When Is a Soft Roader Not a Soft Roader?

When soft roader in question is as complete and competent as is the all-new 2009 Subaru Forester. In a class populated by posers and wannabees, Subaru has literally taken the higher road with a completely new Forester that raises the bar in the increasingly competitive small CUV or crossover utility category. While some call these vehicles soft roaders, because their off-road abilities are so compromised, the Forester proves conclusively that this need not be the case; here’s a compact CUV that can play with the big boys. More…

Over the years, before Audi got so successful in the United States and moved far upscale, I always thought of Subaru as something of a Japanese Audi. After all both built their reputations in the US back in the eighties offering up the mantra of the advantages of all-wheel-drive and at the time, and both were niche players in our market. Some things change, some things remain the same; both still tout the advantages of all-wheel-drive, both over the years have enjoyed great success in rallying but while Audi has moved decidedly up-market, Subaru has remained true to its niche, staying in the low- to mid-priced market sector simply providing its loyal customers with durable, well-built sedans, station wagons (dare I say that dirty word again), SUVs and crossovers with a well-earned reputation for class-leading safety.

With all that being said we just had the opportunity to sample the newest Subaru, the all-new 2009 Forester, on California’s beautiful Catalina Island and on the crowded streets and freeways of Orange County just as the 2009 model is arriving in Subaru showrooms nationwide. While Subaru feels that the new Forester CUV, which is slightly bigger in every dimension than the model it replaces, is styled to be more SUV-like, I feel just the opposite is true. It is much more station wagon-like, yet by virtue of 8.9 inches of ground clearance, performs even better off-road than its predecessor, a near-perfect balance of form and function.

As with all Subaru models, the 2009 Forester comes equipped as standard with Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. With its more efficient – according to 2009 EPA numbers – 2.5-liter boxer engine (available in two versions, normally-aspirated with 170-horsepower, turbocharged and intercooled with 224-horsepower) and combined with its lower center of gravity, the Forester provides the most car-like driving characteristics of almost any CUV while not sacrificing any off-road prowess due to its advanced standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system. The component suite also includes Vehicle Dynamics Control and four-wheel disc ABS brakes with a Brake Assist safety system. Manual-transmission models also benefit from the inclusion of Incline Start Assist, which can momentarily prevent the vehicle from rolling backward when being driven away from a stop on an incline.

Safety doesn’t take a back seat in the new Forester as it includes a comprehensive array of features that including a new, high-strength body structure, standard equipment front seat side impact air bags and side curtain air bags that offer additional head protection for front and rear occupants. Intelligent dual-stage deployment front air bags use sensors to determine front air bag deployment strength for optimal occupant protection. Active front head restraints can help reduce potential whiplash injury in a rear collision. As the previous Forester earned top safety marks from both NHTSA and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, the new Forester is expected to build upon this legacy.

The results of this combination of features? A Forester with off-road abilities that shame its nearest competitors, demonstrated on a steep, rutted trail on Catalina Island that stopped a Honda CR-V dead in its tracks. Next we hopped in behind the wheel of the Forester and motored right up the hill with no difficulty due in part to the active torque split system that automatically transfers more power to the wheels with the best grip as slippage occurs, a most impressive performance, demonstrating its superior abilities.

On the inside Subaru’s engineers took advantage of its extra 3.6 inches of wheelbase to address the previous version’s most serious shortcoming, lack of rear seat legroom. Combined with rounded lower seat cushions and doors that open wider than ever before, rear seat access is dramatically improved, especially for parents who have to deal with bulky child safety seats. And the 60/40 rear seats now recline giving rear seat passengers increased comfort.

Cargo capacity with the rear seats up is superior to its rivals and with the larger rear hatch opening, large, bulky items, such as the now industry-standard, fully boxed 42-inch flat screen television, are swallowed whole. And rear visibility, a hallmark of the previous Forester, is enhanced by the use of even more glass and by minimizing the width of the D-pillars thus reducing blind spots where children can hide when backing up, an under-emphasized safety feature.

While Subaru touts “that new interior materials, including double-stitched fabrics and high-grade plastics, impart a feeling of higher quality,” we simply feel that the materials used, especially the plastics, are simply class-competitive and fall a bit short of our expectations given how well the Forester performed dynamically. This is not a bad thing, as while not unattractive, it’s just illustrates where we feel some corners were cut in order to provide for the performance and safety levels attained and bring in its price under $20,000 for the base normally-aspirated model with a manual transmission, a $1,200 price reduction over the outgoing model, showing just how competitive the segment has become.

It’s obvious that the Subaru development team has clearly targeted the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV-4 as the benchmark targets for the new Forester. In our opinion they’ve sold themselves short. It seems as if the new Forester has struck a hard-to-define balance between on-road comfort and off-road capabilities that puts it into direct competition with vehicles clearly outside of this class. Maybe they should have had a Trail Rated Jeep Patriot on hand, rather than the on-road-biased CUVs that clearly are outclassed by the Forester’s on- and off-road abilities, to make a more powerful comparison. By any measurable and objective standard, the new Forester clearly occupies a seat at the front of its class and deserves to be on every shopper‘s list when looking for a compact CUV.