There’s something honest about the Subaru Forester. It doesn’t promise anything it doesn’t deliver and there are no fancy frills to disguise any shortcomings. The latest model also looks a lot better than the previous job and the same goes for the interior trim. This is a seriously sensible, competent and practical car.
But forget looks for a moment and climb aboard. The seat is upright and comfy, the driving position sort of ‘relaxed touring car’ and there’s plenty of room whether wearing wellies and woollies or barbours and brogues. The cloth material is coarse enough to sand wooden planks and there are thick rubber mats on the floor. So not a car for the chunky bangles and platform heels brigade.
Another thing that will put those who put ‘show’ above ‘go’ is the fact that there are no fancy dials or electrical gizmos. There isn’t even a second gearlever. That’s because this is permanent four wheel drive and doesn’t need hi or lo ratios or fancy electronic diffs. Nor does it need glittery rotary dials and switches with Egyptian hieroglyphics showing cactus and sand dunes, deep ruts and wavy lines (to indicate waatter!). This is quite simply a car for someone who wants to gets somewhere, regardless of the terrain or the weather without having to worry about settings and ride heights and all the other gubbins.
We don’t live in the desert or in the Arctic Circle for gawds sake, this is Scotland. And whilst we have all sorts of weather extremes, I venture to suggest that the Forester will tackle them all and be equally as capable as the bloke sitting higher up in a vehicle that’s three times the price who is permanently befuddled by all the bluidy options that his car has.
Neither is there a big screen in the dash with diagrams which show which wheels have grip and which don’t or whether the vehicle is in san crawling or rock climbing mode.
There simply isn’t a need for such expensive unnecessary extras. If the scenery outside isn’t moving, then neither are you. Simple.
And therein lies the real appeal of the Forester. It will go where it is pointed and it will get there.
Ensuring that it does so is the 145 bhp, 2 litre turbo diesel which generates 349 Nm of torque. That’s pretty damn good for a 2 litre. It also means that it can tow up to 2 tonnes, more than enough for a car trailer.
It’s not a tall, high riding vehicle but it does have a decent bit of ground clearance at 220 mm (eight and a half inches) which means that it will easily run over a policeman even if he is asleep, but it isa taller than a traditional estate car. That means forward vision is better than average and al-round vision is enhanced by the tall glass area.
And here is another example of Subaru’s thoughtfulness. Because the windscreen is so tall, each of the sun visors has a pull-out extension to cover the gap between the sunvisors across the rear vision mirror. We might not get much sun up here, but this year has been an exception. There’s also a 12v socket in the boot and a couple of hooks to secure the shopping or tie down a bad tempered sheep dug!
It’s not quick though. From a standing start it will take over 10 seconds to clear 60, but on the move it’s sprightly enough, but then again no-one is going to buy this for tearing up the tarmac. This is a seriously competent off-road machine with a very civilised turn of manners on the public road. There’s plenty of pliancy in the suspension to soak up the worst of Scotland’s roads and although a wee bit on the soft side, the grip levels are so huge, you’ll be chuckling to yourself as you swing it through the twisties.
There is however, just one wee niggle. The tailgate. It doesn’t swing high enough up for a six footer, but you’ll soon learn! Oh, and there’s one more. I hate the stupid little ‘bing’ and ‘bong’ airport tannoy noises it makes when you use the steering wheel toggle switches for the radio. There is absolutely no need for such an annoying reminder for such minor operations, especially since the clue that the switches are actually working will be in the rising or lowering volume. And even a numpty will notice when you have inadvertently hit Radio Clyde instead of The Archers without being binged or bonged.
It’s not enough to put me off though. This is a cracking motor, and I could easily live with one, especially since prices start at £24,995 for the basic entry level car, although if you do fancy a few options you can pay over 30 grand for the 238 bhp petrol job with CVT transmission.
So, would I have one? No question.