Sitting behind a steering wheel was one of my first joys. When I was a kid, it didn’t matter if it was a real car, an arcade machine, or a quarter-operated ride in front of the grocery store. Being behind that steering wheel was exhilarating.
I was in control. I didn’t care that the wheel wasn’t attached to anything or that I was just passing my hands over it because of it was locked or even that I wasn’t moving. I was driving, and that was what mattered.
The brings back some of that long-lost excitement.
It’s not because of a feeling of freedom, although Forester’s extensive off-road capability does deliver that. When Subaru redesigned its compact SUV this year, it kept the model’s exceptionally tall windows. The carmaker understands the greenhouse-like feel is increasingly rare, but is something buyers want.
There is a lot of glass here … letting you see, not just everything around you in traffic or a parking lot, but making sure that you and your passengers can see the vistas as you travel.
Such as the big skies of Montana, where I’m driving this Subaru.
And the excitement doesn’t come from the ride. The last Forester was stiff on the rough gravel and dirt roads its buyers frequent. The new model fixes that. The suspension allows for more up-and-down movement than most of its competitors, and soaks up the uneven surfaces and random rocks and lumps in a dirt road. The surface might look like a lunar landscape, but you won’t feel it and that brings it in line with the rest of Subaru’s line.
Don’t expect jerky, sudden movements; everything the Forester does is smooth. Even washboard dirt roads, the toughest of all surfaces for in-car comfort, are softened by the Forester. The ride is far better than that of any of its competitors.
No, it wasn’t the engine that gave me that feeling of childhood wonder and control. Subaru’s unique burble, which was almost as loud as, but sounded nothing like, my own go-fast engine noises, is gone here. The new engine is almost silent, at least until you try to reach maximum acceleration.
Unfortunately, you’ll probably be looking for maximum acceleration (and a little more) quite often. This isn’t a big or heavy crossover, but it is frustratingly slow. I’m not applying sports car standards to this family off-roader, but this little rig didn’t have enough power to pass on Montana’s two-lane highways, even with all of its visibility helping you find the best spot to overtake.
It certainly wasn’t the tech that put me in back in my childhood hot seat. Not because the Forester’s tech isn’t good, but because tech wasn’t on my mind back then. The 11.6-inch touchscreen would have been unimaginable. The safety tech is even more unimaginable; this Forester will bring itself to a stop automatically, turn on the hazards, and call emergency services if it detects you’re unresponsive behind the wheel. That’s an amazing feat.
In the end, it’s the steering itself that takes me back to the freedom of driving as a kid.
It’s that feeling of turning a wheel that wasn’t attached to anything or spinning my hands around the wheel without actually steering. The Forester does actually steer, and it does turn; you just won’t get any feedback as to what’s happening beyond the car simply changing direction.
It’s effortless.
It’s a deliberate choice on the part of the company’s engineers, to make Forester more pleasant to drive when you’re on dirt, gravel, or trails. There’s no kickback or vibration from the road surface, and driving off the pavement (or on bad pavement) is less stressful.
Driving for even half an hour on gravel can be exhausting if you’re not used to it. Not so in the Forester, where, after hours on end driving down absolutely brutal tracks, my hands and wrists were still relaxed and my fillings firmly in place. It made adventurous driving easier. The way I imagined it would be when I was a child.
The 2025 Subaru Forester brings back the joy of driving. It has space for all of your recreational cargo. It’s extremely comfortable. And it has tech that can save your life. As long as you’re not in a hurry, the Forester is a winner.
NOTE: If you want some steering sensation, get the Sport. It has its own suspension tuning that brings back plenty of feel without ruining the ride.
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