David Thomson tries two models from Subaru’s Forester range.
What’s new?
When Subaru introduced the fifth-generation Forester to New Zealand in 2018, it immediately impressed, picking up that year’s national Car of the Year Award.
Therehave been developments aplenty since then: the three-model range with all sharing the same 2.5-litre petrol engine has morphed into a five-model lineup with two engine choices.
Two of those models take Subaru’s new eBoxer hybrid powertrain, which combines a 2.0-litre petrol engine with a supplementary electric motor with outputs of 122kW of power and 261Nm of torque. The other models have the pure 2.5-litre petrol power, with peak outputs of 136kW and 239Nm — unchanged from the time of the vehicle’s initial launch.
The eBoxer, in top-spec $54,990 Premium guise, and a new option within the petrol line-up — the X Sport — recently passed through Drivesouth’s hands.
The eBoxer is the first hybrid Forester and has a $5000 price premium over the equivalent petrol model. It has less power, but more torque and, according to its standard cycle fuel consumption figures, delivers an economy gain of just under 10%.
The X-Sport is an enhanced version of the petrol Forester, featuring a jazzed-up exterior and interior and comes with a $47,490 price tag, which also includes a decent swag of extra equipment.
What’s it like to look like?
Low-key eBoxer badging aside, the hybrid looks like a regular Forester. Being the premium model, the test car picked up the extra exterior garnishes that also adorn the premium petrol, including 18-inch alloys, chrome and metallic-finish trims, and LED fog lights.
The X-Sport takes a much more substantial visual lift, with black alloys and black exterior accents and orange trim highlights. This treatment worked especially well on the test car, the black and orange contrasting strongly with its white exterior.
What’s it like inside?
As with its exterior, the interior of the standard Forester is restrained, wellfinished, roomy and hugely practical.
Up front, the cabin is bright and airy. A relatively high seating position and large windscreen deliver excellent forward visibility, and big side windows and thin pillars minimise blind spots to the sides. There’s plenty of shoulder and head room, the front seats on both the Premium and X-Sport are heated and eight-way power adjustable. There is also a decent array of storage spaces, including deep cupholders, bottle holders and a cubby at the base of the centre console.
The main eight-inch multiinformation display screen is neatly integrated into the dash, and a further digital screen is incorporated in the main instrument cluster.
The second row of seats is roomy and practical. There are two USB plug-ins and a folddown armrest with cupholders. The rear seat squab is a little flat and lacking in support.
Styling-wise, everything in the cabin is understated on the eBoxer Premium, which takes black artificial leather upholstery. It also takes the regular Forester display screens, but has extra hybrid energy flow display options.
The X-Sport interior is bolder, thanks principally to generous splashes of orange highlighting, which feature in both trim inserts and contrast stitching on the doors, centre console and dash. Trimmed with textured water-repellent fabric, the seats are also adorned with orange stitching.
The Forester’s boot, accessed via a power-operated tailgate on both the Premium and X-Sport, is large, square and highly practical. Bag hooks and a 12v power socket are provided, and an electric release lever in the boot allows the rear seat backs to drop with ease.
The X-Sport has the same boot capacity as other purepetrol Foresters — 498 litres with the rear seats up and 1740 litres when they are down. The eBoxer boosts its boot space fractionally — to 509 litres and 1779 litres — due to its lack of a spare wheel (there’s a puncture repair kit instead).
What comes as standard?
In terms of safety, both the eBoxer Premium and X-Sport Forester are equipped with Subaru’s EyeSight crash avoidance technology and advanced Driver Monitoring System. This latter system detects driver distraction (such as taking your eyes of the road) and signs of fatigue and sounds an alert.
Other active safety features such as radar cruise control, blind spot and side view monitoring, lane change assist and rear cross traffic alert with autonomous emergency braking are also provided. The eBoxer Premium also has a pedestrian alert, while the X-Sport has active autodipping headlights.
Dual-zone climate control, a power sunroof and satellite navigation feature on both variants, along with Apple Car Play and Android Auto integration, and the usual wired and wireless connectivity options. The eBoxer Premium has the audio edge with a premium nine-speaker Harman Kardon system — against the X-Sports’ six-speaker set-up — and it also has self-levelling headlights.
The X-Sport is fitted with the more sophisticated version of Subaru’s SI-Drive all-wheel drive system, featuring dual rather than standard X-Mode. This provides it with a special deep snow/mud mode as well as regular mode for gentler soft and off-road work.
What’s it like to drive?
There’s a marked difference in the driving experience of these two Foresters.
The eBoxer has its advantages if obtaining superior economy is your aim. These benefits are most likely to be achieved in urban and steady highway driving, and that’s certainly where the hybrid Forester seems most at home.
Driven gently, the eBoxer is comfortable, refined and fuss-free. It will certainly conquer gravel roads and modest unmetalled trails happily enough (thanks, amongst other things, to having the same 220mm ground clearance as a regular Forester). However it is both heavier and less powerful than its pure-petrol counterpart, and so when the going gets tough, it needs to be worked much harder, at which point both refinement and economy take a dip.
It’s worth noting, too, that the eBoxer’s towing capacity is 1200kg, compared to 1800kg for the petrol Forester.
The X-Sport, while it won’t set the pulse racing, isstill a decently responsive machine.
Ride comfort is very good and on-road handling is predictable and competent, but noise suppression isn’t as impressive.
When it comes to more adventurous motoring, the Forester X-Sport ventures off the beaten track with ease and the relatively soft suspension settings provides comfort and traction advantages.
Verdict
The eBoxer Forester is an important early step in Subaru’s move away from petrol power. However, the reality is that other car-makers are well ahead of the Forester in this regard. It’s also hard to see how the eBoxer’s price premium over a regular Forester makes sense for traditional Subaru devotees, given that modest economy gains come at quite a cost in terms of versatility.That point is highlighted by the X-Sport, which adds panache to the excellent all-round package that the petrol Forester has always been.
Subaru Forester eBoxer Premium
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐+
Design & styling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Interior: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐
Ride & handling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Environmental: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SPECIFICATIONS
Price: $54,990
Engines: 1995cc petrol four-cylinder and 12.3kW Permanent magnet AC synchronous motor maximum combined power 122kW, maximum torque 261Nm
Transmission: Seven-stage Lineartronic CTV, all-wheel drive
Brakes & stability systems: Front and rear disc brakes; ABS, EBD, ESP, BA
Safety: Five-star Euro NCAP
Wheels & tyres: Alloy wheels, 225/55 R18 tyres
Fuel & economy: 91 unleaded petrol, 7.4L/100km, tank capacity 63 litres
Emissions: 168g CO2/km on combined cycle Dimensions: Length 4625mm, width 1815mm, height 1730mm
