Test Drive: 2011 Subaru Forester 2.5X Touring

On dry roads, the Forester pulls smartly in the transmission’s lower gears, and the combination of all-wheel drive and standard stability control, plus the winter tires my tester wore, makes this car more or less unstoppable in wintry conditions. The engine’s power is less impressive at highway speeds, but a single downshift to fourth gear creates plenty of useful passing power in freeway driving.

2011 Subaru Forester 2.5X Touring. Click image to enlarge

Turn the stability control off, and the Forester will happily drift all four wheels through the slippery stuff. The boxer thrum is still evident with this new motor, something I suspect is a selling point for some Subaru drivers, and perhaps a turn-off for many shoppers who wind up buying elsewhere. The most pertinent point to be made on the topic of noise is that more mechanical clatter gets into the cabin of a stickshift Forester than in automatic-equipped cars.

All things are not equal in the Forester’s all-wheel drive hardware, either. With the manual, a locking centre differential splits power 50/50 between the front and rear axles at all times, while automatic cars get a more sophisticated system that runs 60/40 until a wheel slips, at which point the system manages power distribution as needed to maintain traction. Subaru says this set-up also helps keep handling more neutral by working to reduce understeer and oversteer.

That might tick off some gearheads, but this simpler all-wheel drive system is still preferable to the slip-and-grip systems found in many other crossovers, which only engage four-wheel power when the fronts (usually) lose grip.

The tall shift lever looks like it was pulled from a 1990s BMW, and it’s almost as nice to use. The throws are short, and the shifter moves easily between the gates without feeling loose or too rubbery. If I had a complaint, it’s that the shifter always feels like it wants to get hung up on the way into fifth gear. The clutch is likewise a nice tool to use, allowing easy modulation and smooth launches from a stop.

Despite the new engine’s promises of improved economy, my tester averaged no better than 9.0 L/100 km in highway driving, and 12.6 in the city. Those figures sound high, but compare them to the 13 L/100 a Tucson tester managed earlier this winter, 10 L/100 km in a Mazda5 that saw a fair amount of highway cruising, and a Nissan Juke that had a hard time breaking the 12 L/100 km mark around town, despite its small 1.6-litre turbocharged engine.