flat power delivery through to its rev limit but could usemore grunt down low, especially when negotiating slow, uphillcorners off road. Mostly smooth and quiet, the motor gets raucousnear its peak.
Fuel consumption as measured by the trip computer varied between 10litres per 100km and 11.5. Real-world testing was simple. We loadeda pair of kids in the back and took off for a half-day cruise ofthe Hawkesbury River area just north of Sydney in search of dirtand rough secondary roads.
The idea was to explore at random and the Forester excelled at thetask. Smooth, quiet and relaxing on the freeway, the car wasentertaining to punt down rough bitumen with its long travelsuspension soaking up the bumps, and plenty of security from theAWD system. Body roll was well-controlled for this sort of vehicleand the steering accurate, although lacking in feel.
In the mild offroad conditions we encountered, the Forester was funand confidence-inspiring. While a two-wheel drive car couldprobably have coped with the dirt sections, it would have meantmuch picking along at a snail's pace, combined with the worry ofscraping the underbelly.
This was perfect soft-roader territory and the Forester gobbled itup. With its raft of safety features, bigger body and better ride,the new Forester steps up from also-ran to the front of thesoft-roader pack.