2023 Subaru Forester

You are treated to a practical, sensible interior with plenty of space for the whole family.

The seats are trimmed in what feels like high-quality leather, and neatly balance softness with support. With heating and electric adjustment, you couldn’t ask for much more.

Facing the driver is a leather-trimmed steering wheel featuring plenty of buttons. There are 17 on the wheel, and that doesn’t include the paddle shifters. Bundle in controls for the active safety down by the driver’s right knee, as well as a trip reset button behind the wheel, and there’s a bit going on.

The rear seats were a strong point when this Forester generation launched, and time hasn’t changed that. With a tall, boxy roofline and massive windows, it feels much brighter back there than in some of its more style-focused rivals.

Even with a panoramic sunroof fitted the Forester has enough headroom for tall teens, and legroom is good behind taller adults. The bench itself is plush, and is wide enough for three people to sit across without too much trouble.

You get air vents, two USB ports, a fold-down armrest, and two-tiered pockets behind the front seats, along with door pockets that comfortably swallow a water bottle.

Speaking of the rear doors, the fact they open to almost 90 degrees makes it easier to load a child seat into the Forester than some of its rivals.

Subaru refreshed the exterior design of the Forester for the 2022 model year which brought a revised front bumper and grille, as well as new headlights and fog lights, among other minor design changes.

Non-hybrid variants of the 2023 Subaru Forester are powered by a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated flat-four engine producing 136kW of power and 239Nm of torque. This is mated to a continuously-variable transmission (CVT) with drive sent through an all-wheel drive system.

Hybrid variants of the 2023 Subaru Forester are powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine producing 100kW and 196Nm with an electric motor producing 12kW and 66Nm, and a lithium-ion battery pack. This is also mated to a CVT with drive sent through an all-wheel drive system.

the infotainment system is functional. Wireless smartphone mirroring would be nice, given it’s rolling out in the Forester’s rivals, but you still get wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the factory system blends a logical layout with bright, crisp graphics.

It also has factory mapping. The shortcut buttons and volume/tuning dials below the screen are both welcome in a world that’s going touch-only, but the taller screens in the new Outback and WRX make the dash in the Forester look a bit old.

Like the Outback and WRX, the Forester has a facial recognition system. It can remember up to five drivers, and moves the seats and configures the infotainment system when it works out who’s behind the wheel. It also chimes when you take your eyes off the road, which sounds good in theory but tends to jump at shadows in practice.

The clear analogue dials flank a 4.2-inch trip computer with a huge range of layouts, including a digital speedo. At just shy of $50k though, they’re old-fashioned compared with the digital options Hyundai and Kia offer in their mid-sized SUVs.

It partners a horizontal display atop the dashboard, capable of showing fuel economy, media information, a breakdown of your active safety systems, or details about your all-wheel drive system.

The hybrid also features displays showing what’s happening with your petrol engine and e-motor, which usually serves to show you how little the electric bits are doing… but more on that later.

They’re both useful, but both have their quirks. You lose your dash-top display in favour of an EyeSight graphic when cruise is engaged, for example, and unless you’re particular with how you set the screens up it’s easy to have the same information on show in three places.

Boot space with the rear seats upright is 498L in petrol models and 509L in the hybrid variants.

This expands to 1779L in the hybrid variants, while that figure is 1768L in all regular petrol models except for the Sport and 2.5i-S where it’s 1740L.