Today in Japan: Subaru Forester Airbreak

Subaru introduced the Forester Airbreak to the Japanese market today. Sporting a toned-down version of the front fascia that adorns the nifty Forester STi and Forester Cross Sports S-Edition, the Airbreak is available only with Subie's normally-aspirated 2.0L SOHC boxer and a 4-speed automatic tranny. AWD, of course, is standard.
The Airbreak package includes goodies like
- HDD Navigation
- Power glass moonroof
- 17" 5-spoke wheels
- Leather-trimmed seats with 8-way power adjustment on the driver's side
- Automatic air conditioning
- Special "Airbreak" badging
The Airbreak retails for ¥2,278,500 (around $19,800 by today's exchange rate).
(More photos after the jump)
[Source: Subaru]

















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lithous 4:37PM (8/04/2006)
Darn, now GM and Ford can't use such a cool name as "Airbreak". Oh, man.
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Oscar 4:37PM (8/04/2006)
Fugly...
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J 4:43PM (8/04/2006)
Looks like crap and I'm sure its slow as hell with AWD + 2.0.
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Drewboy 4:43PM (8/04/2006)
Wow - I think that's a beautiful car! If they sold it here, I'd buy it. For my wife that is. I would want the STI version!
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rwdmtparkingonly 4:49PM (8/04/2006)
First vw steals the toyota corolla headlights for the passat, now toyota, through subaru, is stealing the vw grille - the battle escalates.
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Bob 4:53PM (8/04/2006)
Is this the first ever car to actually have its name contain the word "break"?
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Tim UF 5:40PM (8/04/2006)
too bad its all show no go
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shiznannigan 5:48PM (8/04/2006)
A 4-speed automatic?? What are they thinking!!?? This is why American automakers are failing...
Wait, what's that? It's not GM? They're JAPANESE?
Oh, well disregaurd then.
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TheBizofKnowledge 7:17PM (8/04/2006)
While I think that car looks ok, I don't think I would ever buy one. It just doesn't seem like it would be fun to drive.
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teneo 7:31PM (8/04/2006)
As someone who is looking at small SUVS the looks do need improvement and this new model is a step in the right direction. On the positve side it has AWD and has 5 star government crash ratings and more importantly all "green" ratings from IIHS on its crash protection especially when rear ended this beats the CRV and Escape.
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Ronald Brown 12:45AM (8/05/2006)
Is it just me or does this car look a little big-nosed and cross-eyed.
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Howard Kerr 8:30AM (8/05/2006)
Not bad looking, though as someone else here suggested, it might be a bit slow in non-turbo, AWD, 4 speed automatic configuration.
Of all the features that American designers have copied and will copy from overseas designers...I REALLY wish they would copy the roof rack from this car. Ford, especially, insists on putting a prominent roof rack on anything and everything they build that looks even remotely like a wagon or SUV. Please, Big 2.5...copy this rack, IMMEDIATELY.
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gkz 1:11PM (8/05/2006)
can anyone here please explain to me subaru's rationale for putting a larger oval surrounding around an obviously smaller pipe opening. this almost makes me as angry as the assholes who put coffee can exhaust tips on civics.
its this simple:
if you put on a giant tip without making changes to the rest of the system - you're an idiot
if any part of the exhaust other than the tip hangs below the bodywork (mufflers or sections of pipe) - your car sucks.
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desertkarma 3:59PM (8/05/2006)
#4 you're right
#7 ... you posted after #4, and obviously didn't read his post and see that there is an STi version out (which I believe was tested in C&D almost a year ago) if you want more go. Stop posting w/o reading.
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Richard Warren 10:58PM (8/06/2006)
I like it.
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Japan Car Exporters 10:45PM (8/27/2006)
Well, the car may impress those who are looking for an SUV on a budget. Subaru can however improve the looks little bit to attract the young generation.
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Cams 10:48PM (8/27/2006)
It looks like a nice car with good features, but I will wait till it hit the market.
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